Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be
dismissed in the sport of cricket. The umpire may rule a batsman out lbw
if the ball would have struck the wicket but was intercepted by any part
of the batsman except his bat. The umpire's decision, however, will
depend on a number of criteria, including where the ball pitched,
whether the ball hit in line with the wickets and whether the batsman
was offering a shot. Lbw first appeared in the laws in 1774, as batsmen
began to use their pads to prevent the ball hitting their wicket. Since
the 1990s, the availability of television replays and, later, ball-
tracking technology to assist umpires has increased the percentage of
lbws in major matches. However, the accuracy of the technology and the
consequences of its use remain controversial. Owing to its complexity,
the law is widely misunderstood among the general public and wrong lbw
decisions have sometimes caused crowd trouble. Since the law's
introduction, the proportion of lbw dismissals has risen steadily.
Statistics reveal that the probability of a batsman being dismissed lbw
in a Test match varies depending on where the match is played and which
teams are playing.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leg_before_wicket>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
Lord Wellesley, Governor-General of the British Raj, founded
Fort William College in Fort William, India, to promote Bengali, Hindi
and other vernaculars of the subcontinent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_College>
1913:
The air temperature in California's Death Valley reached 134
°F (56.7 °C), the highest reading ever recorded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_National_Park>
1942:
An American naval airman discovered a downed Mitsubishi A6M
Zero on Akutan Island, Alaska, US, which was used to devise aerial
tactics against it.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akutan_Zero>
1973:
John Paul Getty III, grandson of American oil magnate J. Paul
Getty, was kidnapped in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Getty_III>
2011:
After 168 years, the final edition of the News of the World was
published as the British tabloid newspaper shut down over allegations
that it hacked the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler,
victims of the 7/7 attacks and relatives of deceased British soldiers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
badinage:
Playful raillery; banter.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/badinage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the
urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve
others at whatever cost.
--Arthur Ashe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Ashe>
Pipe Dream is the seventh musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II. Premiering on Broadway on November 30, 1955, it
was a flop and a financial disaster. It is based on John Steinbeck's
short novel Sweet Thursday, which he wrote in the hope of having it
adapted into a musical. Set in Monterey, California, the musical tells
the story of the romance between Doc, a marine biologist, and Suzy, who
in the novel is a prostitute; her profession is only alluded to in the
stage work. Rodgers and Hammerstein signed operatic diva Helen Traubel
to play Fauna, the house madam. They had concerns about featuring a
prostitute as female lead and setting part of the musical in a bordello
and as the show progressed through tryouts, Hammerstein repeatedly
revised it, obscuring Suzy's profession and the nature of Fauna's house.
Pipe Dream met with poor reviews, and rapidly closed once it exhausted
its advance sale. It had no national tour or London production, and has
rarely been presented since. There was no film at the time; the Rodgers
& Hammerstein Organization once hoped for a film version featuring the
Muppets with Fauna played by Miss Piggy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Dream_(musical)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1572:
Nineteen Catholic friars and clerics were hanged in Gorkum
during the 16th century religious wars in the Low Countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Gorkum>
1745:
War of the Austrian Succession: The French victory in the
Battle of Melle made their subsequent capture of Ghent possible.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Melle>
1868:
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,
including the Citizenship Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, was
ratified by the minimum required twenty-eight U.S. states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Con…>
1943:
World War II: The Allies began their invasion of Sicily, a
large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of
land combat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Sicily>
1981:
Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong (pictured), which
featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video
game history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
penitent:
1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant;
contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on
amendment of life.
2. Doing penance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penitent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The way we see things is constantly changing. At the moment the
way we see things has been left a lot to the camera. That shouldn't
necessarily be.
--David Hockney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hockney>
Operation Charnwood was a Second World War Anglo-Canadian offensive to
capture the German-occupied French city of Caen that took place from 8
to 9 July 1944, during the Battle of Normandy. It was also hoped to
forestall the transfer of German armoured units to the American sector
of the front. Preceded by a controversial bombing raid that destroyed
much of Caen's historic Old City, Charnwood began with three infantry
divisions attacking German positions supported by artillery and tanks.
British I Corps made gradual progress against the 12th SS Panzer
Division Hitlerjugend and 16th Luftwaffe Field Division. By the end of
the first day, the 3rd Canadian and British 3rd and
59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Divisions had reached Caen's outskirts.
Entering the city the following morning, the Allies encountered
resistance from German units withdrawing across the Orne river.
Carpiquet airfield was captured, and by evening the Allies had reached
the Orne's north bank. The operation was then halted as the bridges
south were defended or impassable and German reserves were positioned to
oppose their crossing. Despite I Corps' losses, Charnwood was a
tactical success. Operationally, it achieved mixed results.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Charnwood>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1758:
French and Indian War: French forces defeated the British at
Fort Carillon on the shore of Lake Champlain in the British Colony of
New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carillon>
1808:
Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter
intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the
Peninsular War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne_Statute>
1898:
American con artist and gangster Soapy Smith was killed in
Skagway, Alaska, when an argument with fellow gang members turned into
an unexpected gunfight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shootout_on_Juneau_Wharf>
1994:
Upon the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il became the Supreme
Leader of North Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il>
2011:
Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched in STS-135, the final
mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-135>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maw:
1. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the
mouth and jaws of a ravenous creature.
2. Any great, insatiable or perilous opening.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maw>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We make progress in society only if we stop cursing and
complaining about its shortcomings and have the courage to do something
about them.
--Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elisabeth_K%C3%BCbler-Ross>
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was, from 1351, a penalty in England
for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first
recorded in the 13th century. Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or
wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution. Once there,
they were hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated,
disembowelled, beheaded and quartered (chopped into four pieces). For
reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead
burnt at the stake. The severity of the sentence was measured against
the seriousness of the crime. As an attack on the monarch's authority,
high treason was considered an act deplorable enough to demand the most
extreme form of punishment. Over a period of several hundred years many
men found guilty of high treason were punished in this fashion,
including English Catholic priests executed during the Elizabethan era.
Although the Act of Parliament that defines high treason remains on the
United Kingdom's statute books, the sentence was modified in the
19th century and became obsolete in England in 1870. The death penalty
for treason was abolished in 1998.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was declared
innocent of heresy in a posthumous retrial.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrial_of_Joan_of_Arc>
1798:
The Quasi-War, an undeclared war fought entirely at sea, began
after the United States rescinded their treaties with France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-War>
1963:
The police of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief political adviser
of President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem, attacked a group of
American journalists who were covering a protest during the Buddhist
crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Seven_Day_scuffle>
1983:
After writing a letter to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov,
American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union as
Andropov's personal guest, becoming known as "America's Youngest
Ambassador".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith>
2005:
Suicide bombers killed 52 people in a series of four explosions
on London's public transport system (emergency responders pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanguinary:
1. Attended with bloodshed.
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as "state" and
"society" and "government" have no existence save as physically
exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes
that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame …
as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human
beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not
all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in
an imperfect world … aware that his effort will be less than perfect
yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.
--The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress>
The Dodo is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of
Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Its appearance in life is evidenced only
by 17th-century paintings and written accounts that vary considerably,
so its exact appearance is a mystery. Little is certain about its
habitat and behaviour. Subfossil remains show the Dodo was about one
1 metre (3.3 feet) tall and may have weighed 10–18 kg (22–40 lb).
It is presumed that the Dodo became flightless because of the ready
availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of
predators on Mauritius. The first recorded mention of the Dodo was by
Dutch sailors in 1598. In the following years, the bird was preyed upon
by hungry sailors, their domesticated animals, and invasive species
introduced during that time. The last widely accepted sighting of a Dodo
was in 1662. Its extinction within only about a century of its discovery
called attention to the previously unrecognised problem of human
involvement in the disappearance of entire species. The Dodo achieved
widespread recognition from its role in Alice in Wonderland, and it has
become a fixture in popular culture, often as a symbol of extinction and
obsolescence.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1253:
Mindaugas, the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned
as King of Lithuania, the only person to ever hold that title.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindaugas>
1411:
Ming Dynasty Admiral Zheng He returned to Nanjing after his
second voyage and presented the Sinhalese king, captured during the
Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming%E2%80%93Kotte_War>
1809:
Napoleon's French forces defeated Archduke Charles' Austrian
army at the Battle of Wagram, the decisive confrontation of the War of
the Fifth Coalition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram>
1885:
French chemists Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux successfully
tested their vaccine against rabies on nine-year-old Joseph Meister
after he was bitten by an infected dog.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies_vaccine>
1978:
A sleeping car train at Taunton, England, caught fire, killing
12 people and causing British Rail to install state-of-the art fire
prevention measures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunton_sleeping_car_fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Higgs boson:
(physics) A hypothetical elementary particle predicted by the Standard
Model; a boson with zero spin, it is thought to give mass to other
particles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Higgs_boson>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I feel that the essence of spiritual practice is your attitude
toward others. When you have a pure, sincere motivation, then you have
right attitude toward others based on kindness, compassion, love and
respect. Practice brings the clear realisation of the oneness of all
human beings and the importance of others benefiting by your actions.
--Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso,_14th_Dalai_Lama>
SheiKra is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens
Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The name is
derived from "shikra", an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive
vertically for its prey. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride
was planned to reach a height of approximately 160 feet (49 m), but
this was later changed to 200 feet (61 m). It reaches a maximum speed
of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), and has a total track length of 3,188
feet (972 m). It opened in 2005, and was converted to a floorless
roller coaster in 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster
Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. SheiKra was the first Dive
Coaster to be constructed in North America; it was also the first of its
kind to feature a vertical drop, a splashdown and an Immelmann loop. It
broke the records for the world's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive
Coaster, but has since lost these records. In 2005, Amusement Today's
annual Golden Ticket Awards voted it the fourth-best new steel roller
coaster of that year (in a three-way tie) and the 28th-best steel roller
coaster. It was voted the 30th-best steel roller coaster in 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheiKra>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1687:
The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac
Newton was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of
universal gravitation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathemat…>
1937:
The Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned
precooked meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture,
folklore, and urban legend.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam>
1950:
Korean War: In the first encounter between North Korean and
American forces, the unprepared and undisciplined U.S. Army task force
was routed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Osan>
2006:
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting
hours after North Korea reportedly tested at least seven separate
ballistic missiles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_missile_test>
2009:
A series of violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, the capital
city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gruntled:
(humorous) Satisfied.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruntled>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Beauty is always the result of an accident. Of a violent lapse
between acquired habits and those yet to be acquired. It baffles and
disgusts. It may even horrify. Once the new habit has been acquired, the
accident ceases to be an accident. It becomes classical and loses its
shock value.
--Jean Cocteau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau>
The Battle of Quebec was fought on December 31, 1775, early in the
American Revolutionary War, between American Continental Army forces and
the British defenders of the city of Quebec. The battle was the first
major defeat of the war for the Americans, and it came at a high price:
General Richard Montgomery (pictured) was killed, Benedict Arnold was
wounded, and Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men were taken prisoner.
The city's garrison, led by Quebec's provincial governor, General Guy
Carleton, suffered few casualties. Montgomery's army had earlier
captured Montreal, and then joined Arnold's forces. Carleton had escaped
from Montreal to Quebec, and last-minute reinforcements arrived to
bolster the city's limited defenses. Concerned that expiring enlistments
would reduce his force, Montgomery made the end-of-year attack in a
blinding snowstorm to conceal his army's movements. Montgomery's force
turned back after he was killed by cannon fire; Arnold was injured early
in the attack, and Morgan then led the assault until he became trapped
and had to surrender. Arnold and the Americans maintained an ineffectual
blockade of the city until spring, when British reinforcements arrived.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quebec_(1775)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
414:
Aelia Pulcheria proclaimed herself regent over her brother
Theodosius II and made herself Augusta and Empress of the Eastern Roman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria>
1054:
Chinese astronomers recorded the sudden appearance of a "guest
star", which was in actuality the supernova that created the Crab
Nebula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula>
1610:
Polish–Muscovite War: The outnumbered forces of the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Russians at the Battle of Klushino.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klushino>
1945:
The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of
its own crewmen, killing more than 300 and stranding the survivors in
shark-infested waters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cruiser_Bahia>
1951:
William Shockley announced the invention of the junction
transistor, for which he, John Bardeen, and Walter Houser Brattain won
the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
auteur:
A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a
specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or
preeminent ‘author’ of their works.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/auteur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Well, if I eat it, and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach
the key; and if makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so
either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!
--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a German-language writer of novels and
short stories, and is regarded as one of the most influential authors of
the 20th century. His works, such as "Die Verwandlung" ("The
Metamorphosis"), Der Process (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle),
are filled with themes and archetypes of alienation, brutality,
parent–child conflict, and mystical transformations. Kafka was born
into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire. He trained as a lawyer and worked for an insurance
company, writing in his spare time – he complained all his life about
his lack of time to write. Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and
close female friends, including his fiancée Felice Bauer. Only a few of
Kafka's stories appeared during his lifetime in story collections and
literary magazines. His novels and other unfinished works were published
posthumously, mostly by his friend Max Brod, who ignored his wish to
have the manuscripts destroyed. Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are
among the writers influenced by Kafka's work; the term Kafkaesque has
entered the English language to describe surreal situations like those
in his writing.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1844:
The last known pair of Great Auks (specimens pictured), the
only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, were killed in Eldey, off
the coast of Iceland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Auk>
1863:
Pickett's Charge, a futile Confederate infantry assault against
Union Army positions, occurred during the final and bloodiest day of
fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the
American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge>
1970:
The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on
Belfast, Northern Ireland, which only resulted in greater Irish
republican resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_Curfew>
1988:
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air
Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655>
2005:
Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Spain>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Panglossian:
1. (pejorative) Naively or unreasonably optimistic.
2. (pejorative) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all
possible worlds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panglossian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and
stare.
--William Henry Davies
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Henry_Davies>
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–95) was a British Conservative politician who
served as Prime Minister from October 1963 to October 1964. His
reputation rests more on the two periods when he served as the UK
foreign minister than on his brief, uneventful premiership. As
parliamentary aide to Neville Chamberlain, he witnessed Chamberlain's
efforts to preserve peace before the Second World War. In 1951 he
inherited the earldom of Home and became a member of the House of Lords.
Under Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan he was
appointed to posts including Leader of the House of Lords and Foreign
Secretary. In October 1963 Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister. Home
was controversially chosen to succeed him, renouncing his earldom and
winning election to the House of Commons. He was criticised by the
Labour Party as an out-of-touch aristocrat, and he came over stiffly in
television interviews. After narrow defeat in the 1964 general election
he resigned as party leader; he later served under Edward Heath as
Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After the
defeat of the Heath government in 1974 he retired from front-line
politics.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Douglas-Home>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
706:
In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang interred the final bodies in
the Qianling Mausoleum, which remained unopened until the 1960s.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianling_Mausoleum>
1890:
The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first
United States government action to limit monopolies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act>
1917:
White residents of East St. Louis, Illinois, burned entire
sections of the city and shot black inhabitants as they escaped the
flames.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_Riot>
1950:
A mentally ill Buddhist monk set fire to the Golden Pavilion at
Kinkaku-ji (restoration pictured), destroying what is now one of the
most popular tourist destinations in Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji>
1976:
More than a year after the end of the Vietnam War, North and
South Vietnam officially united under communist rule to form the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geodesy:
Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation
of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar
motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional,
time‐varying space.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided,
only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>
Frank Pick (1878–1941) was a British transport administrator. In 1906,
he joined the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL)
where he rose through the corporate ranks, becoming managing director in
1928. On 1 July 1933, he became chief executive officer and vice-
chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board when it was formed to
take charge of most of the transport operations in and around London.
Pick had a strong interest in public design, steering the development of
the London Underground's corporate identity by commissioning commercial
art, modern architecture and graphic design, including the first version
of the Underground's roundel (pictured). Under his direction, London's
Underground network and associated bus services expanded considerably,
reaching out into new areas and stimulating the growth of London's
suburbs. His impact on the growth of London between the world wars led
to him being likened to Baron Haussmann and Robert Moses. Pick wrote and
lectured extensively on sociological issues and on the place of art and
design in society, for which he was compared to Gaius Maecenas and
Thomas Aquinas.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Pick>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1879:
American evangelist Charles Taze Russell published the first
issue of The Watchtower, the most widely circulated magazine in the
world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watchtower>
1911:
The German gunboat Panther arrived in the Moroccan port of
Agadir, sparking the Agadir Crisis between Germany, Great Britain, and
France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir_Crisis>
1943:
Tokyo City was dissolved, with its territory divided into the
special wards of the newly created Tokyo Metropolis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo>
1960:
Ghana became a republic with Kwame Nkrumah as its first
president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah>
1963:
The British government revealed that former MI6 agent Kim
Philby had engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Philby>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scuppernong:
1. A large greenish-bronze grape native to the Southeastern United States,
a variety of the muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia).
2. A sweet, golden or amber-colored American wine made from this variety of
grape.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scuppernong>
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