Today’s Motto: ‘Real humanity gets reflected only in an emergency’

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

On this day, 20 Apr….

1611 – First known performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London. William Shakespeare was one of the greatest  playwrite, poet, actor of England  (born April 23, 1564), he wrote many comedy, tragedy  dramas like Romeo and Juliet,  Hamlet, Haider, The Tragedy of  Macbeth, Ran, M the Movie and Mystery, Sci-Fi etc. ,  (pic credit-materchristi.libguides.com).

1862 – The first test of pasteurisation was completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard. Jars, sealed since 3 March, were opened at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences. They contained dog’s blood and urine that had been maintained at an elevated temperature of 30ºC. Neither liquid showed observable decay or fermentation. This suggested the possibility of heating foods sufficiently to kill germs without significantly altering their chemical composition. Pasteurisation also came to be used for milk and other products.

1865 – Safety matches were first advertised.                                                                                                             1897 – A U.S. patent was issued for a “Submarine Vessel” invented by Simon Lake. Lake was interested in the use of a submarine for commercial, rather than military, purposes. It had a  hinged observation tube, which could be provided with a mirror (forerunner of the periscope).

1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie isolated one gram of Radium, the first sample of the radioactive element. They had refined it from eight tons of pitch-blende ore. They were awarded Nobel Prize in 1903 and 1911.

1935 – “Your Lucky Hit Parade” was first broadcast on NBC Red Radio Station  by famous singers  Frank Sintara, Doris Dey, Dinah Shore  between 1935 -1953 . It was  aired for 24 years  including  on TV from  1950 onwards. (pic credit- radiohalloffame.com).

1954 – Panchsheel agreement between China and India.  PM Jawaharlal Nehru proposed Panchsheel agreement of peaceful neghbourhood relations and signed with Chinese first PM Zhou Enlai.

1960 – The first jet aircraft, the Boeing 707,  joined Air India’s fleet.

1964 – The first picturephone transcontinental call was made between New York City and Anaheim, California. The device consisted of a telephone handset and a small, matching TV. It allowed telephone users to see each other in fuzzy video images as they carried on a conversation.

1965 – First Indian mountaineerig   team led by Capt.  M. S. Kohli ascends the Mount Everest. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, Ati Vishist Seva Medal, Arjuna Award, and the Order of the Khalsa,

2000 – The Supreme Court clears the decks for continuing the trial against AIADMK leader Jayalalitha in the controversial ”TANSI land deal case” by ”erasing” the Madras High Court judgment discharging her from the case.

2011 – In France, a law banning wearing the burqa and hijab goes into effect.

2021 – Former police officer Derek Chauvin convicted of the murder of black African-American  George Floyd in Minneapolis in a suspected fake currency  case,  that prompted huge nationwide racial justice protests (pic credit-wikipedia.org).
2023 – SpaceX’s Starship rocket – the most powerful ever made  403 ft. long, and  33 booster engines, launches in historic first test flight from Boca Chica, Texas. Explodes four minutes into flight with blame centering on Elon Musk’s  Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas.

National Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 – for his novel, Amrutara Santana – was a prolific Odia work  of the mid-twentieth century (pic credit-wikipedia.org).

1947 – Babita, romantic Bollywood actor. Mother of two successful heroines Kareena and Karishma Kapoor. Known for her roles in Das Lakh, Kal Aaj Aur Kal, Karz etc. A cousin of  veteran Sadhna,  she married Randhir Kapoor, the eldest son of legenday Kapoor family.

1972 -Mamta Kulkarni, Flamebouyant Bollywood actor. Known for roles in Baazi, Karan Arjun, Naseeb, Kranti Veer, Sabse Bada Khiladi etc. Won a Filmfare award in 1994. (pic credit-News Track)

1950 – Nara Chandrababu Naidu a famous politician. Commonly known as CBN, is the son-in-law of legendary Telugu, Tamil and Kannada  hero  NT Ramarao.  a shrewd politician, he  became the Andhra CM after breaking away from  NTR  govt. and   is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh since 2024, has done  longest tenure of any CM of Andhra.

RIP…. 1236 – Iltutmish, father of Raziya Sultan.

1960 – Pannalal Ghosh, “Messiah of the Flute“, the father of the new  flute and  Indian classical music, converted the folk instrument flute into a colour of classical and made it a classical instrument. Also  known as Amal Jyoti Ghosh, was an Indian flute player and composer. He was a disciple of Allauddin Khan, and is credited with popularising the flute as a concert instrument in Hindustani classical music.

1970 – Shakeel Badayuni, a great poet and lyricist. Encouraged by the unceasing success and popularity of his poetry, he left his government job in the supply department and moved to Mumbai from Delhi in 1946. He won the Filmfare Award three times in a row for his songs. First of these was for the song ‘Chaudhavin Ka Chaand Ho, Ya Aftab Ho…‘ from the film “Chaudhvin  Ka Chaand” released in 1960.

You may have known….  In 2001, Indian Pharma Company Cipla produced a three-in-one Drug for  dreadful  HIV  disease,  which is affordable at an incredible  cost  of  $ 1 a day.  It also won the heart of Indians by  formulating a Covid-19   drops at a short notice.  The company has a market cap of over Rs. 99,930 crores and stands 6th  largest Indian pharma co. 

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