Obituary - Current Affairs for December, 2016

Carrie Fisher known for her role as Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars, passed away on Dec 27, 2016 following a cardiac arrest. She is survived by her daughter.

She enrolled in Central School of Speech and Drama in 1973 to study acting in London.

She made her film debut in the 1975 Warren Beatty lead movie Shampoo.

She was focused on her writing career too and published Surrender the Pink and Delusions of Grandma.

She created scripts for numerous successful Hollywood movies like The Wedding Singer, Hook and Sister Act.

In 1990, she wrote her memoir Postcards from the Edge which detailed drug addiction and her rehab experiences.

In 2005, she won the Women of Vision Award given by Women in Film & Video DC.

She also appeared in TV shows like Sex and the City, The Big Bang Theory and a recurrent role on British comedy Catastrophe.

She also wrote her own autobiography entitled The Princess Diarist.

A day after her daughter, Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher passed away, actress Debbie Reynolds also passed away at the age of 84.

Reynolds was known for show biz success and a tumultuous personal life, losing one husband to Elizabeth Taylor and two others who plundered her for millions.

Fisher who struggled for most of her life with drug addiction and mental health problems died after falling ill on a plane and being hospitalized.

Reynolds was known for her role in Singin' in the Rain, where she appeared at the age of 19 years alongside stalwarts like Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly.

Reynolds won the Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1964 Meredith Willson musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown about a life of a Colorado woman rising from poverty to riches and triumphing over tragedy during the Titanic disaster.

In 1955 Reynolds married pop singer Eddie Fisher with whom she had Carrier and a son Todd.

Reynolds also won the top place on pop charts with Tammy, an Oscar nominated song from the film “Tammy and the Bachelor.”

Reynolds appeared with top names like Glenn Ford, Tony Curtis, Fred Astaire and Any Griffith. She also starred in “How the West Was Won.”

Her memoirs include Unsinkable and Make 'Em Laugh.

She also appeared on TV shows like Rosenanne and Will & Grace.

Reynolds and Fisher were featured together in the HBO documentary “Bright Lights,” scheduled for release in 2017.

About Debbie Reynolds

• Birth name: Mary Frances Reynolds
• Date of birth: April 1, 1932
• American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian.
• Her breakout role was the portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words.
• For this, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, the former Sri Lankan Prime Minister passed away on 27th Dec 2016 in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka at the age of 83.

He served as Prime Minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in 2005 and the Chandrika Kumaratunga government in 2000-2001, when he succeeded then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

He was a nationalist member of the Sri Lankan Parliament.

He entered politics in 1960, winning the Horana seat in the March General Election as a member of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP). He was appointed the Deputy Minister of Justice in 1970 and served as General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the 1970s.

He won the Kalutara District seat in the 1994 General Election. He was then appointed as the Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries and the Leader of the House in President Chandrika Kumaranatunga’s Cabinet.

George Michael, the British pop superstar who started his career with the group WHAM! and went on to chart a successful solo career died on 25th Dec 2016 at the age of 53.

Michael died in Goring, England from a possible heart failure.

Michael enjoyed immense popularity early in his career as a teenybopper idol, delivering a series of hits such as “Wake Me Up Before You Go - Go,” “Young Guns (Go For It)” and “Freedom.”

As a solo artist, he developed into a more serious singer and songwriter, lauded by critics for his tremendous vocal range.

He sold well over 100 million albums globally, earned numerous Grammy and American Music Awards, and recorded duets with Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John.

He formed the duo WHAM! with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s.

He also had a contract dispute with Sony.

Michael had Greek-Cypriot roots. He was born Georgios Panayiotou in England.

He and schoolmate Ridgeley formed a ska band called the Executive when they were just 16 before moving on to form WHAM!

Globally renowned artist Dinanath Bhargava at the age of 89 passed away on 24th Dec, 2016

A native of Multai in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, he designed the lion capitol in the national emblem along with 5 others.

He used to work in the All India Handloom Board and was posted in Indore. He was one of the exponents of Nandalal Bose of Shantiniketan. He is credited with wash paintings that created a niche in the art world.

He was credited with creating Madhubani paintings on cloth. Bhargava was also instrumental in double decker loom and designing new Chanderi saris.

He started the carpet-making industry in Gwalior during the time of late Congress leader Madhav Rao Scindia.

The Madhya Pradesh government honoured him for his contribution to the world of art.

His paintings were displayed in the Europe’s world art tour in the 1950’s, in which he won the gold medal.

Bhargava also decorated the pages of the Constitution's manuscript, died at the age of 89 in Indore yesterday.

He was suffering from cardiac ailments since past decade, family sources said.

Born on November 1, 1927 at Multai in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Bhargava was chosen by noted painter Nandlal Bose (then the Principal of Kala Bhavan Shanti Niketan) in the group for designing the pages of the Indian Constitution's manuscript.

National Emblem of India

• Adopted: 26th Jan, 1950.
• Motto: Satyameva Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs)
• State Emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, preserved in the Varanasi Sarnath Museum in India.
• The emblem forms a part of the official letterhead of the Government of India and appears on all Indian currency as well.
• The usage of the emblem is regulated and restricted under State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.
• सत्यमेव जयते (English: Truth Alone Triumphs) is a quote from Mundaka Upanishad, the conclusion of the Hindu Vedas.

The Hollywood actress famous for her larger than life personality and 9 marriages passed away on 18^th Dec of a heart attack.

Gabor suffered a series of illnesses in recent years and had to have her leg partially amputated in January 2016 due to poor circulation.

She suffered a stroke in 2005, three years after a car accident had left her partially paralysed.

Gabor is believed to have been born on 6 February 1917 as Sari Gabor in Budapest, Hungary, where she was brought up with her older and younger sisters, Magda and Eva.

She acted in theatre in Vienna in her youth before emigrating to the United States in 1941.

Her first role was in Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston.

She achieved cult figure status starring in 1950s B-movies, including Queen of Outer Space, in which she played a rebel Venusian who falls in love with four Earthmen whom her man-hating queen wants to destroy.

Spouses included Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton hotel chain, and Barbie doll creator Jack Ryan.

Her last marriage was also her longest, with Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt in 1986.

Gabor’s only child, Francesca Hilton, died aged 67 in February 2015.

Know More About Zsa Zsa Gabor

• Gabor, or simply Zsa Zsa to most, was perhaps the first celebutante.
• Born Sari Gabor in Budapest, Hungary in 1917.
• Zsa Zsa competed in the 1936 Miss Hungary pageant.
• She made her film debut in the musical Lovely to Look At (1952) opposite Red Skelton, Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel.
• In 1952, she also had a part in “We’re Not Married!” with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and starred in “Moulin Rouge” with José Ferrer.

Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, the thoracic surgeon and medical genius who developed the anti choking technique that has been credited with saving an estimated 100,000 lives, died on 17th Dec 2016.

He passed away at the age of 96.

He developed and held patients on a score of medical innovations and devices, including:

• Mechanical aids for chest surgery well known in the Vietnam war
• Procedure for treating chronic, long standing lung diseases and methods for helping the stroke victims relearn to swallow.
• He also promoted a technique for replacing the damaged oesophagus that a Romanian surgeon has been using for years.

He was a professor of clinical sciences at Xavier University in Cincinnati and president of the Heimlich Institute.

The Heimlich manoeuvre was first proposed in the 1970s when choking on food or foreign objects were the sixth leading cause of accidental death in America. State and federal authorities endorsed the technique.

The Heimlich Institute holds that 50,000 lives were saved in the US alone.

The American Medical Association, which endorsed the technique in 1975 and gave it the name Heimlich manoeuvre, says it saves unknown thousands annually.

In 1984, Dr Heimlich won the Albert Lasker Public Service Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious medical science prizes.

About Henry Heimlich

• Full name: Henry Judah Heimlich
• Born: Feb 3, 1920.
• In 1955, Dr. Heimlich proposed a method of restoring a patient’s lost ability to swallow.
• In the early 1960s Dr. Heimlich invented a device to drain fluid from an open chest wound.

Written works:

• “Dr. Heimlich’s Home Guide to Emergency Medical Situations” (1980),
• “Heimlich’s Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovations” (2014).
• His animated series for children, "Dr. Henry’s Emergency Lessons for People," won an Emmy in 1980s.

Guyanese educator, author and diplomat ER Braithwaite who authored the bestseller To Sir, With Love died at age 104.

Ginette Ast, his companion, said he fell ill on 17th Dec 2016 and passed away following this.

Schooled at Guyana, UK and the US, he wrote several fiction and non-fiction books focusing on racism and class and the contrast between First World and colonial cultures.

He was also regarded as a chronicler of the British from a Guyanese perspective.

He influenced authors such as Caryl Philips and Hanif Kureishi.

Guyana President David Granger paid a tribute to Braithwaite.

To Sir, With Love was his first, and most famous book. Published in 1959, it was an autobiographical tale of how a West Indian teacher inspired a white, rowdy class of East End teens. This book was also made into a famous movie.

Walter Swinburn, one of the most renowned jockeys of his generation and rider of Shergar, passed away on 12th Dec 2016 following a prolonged illness at the age of 55.

He won the Epsom Derby horserace three times in his career as a jockey.

He was nicknamed Choirboy

He was just 19 when he rode Shergar, a British-trained racehorse, to a 10-length victory in the 1981 Derby at Epsom.

Later, he also won the Derby on Shahrastani in 1986 and Lammtarra in 1995.

He also worked as a trainer and enjoyed international success by winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1983.

John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, and also had a long career as a US senator, died in Ohio on Dec 8 at age 95.

Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven American "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts, died.

His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a "New Frontier.”

President Barack Obama in 2012 awarded Glenn the nation's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

President-elect Donald Trump said on Twitter the United States had lost "a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers.”

He was the third of seven astronauts in NASA's solo-flight Mercury program to venture into space.

Glenn's astronaut career and role as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War, helped launch him to the US Senate in 1974, where he represented his home state of Ohio for 24 years as a moderate Democrat.

He retired from the Senate in 1999.

36 years after his maiden space voyage, Glenn became America's first geriatric astronaut on Oct. 29, 1998.

He was 77 when he blasted off as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery.

About John Glen

• Full name: John Herschel Glenn Jr.
• Born: July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio.
• Adjunct professor at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.
• First American to orbit the earth.
• Oldest astronaut in history of mankind.

Veteran journalist, political analyst and comedian Cho S Ramaswamy passed away on 7th Dec 2016.

This is following a prolonged illness in Chennai at the age of 82. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

He was the first to propose Narendra Modi as PM candidate. He was also close to J Jayalalitha, late CM of TN.

A law graduate, he was a playwriter, stage actor, movie director and screen play writer. He practiced in Madras HC and served as a legal adviser to TTK & Group

He was a member of the BRC cricket club and was nominated to the RS under the previous NDA government in 1999.

He has acted in over 180 movies, scripted 14 and directed 4.

He also founded and edited political magazine Thuglak.

Former Madhya Pradesh governor Bhai Mahavir passed away in Delhi after brief illness. He was 94 and survived is by his two daughters.

Mahavir served as the Madhya Pradesh governor from April 1998 to May 2003.

He was born on October 30, 1922 in Lahore

Mahavir joined RSS as Pracharak. Also served as the member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms.

Madhya Pradesh

• Largest state in central India
• Area: 308,245 km^²Founded: November 1, 1956
• Population: 73.34 million (2012)
• Capitals: Bhopal, Jabalpur (Judiciary)

Sammy Lee, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning diver who later mentored four-time Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, has died. He was 96.

University of Southern California said that Lee died of pneumonia in Newport Beach. He was the school’s oldest living Olympian.

The 5-foot Lee, who was of Korean descent, was the first Asian-American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S.

Lee also became the first man to win consecutive Olympic titles in platform diving in 1948 and 1952 and was the oldest diver at age 32 to win Olympic gold.

He also earned a bronze in 3-meter springboard at the 1948 Games.

Lee was the AAU national champion in platform and springboard diving in 1942, becoming the first person of minority descent to win a national diving title, and in platform in 1946.

He won the 1953 Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.

TN CM Jayalalitha has died 74 days after being admitted to the Apollo hospital.

The general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, she passed away at 11:30 pm on Dec 5, 2017. After suffering a cardiac arrest on Dec 4, she did not respond to life support treatment administered.

Her body has been placed at the historic Rajaji Hall on Dec 6 for people to pay their last respects.

Jayalalitha was a known articulate and determined political personality and former top film actress.

She entered the world of politics in June 1982, under the mentorship of AIADMK founder AMGR and lead co-star in 28 Tamil movies.

The state declared a 7 day mourning and a holiday for educational institutions for three days.

The national flag and the AIADMK flag will be flown at half mast as a mark of mourning.

About Jayalalitha

• One-time propaganda secretary of the party.
• Former Rajya Sabha MP.
• Led Party since 1989.
• Following AIADMK founder MGR’s death, the party had split into two.
• Both factions were reunited under Jayalalitha.

She launched various public welfare schemes since 2011 under brand Amma:


• Amma Unavagam (canteen)Amma Water
• Amma Salt