Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 May 14

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From today's featured article

Faryl Smith (born 1995) is a British soprano who rose to fame after competing on the second series of the ITV television show Britain's Got Talent in 2008. Although she was a favourite to win after the second round, and received praise throughout the competition, she finished outside the top three in the live final. Smith signed a contract with Universal Classics and Jazz for a £2.3 million advance in December 2008, the largest ever granted to a schoolgirl. Her debut album, Faryl, was released in March 2009 and became the fastest-selling solo classical album in British chart history, selling 29,200 copies in the first week. Thanks to the album's success, Smith was nominated for two Classical BRIT awards, becoming the youngest ever double nominee. Her second album, and last with Universal, was Wonderland, which was released in November 2009. Since the end of her contract with Universal, Smith has continued to perform and record music. (Full article...)

Part of the Faryl Smith series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

Hillfield House

... that from 1867 to 1869 Albert Estcourt built the "most elaborate Victorian house in Gloucester" (pictured)?
... that the premise for the comic book Sleepless came to writer Sarah Vaughn when she was trying to sleep?
... that Vice-Admiral Georgy Stepanov of the Soviet Navy was sentenced to ten years in prison for passing technical secrets to the Allies?
... that after winning the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix, driver David Coulthard refrained from spraying champagne on the podium out of respect for Ilmor Engineering's Paul Morgan, who had died the day before?
... that the dancer and cabaret artist Hedi Schoop emigrated to California with her husband, the composer Friedrich Hollaender, where she created and manufactured pottery?
... that the top trumps in Knüffeln, the centuries-old national card game of Frisia, are the five "Old Ones"?
... that Nawab Ahmad Ali Khan was the only ruler of the Malerkotla State who had his name inscribed on coins?
... that actress Chloe Howman compared her Casualty character Rita Freeman to a Jack Russell Terrier?

In the news

Doris Day in 1957

American actress and singer Doris Day (pictured) dies at the age of 97.
The United Nations reports that, due to human activity, the Earth's biodiversity has suffered a catastrophic decline unprecedented in human history.
At least 29 people are killed in clashes at the Gaza–Israel border.
Judd Trump wins the World Snooker Championship, defeating John Higgins in the final.

On this day

May 14: Feast day of Saint Matthias (Roman Catholicism)

Skylab

1264 – Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle of Lewes and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
1868 – Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
1939 – In Lima, Peru, Lina Medina became the youngest confirmed mother in history, giving birth at the age of five years, seven months and twenty-one days.
1973 – The NASA space station Skylab (pictured) was launched from Cape Canaveral.
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador were attacked by both Salvadoran Armed Forces and the Honduran military, resulting in at least 300 deaths.

William Walcher (d. 1080) · Fanny Mendelssohn (d. 1847) · George Lucas (b. 1944)

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Today's featured picture

In firearms, rifling is the helical groove pattern that is machined into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel, for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting. This spin serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile by conservation of angular momentum, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy over smoothbore designs.

This picture, taken in 2016, shows the conventional rifling of an Austro-Hungarian 90 mm (3.5 in) M75 cannon, manufactured in 1891, on display at Ljubljana Castle in Slovenia.

Photograph credit: Petar Milošević

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