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[[File:|180px|Ceilings of the Central Hall at the Natural History Museum, London ]]

The decorated ceilings of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, were designed by the museum's architect Alfred Waterhouse, and were unveiled at the building's opening in 1881. The ceiling of the large Central Hall (pictured) consists of 162 panels, 108 of which depict plants considered significant to the history of the museum, to the British Empire or to the museum's visitors. The remaining 54 are highly stylised decorative botanical paintings. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall consists of 36 panels, 18 of which depict plants growing in the British Isles. Both ceilings make extensive use of gilding for visual effect. Built of lath and plaster to save costs, the ceilings are unusually fragile and require extensive maintenance and restoration. Since 2016 the skeleton of a blue whale has been suspended from the ceiling of the Central Hall. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Adrien Nunez

... that Adrien Nunez (pictured), despite limited playing time, was more highly paid than a projected NBA draft lottery pick while in college?
... that specimens of Aquilegia daingolica were collected in 1906 and 1909, but it was first described as a new species in 2013?
... that Yanou Collart helped Rock Hudson get medical treatment when Nancy Reagan would not?
... that when Alexander McQueen, following years of criticism for over-reliance on runway spectacles, presented The Man Who Knew Too Much, it was criticised for its lack of theatrics?
... that Lars Chemnitz was one of the first recipients of Nersornaat, the highest honor in Greenland?
... that the principal songwriter of a song on Always Happy to Explode asked listeners to "love it for me, for I cannot"?
... that Daniel Hermann wrote poems on the inclusion of a lizard and a frog in a piece of amber, the eagle in the coat of arms of Poland, and a child suffering from Fraser syndrome?
... that the harsh treatment of Allied prisoners of war in Japan is well known in the West but mostly ignored or glossed over in Japan itself?
... that a cable TV channel in the UK was still broadcasting primarily in black and white as late as 1979?

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On this day

January 12: Zanzibar Revolution Day in Tanzania (1964)

Comet McNaught

1659 – The fort at Allahabad was surrendered to the forces of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.
1899 – During a storm, the crew of Lynmouth Lifeboat Station transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to rescue a damaged schooner.
1967 – Seventy-three-year-old psychology professor James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
2007 – Comet McNaught (pictured) reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet in over 40 years, with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.

John Singer Sargent (b. 1856)
Laura Adams Armer (b. 1874)
Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)

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Today's featured picture

John Henry Turpin (1876–1962) was a sailor in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was one of the first African-American chief petty officers in the U.S. Navy, becoming a chief gunner's mate on the cruiser Marblehead in 1917. He was transferred to the Fleet Reserve in 1919 and retired in 1925. He is also notable for surviving the catastrophic explosions of two U.S. Navy ships: USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.

Photograph credit: unknown photographer; restored by Adam Cuerden

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