Solid Gold Saturday

This October, CapeTalk is celebrating its 20th birthday by reliving some of the most impactful stories of the past twenty years, as told by some of our favourite personalities. Click here to view the rest of the stories.

At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic - carrying an estimated 2224 passengers - struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Two hours and 40 minutes later, the ship broke apart and sank. More than 1500 people lost their lives in the disaster.

Throw it forward to 2012, and CapeTalk is approached to do a commemorative dinner to celebrate the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, and to raise funds for the NSRI.

Former programming manager Colin Cullis joined Kieno Kammies to recall the event, held at the Mount Nelson.

CapeTalkers are certainly known for supporting a good cause, and they do love fine food.

— Colin Cullis, former programming manager

Rudi Liebenberg, the chef at the Mount Nelson, had opted to try and recreate the 11-course menu that was served to first-class passengers on the night that the Titanic sank - thankfully, Cullis recalls, trimming it down to eight courses.

There was concern that the tickets - which cost R1500 per head - would be hard to shift. But less than an hour after John Maytham launched the sales, the tickets had sold out.

In fact, they'd sold out so quickly that we ended up overselling some of the tickets.

— Colin Cullis, former programming manager

Maytham - who hosted the evening - performed some of the accounts of the various survivors.

John told those stories in a way that - quite honestly - only somebody like John could do.

— Colin Cullis, former programming manager

Maytham's 30-minute performance was captured on video and shared to YouTube - watch it below.

Watch Colin Cullis recall the 2012 commemorative dinner below.