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...

Franz Kafka   Czechoslovakia : German Author Born : AD 1883                    Died : AD 1924 Kafka is considered a very interesting writer of modern Germany. He was unfortunate in not getting attention during his lifetime. He could get only a couple of stories published during his lifetime, while a large biddy of his works was later edited and published by his friend Marx Brand. His was a lonely and anguished...

Subramaniyam Bharati   India : National Poet Born : AD 1882                    Died : AD 1921 Subramaniyam Bharati was a poet of modem Tamil. His compositions taste of patriotic fervour. The king of Ettimpur was so impressed by his writings that he conferred on him the title “Bharati” when Subramaniyam was just 11 years old, and also made him his court-poet, the poet laureate. In 1905, when Bengal was to be...