Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 May 6

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From today's featured article

Bobby Gibbes (6 May 1916 – 11 April 2007) was an Australian fighter ace of World War II, and the longest-serving wartime commander of No. 3 Squadron RAAF. He was officially credited with 10¼ aerial victories, although his score is often reported as 12, including 2 shared; he commanded No. 3 Squadron in North Africa during 1942–43. A jackaroo and salesman before joining the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940, Gibbes flew with No. 3 Squadron in the Middle East, and became commanding officer during the Western Desert Campaign. His leadership and fighting skills earned him the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. Posted to the South West Pacific in 1944, he served with No. 80 Wing of the Australian First Tactical Air Force, and took part in the "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945. After the war he spent many years in New Guinea developing local industry, for which he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004. He continued to fly until he was 85. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Opening verse of Psalm 70

... that Monteverdi set the beginning of Psalm 70, traditionally opening vespers (pictured), in his Vespro della Beata Vergine as a brilliant "call to attention"?
... that goaltender Konstantin Mihailov played in 28 Ice Hockey World Championships with the Bulgarian national team until the age of 49?
... that Shirou Emiya was initially conceived as a female character but was changed to a male in order to fit the demographic of the visual novel Fate/stay night?
... that according to legend, Welsh nobleman Hywel Sele was killed by Owain Glyndŵr and his body hidden in the hollow of a tree?
... that Fight the New Drug's advocacy against pornography uses what The Atlantic describes as "a just-some-of-the-facts approach"?
... that James Curle, a Scottish mining engineer in South Africa, argued that the white race was being out-bred by other races?
... that no Ukrainian presidential election has had a higher voter turnout than the 84% of the first election in 1991?
... that pianist Wu Yili made her public debut in her teens, released her first album in her 70s, and went viral in her 80s?

In the news

Naruhito

Aeroflot Flight 1492 crash lands and bursts into flames at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, killing 41 of the 78 people on board.
In horse racing, Country House wins the Kentucky Derby after Maximum Security, which crossed the line first, is disqualified for interference.
Cyclone Fani hits India and Bangladesh, killing at least 50 people.
In Japan, Emperor Akihito abdicates and is succeeded by his son Naruhito (pictured), marking the beginning of the Reiwa era.

On this day

May 6: Ramadan begins (Islam, 2019)

Roger Bannister

1536 – The army of Inca Emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui began a 10-month siege of Cusco against a garrison of Spanish conquistadors and Indian auxiliaries led by Hernando Pizarro.
1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The outmanned and outgunned HMS Speedy captured the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
1954 – At Oxford's Iffley Road Track, English runner Roger Bannister (pictured) became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
1991 – Time magazine published "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", an article highly critical of Scientology, leading to years of legal conflict.
2013 – Amanda Berry escaped from the Cleveland, Ohio, home of her captor Ariel Castro having been held there with two other women for ten years.

James Tyrrell (d. 1502) · Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (b. 1880) · Grant McLennan (d. 2006)

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From today's featured list

Arthur C. Clarke

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke (pictured), who gave a grant to establish the award in 1987. Any "full-length" science fiction novel written or translated into English is eligible for the prize, provided that it was first published in the United Kingdom during the prior calendar year. There is no restriction on the nationality of the author, and the publication history of works outside the United Kingdom is not taken into consideration. Books may be submitted for consideration by their publishing company, and, beginning in 2016, self-published titles have been eligible with certain qualifications. During the 32 nomination years, 125 authors have had works nominated, 27 of whom have won. China Miéville has won three times, while Pat Cadigan and Geoff Ryman have won twice each; no other author has won multiple times. Stephen Baxter and Gwyneth Jones have the most nominations, at seven each. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

HMS Temeraire was a 98-gun Royal Navy ship of the line. Built at Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1798, she served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. She fought only one fleet action, the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805, in which she went into action immediately astern of Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. During the battle, Temeraire came to the rescue of the beleaguered Victory and fought and captured two French ships, winning public renown in Britain.

This picture, titled The Fighting Temeraire, is an oil-on-canvas painting by J. M. W. Turner that depicts the ship being tugged to be broken up in 1838. Turner's painting achieved widespread critical acclaim and received accolades from the likes of John Ruskin and William Makepeace Thackeray. It hangs today in the National Gallery in London and was voted the nation's favourite painting in a poll organised by BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 2005.

Painting credit: J. M. W. Turner

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