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Cover of the official guidebook for the 1906 season

Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, opened in 1836. The brainchild of John Jennison, the park was intended to entertain the genteel middle classes, with formal gardens and dancing on open-air platforms during the summer, but they soon became one of the most popular attractions in Northern England. Jennison set out a small amusements area in Belle Vue during the 1870s, which was expanded in the early 20th century to become what was advertised as the "showground of the world". Popular rides included the 60 mph (97 km/h) Bobs roller coaster and the Scenic Railway. Grand firework displays were given from 1852 and there was an annual Christmas circus from 1922. The Kings Hall, opened in 1910, housed the Hallé Orchestra for several years and later hosted concerts by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and Led Zeppelin. At its peak Belle Vue occupied 165 acres (0.67 km2) and attracted more than two million visitors a year. The zoo closed in September 1977 after its owners decided they could no longer afford annual losses of £100,000. (Full article...)

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June 2: Duanwu/Dragon Boat Festival (Chinese calendar, 2014); Queen's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2014); Western Australia Day (2014)

The Capture of Diamond Rock

More anniversaries: June 1 June 2 June 3

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Four first-round selections of the 1987 MLB Draft

The 1987 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft took place as a conference call to the Commissioner of Baseball's office in New York from June 2–4. The American League (AL) and the National League (NL) alternated picks throughout the first round; because an NL team drafted first in the 1986 MLB Draft, an AL team had the first selection in 1987. Finishing 67–95, the Seattle Mariners had the worst record in the AL and thus obtained the first overall selection. The second selection went to the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the first overall pick, the Mariners drafted Ken Griffey, Jr.; Griffey, Jr. became a 13-time All-Star and helped Seattle make its first postseason appearance in franchise history. Mark Merchant, the second overall pick, however, never played in a major league game. The total number of athletes selected, 1,263, broke a record for the most players ever chosen in a draft. As of 2013, no players from the draft have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, though several players made the honorary MLB All-Star Game in their careers. (Full list...)

Beehive

A nest of the tropical Asian giant honey bee, which consists of a single exposed honeycomb, an array of densely packed hexagonal cells made of beeswax. Honeycombs store food (honey and pollen) and house the "brood" (eggs, larvae, and pupae).

Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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