Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 May 25

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From today's featured article

William Crawford

The Crawford expedition was a campaign on the western front of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the final operations of the conflict. Led by Colonel William Crawford (pictured), the campaign began May 25, 1782. Its goal was to destroy American Indian towns along the Sandusky River in the Ohio Country, with the hope of ending attacks on American settlers. The expedition was one in a long series of raids that both sides had conducted against enemy settlements throughout the war. Crawford led about 500 volunteer militiamen, mostly from Pennsylvania. The Indians and their British allies from Detroit gathered a force and surrounded the Americans. Seventy were killed, including Crawford, who was tortured and executed, probably in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten massacre two months earlier. Indian and British losses were minimal, and the rest of the Americans escaped and found their way back to Pennsylvania. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

William Marshall Cazalet,
John S. Sargent, 1902

... that in 2007, a painting (shown) of British socialite and real tennis player William Marshall Cazalet was sold at auction for US$1.8 million?
... that Greek pop band Nostradamos won the best new composer and performer prize at the 1972 Thessaloniki Song Festival with their song "Dos Mou to Heri Sou" ('Give Me Your Hand')?
... that hints of female discrimination in biblical times were discovered in an ancient Persian cemetery excavated from Tel Qiri in northern Israel?
... that Hannelore Elsner, who first appeared in film in 1959, received international attention for her role in No Place to Go at the Cannes Festival in 2000?
... that "Afrikaners Landgenote", an Afrikaans translation of "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", was proposed as the co-national anthem for South Africa alongside "God Save the King"?
... that Soedarpo Sastrosatomo joined the Socialist Party of Indonesia, but later founded a business conglomerate?
... that a classic example of moral progress is the abolition of slavery?
... that the tiddlywinks rivalry of Larry Kahn and Dave Lockwood is so intense, it has been compared to that of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazer?

In the news

Narendra Modi

British Prime Minister Theresa May, under pressure over her handling of Brexit, announces her intention to resign.
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, led by Narendra Modi (pictured), win a majority in the Indian general election.
Joko Widodo is re-elected President of Indonesia, and his party, PDI-P, wins the largest share of legislative votes.
The Netherlands, represented by Duncan Laurence with the song "Arcade", wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Ibiza affair, a political scandal, causes the collapse of the Austrian government and triggers a snap election.

On this day

May 25: Africa Day (1963); First National Government in Argentina (1810); Independence Day in Jordan (1946); Geek Pride Day

The Great Wall of China

1644 – Ming general Wu Sangui let the invading Manchus pass through the Great Wall of China (pictured), allowing them to capture Beijing, leading to the foundation of the Qing dynasty.
1810 – The Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires, marking the end of the May Revolution.
1940 – Second World War: A German Panzer division captured Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, forcing the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force through Dunkirk.
1979 – During takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, an engine detached from American Airlines Flight 191, causing a crash that killed a total of 273 people, the deadliest aviation accident in United States history.
2009 – North Korea conducted a nuclear test and several other missile tests that were widely condemned by the international community and led to sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi (d. 1607) · Günther Lütjens (b. 1889) · Ian McKellen (b. 1939)

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Today's featured picture

Mr and Mrs Andrews is an oil-on-canvas painting by English artist Thomas Gainsborough, painted around 1750. It is a conversation piece, a genre of art in which a group of subjects are shown with other elements and activities. The subjects of the picture are Robert Andrews, a member of the landed gentry from the town of Bulmer in Essex, depicted in a loose hunting coat, as well as his wife, Frances Andrews (née Carter), a woman from the same parish, depicted in an informal summer suit with a straw hat. The couple are shown in a landscape near their estate, Auberies, in Bulmer Tye.

The work is unusual for an outdoor conversation piece, in that the background setting is agricultural, rather than the gardens of the subjects' own houses. This may have been motivated by Gainsborough's love of landscape painting, as well as the couple's desire to make a more prominent display than was normal in a portrait of the country estate that had formed part of Mrs Andrews's dowry. The painting remained in the Andrews family until 1960 and was very little known before it appeared in an exhibition in Ipswich in 1927, after which it was regularly requested for other exhibitions in Britain and abroad, while also praised by critics for its charm and freshness. It now hangs in the National Gallery in London.

Painting credit: Thomas Gainsborough

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