Motto for Today: ‘Don’t tell people your dreams. Show them.’

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History! 

On this day, Jan.15…..

1656 – Chhatrapati Shivaji conquered Javali state.

1759 – The British Museum, in Bloomsbury, London, the world’s oldest public national museum, opened to the public.

1797 – The top hat was first worn in England by James Heatherington, a Strand haberdasher in London. An issue of the Times of that period records that when he left his shop with his extraordinary headwear, a crowd of onlookers assembled, which degenerated into a shoving match. Consequently, Heatherington was summoned to appear in court before the Lord Mayor and fined £50 for going about in a manner “calculated to frighten timid people.” Within a month, he was overwhelmed with orders for the new top hats.

1889 – The idea of a “Rotary Dining Table” was issued a U.S. patent to a Black American inventor, Daniel Johnson of Kansas City. His idea was to combine a “rotary table and adjustable chair adapted for saloons of sea-going vessels and of other descriptions, in which the occupants of the chairs may be served in rotation from one stationary base of supply without the danger and inconvenience incident to the person making the circuit of the table when the vessel is upon the seas, and also enabling the persons seated at the table to be served with dispatch.”

1934 – 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal; 10,700 die.

1943 – World’s largest office building, Pentagon, completed.

1948 – Gandhiji hails Indian Cabinet’s decision to release Pakistan dues of Rs. 550 million. Fast continues for establishment of communal peace.

1949 – Cariappa took over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India. It is celebrated as an Army Day.

1958 – Tamil becomes the official language of Madras.

1988 – Narendra Hirwani takes 16-136 (8-61 and 8-75) vs. WI on Test debut.

1988 – Kiran More stumps five WI batsman at Madras, world Test record. (With 134 stumpings to his name, Indian captain MS Dhoni now holds the world record for effecting the greatest number of stumpings in international cricket).

1996 – Restoration of the original name of the city as “Mumbai” for Bombay.

1996 – Victoria Terminus (VT) station in Mumbai renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus by the Centre.

2009 – U.S. Airways plane ditches in the Hudson River – all 155 passengers survive. It became known as “Miracle on the Hudson”.

2019 – Beginning of humanity’s largest gathering, the Kumbh Mela Hindu festival with 15 million people bathing at the joining of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, India. 120 million expected over the next 49 days.

2019 – Chinese scientists confirm they have germinated a cotton seed on the moon on board the Chang’e 4 lander.

Born….

1592 – Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor.

1947 – Pritish Nandi, journalist.

1956 – Mayawati, politician.

1964 – Bhanupriya, actor.

1982 – Neil Mukesh, actor.

RIP….

1970 – William T. Piper, American manufacturer of small aircraft, best known for the Piper Cub, a two-seater that became the most popular family aircraft. He earned the sobriquet .

You may have known….

The Nazis plotted to kill Winston Churchill with an exploding chocolate bar.

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}