Famous Personalities - Current Affairs for January, 2017

Indian postal department has released a special stamp cover called Golden girls of India - Pride of Nation.

It was during a district-level philatelic exhibition in Agartala to honor the sporting personalities.

The special covers feature the 2016 Olympic medalist gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shuttler PV Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi Malik.

The 3 sportswomen were also awarded the nation’s highest sports award Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2016.

Dipa’s coach Bishweshwar Nandi who was awarded the 2016 Dronacharya award was also in the cover.

About Dipa Karmakar

• Olympian gymnast Dipa Karmakar has found a proud place on a special cover released by India Post.
• The Agartala-born girl is the first Indian female gymnast ever to qualify for an Olympics final.
• She was the first Indian woman gymnast to bag a bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
• So far, the Department of Post has released 19 special issues related to Tripura.
• In 1972, it had released a special cover on a Tripura-based volley ball player.
• Karmakar was the second sportsperson to get a place in the Indian postal stamp, from this state.
• Known for her death defying Produnova vault, Dipa is only the third woman to attempt this complicated gymnastic move.

Clare Hollingworth, the adventurous reporter who broke the news that WWII had started has died at the age of 105.

She was a young rookie reporter at Daily Telegraph when she got the scoop of the century.

Hollingworth broke the news that Germany had invaded Poland in Aug 1939.

Celebrated war correspondent Hollingworth was travelling from Poland to Germany when she spotted the German forces aligning on the Polish border.

Hollingworth, born in Leicester in 1911, secured a scoop when the Nazis invaded three days later.

She also helped 1000s of people escape from Nazi Germany by arranging British visas. Reporting over the years from Vietnam, Algeria and the Middle East, Clare decided to live in Hong Kong after her reporting career saw its final moments in Beijing in the 1970s.

She broke the story of Germany's invasion of Poland during her first week as a journalist. The reporter also unearthed British agent Kim Philby's defection to the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

Know More About Clare Hollingworth

• Born: 1911
• Grew up in England during WW1 and was an activist.
• Her memoir named “Of Fortunes and War” highlights Hollingworth's work with refugees ahead of the Second World War after the start of her journalism.
• She was a role model for foreign correspondents.
• In Oct 2016, she celebrated her 105th birthday.
• Twice married, she did not have any children.