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1893 Old Head double sovereign
1893 Old Head double sovereign

The Old Head coinage were British coins struck and dated between 1893 and 1901, with a portrait by Thomas Brock of an aged Queen Victoria (example shown). It replaced the Jubilee coinage, struck since 1887, which had been widely criticised. In 1891, a committee was appointed to consider the matter, and recommended replacements. Some coins continued with their old reverse designs, with Benedetto Pistrucci's design for the sovereign extended to the half sovereign, and others gained new ones, created either by Brock or by Edward Poynter. The issue became the first to bear, as part of the monarch's royal titles, IND IMP, abbreviated Latin for 'Empress of India'. The issue originally consisted only of gold and silver coins, but in 1895, the Brock head of Victoria was placed on the bronze coinage (the penny and its fractions) as well. They continued to be struck until Victoria's death in 1901 caused a change in the obverse design; starting in 1902, the coinage bore the head of her successor, Edward VII. (Full article...)

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William George Carlile Kent
William George Carlile Kent

In the news

William Ruto in 2014
William Ruto

On this day

August 26: Heroes' Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United States

Battle of Crécy
Battle of Crécy
More anniversaries:
John Paul I (left) and John Paul II (right)
John Paul I (left) and John Paul II (right)

One hundred and twelve cardinal electors participated in the papal conclaves of August and October 1978, which were respectively convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I following their respective deaths on 6 August and 28 September 1978. According to the apostolic constitution Romano Pontifici eligendo, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the conclave began were eligible to participate. The cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the first conclave on 25 August. On 26 August, after four ballots over two days, they elected Cardinal Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, who took the papal name John Paul I (pictured, left). After his death 33 days into his papacy, the cardinal electors again entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the second conclave on 14 October. On 16 October, after eight ballots over three days, they elected Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków, who took the papal name John Paul II (pictured, right). (Full list...)

White-fronted bee-eater

The white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) is a species of bee-eater widely distributed in sub-equatorial Africa. Like other bee-eaters, it is a richly coloured, slender bird, but with a distinctive black mask, white forehead, square tail, and a bright red throat, with a length of 23 centimetres (9 in). This white-fronted bee-eater was photographed on the Linyanti River in Namibia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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