Murdered in parliament

In 1966, the sixth Prime Minister of South Africa was stabbed to death inside the House of Assembly. Hendrik Verwoerd – considered to be the “Architect of Apartheid” – was attacked by a parliamentary messenger; members of parliament who were doctors rushed to his aid but without success.

Incredibly, Verwoerd survived an earlier assassination attempt in which he was shot twice in the head at point-blank range. The blood-stained carpet from Verword’s death stayed in place in parliament for the next thirty-eight years.

• Hendrik Verwoerd