Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, Parakh and Bandini, making him an important director of Hindi cinema.
He won a number of awards throughout his career, including eleven Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival. Madhumati won 9 Filmfare Awards in 1958, a record held for 37 years.
A postage stamp, bearing his face, was released by India Post to honour him on 8 January 2007.
Independence Day is a public holiday in the African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe on July 12th each year.
This is the National Day of São Tomé and Príncipe and commemorates the country's independence from Portugal on this day in 1975.
The first people to inhabit these two islands in the Gulf of Guinea were the Portuguese. The first landed on São Tomé, the larger of the two islands on December 21st (Saint Thomas' Day, hence the name) 1471.
They found the islands' rich volcanic soil a good basis to support sugar plantations. The plantations were manned by African slaves and 'undesirables' from Portugal.
In 1974, the so-called Carnation Revolution in Portugal brought an end to the dictatorial regime and also a new approach to its overseas territories.
São Tomé and Príncipe gained its independence from Portugal on July 21st 1975, making it the second-smallest country in Africa. The smallest is another island nation on the other side of the continent - Seychelles.
The Republic of Kiribati celebrates its Independence Day on July 12. It is the country’s national day that commemorates the independence of Kiribati from the United Kingdom in 1979.
Kiribati is a small island country in the central Pacific Ocean. In 1788, the British Captain Thomas Gilbert crossed the islands. They were later named the Gilbert Islands after him. Great Britain established its protectorate over the Gilbert Islands and the neighboring Ellice Islands in 1892.
In 1916, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands became a Crown colony. After WWII, the colony’s transition to self-determination began. The Ellice Island gained independence as Tuvalu, while the Gilbert Islands became the independent Republic of Kiribati on July 12, 1979.
