Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 February 24

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From today's featured article

The former station house

Westcott railway station served the village of Westcott, Buckinghamshire, near Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's estate at Waddesdon Manor. It was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1871 as part of a short horse-drawn tramway that met the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway at Quainton Road. The next year, it was converted for passenger use, extended to Brill railway station, and renamed the Brill Tramway. The poor quality locomotives running on the cheaply built and ungraded line were very slow, initially limited to 5 miles per hour (8 km/h). The line was taken over by the Metropolitan Railway in 1899, and transferred to public ownership in 1933. Westcott station became part of the London Underground, despite being over 40 miles (60 km) from central London, until the closure of the line in 1935. The station building and its associated house (pictured) are the only significant buildings from the Brill Tramway to survive other than the former junction station at Quainton Road. (Full article...)

Part of the Brill Tramway series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

Diego de Argumosa

... that Diego de Argumosa (pictured) introduced the use of ether as an anesthetic to Spain in 1847?
... that the diet of the sea anemone Urticinopsis antarctica includes sea urchins, starfish, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, crinoids, gastropods, bivalve molluscs, and small fish?
... that Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina is often considered Hawaii's first female judge?
... that 20 members of the Wehrmacht received Iron Crosses for their involvement in the Kraljevo massacre?
... that although mathematician Vojtěch Jarník is known to computer scientists for his minimum spanning tree algorithm, his main work was in number theory?
... that the forest giant squirrel can crack open nuts with particularly tough shells such as the African walnut?
... that the production team kept the ending of Blood-C a secret from the main cast, allowing them to record only three episodes at a time?
... that when a full-page photograph of a naked Vivien Neves in The Times caused a sensation in 1971, it was being used to advertise a pharmaceutical company?

In the news

Artist’s impression of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system

Astronomers announce that the star TRAPPIST-1 hosts seven exoplanets (artist's impression pictured), some orbiting in its habitable zone.
South Sudan and the United Nations declare a famine in parts of the country.
A suicide bombing at a shrine in Sehwan, Pakistan, kills at least 83 people and injures more than 250 others.
The Indian Space Research Organisation's PSLV-C37 mission launches a record 104 satellites at once.
Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is killed in Malaysia.

On this day...

February 24: Rio Carnival begins in Brazil (2017); Flag Day in Mexico; National Artist Day in Thailand

President Juan Perón of Argentina

1607 – Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the first fully developed opera, was first performed in Mantua, Duchy of Mantua (now in Italy).
1803 – The U.S. Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, declared an act of Congress unconstitutional for the first time, forming the basis of judicial review.
1875 – The steamship SS Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier Reef at low tide and sank northwest of Holbourne Island, Queensland, Australia, with over 98 deaths.
1946 – Colonel Juan Perón (pictured), founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, was elected to his first term as President of Argentina.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 811 experienced an uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii, killing nine passengers when their seats were sucked out of the plane.

Steve Jobs (b. 1955) · Æthelberht of Kent (d. 616)

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From today's featured list

Allan La Fontaine

The Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Melbourne Football Club throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League season. The Melbourne Football Club was established in 1858 and was a foundation member of the Victorian Football Association, playing in the league from 1877 to 1896. After the formation of the Victorian Football League in 1896, Melbourne joined as a foundation club the next year and has competed in the league ever since. The inaugural Melbourne best and fairest winner was Allan La Fontaine (pictured) in 1935, and he retained it the following season. The award was known as the Melbourne best and fairest until it was renamed in 1943 in honour of Keith 'Bluey' Truscott, a former dual premiership player and World War II fighter ace killed in service in 1943. La Fontaine and Jim Stynes have both won the award on four occasions. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Durbar Court at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the department of the Government of the United Kingdom that is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. It was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

Photograph: Colin

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