Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 March 12
From today's featured article
It's That Man Again (ITMA) was a radio comedy programme that was broadcast by the BBC for twelve series from 1939 to 1949, featuring Tommy Handley in the central role. ITMA was a character-driven comedy whose satirical targets included officialdom and the proliferation of minor wartime regulations. Parts of the scripts were rewritten in the hours before the broadcast, to ensure topicality. ITMA was an important contributor to British morale during the war, with its cheerful take on the day-to-day preoccupations of the public, but its detailed topicality—one of its greatest attractions at the time—has prevented it from wearing well on repeated hearing. Handley died during the twelfth series, the remaining programmes of which were immediately cancelled: ITMA could not work without him, and no further series were commissioned. ITMA's innovative structure was successfully continued in comedy shows of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Take It from Here, The Goon Show and Round the Horne. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that archeologists disagree about whether the ancient necropolis discovered in Khirbet Kurkush (tomb pictured) was used by Jews, Samaritans or pagans?
- ... that Hurricane Henri, a minimal category 1 hurricane, set a rainfall record in New York City's Central Park?
- ... that a retired high school teacher coached the United States men's national ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics?
- ... that the song "Balladen om killen" was unusually released on two record labels, CBS Records International and Mercury Records, around the same time?
- ... that Sister Maureen Keleher said that the first freestanding hospice in Hawaii was like an answer to prayer?
- ... that the Duffield Memorial was termed "quite unique" in 1912, and "unusual" in 2022?
- ... that the second game in the series The Last of Us was developed by more than 2,100 people across 14 studios?
- ... that 76 beavers parachuted into Central Idaho in 1948?
In the news
- Silicon Valley Bank collapses in the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.
- In the Estonian parliamentary election, the Reform Party, led by Kaja Kallas (pictured), wins the most seats in the Riigikogu.
- Cyclone Freddy leaves at least 29 people dead in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
- Bola Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, is elected President of Nigeria.
- A train crash in Thessaly, Greece, kills at least 57 people.
On this day
- 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Jesuits, were canonized by Pope Gregory XV.
- 1913 – At a ceremony at Kurrajong Hill, Lady Denman, wife of Governor-General Lord Denman, announced that Canberra would be the name of the future capital of Australia.
- 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi (pictured with Sarojini Naidu) began the Salt March, a 24-day nonviolent walk to defy the British salt tax in colonial India.
- 1934 – Supported by the Estonian army, Konstantin Päts staged a coup d'état, beginning the Era of Silence.
- 2014 – A gas leak caused an explosion in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, destroying two apartment buildings and causing eight deaths.
- Stefan Dragutin (d. 1316)
- Wally Schirra (b. 1923)
- Jessica Hardy (b. 1987)
Today's featured picture
The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), is a species of Old World monkey native to South, Central, and Southeast Asia. It has the widest geographic range of all non-human primates, occupying a great diversity of altitudes and a great variety of habitats, from grasslands to arid and forested areas, but also close to human settlements. Generally brown or grey in colour, it is 47 to 53 cm (19 to 21 in) in length with a 20.7 to 22.9 cm (8.1 to 9.0 in) tail and weighs 5.3 to 7.7 kg (12 to 17 lb). Due to its wide availability and biological similarity to humans, the rhesus macaque has been used extensively in medical and biological research. It has facilitated breakthroughs including vaccines for rabies, smallpox, and polio and antiretroviral medication to treat HIV/AIDS. A rhesus macaque became the first primate astronaut in 1948, but died during the flight, followed on 14 June 1949 by Albert II, who became the first primate and first mammal in space. This male rhesus macaque, of the subspecies M. m. mulatta, was photographed in the Gokarna Forest, Nepal. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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