Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 October 8

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Obverse of a 1967 florin

The British florin, or two-shilling coin, was issued from 1849 until 1967, with a final issue for collectors dated 1970. Valued at one tenth of a pound (24 old pence), it was introduced in 1849 as part of an experiment in decimalisation that went no further at that time. The original florins attracted controversy for omitting a reference to God from Queen Victoria's titles; that type is accordingly known as the "godless florin", and was in 1851 succeeded by the "Gothic florin", for its design and style of lettering. Throughout most of its existence, the florin bore some variation of either the shields of the United Kingdom or the emblems of its constituent nations. In 1968, in preparation for Decimal Day, the Royal Mint began issuing the ten-pence piece, identical to the florin in specifications and value. Both coins remained in circulation until 1993, when the ten pence piece was made smaller, and the florin was demonetised. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Louis Vierne

... that Louis Vierne (pictured) completed his Third Organ Symphony during a summer vacation with the family of Marcel Dupré, who played the world premiere in Paris in 1912?
... that Bernard Fils-Aimé, CEO of the cell carrier Comcel Haiti, was mistaken for Reggie Fils-Aimé by the Miami Herald?
... that a COVID-19 outbreak at the White House infected at least 35 people, including the President, First Lady, three senators, and a governor?
... that the number of Tibetan refugees in India decreased by 44 per cent between 2011 and 2018?
... that John H. Hill, born into slavery, was the first African-American lawyer in West Virginia and the second president of West Virginia State University?
... that xenoracism is a term that describes white-on-white prejudice, such as discrimination against Eastern European migrant workers in Western Europe?
... that the former site of the Majestic Cinema, Leeds, which was gutted by fire in 2014, will become the national headquarters of Channel 4?
... that an impromptu sound-check by Dan Bellomy turned into the first track on an album?

In the news

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

Charpentier (left) and Doudna

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna (both pictured) are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of a method for genome editing.
Roger Penrose, Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on black holes.
The results of the parliamentary election are annulled following violent protests in Kyrgyzstan.

On this day

October 8

Don Larsen baseball card

1076 – Demetrius Zvonimir, the last native king who exerted any real power over the entire Croatian state, was crowned.
1862 – The Battle of Perryville, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, was fought west of Perryville, Kentucky.
1956 – Major League Baseball pitcher Don Larsen (pictured) threw the only perfect game in World Series history.
2019 – Anti-government protests calling for free and fair elections began in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Mary Beale (bur. 1699)
Franklin Pierce (d. 1869)
Aya Hirano (b. 1987)

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Today's featured picture

Eucalyptus is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Its foliage is relatively immune to attack by plant-eating animals because of the toxins found in the essential oil present in the leaves. Different species of Eucalyptus contain a range of differing compounds; koalas, possums and other marsupial herbivores make food choices based on the smell of the leaves.

This photograph shows sawfly larvae from the family Pergidae feeding on Eucalyptus leaves in the Bogong High Plains in Victoria, Australia. The larvae are naturally gregarious, and some species can cause serious damage to Eucalyptus by defoliation.

Photograph credit: Fir0002

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