Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 September 25

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From today's featured article

Possible depiction
of Æthelbald

Æthelbald was the King of Mercia, in what is now the Midlands of England, from 716 until he was killed in 757. He came to the throne after the death of his cousin, King Ceolred, who had driven him into exile. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the strong reigns of Mercian kings Penda and Wulfhere between about 628 and 675. When Æthelbald came to the throne, both Wessex and Kent were ruled by stronger kings, but within fifteen years Æthelbald was ruling all England south of the river Humber, according to the contemporary chronicler Bede. Æthelbald was killed in 757 by his bodyguards. He was succeeded briefly by Beornred, of whom little is known. Within a year, Offa, the grandson of Æthelbald's cousin Eanwulf, had seized the throne, possibly after a brief civil war. Under Offa, Mercia entered its most prosperous and influential period. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

The acoustic panels of the Aula Magna

... that the 31 acoustic panels (pictured) on the ceiling of the Central University of Venezuela's Aula Magna auditorium were originally meant to be an art installation in the outside corridor?
... that Honoka Inoue and her mother Kikuko provided the voices of a daughter and mother in the original net animation Pokémon Generations?
... that the Trump presidential campaign filed for arbitration against the publication of Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman?
... that in 1904, Dawson Williams, editor of the British Medical Journal, commissioned research from Edward Harrison that exposed numerous medications as "valueless"?
... that the reluctance of Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia to support national causes triggered a wave of terrorist violence from nationalist bands?
... that Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos sold one million copies within a month of release in July 2002, making it the fastest-selling PC video game in history at that time?
... that Moses Brown is the top-ranked player in a UCLA Bruins incoming class that also includes the son of a Basketball Hall of Famer?
... that the tiny nematodes Panagrolaimus detritophagus and Plectus parvus were revived after more than 30,000 years frozen in permafrost?

In the news

Eliud Kipchoge

An attack at a military parade in Ahvaz, Iran leaves at least 29 people dead, including the attackers.
A Tanzanian ferry capsizes on Lake Victoria, killing at least 227 people.
A landslide, triggered by several days of heavy rainfall, kills at least 53 people in Naga, Philippines.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (pictured) runs the Berlin Marathon in world record time.
NASA's ICESat-2 satellite is launched, the last mission to use the Delta II rocket.

On this day

September 25

Peking opera performer

275 – After the assassination of Aurelian, Tacitus was chosen by the Senate to succeed him as Roman emperor.
1790 – Peking opera (modern performer pictured) was born when the Four Great Anhui Troupes introduced Anhui opera to Beijing in honor of the Qianlong Emperor's eightieth birthday.
1944 – Second World War: British troops began their withdrawal from the Battle of Arnhem in the Netherlands, ending the Allies' Operation Market Garden in defeat.
1977 – About 4,200 people took part in the first modern Chicago Marathon.
1990 – The Ram Rath Yatra, a political-religious march organised to erect a temple to the Hindu deity Rama on the site of the Babri Masjid, began in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Glenn Gould (b. 1932) · John Bonham (d. 1980) · Marian Breland Bailey (d. 2001)

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Today's featured picture

Cornelis Kruseman (25 September 1797 – 14 November 1857) was a Dutch painter. Born in Amsterdam, he studied art with Charles Howard Hodges and Jean Augustin Daiwaille before moving to Italy via Paris in 1821. He remained in Italy for four years, working with and learning from artists Jean-Victor Schnetz and Louis Léopold Robert, and then moved back to the Netherlands and settled in The Hague. He lived in Italy again from 1841 to 1848, leading him to be called the "Italian Kruseman", before returning once more to the Netherlands for the rest of his life. His works included portraits, biblical scenes, and depictions of Italian peasant life.

This picture is a self-portrait of Kruseman, which hangs in the Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam.

Painting: Cornelis Kruseman

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