May 27th 1964; Jawaharlal Nehru, founder of modern India and its current prime minister, has died suddenly at the age of 74. He was taken ill in the early hours of this morning at his house in New Delhi. He had returned from holiday at a hill station near the capital the previous evening, apparently in reasonable health.

It is believed he suffered a heart attack, and although specialists fought to save him for much of the day, he passed away early this afternoon with his daughter, Indira Gandhi, by his side. News of his death was broken to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, at 1400 local time (0830 GMT), by cabinet minister C Subramaniam. In a broken voice, he told colleagues, "The prime minister is no more. The light is out."