Sir Winston Churchill Britain : Statesman and War Leader Birth :1874        Death : 1965 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is sure to be remembered as one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century. His fame rests mainly on the heroic and successful leadership of the Allied Countries during the Second World War. Churchill assumed the Prime Ministership of Britain at a very critical point when not only Britain...

Dhyan Chand   India : ‘Hockey Wizard’ Birth :1905        Death : 1979 Enhancing the prestige of Indian hockey in the eyes of the world. By his superior play, Dhyan Chand was held in high esteem both within the country as well as abroad. Dhyan Chand helped his country in winning gold medals in hockey in three successive Olympic Games. He was also the captain of the gold medal winner Indian...

Lech Walesa   Poland : Winner of 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Birth :1943 The 45 year old Polish trade union leader Lech Walesa is carrying on a relentless fight for securing economic and other rights for the workers of his country. Lech Walesa is the President of the independent trade union ‘Solidarity’. Walesa came into headlines when he inspired waves of industrial strikes throughout Poland in 1980. The Polish government retaliated...

Leonardo da Vinci   Italy : Artistic and Scientific Genius Birth : 1452 Death : 1519 Leonardo da Vinci was an astonishingly gifted person. The world knows him mainly as the painter of ‘Mona Lisa’, the most famous painting in history. He also distinguished himself as an inventor, mathematician, engineer, naturalist and anatomist. Few people in the history have been so highly gifted as Vinci. He was, in fact, a towering...

Donald Bradman   Australia : Doyen Among the Cricketers Birth :1908   Died: 2001 Donald Bradman is one of the world’s greatest living cricketers. On the basis of average run score, Bradman can easily be declared as the greatest batsman of the century. In 52 test matches Bradman collected 5,996 runs, at an average of 99.94 runs per innings. He also hit 29 centuries in test matches which was a record until...

Lu Shun   China : Famous Writer Birth :1881        Death : 1936 Lu Shun was a contemporary of Munshi Prem Chand and as a writer, stands a fair comparison with him. Both took up the case of weaker and exploted sections of society and tried to remove the cobwebs of hypocrisy and superstitions. Both knew intimately the stark realities of the rural life in their respective countries. Again, like Prem...

Ravi Shankar   India : Great Sitarist As an exponent of Indian music and incomparable sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar enjoys great popularity all over the world. He has made a very notable contribution- in popularising Indian music in foreign countries. All his performances given abroad, in USA, Europe and Australia, have proved a tremendous success. The Westerners have been enraptured by Ravi Shankar’s music and they also derive some spiritual satisfaction...

Sir Isaac Newton   England : Physicist and Mathematician Birth :1642        Death : 1727 Sir Isaac Newton was the most respected and perhaps the greatest scientist ever produced by Britain. Newton was much inspired by the Italian scientist Galileo and carried forward his task of laying the foundation of modem science based on experimental proofs. Newton gave many a new and original idea and made a number of scientific discoveries...