Today’s Motto: ‘Even if you are forced to slow down, don’t stop’

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

On this day, 14 Aug ….

1457 – Oldest known exactly dated printed book.

1782 – Suriname forbids selling Slave Mothers without their babies.

1820 – The first U.S. eye hospital, was founded in New York City in two rooms by a young physician, Dr. Edward Delafield. Hundreds of people were saved from blindness at a time that certain affections of the eye had been regarded as incurable.

1862 – Lincoln receives 1st group of blacks to confer with U.S. president.

1893 – France issues 1st driving licenses, included required test.

1894 – The first wireless transmission of information using Morse code was demonstrated by Oliver Lodge during a meeting of the British Association at Oxford. A message was transmitted about 150 yards. However, as he later wrote in his Work of Hertz and some of his Successors, the idea did not occur to Lodge at the time that this might be developed into long-distance telegraphy. “Stupidly enough, no attempt was made to apply any but the feeblest power, so as to test how far the disturbance could really be detected.” Nevertheless this demonstration predated the work of Guglielmo Marconi, who began his experiments in 1896 (pic credit-lookandlean.com).

1932 – Philips Electronics  makes 1 millionth Radio. Koninklijke Phillips NV.   is originally a Dutch electronics and multi-product company, having  production and marketing  divisions worldwide, employing over 77,400 workers and  estimated   value at  $ 33.30 billion  (Aug. ’26)

1938 – BBC’s 1st feature film on TV (Student of Prague).

1945 – V-J Day; Japan surrenders unconditionally to end World War-II after America dropped 2 Atom Bombs on Hiroshima (on Aug. 06) and Nagasaki (Aug. 08, 1945), killing lakhs of citizens,  and  making more handicapped.  The Allies  Forces  also seized  the Tokyo Harbour and other  defence  locations.

1947 – Pakistan gains independence from Britain and thru’ Partition of India.

1948 – Don Bradman’s last Test Cricket innings.  The Aussie batsman had a record 29 Centuries  (6,996  runs thru’ 52 Tests)  to his credit. His records were  beaten by Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar in 1983.

1953 – The whiffle ball, a ball that curved when it was thrown, was invented by David Mullany Sr. for his 13-year-old son.

1975 – Military coup against Bangla Desh president Mujib ur-Rahman. He was toppled by  his opponents in connivance with Army and Pakistan supporters.

1986 – Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrested. She was the former Prime Minister and daughter of PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who led the break up Pakistan  in 1971 (Bangladesh).

2000 – Two onboard torpedoes explode on the Russian submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea, which eventually killed all onboard, despite a rescue operation.

Born…. 1957 – Johnny Lever, Indian comedy actor. Born as John Prakash Rao Janumala,  known by his stage name Johnny Lever is  known for his works in Hindi cinema.He has mastered the mimicry of film actors and is famous for his comic timing in Hindi cinema. He has acted in over 350  films  like  Dilwale, Awara Pagla Deewana, Baazigar, Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai etc. and TV serials- Zuban Sambhal Ke, Johney Asla Re etc. He has won 2 Filmfare,  1 Screen, 1 Zee Cine Awards and several nominations.

1961 – Mohnish Bahl, Bollywood and TV  serial actor, son of  veteran actress Nutan. His films are Bekarar, Teri Bahon Mein, Meri Adalat, Baghi, Henna etc. He was nimnated to Filmfare award for  Ham Aapke Hain Kaun role. He got many  nominations but failed to bag any significant award.

1983 – Sunidhi Chauhan, popular singer and model. She sang for Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Raazi, Dhoom,  Pushpa etc. (pic credit-anandabazar.com).

RIP…. 1998 – Classical vocalist Shamshad Begum, who enthralled millions of  radio  listeners in the 30s and 70s.  She sang about 6000 songs, ghazals and Bhajans. She gained popularity for her songs for Naya Daur, Aar Paar, Ambar,  Babul, Mela, Deedar, CID etc. She was awarded Kuldip Nayar award and Padma Bhushan in 2009. (song video credit-Saregama music)

RIP….2011 – Shammi Kapoor, veteran actor from  Kapoor family and director. He was the second son  of  veteran  Prithvi Raj Kapoor, and younger brother of  legendary showman  Raj Kapoor. He acted in Janglee, Kashmir Ki Kali,  Dil Deke Dekho, Professor, Rajkumar, Prince etc.  in about 100 films.

2022 – Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, India’s investor and stock trader, called India’s ‘Big Bull’ and  ‘Indian Warren Buffett’.  Since childhood, he was interested in investing and the stock market, so he invested Rs.5,000 in his initial business, made it reach Rs.18,000 crores, and became India’s 48th richest person.

You may have known…. While overwhelming majority of Indians speak Indo-Iranian or Dravidian languages, there are probably hundreds of major and minor languages and many hundreds of recognized dialects in India, whose languages belong to four different language families: Indo-Iranian (a subfamily of the Indo-European language family), Dravidian, Austroasiatic, and Tibeto-Burman (a subfamily of Sino-Tibetan).

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