Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 June 8

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From today's featured article

Kim Clijsters (born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian tennis player who competed professionally from 1997 to 2012. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, she won four Grand Slam singles titles, including three US Open championships. Together with Justine Henin, she established Belgium as a force in women's tennis, leading their country to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. Clijsters won forty-one Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles titles, including three WTA Tour Championships. After retiring at the age of 23, Clijsters returned to tennis and won a record-tying three Grand Slam singles titles as a mother on the way to becoming the only mother to be ranked No. 1 in singles by the WTA. She was known for her athleticism, in particular her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points. Clijsters won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Hotel du Lac

... that Raffaele Contigiani's brutalist Hotel du Lac (pictured) has been seen as symbolic of the modernisation of Tunisia in the 1970s?
... that the pizza di Pasqua used to be blessed at the local church before being eaten at breakfast on Easter morning?
... that Werner Schneyder performed political kabarett programs with Dieter Hildebrandt and provided television commentary on boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics?
... that in the 2000 film No Place to Go, the central character jumps out of a window to her death, as the director's mother had done some years before?
... that although Isabella Forshall did not go to school, she gained two university degrees and four postgraduate diplomas in medicine and surgery?
... that the Babri Masjid, a mosque built in 1528, was demolished in 1992 after a political rally turned violent?
... that spelling is fun, according to Taylor Swift?
... that Dutch authorities interned a Japanese spy, but thought he was a businessman and released him in a 1942 prisoner exchange?

In the news

Mette Frederiksen

In the Danish general election, centre-left parties led by Mette Frederiksen (pictured) win a majority.
In association football, the UEFA Champions League concludes with Liverpool defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the final.
Brigitte Bierlein is named interim chancellor of Austria, after a parliamentary motion of no confidence dismisses the government of Sebastian Kurz.
James Marape is elected Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, following the resignation of Peter O'Neill.

On this day

June 8: Queen's Official Birthday in Tuvalu and the United Kingdom (2019)

The damaged USS Liberty

218 – Led by the inexperienced Gannys, the legions of Elagabalus defeated the forces of Roman emperor Macrinus.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces defeated the Continental Army at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, the last battle of the American invasion of Quebec.
1929 – Margaret Bondfield became the first female member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom when she was named Minister of Labour by Ramsay MacDonald.
1967 – The Israeli Air Force attacked the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty (pictured) in international waters, killing 34 and wounding 173.
2009 – Two American journalists, having been arrested for illegal entry into North Korea, were sentenced to twelve years hard labor before being pardoned two months later.

George I Rákóczi (b. 1593) · John Q. A. Brackett (b. 1842) · Irina Lăzăreanu (b. 1982)

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Today's featured picture

The Coldstream Guards is the oldest regiment of the British Army in continuous active service, part of the Foot Guards of the Guards Division. It originated in Coldstream, Scotland, where General George Monck founded the regiment in 1650. The Coldstream Guards is one of two regiments of the Household Division that can trace its lineage to the New Model Army, the other being the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). During the Crimean War (1853–1856), the Coldstream Guards fought in the Battle of the Alma, the Battle of Inkerman and the Siege of Sevastopol. On its return, four men of the regiment were awarded the newly instituted Victoria Cross.

This picture is a carbon print of a photograph titled Heroes of the Crimean War. From left to right, the guardsmen depicted are Joseph Numa, John Potter and James Deal. The photograph is dated 1856 and was produced by Hughes & Mullins, after a similar photograph by Cundall & Howlett. This copy was commissioned by Queen Victoria and printed around 1889 to 1891; it is now part of the Royal Collection.

Photograph credit: Hughes & Mullins, after Cundall & Howlett; restored by Adam Cuerden

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