Today’s Motto: ‘We don’t rise to the level of our expectations……..

https://youtu.be/CBRQD-pd1yg

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

On this day,  Jan. 20……..

1265 – The first English parliament met in Westminster Hall (pic credit-Britannica).

1841 – The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July1997).

1892 – The first official basketball game was played by students at the Springfield, YMCA, Massachusetts, Training School. (The history of basketball began with its invention in 1891 in the Springfield, by a Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith to condition young athletes during the cold. The objective of the game was to throw the basketball into the fruit baskets nailed to the lower railing of the gym balcony).

1633 – Galileo Galilei left his home in Florence to face the Inquisition in Rome. (By 22 Jun 1633, he buckled under the threats and interrogation by the Inquisition, and was forced to renounce his belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun).

1838 – The first Travelling Post Office in Britain, a converted horsebox on the Grand Junction Railway in which the mail could be sorted, was started. Its success led to a rapidly expanded system with specially-designed railway wagons added to passenger trains. In the late 19th century the TPOs were specially timed to coincide with the ships which carried foreign mail. In 1855, trains solely devoted to the carriage and sorting of mail were introduced. During the 1990s, railway service became less reliable than by road or inland air network. The last TPO trains ran on 9/10 Jan 2004.

1885 – The first U.S. patent for a roller coasting structure was issued to La Marcus Thompson of New York. In his Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway, passengers sat sideways in cars that by gravity descended the gentle waves of the 600-foot wooden mini-railway, reaching a top speed of six miles per hour. The enormously popular ride earned back Thompson’s original $1,600 investment within three weeks. Within four years, he had built about 50 more across the nation and in Europe.

1914 – The first group of Transvaal Indian women satyagrahis are released from Pietermaritzburg Prison in South Africa after three months of  imprisonment.

1929 – The movie “In Old Arizona”, the first full-length talking film shot outdoors, was released. The black and white Western was a box-office hit. A review in the New York Times particularly noted the welcome new consideration that the sound of galloping grew fainter and fainter into the distance.

1937 – 20th January was set as the date for the swearing in of the US President and Vice President.

1948 – Bomb exploded near Birla House during a prayer meeting of Gandhi.

1949 – Junagarh formally merged with Saurashtra.

1972 – Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states of Indian union. Arunachal Pradesh and

Mizoram become Union Territories. Assam’s North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh territory.

1981 – Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days. The release occurred minutes after the US presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1986 – Britain and France announced plans to build rail tunnels underneath the English Channel, the Chunnel.

1998 – American researchers announced they have cloned calves that may produce medicinal milk. This is a step towards the mass production of human drugs in animals. Their goal was to turn cows into drug factories, mass producing milk that contains human proteins important for treating human diseases.

1986 – New footage of the 1931 “Frankenstein” was found. The footage was originally deleted because it was considered to be too shocking (pic credit-Wikipedia).

2022 – 19-year-old aviator Zara Rutherford becomes the youngest woman to fly solo around the world landing at Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport, Belgium (pic credit-Metropolitan Airport News).

Born….

1871 – Sir Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, famous Indian industrialist, who established Tata Group of industries from a trading company, into Tata Steel, Tata Textiles etc.  (pic credit-Tata Trust Horizons).

1945 – Ajit Kumar Doval, Indian National Security Adviser.

RIP….

1988 – Khan Abdul Gafar Khan, follower of Mahatma Gandhi, better known as Sarhadi Gandhi or Frontier Gandhi.

2005 – Praveen Babi, glamorous Bollywood actress, who  acted in Deewaar, Suhag, Kaalia, Amar Akbar Anthony, Namak Halal,  Burning Train etc. (pic credit-Pinterest; Video- Ultra Bollywood).

You may have known….

Tigers can use their saliva to disinfect wounds, as their saliva contains antiseptic materials.

 

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