June 18: The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way.

On this day, 18 Jun...

1815 - Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher. 

(The term 'meet one's waterloo' meaning 'To encounter one's ultimate obstacle and to be defeated by Waterloo into being after this battle. Incidentally, Waterloo is a municipality in  Belgium. It is north of Braine-l'Alleud, which is the site of the Battle of Waterloo. A memorial, 'Lion's Mound' atop an artificial hillock was erected after the battle.  It commemorates the location on the battlefield  where a musket ball hit the shoulder of William II of the Netherlands (the Prince of Orange) and knocked him from his horse during the battle). 

1912 - A patent was issued for a mercury vapour lamp to Peter Hewitt. 

1940 - In India Forward Block Party was established.

1959 - 1st telecast transmitted from England to US.

1966 - California's hippie subculture converged into a mass of long hair, flowers, and rock music this weekend, as 50,000 flowed into the fairgrounds of the Monterey International Pop Festival. The event featured the largest collection of major rock acts ever assembled; thousands of fans had to be turned away from the sold-out concert. Established artists such as the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, and the Mamas and the Papas received the expected ovations from the huge audience. But the response was equally enthusiastic for performances by Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar.

1965 - The first large solid-fuel rocket - a Titan 3C - was launched into orbit. Better than a liquid-propellant rocket, a solid-propellant rocket has fewer parts, simpler construction, is safer and more reliable. It is more powerful than a liquid-propellant rocket of the same size. 

1978 - The Karakoram Highway, linking Gilgit in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with Sinkiang in China, is opened.

1981 - The first genetically engineered vaccine was announced: the first effective subunit vaccine for any animal or human disease using gene splicing. It was designed to prevent hoof and mouth disease. 

1983 - Sally K. Ride, mission specialist, became America's first woman in space.   Challenger was the seventh shuttle mission, and the first to carry a woman crew member.

1989 - India and Pakistan decide to end the five-year-old confrontation in Siachen Glacier area by redeploying their forces.

1993 - Shri Advani takes over as BJP President.

2000 - K.M. Beenamol breaks P.T. Usha's record in 400m at 51.21 sec in an international meet at Kiev in Ukraine.

2001 - Protests occur in Manipur over the extension of the ceasefire between Naga insurgents and the government of India.

2013 - New data reveals that over 280 previously unknown craters exist on the Moon.

2014 - Internet retailer Amazon, Inc. releases its own 'Fire' smart phone; the phone will allow users to connect directly to Amazon.com to shop for items they scan or identify in video and audio clips on the device.

2015 - Kennewick Man was confirmed to be Native American in a letter published in Nature. The 8,500-year-old skeleton discovered on 28 July 1996 at first seemed possibly of Caucasian or Asian origin.

Born

1931 - Kuppalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan, he was the fifth Sarsanghachalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

1942 - Paul McCartney, English musician and member of The Beatles. 

RIP

2003 – Jankidas, actor.

2005 – Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer.

You may have known...

McDonalds fries are fried in oil that contains beef.