Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 October 14

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From today's featured article

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, about 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hastings. The death of the childless King Edward the Confessor in January of that year led to a bloody struggle for the throne. After Harold defeated his own brother Tostig and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in September, William landed his invasion forces in the south of England at Pevensey. Harold marched swiftly to meet him, gathering forces as he went. The English army, with perhaps 10,000 infantry, met an invading force of perhaps 3,500 infantry and 3,500 cavalry and archers. After failing to break the English battle lines, the Normans pretended to flee in panic, then turned on their pursuers. Harold's death, probably near the end of the battle, led to the retreat and defeat of most of his army and to the Norman conquest of England. William was crowned as king on Christmas Day 1066. (Full article...)

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In the news

Tropical Depression 23W

Flash floods and landslides from a tropical depression (satellite image pictured) kill more than 50 people in Vietnam.
Wildfires in Northern California kill at least 31 people and destroy thousands of buildings and other structures.
Richard Thaler is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Hurricane Nate kills at least 45 people across Central America and in the United States, primarily due to flooding and landslides.
Kazuo Ishiguro is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.

On this day...

October 14: Defender of Ukraine Day

Rescuers at the Senghenydd colliery

1758 – Third Silesian War: At the Battle of Hochkirch, an Austrian army under Leopold Joseph von Daun surprised the Prussians commanded by Frederick the Great, overwhelming them and forcing a general retreat.
1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces under Marshal Michel Ney defeated Austrian forces in Elchingen, present-day Germany.
1913 – The worst mining accident in the United Kingdom's history took place when an explosion resulted in 440 deaths (rescue team pictured) at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, Wales.
1979 – At least 75,000 people attended the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C., to demand equal civil rights for LGBT people.
2012 – Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon in the stratosphere to become the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.

Jacques Arcadelt (d. 1568) · Masaoka Shiki (b. 1867) · Sumner Welles (b. 1892)

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Today's featured picture

Claes Duyst van Voorhout is a portrait painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, completed in 1638. It is thought to depict a Haarlem brewer named Claes Duyst van Voorhout. One of the best documented paintings in Hals' oeuvre, it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Painting: Frans Hals

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