Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 April 7

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From today's featured article

Coat of arms of
the Pleydell family

Gabriel Pleydell was an English landowner and politician. Born before 1519 into a large, affluent family, he became a Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett in 1553, close to his family estate at Midgehall in Wiltshire. His election to the Marlborough constituency two years later may have been made possible by his father's influential connections. He returned to the Wootton Bassett seat in 1563 at the request of Sir John Thynne, whom he had supported in a dispute over the Knighthood of the Shire in 1559. He was alleged to be one of the ringleaders of a plot to exile Queen Mary I of England, and made a contentious claim of parliamentary privilege after he was found guilty of this offence in 1555, an action which caused serious disagreement between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Legal accusations for most of his political career and imprisonment in Fleet Prison and the Tower of London helped "confirm for Gabriel Pleydell a niche in parliamentary history", according to a modern historian. He died in 1590 or 1591. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Big A Sign

... that the halo on the Big A Sign (pictured) lights up to tell passing motorists of a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball win?
... that Barbara Bradby was the first woman to ride a bicycle at Oxford University, where her academic prowess inspired a limerick?
... that you could enhance your learning while your mind wanders by using dishabituation technique?
... that Paul Bashutsky took part in the suppression of the Decembrist revolt in 1825, and was promoted to General of the Infantry three years later?
... that Rhizophora racemosa is normally the first mangrove to colonise newly exposed mudflats in West Africa?
... that by winning the 2016–17 PBA Philippine Cup Finals, the San Miguel Beermen became the second team in Philippine Basketball Association history to keep permanent possession of the Jun Bernardino Trophy?
... that a vegan alternative to honey is made from apples, cane sugar, and lemon juice, making it more sustainable, and edible for people with a honey allergy?
... that María Parrado won the first season of The Voice Kids Spain?

In the news

Tim Berners-Lee

The United States attacks a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun which killed more than 70 people.
Tim Berners-Lee (pictured) wins the Turing Award for inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the protocols and algorithms that allow the Web to scale.
In college basketball, the South Carolina Gamecocks win the NCAA women's tournament and the North Carolina Tar Heels win the men's tournament.
A bombing in the Saint Petersburg Metro kills at least 14 people and injures more than 45 others.
The annual Boat Races are held, with Oxford winning the men's race and Cambridge winning the women's race.

On this day...

April 7: World Health Day; National Beer Day in the United States

Demonstrators in Chișinău, Moldova

1348 – Charles, King of Bohemia, issued a Golden Bull to establish Charles University in Prague, the first university in Central Europe.
1862 – American Civil War: Union forces defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time, in Hardin County, Tennessee.
1947 – The Arab Ba'ath Party was founded in Damascus, Syria.
1969 – The Internet was symbolically born with publication of RFC 1.
2009 – Mass protests (pictured) began across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election were fraudulent.

Berengar I of Italy (d. 924) · El Greco (d. 1614) · Dave Arneson (d. 2009)

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From today's featured list

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan was presented two hundred times in the 1960s. It is the third-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The recipients receive a Sanad, a certificate signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association. Ten awards were presented in 1960, followed by thirteen in 1961, twenty-seven in 1962, twelve in 1963, eighteen in 1964, twenty-five in 1965, fourteen in 1966, twenty-four in 1967, twenty-eight in 1968, and twenty-nine in 1969, including five foreign recipients. Individuals from nine different fields were awarded. Journalist Manikonda Chalapathi Rau and Kannada writer K. Shivaram Karanth returned their 1968 awards, while sitar player Vilayat Khan refused to accept it, with him stating that "the selection committees were incompetent to judge [his] music". (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The vault at Saint-Séverin Church, Paris. A vault is an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, provided by the ground in underground vaults or by (for example) thicker walls or buttresses for above-ground vaults. The simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape.

Photograph: Roman Bonnefoy

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