It is 100 years since the Spanish Flu pandemic gripped the entire world, peaking during September – November 1918 and waning during 1919. It caused far more deaths (50 -100 million) than those resulting from World War I (12-15 million). It laid Cape Town and other cities in South Africa low, overwhelming the medical services and causing thousands of deaths. In six weeks it claimed the lives of 5-6% of the country’s population.

Howard Phillips is Emeritus Professor of History at UCT. He has researched the subject intensively and published books and articles about it. He will provide an illustrated talk about it, drawing, inter alia, on his latest book, ‘In a Time of Plague: Memories of the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 in South Africa’ (VRS, 2018), copies of which will be on sale at the talk for R350.

• DATE OF MEETING: Monday 27 May at 8pm
• VENUE: St. James Retirement Hotel
• SPEAKER: Professor Howard Philips
• HOST: Kalk Bay Historical Association