April 1 : The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.

[April Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the Gregorian Calendar to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan 1. Many people continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe].

On this day, 01 Apr...

1867 - Antiseptic surgery. Using the antiseptic methods he introduced, English physician Dr. Joseph Lister completed a series of 11 compound fractures. His reports of these treatments in The Lancet forever changed surgical techniques.

1869 - Income Tax was imposed in India. On the same day, New Indian Divorce Act came into operation.

1889 - The first commercial dishwashing machine was marketed in Chicago, designed over a number of years by Josephine Cochrane.

1890 - The electric trolley car was patented by Belgian inventor, Charles Van Depoele. He had designed the first commercial electric railway in the US (maybe the world).

1904 - Henry Ford was age 39 when construction of the first purpose-built Ford factory was authorised by the stockholders, just 10 months after Ford Motor Company was founded on 16 Jun 1903. Barely 18 months after the first Model A Ford car was sold (23 Jul 1903) from the original Mack Avenue plant, production began in Dec 1904 at the new Piquette Avenue Plant. This Piquette Avenue Plant became the birthplace of one of the world's most famous automobiles; Ford was already building a larger factory.

1912 - The imperial capital of India was moved from Calcutta to Old New Delhi and the Province of Delhi was declared by a proclamation.

1927 - 1st automatic record changer introduced by His Master's Voice.

1930 - Indian Government announced 15 yrs and 18 yrs as the minimum marriageable age for girls and boys.

1933 - Indian Air Force was established at Drigh Road in Karachi (now in Pakistan). Five officers were inducted as pilots when the first Indian Air Force Squadron was formed.

1935 - The Reserve Bank of India was established as a Central Bank and the job of issuing notes was entrusted to this bank.

1936 - Orissa constituted a province of British India.

1954 - French settlements in India pass under Indian control.

1954 - Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee became the first Indian to become the Air Officer Commanding, India Command. (He was in this office till 08 Nov1960).

1963 - Delhi Special Police Establishment acquired its popular current name Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

1975 - Sir Francis Galton published the first newspaper weather map - in The Times, London, England - now a standard feature in newspapers worldwide.

1995 - The Airports Authority of India (AAI) formed by the merger of IAAI and NAA. AAI manages five international airports, 87 domestic airports and 28 civil enclaves.

Born

1889 - Dr Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar, politician and founder of Rashtriya Swayansewak Sangh (RSS).

1936 - Abdul Qadeer Khan. Pakistani nuclear engineer and metallurgist who led Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, leading to the country’s first nuclear tests on 28 May 1998.

1941 - Ajit Laxman Wadekar, cricketer (stalwart Indian batsman & Capt and Team Manager).

Titbits

1938 - The first panda to live in captivity.

You may have known...

YAHOO is an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Official Oracle.