Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 July 12

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Wimbledon Championship, 1877

The 1877 Wimbledon Championship, the world's first lawn tennis tournament, was held in Wimbledon, London, at the renamed All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. The club had introduced lawn tennis in 1875 to compensate for waning interest in croquet, and was organising a tennis tournament to raise money for lawn maintenance equipment. The tournament rules were derived from the first standardised rules of tennis issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club. The Gentlemen's Singles competition, the only event of the championship, was contested on grass courts by 22 players. It was held on 9–19 July in front of a crowd of about 200 people who paid an entry fee of one shilling. Spencer Gore, a 27-year-old rackets player, became the first Wimbledon champion by defeating William Marshall in three sets that lasted 48 minutes. He received 12 guineas in prize money and a silver challenge cup, donated by the sports magazine The Field. The tournament made a profit of £10. (Full article...)

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The steeple of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina

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Claudio Bravo

On this day...

July 12: Independence Day in Kiribati (1979) and São Tomé and Príncipe (1975); The Twelfth in Northern Ireland

Australian Aboriginal flag

Today's featured picture

Charles I with M. de St Antoine

Charles I with M. de St Antoine is an oil painting on canvas by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck in 1633. It depicts Charles I of England on horseback, accompanied by his riding master, Pierre Antoine Bourdon. Van Dyck became Principal Painter in Ordinary for Charles in 1632, and completed several equestrian portraits of the king, including multiple versions of this painting; the prime version is in the Royal Collection.

Painting: Anthony van Dyck

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