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January 1
Actress Vidya Balan has received numerous awards for her work in Indian films. Vidya is the recipient of a National Film Award, four International Indian Film Academy Awards, and five awards each from the Filmfare, Screen, Star Guild, and Zee Cine award ceremonies. Her honours include a National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Actress for The Dirty Picture (2011), Best Female Debut for Parineeta (2005), Best Actress for Paa (2009) and Kahaani (2012), and Critics Award for Best Actress for Ishqiya (2010). In addition to acting awards, Vidya has received the Prabha Khaitan Puraskar in 2012 for her work towards the empowerment of women. In 2014, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award, for her contribution to the arts. (This list is part of a featured topic: Vidya Balan.)
January 4
The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was John Dryden (pictured), appointed in 1668 by Charles II. Dryden, a Catholic convert, refused to take the Oath of Allegiance following the accession of the Protestant William III and Mary II to the throne, and he was dismissed from office in 1689. On the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850 and October 1892, there was a break of four years as a mark of respect; Tennyson's laureate poems "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were particularly cherished by the Victorian public. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The holder of the position as at 2015 is Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed in May 2009. (Full list...)
January 8
Cetaceans are fully aquatic marine mammals. They range in size from the 1.4-metre (4.6 ft) and 54-kilogram (119 lb) vaquita to the 34-metre (112 ft) and 190-metric-ton (210-short-ton) blue whale, which is the largest creature on earth. Fourteen families, 39 genera, and 88 species of cetaceans are recognised. Of the 88 species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies three as Critically Endangered, seven as Endangered, and six as Vulnerable. Cetaceans are marine mammals, characterised by having a fusiform body, paddle-shaped front limbs, and vestigial hind limbs. Their tails have been flattened into flukes to aid propulsion. Cetaceans are included in the order Cetartiodactyla with Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). Cetaceans are widespread, but some specialise in certain environments. Most mysticetes prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and migrate to the equator to give birth. (Full list...)
January 11
The history of Briarcliff Manor, a village in Westchester County, New York, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement between the Hudson and Pocantico Rivers in the 19th century. The area now known as Briarcliff Manor had seen human occupation since at least the Archaic period, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the village did not occur until the Industrial Revolution. The village, which was incorporated with one square mile in 1902, has expanded primarily through annexation: of Scarborough in 1906 and from the town of Mount Pleasant in 1927 to its current area of 6.7 square miles (17 km2). The village has also grown in population; from 331 when established to 7,867 in the 2010 census. (Full list...)
January 15
The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005 and concluded on May 15, 2006. The season was directed by Pamela Fryman and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The season introduces Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) in the year 2030 as he sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living in Manhattan with his two best friends from college: Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his self-appointed best friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris). The first season garnered an average of 9.47 million viewers per episode in the U.S. (Full list...)
January 18
The Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World is an annual cricket award selected by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. It was established in 2004, to select the best cricketer based upon their performances anywhere in the world in the previous calendar year. Since 1889, Wisden has published a list of Cricketers of the Year, typically selecting five cricketers that had the greatest impact during the previous English cricket season. Between 2000 and 2003, the scope was widened to include performances anywhere in the world, but in 2004 it reverted to being based on the English season, and a Leading Cricketer in the World was also selected. An Australian, Ricky Ponting was chosen as the first winner of the award. In the 2007 edition of Wisden, a notional list of previous winners, spanning from 1900 to 2002, was published. A sixteen-person panel helped to select the winners, which the editor Matthew Engel described as the cricketer that "would have been the first name down in the World XI to play Mars". (Full list...)
January 22
1920s jazz standards are musical compositions written in the decade that are widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. Some of the tunes were already well-known standards by the 1930s, while others were popularized later. A period known as the "Jazz Age" started in the United States in the 1920s. Jazz had become popular music in the country, although older generations considered the music immoral and threatening to old cultural values. Dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom were popular during the period. In the early years of jazz, record companies were often eager to decide what songs were to be recorded by their artists. Standards from the 1920s include pop hits such as "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Dinah" and "Bye Bye Blackbird". The first jazz artist to be given some liberty in choosing his material was Louis Armstrong (pictured), whose band helped popularize many of the early standards in the 1920s and 1930s. (Full list...)
January 25
There were 94 Padma Bhushan recipients from 1954 to 1959. The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary grant associated with the award. The Padma Bhushan award recipients are announced every year on Republic Day and registered in The Gazette of India. When instituted in 1954, the Padma Bhushan was classified as "Dusra Warg" (Class II) under the three-tier Padma Vibhushan awards. On 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest of the three, followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri. A total of 23 awards were conferred in 1954 followed by 12 in 1955; 13 in 1956; 16 in 1957; 16 again in 1958, and 14 in 1959. Individuals from nine different fields were awarded. (Full list...)
January 29
The 2010 Pacific hurricane season was one of the least active seasons on record, featuring the fewest named storms since 1977. The season officially started on May 15 in the eastern Pacific—east of 140°W—and on June 1 in the central Pacific—between the International Date Line and 140°W—and lasted until November 30. The season's first storm, Tropical Storm Agatha, developed on May 29; its final storm, Tropical Storm Omeka (satellite image pictured), degenerated on December 21. The season began with record-breaking activity with four named storms, including two major hurricanes, developing by the end of June. Activity abruptly diminished thereafter, with July, August, and September seeing record low storm development. Although there were relatively few storms, the season proved exceptionally deadly and destructive. Torrential rains associated with Agatha and Tropical Depression Eleven-E killed well over 200 people in Central America and Mexico and left more than $1.5 billion in damage. (Full list...)