George Macaulay (1897–1940) played first-class cricket professionally for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1920 and 1935. He played in eight Test matches for England from 1923 to 1933, achieving the rare feat of taking a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket. One of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1924, he took 1,838 first-class wickets at an average of 17.64, including four hat-tricks. He was a leading member of his successful Yorkshire team and a volatile character who played aggressively. He left a job at a bank to become a professional cricketer, making his first-class debut aged 23 as a fast bowler, but he had more success after altering his style to include off spin. He played fewer Test matches after an unsuccessful match in the 1926 Ashes series. His form slumped following injuries in the late 1920s, but a recovery in the early 1930s led to a recall by England. His first-class career ended in 1935, although he continued playing club cricket until the Second World War. A pilot officer in the Royal Air Force, he died of illness on active service. (Full article...)
There are more than 20 subspecies of the Eurasian nuthatch, a small passerine bird found throughout temperate Asia and in Europe. The Eurasian nuthatchtaxa can be divided into three main groups; the S. e. caesia group of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the S. e. europaea group (pictured) of Scandinavia, Russia, Japan and northern China and the S. e. sinensis group of southern and eastern China and Taiwan. These may have been geographically isolated from each other until relatively recently. Birds of intermediate appearance occur where the group ranges overlap. The female is usually slightly duller than the male with a brown tint to the eyestripe and paler underparts, although the sexes are very similar in the S. e. sinensis group. The precise number of subspecies depends on how small differences between populations are evaluated. Given the similarities between geographical forms of the Eurasian nuthatch, subspecies boundaries are somewhat fluid, although less than half as many are recognised now as in 1967. (Full list...)
A 19th-century set of ten cards depicting events in the history of ballooning and parachuting. These cards depict, from left to right (click each card for a higher resolution version):
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