Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 July 15

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From today's featured article

Learie Constantine (1901–1971) was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who played 18 Test matches before the Second World War. Although his Test record was modest, he helped to establish a uniquely West Indian style of aggressive play. He served as Trinidad's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and in 1969 became the UK's first black peer. His early experiences of race discrimination affected him profoundly, and in later life he was influential in the passing of the 1965 Race Relations Act in Britain. Born in Trinidad, Constantine toured England with the West Indies cricket teams in 1923 and 1928 before signing as a professional with the Lancashire League club Nelson. He played for the club between 1929 and 1938, while continuing to appear in Test cricket for the West Indies; he lived mainly in England for the rest of his life. After qualifying as a barrister in 1954, Constantine returned to Trinidad, entered politics and served in the Trinidad government as minister of communications. In 1961 he was appointed Trinidad's High Commissioner in the UK, serving until 1964 and remaining in London thereafter. In his final years, he served on the Race Relations Board, the Sports Council and the Board of Governors of the BBC. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

No. 37 Squadron C-130E Hercules

... that No. 37 Squadron RAAF (C-130 Hercules pictured) transported the popemobiles on John Paul II's 1986 tour of Australia?
... that Toby Moll met an old friend from Cape Town in the French village of Bazentin le Petit just after his regiment captured it from the Germans?
... that in iOS and Android platformer Platform Panic, many of the available skins are references to characters from retro games, such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog?
... that in marking the centenary of the Horea, Cloșca and Crișan revolt, Transylvanian lawyer Rubin Patiția clashed with both the Hungarian authorities and his own Romanian Orthodox Church?
... that for the 49th Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estadio de Mexico show, the IWRG had a main event where the two teams represented their former wrestling promotions?
... that the Scottish composer Martyn Bennett, who was influential in the evolution of modern Celtic fusion, was sometimes called the "techno piper"?
... that historian Romila Thapar refused to accept the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, but was still listed among the recipients of the 2000s?

In the news

Theresa May

At least 80 people are killed after a truck is driven into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France.
Theresa May (pictured) replaces David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party and becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
At least 23 people are killed when two trains collide near Andria, Italy.
In association football, Euro 2016 concludes with Portugal defeating France in the final.
The Liberal–National Coalition, led by the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, is returned to government at the Australian federal election.

On this day...

July 15: Festino of Saint Rosalia in Palermo, Italy

Rosetta Stone

1410 – The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald, the decisive engagement of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
1799 – French soldiers uncovered the Rosetta Stone (pictured) in Fort Julien, near the Egyptian port city of Rashid.
1870 – Manitoba and the Northwest Territories were established following the transfer of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada.
1916 – William Boeing incorporated the Pacific Aero Products Company, which was later renamed Boeing.
1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam began Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.

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From today's featured list

2010 recipient Christopher A. Pissarides

Forty-seven Nobel Memorial Prizes in Economic Sciences have been given to 76 individuals. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially known as The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to researchers in the field of economic sciences. The first prize was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award that has varied throughout the years. In 1969, Frisch and Tinbergen were given a combined 375,000 SEK, which is equivalent to 2,871,041 SEK in December 2007. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The institution with the most affiliated laureates in economic sciences is the University of Chicago, which has 28 affiliated laureates. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Wiesen Viaduct is a single-track railway viaduct (concrete blocks with dimension stone coverage) which spans the Landwasser southwest of the hamlet of Wiesen, Switzerland. Designed by Henning Friedrich, then the chief engineer of the Rhaetian Railway, it was built between 1906 and 1909 by the contractor G. Marasi (Westermann & Cie, Zürich) under the supervision of P. Salaz and Hans Studer (RhB). The Rhaetian Railway still owns and uses the viaduct today for regular service with 29 passenger trains per day. An important element of the Davos–Filisur railway, the viaduct is 88.9 metres (292 ft) high, 210 metres (690 ft) long, and has a main span of 55 metres (180 ft). In 1926, the viaduct was the inspiration for Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's painting Brücke bei Wiesen.

Photograph: David Gubler

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