Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 December 9

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From today's featured article

Alister Murdoch (9 December 1912 – 29 November 1984) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Joining the Air Force in 1930, Murdoch trained as a seaplane pilot, and went on an Antarctic rescue mission in 1935. During World War II, he commanded No. 221 Squadron RAF in Europe and the Middle East, and later occupied senior positions on the staff of RAAF formations in the South West Pacific. His post-war appointments included Commandant of RAAF College from 1952 to 1953, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command from 1953 to 1955, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1958 to 1959, AOC Operational Command from 1962 to 1965, and finally Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from 1965 to 1969, when he retired. His term as CAS coincided with increased Australian participation in the Vietnam War, and he came into conflict with Australian Army commanders over the employment of helicopters in battle. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Bronze tiles of alewives at Alewife station

... that artwork at Alewife station includes curved benches, neon art, and depictions of the namesake fish (pictured)?
... that the far-right "Hannibal" network has been likened to a "shadow army"?
... that Katie Lachapelle, head coach of the Holy Cross women's ice hockey team, was selected to be head coach of the 2021 US women's national Under-18 ice hockey team?
... that the British Secretary at War Viscount Barrington anticipated the 1766 food riots and pre-positioned troops to deal with them?
... that Kansas highway K-23 is known as Main Street in Cimarron, Dighton, and Hoxie?
... that countertenor David Cordier performed operatic title roles such as Handel's Giulio Cesare and one of the three sisters in Tri sestry by Péter Eötvös?
... that before Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon designed the Lincoln Memorial, they collaborated on the James Oglethorpe Monument in Savannah, Georgia?
... that The Descent of Woman by Welsh author Elaine Morgan contends that front-to-front sexual intercourse evolved from apes that lived in a semi-aquatic environment?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

Julien Ingrassia

In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia (pictured) win the World Rally Championship, while Hyundai win the manufacturers' title.
Hayabusa2 successfully returns samples collected from asteroid 162173 Ryugu to Earth.
Zdravko Krivokapić takes office as Prime Minister of Montenegro, becoming the first independent to hold the post.
In India, a nationwide general strike occurs and 100,000 people continue with the farmers' protests surrounding New Delhi.

On this day

December 9

Marguerite Durand

1897 – French actress, journalist and leading suffragette Marguerite Durand (pictured) founded the feminist newspaper La Fronde.
1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 miners despite a well-organized rescue effort led by the United States Bureau of Mines.
1940 – Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert campaign.
2017 – Same-sex marriage in Australia became legal as the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 came into effect.

Íñigo López de Mendoza (b. 1493)
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (d. 1674)
Joan Armatrading (b. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

Wat Arun is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna. This photograph shows the sculptures of two mythical giant demons, Thotsakan (green-skinned) and Sahatsadecha (white-skinned), guarding the eastern gate of the temple's ordination hall, a building designated for the performance of upasampadā, the Buddhist ordination ritual, and other ritual ceremonies. The entrance of the ordination hall has a roof with a central spire, decorated in coloured ceramic and stucco and sheathed in coloured china.

Photograph credit: BerryJ

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