Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 October 10

From today's featured article

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Kinks (pictured), released 10 October 1969. Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play with Julian Mitchell, but the television programme was cancelled and never produced. The plot revolves around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer based on Arthur Anning, the brother-in-law of Ray and guitarist Dave Davies. The album received generally positive reviews and generous coverage in the US rock press. The lead single, "Victoria", peaked at number 62 on the Billboard charts in 1969, the Kinks' highest position there since "Sunny Afternoon" in 1966. The album itself reached number 50 in the US on the Record World charts, and number 105 on Billboard. Arthur paved the way for the success of the Kinks' 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One and its accompanying US Top 10 and UK Top 5 hit "Lola". (Full article...)

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Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor

Turkey begins a military offensive into Rojava, Syria, after U.S. troops withdraw from the region.
Protests in Ecuador calling for the resignation of President Lenín Moreno cause the government to relocate from Quito to Guayaquil.
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Archaeologists announce the discovery of En Esur, the largest known Bronze Age settlement in the Southern Levant.

Yoshinori Sakai on his way to light the Olympic cauldron

680 – Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the Battle of Karbala by the forces of Yazid I, whom Husayn had refused to recognize as caliph.
1933 – In the first proven act of sabotage in the history of commercial aviation, a Boeing 247 operated by United Airlines exploded in mid-air near Chesterton, Indiana, killing all seven people aboard.
1964 – The opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics took place in Tokyo (torchbearer Yoshinori Sakai pictured), becoming the first Games to be held in Asia and the first to be broadcast live internationally via satellite.
1982 – Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar who had volunteered to die in place of a stranger in Auschwitz concentration camp, was canonized by the Catholic Church.

Adolphus Busch (d. 1913) · Rekha (b. 1954) · Charlotte Cooper (d. 1966)

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Fractional currency, also referred to as shinplasters, was introduced by the United States federal government following the outbreak of the Civil War. These low-denomination banknotes of the U.S. dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876; they were issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cents across five issuing periods. The notes could be redeemed by the U.S. Postal Service for the face value in postage stamps.

This picture shows a second-issue five-cent (5¢) fractional currency note, issued by the United States Department of the Treasury between 1863 and 1867, featuring a portrait of George Washington, the first president of the United States, on the obverse. This note is in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Other denominations: 10¢, 25¢, 50¢

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