Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 April 8

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Today's featured article
The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders. The screenplay by Richard Matheson was based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name. Set in 16th century Spain, the story is about a young Englishman who visits a forbidding castle to investigate his sister's mysterious death. After a series of horrific revelations, apparently ghostly appearances and violent deaths, the young man becomes strapped to the titular torture device by his lunatic brother-in-law during the film's climactic sequence. The film was the second title in the popular series of Poe-based movies released by American International Pictures, the first having been Corman's House of Usher released the previous year. A critical and box office hit, Pit's commercial success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories for another six films, five of them starring Price. Film critic Tim Lucas and writer Ernesto Gastaldi have both noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers. Stephen King has described one of Pit's major shock sequences as being among the most important moments in the post-1960 horror film. (more...) Recently featured: Phan Dinh Phung – Philitas of Cos – Polyozellus Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that during a raid on Berlin in 1944, RAAF Squadron Leader Bill Brill's (pictured) Avro Lancaster was struck by incendiary bombs dropped by another Allied aircraft above him? ... that Anesrif is managing the construction of the High Plateau line, a railway across Algeria? ... that Tim Tebow, Maya Moore and Matt Bonner were two-time team members of the Year in American football, women's basketball, and men's basketball, respectively? ... that Mehadia, Romania, is located on the site of the ancient Roman colony Ad Mediam, noted for its Hercules baths? ... that before the Hershey–Chase experiment confirmed the role of DNA, scientists believed that genes were carried by proteins? ... that French marshal Victor-Perrin, on his way to command the Siege of Kolberg (1807), was captured by a Prussian freikorps? ... that Trey Songz' 2011 single "Love Faces" is a mid-tempo piano-based ballad that discusses facial expressions that people make when having sexual intercourse? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Baruch Samuel Blumberg Baruch Samuel Blumberg (pictured), who shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the Hepatitis B virus, dies at the age of 85. A shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, leaves at least 20 people dead and more than 100 missing. Scientists observe the highest level of Arctic ozone layer depletion on record, attributed to colder temperatures in the stratosphere. The Democrats for Andorra, led by Antoni Martí, win an absolute majority in a parliamentary election. In United States college basketball, the Connecticut Huskies defeat the Butler Bulldogs to win the men's NCAA Championship. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
April 8: Hanamatsuri in Japan 217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla (bust pictured) was assassinated at a roadside near Harran and succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect Macrinus. 1904 – British occultist and writer Aleister Crowley began transcribing The Book of the Law, a Holy Book in Thelema. 1968 – BOAC Flight 712 suffered an engine fire shortly after take off from London Heathrow Airport, leading to deaths of five people on board, including flight attendant Barbara Jane Harrison, who was later awarded a posthumous George Cross for her heroism during the accident. 1992 – American tennis player Arthur Ashe announced that he had contracted HIV from blood transfusions; he would spend the remainder of his life as an AIDS activist. 2008 – On board Soyuz TMA-12, Yi So-Yeon became the first Korean, and second Asian woman to go into space. More anniversaries: April 7 – April 8 – April 9 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now April 8, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The flower of a morning glory plant (Ipomoea nil species pictured). "Morning glory" is a common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants. Most morning glory flowers curl up and close during the warm parts of the day, and are fully open in the morning, thus their name, although some, such as Ipomoea muricata, are night blooming flowers.

Photo: Frank J. Gualtieri Jr.

Recently featured: Winter military housing in the Siege of Sevastopol – Pipevine swallowtail butterfly – Hōryū-ji

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