18 January in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 18 January is the birth anniversary of Mahadev Govind Ranade, Vinod Kambli, and Aparna Popat.
18 January is also observed as the death anniversary of Kundan Lal Sehgal, Saadat Hasan Manto, Badrinath Prasad, and Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
Birth Anniversary
18 January in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Mahadev Govind Ranade (18 January 1842 – 16 January 1901), an Indian nationalist, social reformer, scholar and jurist. He is called “Socrates of Maharashtra”. Ranade actively participated in the work of social reform. Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj had a great influence on his life. Govind Ranade was one of the founders of ‘Deccan Educational Society’. He also supported the establishment of ‘Indian National Congress. Ranade was a supporter of Swadeshi and was in favor of using indigenous products. He was born on 18 January 1842.
Vinod Kambli, a former Indian cricketer, played for India as a left-handed middle-order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. He has the highest career batting average for an Indian test cricketer of 54 but he played his last test when he was just 23 years old. Afterward, he was only considered for one-day internationals, even though it was also at the age of 28 that he made his last appearance in that format. He was born on 18 January 1972.
Aparna Popat, one of the best badminton players in India. She has been the National Women’s Champion for 8 consecutive years. She won the women’s singles title at the 1998 French Open. She has been awarded the ‘Arjuna Award’ in 2005. Aparna Popat is considered to be the best shuttler in the country. He has gained fame both at the national and international levels. She was born on 18 January 1978 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Read More: 17 January in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
18 January in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Kundan Lal Sehgal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), known for being an unmatched singer in Hindi films, for his performances in a few films such as Devdas (1936), his fans admire him. Kundan Lal Sehgal can be called the first superstar of Hindi cinema. Musical films of the 1930s and 40s were drawn to audiences for their impassioned performances and captivating vocals. He died on 18 January 1947.
Saadat Hasan Manto (11 May 1912 – 18 January 1955), a story writer, a film and radio screenwriter and journalist. The much talked about Manto’s stories in the last decade, perhaps less has happened to the story writers of Urdu and Hindi and perhaps other languages of the world. It was Manto after Anton Chekhov, who made his place based on his stories. He died on 18 January 1955.
Badrinath Prasad (12 January 1899 – 18 January 1966), a famous mathematician. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1963. He died on 18 January 1966.
Harivansh Rai Bachchan (27 November 1907 – 18 January 2003), a famous Hindi language poet and writer. His fame is more for his work ‘Madhushala’. Amitabh Bachchan, son of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, is a famous star of Indian cinema. He died on 18 January 2003.
Read More: 16 January in Indian and World History
Notable events on 18 January in Indian and World History
18 January 1778 – James Cook became the first European to discover the ‘Hawaii Archipelago’.
18 January 1862 – The Arizona Confederation Territory in the US was formed.
18 January 1866 – Wesley College, Melbourne was established.
18 January 1896 – The X-ray machine was first demonstrated.
18 January 1919 – The British company ‘Bentley Motors Limited’, which makes luxurious vehicles, was established.
18 January 1921 – Yoichiro Nambu a Japanese American physicist, and Nobel Laureate, was born.
18 January 1930 – the great writer Rabindranath Tagore visited the Sabarmati Ashram of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
18 January 1936 – Rudyard Kipling was an English novelist.
18 January 1937 – John Hume was an Irish nationalist politician and Nobel Laureate.
18 January 1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, a Japanese baseball player, was born.
18 January 1951 – The lie detector was first used in the Netherlands.
18 January 1955 – Saadat Hasan Manto – a Pakistani writer, playwright – died.
18 January 1959 – Mira Ben (Madeline Slade), an aide of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, left India.
18 January 1960 – Japan and the US signed a joint defense agreement.
18 January 1962 – The US conducted a nuclear test in Nevada.
18 January 1963 – France advocated the separation of Britain from the European Common Market.
18 January 1963 – the then Soviet Union conducted a nuclear test in eastern Kazakhstan.
18 January 1866 – Petrona Eyle, an Argentine physician and feminist who campaigned for Latin American women’s rights, was born.
18 January 1967 – Joelle Taylor, a British poet, performer, playwright, and educator, was born.
18 January 1867 – Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as modernism, was born.
18 January 1974 – Egypt and Israel signed an arms agreement.
18 January 1976 – France expelled 40 Soviet officers from the country on charges of espionage.
18 January 1989 – Millions of people demonstrated in Czechoslovakia in support of freedom, truth, and human rights.
18 January 1991 – Eastern Airlines was closed on this day due to economic reasons.
18 January 1995 – The domain of yahoo.com (yahoo.com) was created on this day.
18 January 1995 – Adolf Butenandt was a German biochemist and Nobel Laureate.
18 January 2002 – The civil war in the West African country of Sierra Leone ended.
18 January 2003 – Libya was appointed chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
18 January 2006 – Euthanasia was ratified by the Supreme Court in the United States.
18 January 2008 – George Clooney was made a UN peacekeeper.
18 January 2009 – The Bengal Cricket Association honored Sourav Ganguly with a gold bat.