Pradeep Kumar Bannerjee   India : Great Football Player Born : AD 1936 Pradeep Kumar Bannerjee gave a new direction to Indian football and established himself as a great and highly respected football player. He started participating in National competitions since 1952 when he was only 16 years old. This is a record in itself. He represented India in .84 matches and scored 60 goals. He was a member of the...

Mihir Sen   India : A Swimming Champion Born AD 1930  Death 1997 What Mihir Sen achieved in his time in international swimming is significant, although the records he created have been subsequently bettered. In 1966, he established five important records and became an extra-ordinary salt-water swimmer. He was the first Asian to have crossed the English Channel. In 1959, he was awarded “Padma Shree” and in 1967 “Padma Bhushan”. In...

George VI   England : British Monarch Born : AD 1895          Died : AD 1952 George VI is undoubtedly one of the most popular kings of  England, where Royalty still exists despite being a democratic country. Albert Frederick was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Albert ascended to the throne because his elder brother Edward VIII had to abdicate it because he wanted to marry a...

Archibald Perceival Wavell England : British Field Marshal Born : AD 1883 Died : AD 1950 When Wavell was appointed as Viceroy of India in 1943, it was considered as a bold decision. Britain was involved in war with Japan and Germany and Indian struggle for independence was at its peak. The British had to contain both the home front as well as the war front. However, Wavell prepared such a...

Eisenhower   USA : General and President Born : AD 1890                    Died : AD 1969 General Dwight Davis Eisenhower was popularly known as “Ike” throughout the world. He was so popular at that time that ‘I like Ike’ was a common refrain in the United States of America. Eisenhower was basically a soldier. He was the General in the army in 1942. However, he had no experience of a major...

Clement Richard Atlee   England : British Politician Born : AD 1883                    Died : AD 1967   Clement Atlee became the Prime Minister o f England after the Second World War. Winston Churchill who had successfully led England and the allies to victory over Hitler was now rejected by the English people at the hustings.  Labour Party was swept to power and Atlee became the Prime Minister. One of his...

Acharya Ramchandra Shukla   India : Historian of Hindi Literature Born : AD 1884                    Died : AD 1941   Acharya Ramchandra Shukla is considered the exponent of modem trend in Hindi literature. He was the first to write a sequential history of Hindi literature and to divide it into different periods. Mr Shukla’s Hindi Sahitya ka Itihas (History of Hindi Literature) is considered the most authentic document on the subject....

Venkatesh Iyyengar   India : Kannada’s Great Novelist Born : AD 1891                    Died : AD 1986   Srinivas Iyyengar, Kannada’s prolific novelist was popularly known as ‘Maasti’ . He is known as a revolutionary novelist. He was awarded the Gyanpeeth Award’ in 1983 for his famous work Chikkavir Rajendra. He wrote nearly 120 books, which contain 18 plays, 30 novels, 46 biographies, 17 poems and 17 collection of stories. His...