Today’s Motto: ‘Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do’

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

On this day, 12 Jul….

1109 – Crusaders capture Syria’s harbor city of Tripoli (map credit-vecteezy.com).

1674 – Chhatrapati Shivaji signed a friendship treaty with East India Company.

1844 – Captain J.N. Taylor of the Royal Navy first demonstrated the fog horn, meant to convey signals during foggy weather.

1862 – US Congress authorises Medal of Honor. (The Medal of Honor is the United States of America’s highest military honour,  awarded for personal acts of valour above and beyond the call of duty. The medal is awarded by the President to U.S. military personnel only).

1906 – The first long-distance wireless telegraphy message across water in the southern hemisphere was transmitted 300-km across Bass Strait from Devonport, Tasmania to Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia, to demonstrate Marconi’s equipment.

1928 – 1st televised tennis match at Wimbledon.

1949 – Ban on RSS lifted on the assurance that it abjures violence.

1957 – Dwight Eisenhower became the 1st US President to fly in helicopter.

1999 – India sets a deadline for intruders withdrawal from Kargil, announces suspension of air strikes.

Born…. 1909 – Bimal Roy, one of the greatest and legendary  Bengali and Bollywood  film producers  who produced/directed classic films Do Bigha Zamin, Bandini, Sujata, Madhumati, Biraj Bahu, Parineeta, Parakh and Devdas (original with KL Sehgal as hero and singer)  etc. His   team included  directors, singers  like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nabendu Ghosh, Salil Chaudhury, SD Burman, Asit Sen, Kamal  Bose  who became legends later.  He won 7 Filmfare awards between 1953-62)  and National Film awards, many international awards like Palmed’Or twice for Biraj Bahu, Sujata.

1983 – Munaf Patel, Gujarat state cricketer. Also played for West Zone in Duleep Trophy and Ranji matches.  He had many controversies  on match-fixing in 2018 and sex assault allegations  by some Dawood Ibrahim associate goons.

1997 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist who pleaded for Girls’ education in Pakistan. She ran out of Pakistan due to  opposition by fundamentalists in her country  and was fired in the head by Tehrik-e-Taliban terrorist but she survived. . She was awarded  Nobel  Peace  Prize at young age of 17 in 2014 alongwith India’s Kailash Satyarthi for Children’s education,  Social issues etc.  Malala now lives in England and Canada.

RIP…. 1489 – Bahlul Khan Lodi, an Afghan and founder of Lodi dynasty.

1999 – Rajendra Kumar, legendary actor who acted in over 150 Hindi films. He was also known as Jubilee Kumar, as may of his films celebrated Silver/Gold Jubilees on theatres. His popular films were Mother India, Patanga, Goonj Uthi Shehnai, Raajkumar, Aarzoo, Kanoon, Pyar Ka Sagar, Aayi Milan Ki Bela, Anjana, Shatranj, Dil Ek Mandir, Mere Mehboob etc. He won a National Film award and many  Filmfare award nominations.

2000 – 67 persons died in a landslide triggered by torrential rains in Ghatkopar, a Mumbai suburb.

2017 – World’s largest iceberg (later christened A68) breaks away from Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica, about 6,000 sq km in length.

2018 – World’s longest fingernails are cut off; Indian man Shridhar Chillal’s left-hand nails measured a combined total of 909.6 cm (358.1 inches) after growing for 66 years. He was listed in Guinnesse Book  of World Records in 2015.

You may have known….

The Baily Bridge, built by the Indian Army in August 1982, located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains, is the highest bridge in the world.           

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