This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride of all the fascinating things that happened today!
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of history. Now, let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 18th April”.
1859: Tatya Tope’s death
Ramachandra Pandurang Tope, commonly known as Tatya Tope was a prominent leader in the revolt of 1857 even though he wasn’t formally trained. Tope was also a close friend of Rani Lakshmi Bai and decided to seize Gwalior along with her. He was betrayed by one of the soldiers and thus hanged on this day in 1859.
1906: Earthquake at San Francisco
On this day a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 hit the northern California coast. The disastrous earthquake was followed by a massive fire that continued for four days. More than 3,000 died and about 2,50,000 were left homeless with almost 28,000 buildings destroyed.
1916: Lalita Pawar’s birth
Amba Laxman Rao Sagun, who we remember for playing the role of Manthara in Ramayana (1987), started her acting journey with Raja Harishchandra (1928) as a 9-year-old and went on to act in over 700 films in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Lalita Pawar’s career spans about seven decades with various negative roles and those of matriarchs. She had to abandon her main roles for she suffered facial paralysis after being slapped by an actor for a scene.
1955: Death of Albert Einstein
One of the most influential physicists of the 20th century, Albert Einstein died on this day at Princeton, New Jersey. Generally known for developing the special and general theories of relativity and for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. He died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 76.
1980: Zimbabwe gained independence from the UK
It was on this day in 1980 that Zimbabwe, previously Rhodesia gained independence after long years of colonial rule from the British and 15 years of white-dominated minority rule.
