June 10: Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.

On this day, 10 June...

1720 - Mrs. Clements of England markets first paste-style mustard.

1793 - 1st public zoo opens in Paris. (The abbreviation "zoo" first appeared in print in the UK around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo, but it was not until some 20 years later that the shortened form became popular in the song "Walking in the Zoo on Sunday" by music-hall artist Alfred Vance).

1829 - The first Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race takes place. (The event has been held annually since 1856, except during the First and Second World Wars. Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue. The score is slightly in favor of Cambridge).  

 1869 - Machine-frozen food was transported a significant distance in the U.S. for the first time.  

 1902 - The first U.S. patent for a window envelope was issued to Americus F. Callahan of Chicago,   which he called the outlook envelope  This style of envelope was able to save expense of printing or labour of addressing, and in addition save time in preparing the message for dispatch when the customary addresses are already on the letter paper itself.

1924 - The first U.S. portable electrical stethoscope was demonstrated in Chicago to amplify the sounds of the human body. It was designed by the Western Electric Co. with Bell System engineers and was subsequently marketed in Oct 1925.

1943 - Laszlo Biro filed for a British patent on a practical ballpoint pen with quick-drying ink. (Biro was a journalist, in 1938, in Budapest when he took out a Hungarian patent for his first design of the pen. In 1940, he escaped the Nazis by going via Paris to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There a British entrepreneur, Henry Martin, saw Biro’s pen and realized its value for aircrews making high altitude navigational calculations. It could write blot-free, unaffected by low or changing atmospheric pressure. Martin bought the rights and began small-scale production of ballpoint pens for the RAF).

1963 - US President JFK signs law for equal pay for equal work for men & women.

1966 - MIG airplanes were designed at Nashik.

1984 - US missile shoots down an incoming missile in space for the first time.

1985 - Coca-Cola announces they'd bring back their 99-year-old formula. (The formula is a closely held trade secret known only to a few employees. Contrary to what is implied by the "cola" name, Coca-Cola syrup does not contain any kola nut extract.  The primary taste of Coca-Cola comes from vanilla and cinnamon with trace amounts of orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg).

2014 - Reports of delays at U.S. Veterans Administration facilities has created temporary unity in Congress as lawmakers seek to address the scandal; thousands of veterans have waited at least three months to see a doctor; many have never been seen at all.

Born

1938 - Rahul Bajaj, Business magnate (Chairman of Bajaj Group).

1948 - Subrata Ray, Business person (Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar).

1955 - Prakash Padukone, internationally famous Badminton player.

1965 - Elizabeth Hurley, English actress. 

RIP

323 BC - Alexander the Great, Macedonian king, dies from either fever or excessive wine at 32, (or the 11th June).

1987 - Jeevan, film actor.

Titbits

1933 - John Dillinger robs his first bank, in New Carlisle, Ohio. He takes $10, 600. (His gang that operated in the Depression era, robbed 24 banks. Dillinger escaped from jail twice).  

You may have known...

When Apollo 11 landed, it had only 20 seconds of remaining fuel.