Today’s Motto: Only those people fail who don’t mind failing.

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

On this day,  Oct.24………

1579 – Jesuit father and first Englishman S. J. Thomas Stephens arrived at Goa in a Portuguese ship. He settled here and died in 1619.

1836 – Alonzo Dwight Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts, received the first U.S. patent for the phosphorous

friction safety match. (The first friction matches, using a mixture of chemicals for their heads, were made and sold in England in 1827. Phillips’ match, which could be struck on any rough surface, was the first genuine friction match made in America. Known as “loco focos,” and later as “lucifers,” these matches were made entirely by hand from a mixture of chalk, phosphorus, glue and brimstone {sulphur}).

1901 – 1st woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (Anna Taylor).

1939 – Nylon stockings went on sale in the U.S. for the first time to employees at DuPont’s Wilmington, Delaware nylon factory. The modern materials revolution began in 1938 with DuPont’s commercialization of their nylon product, which was the first man-made fibre to be made exclusively from mineral sources. The company specifically intended to compete with silk in the women’s hosiery market. The fibre was strong, elastic, moth-proof and did not absorb moisture. Years of research led to enormous success. “Nylons,” as they were soon called, eventually replaced silk stockings.

1946 – UN Charter came into effect.

1953 – Selection of the Dassault Ouragan fighter from France at this time reflected the Indian decision to initiate diversification of supply sources. The first four of over 100 Ouragans, or ‘Toofanis’ as they were to become known in the IAF, reached Palam Airport from France.

1975 – Bonded labour system was abolished in India by Ordinance.

1984 – First Metro Train (Underground Train) in India started between Esplanade and Bhowanipore in Calcutta city.

2011 – A vaccination program immunising over 170 million children every year has resulted in the near eradication of polio in India.

2013 – The U.S. Ambassador is summoned by Germany over suspicions that the U.S. monitored the cell phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

2018 – Virat Kohli becomes the 12th and the fastest-ever to score 10,000 runs in one day international matches, taking just 205 innings…

Born….

1914 – Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian Independence movement revolutionary and officer of Indian National Army.

1915 – Jeevan, veteran Bollywood character  actor.

1921 – World famous illustrator Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman, better known as R. K. Laxman, the creator

of iconic ‘Common Man’. He was a world known satirist and Cartoonist with Times of India for over 5 decades (pic credit-Britannica).

1935 – Mark Tully, former BBC British writer who has settled in Mussourie, India after retirement. (He has four kids from first wife but lives in India with his girlfriend).

1976 – Mallika Sherawat, Bollywood actor.

RIP….

1991 – Ismat Chugtai, famous Urdu author of Pakistan, social worker and campaigner for justice for women.

2013 – Manna Dey, Bengali and Bollywood singer singer, who gave hundreds of memorable melodious songs.

You may have known….
Crying in space has the opposite of the intended effect causing astronauts’ eyes to sting.

 

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