Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (died 1959)

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, also known as "The Silver Bell of Asia", was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as the fourth Prime Minister of the Dominion of Ceylon, serving from 1956 until his assassination in 1959. The founder of the left-wing and Sinhalese nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party, he was elected the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon after creating a powerful coalition called the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and contesting on the lines of Sinhalese nationalism and democratic socialism. He achieved a landslide victory over the ruling United National Party in the general elections in 1956.

Born

1899

January 8

Died

1959

Era

1890s

Country

—

About

S., in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1899 Born
1959 Died

Also on January 8

What else happened on this day, through history

307 Sima Chi becomes emperor of the Jin dynasty in succession to his brother, Sima Zhong, despite a challenge from his other brother, Sima Ying.
871 Æthelred I and Alfred the Great lead a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.
1454 The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.

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The world in 1959

When S. departed

april 25 The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
april 8 A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
april 8 The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
april 9 Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on January 8

Andrew Wood 1966–1990 American singer-songwriter (died 1990) Betsy DeVos 1958– American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education Elvis Presley 1935–1977 American singer and actor (born 1935) Evelyn Wood 1909– American author and educator (died 1995) Fanny Bullock Workman 1859–1925 American geographer and mountain climber (born 1859) François-Henri de Montmorency 1628–1695 duc de Luxembourg, French general (born 1628) Hans von Bülow 1830–1894 German pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1830) Ivan Gundulić 1589–1638 Croatian poet (born 1589) James Craig 1871– 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (died 1940)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1899

Albert Claude 1899–1983 Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983) Alfred Blalock 1899– American surgeon and academic (died 1964) Alfred Hitchcock 1899–1980 English-American director and producer (born 1899) Andrei Platonov 1899–1951 Russian author and poet (died 1951) Andrija Artuković 1899–1988 Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, first Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (born 1899) Billy Rose 1899–1966 American composer and songwriter (born 1899) Bruce Catton 1899–1978 American historian and journalist (born 1899) Chief Dan George 1899–1981 Canadian actor (died 1981) Corneliu Zelea Codreanu 1899– Romanian politician (died 1938)

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S.'s birthday January 8 S.'s zodiac Capricorn When S. departed 1959