J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel)Tolkien is the author of The Lord
of the Rings trilogy. He was born in Bloemfontein, South
Africa. He died on September 2, 1973. Forbes magazine
ranked Tolkien as the 5th top-earning dead celebrity
in 2009.  
 

Dr. Christian Barnard, along with a team of Cardiac
Surgeons,  performed the world’s first successful
human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. 
The patient, Louis Washkansky, a 54-year-old grocer
survived for 18 days after the operation and died of
Pneumonia.

 
             The transplant operation in progress.