Today’s Motto: ‘The world is not a wish-granting factory’

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

On this day, 20 Jun….
1756 – A group of British soldiers along with Halvel were imprisoned by some rebellions in a suffocating cell that gained notoriety as the “”Black Hole of Calcutta.”” Most of them died.

1791 – King Louis XVI caught trying to escape French Revolution (pic credit-the famouspeople.com).

1840 – Samuel F.B. Morse received a patent for telegraphy signals.

1858 – Gwalior fort was captured by British troops and the first Indian Sepoy Mutiny officially came to an end.

1873 – Young Men Christian Association of India was established in Calcutta.

1899 – Black American inventor Wesley Johnson was issued a patent for a “Velocipede”. Although conventional in appearance in a side view, the innovation claimed was to use two wheels separated by four to six inches in the front fork, and two wheels in similar fashion at the back. The patent claimed this gives better stability and safety, especially for those first learning to balance and ride a bicycle, the timid, elderly or the invalid. Further, it said, corners could be turned on slippery ground with better stability.

1918 – The X-ray expert Dr. Eugene W. Caldwell, died of X-ray burns, in New York.

1926 – A wireless phone for autos was demonstrated in Berlin, Germany, by Herr Schaetzle.

1967 – Muhammad Ali convicted of refusing induction into armed services (pic credit-starschanges.com).

1977 – The $7.7 billion trans-Alaskan oil pipeline opened. The project links oil fields in Prudhoe Bay to the shipping port of Valdez, where oil arrives 38 days later. Because of the earth’s heat at greater depths, oil pumped from the Prudhoe Bay field, (which is 10,000-to-20,000 feet deep, is at about 145 to 180 degrees F. Using heat exchangers that work like a car’s radiator, the oil companies cool the oil to about 120 degrees before it enters the pipeline. The pipe is a tube of 1/2-inch thick steel with a diameter of 48 inches, wrapped with four inches of fiber glass insulation and a cover of aluminum sheet metal.

1979 – 32 solar panels on the White House roof, installed by the Carter administration, were dedicated by President Carter

1994 – Anti-Pakistan slogans rent the air in Jammu & Kashmir against the killing of Quazi Nissar Ahmed, Mirwaiz of South Kashmir and a famous religious Kashmiri leader who was gunned down by Pak-aided terrorists.

1996 – Govt. of India declares at Geneva conference on ‘Global Ban On Nuclear Testing’ that it won’t sign the CTBT.

2002 – In 2002, an agreement was signed to establish a seawater desalination and heating plant – using atomic reactors – at the coastal city of Yingkou, China. It is designed to address severe water shortages in China.

2019 – Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years (royalty free).

Born….1869 – Laxmanrao Kirloskar, great industrialist, social reformer, patriot and founder of Kirloskar Industry.

1952 – Vikram Seth, Veteran Indian poet, writer, story-teller. He has written famous novels like Highway, A Suitable Boy, Hardtalk Extra, Omnibus, A Suitable Girl, The Golden Gate etc.  He won Sahitya Akademu Award, Padma Shri,  Pravasi Bhartiya Samman, WH Smith Literary etc.

RIP….1987 – Dr. Salim Ali, internationally renowned expert of bird  care and  watching behavoiur of migratory birds in Konkan and other regions.   He has established a bird sanctuary in  Chorao, Goa in over 1.80 Sqkm area.

1997 – Basu Bhattacharya, legendary Bengal and Bollwood film-maker. Known for classical love story and  lyrical  marvel film Teesri Kasam in 1966, for which he won a National Film Award starring Raj Kapoor, Vaheeda Rehman.  He also produced, directed Sparsh, Aaavishkar. Madhumati, Sujata, Uski Kahani, Anubhav, Panchvati, Ek Saas Zindgi, Astha  etc. were his  most  popular films. He won several other world  honours.

Titbits….1909 – 1st balloon honeymoon (Roger Burham & Eleanor Waring).

You may have known….

According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

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