Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 April 20

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From today's featured article

Fairfax Harrison (1869–1938) was an American lawyer, businessman, and writer. The son of the secretary to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Harrison studied law at Yale University and Columbia University before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896. By 1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 helped secure funding to keep the company solvent. In 1913 he was elected president of Southern, where he instituted a number of reforms in company operations. By 1916, under Harrison's leadership, the Southern had expanded to an 8,000-mile (13,000 km) network across 13 states, its greatest extent until the 1950s. Following America's entry into World War I the federal government took control of the railroads in December 1917, running them through the United States Railroad Administration, on which Harrison served. Harrison struggled to keep the railroad afloat during the Great Depression, but by 1936 Southern was once again showing a profit. Harrison retired in 1937, intending to focus on his hobby of writing about historical subjects including the roots of the American Thoroughbred horse, but he died three months later in February 1938. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's newest content:

... that at hotels in Israel, the Israeli breakfast is commonly presented as a self-service buffet (pictured)?

... that Saura painting of Odisha has a visual semblance to Warli painting from Maharashtra?

... that correspondence with Thomas Pennant formed the basis of part of Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne?

... that the Cebongan Prison raid in Indonesia was declared a human rights violation by the National Commission on Human Rights, but not by Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro?

... that Daniel Ortúzar Cuevas, a former member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, was also a farmer?

... that in 1587 Sir Rowland Hayward entertained Queen Elizabeth I at his home of King's Place, which had once been owned by her father, King Henry VIII?

... that after being caught at sea trying to defect, Cuban baseball player Andy Morales wasn't asked to participate in the 2000 Summer Olympics?

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Today's articles for improvement

Wonders of the World – Listeria ivanovii – Social experiment

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In the news

Serbia and Kosovo reach an EU-brokered deal towards normalising bilateral relations.

A manhunt across the Boston area results in the death of one suspect and the capture of a second in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (pictured) is arrested on charges relating to his dismissal of judges in 2007.

An explosion at a fertilizer facility in West, Texas, damages more than 75 buildings, kills at least 14 people and injures more than 200 others.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, the strongest in the country in 40 years.

A wave of bombings across Iraq kills more than 50 people and injures approximately 300 others.

Recent deaths: Storm Thorgerson – Pat Summerall

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On this day...

April 20: Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith); 4/20 (cannabis culture)

1535 – The appearance of sun dogs over Stockholm, Sweden, inspired the painting Vädersolstavlan, the oldest colour depiction of the city.

1657 – Anglo-Spanish War: An English fleet under Admiral Robert Blake attacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands.

1939 – Billie Holiday (pictured) recorded her version of "Strange Fruit", which gained fame as an emblem of the Civil Rights Movement.

1968 – British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the Shadow Cabinet.

1978 – Soviet fighters shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after it violated Soviet airspace.

2010 – An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

More anniversaries: April 19 – April 20 – April 21

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It is now April 20, 2013 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Brian Nankervis (b. 1956), an Australian comedian and writer, shown here during a live performance. Nankervis rose to popularity while playing Raymond J. Bartholomeuz on Hey Hey It's Saturday; since 2005 he has been a host of the gameshow RocKwiz.

Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ Harrison

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