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What happened in 1994

• Following the death of his ex-wife, NFL star OJ Simpson and friend, Al Cowlings were in a low speed chase with police. It unfolded live on television and ended at OJ's Californian mansion. OJ surrendered and was arrested for murder.
• South Africa's white minority Parliament met in Cape Town to vote itself out of power. The new government was led by the black majority who'd been excluded from the political process since European settlers arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Nelson Mandela was elected South Africa's first black president.
• An estimated 800,000 Tutsis Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days by Hutu Rwandans - the largest genocide in modern times. It was sparked by the death of the Rwandan president, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport.
• Brian Lara set a new world record for test innings, while playing against England. The West Indian batsman set a new world record scoring 375 runs in one test match.
• George Foreman became the world's oldest heavyweight boxing champion. Foreman, 45, beat Michael Moorer, 26, in Las Vegas, to win the IBF and the WBA titles. Foreman last held the title in 1973 when he defeated Joe Frazier.
• Diane Modahl is the first British female athlete to be found guilty of drug-taking and is banned from competitions for four years. The charges are later dropped and her name is cleared. She writes The Diane Modahl Story in '95 about the impact of these events on her life.
• Ray Shell's Iced is published. Using street language and poetry, London-based Shell's debut tells the story of Cornelius Washington, Jr., a 40-year-old crack addict. Described by Maya Angelou as "a powerhouse", it was part of a wave of new black fiction in the UK - which kicked off with Victor Headley's Yardie in '92.
• Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Quentin Tarantino's brilliant film Pulp Fiction was released. It also starred John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Harvey Keitel. The film re-juvenated Travolta's flagging career and made a star out of Jackson.