Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 August 26

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions, including nine symphonies, written over 60 years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his work marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late 30s, when his studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music. His symphonies express a wide range of moods: from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. His other concert works include Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) has been frequently staged. He insisted on the traditional English pronunciation of his first name, "Rafe". (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Margot Fonteyn

... that Margot Fonteyn (pictured) was The Royal Ballet's prima ballerina for 45 years, before retiring to become a cattle rancher in Panama?
... that Robert Einstein, a cousin of Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Einstein, committed suicide less than a year after his family was murdered by German soldiers in World War II?
... that Ina Hartwig, formerly on the editorial staff of Frankfurter Rundschau, published a biography of Ingeborg Bachmann in 2017?
... that Ralph Vaughan Williams set Psalm 47 in English, O clap your hands, as a motet for choir and orchestra in 1920?
... that after FIBA rules changes limited the availability of NBA players, the US men's basketball team decided to assemble rosters of primarily G Leaguers for the 2019 World Cup qualifiers?
... that a story by Argentine mathematician Magdalena Mouján about a Basque family that travels back in time to their homeland was blocked by the Franco regime?
... that after being rebuilt in May 2018, the open-air Summer Theatre of Tirana held a show in which 400 artists participated?
... that the second test in the Operation Mosaic series under the command of Hugh Martell was the largest detonation of a nuclear device ever to take place in Australia?

In the news

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison (pictured) replaces Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister of Australia, after a change of Liberal party leadership.
N. K. Jemisin wins the Hugo Award for Best Novel for a third consecutive time for The Stone Sky.
Former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan dies at the age of 80.
The Asian Games open in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
Former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee dies at the age of 93.

On this day

August 26: Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism, 2018); Heroes' Day/Herero Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United States

Juan José Castelli

1071 – Byzantine–Seljuq wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan captured Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert.
1810 – Juan José Castelli (pictured) ordered the execution of Santiago de Liniers, during the Argentine War of Independence.
1928 – At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil action case Donoghue v Stevenson.
1968 – The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police.
2008 – After a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-Georgian War, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Arnold Fothergill (b. 1854) · Katherine Johnson (b. 1918) · Frederick Reines (d. 1998)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Madame Moitessier is the title of a portrait of Marie-Clotilde-Inès Moitessier (née de Foucauld) begun in 1844 and completed in 1856 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. When first requested to paint Moitessier, Ingres refused; however, upon meeting her and being struck by her Junoesque beauty, he agreed to take the commission. His first portrait, shown here, depicts Moitessier seated and draws on such inspirations as the frescoes of Herculaneum and the portraits of Titian. It is now in the National Gallery in London.

Painting: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.