Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting
of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from
1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for
Central, and screened on the ITV network in its regular weekday
afternoon children's strand, Children's ITV, typically in a 4:45Â pm
slot (days varied over the course of the run). Aimed at older children
and teenagers, the programme was based on the activities of a
children's newspaper, the Junior Gazette, produced by pupils from the
local comprehensive school. In later series it was depicted as a
commercial venture. The show interspersed comedic elements with the
dramatic. As well as addressing interpersonal relationships
(particularly in the Lynda-Spike story arc), the show tackled issues
such as solvent abuse, child abuse and firearms control. Written by
ex-teacher Steven Moffat, more than half the episodes were directed by
Bob Spiers, a noted British comedy director who had previously worked
on classics such as Fawlty Towers. Critical reception was very
positive, particularly for the quality of the writing, and the series
has attracted a cult following with a wide age range. (more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
27 BC:
Gaius Octavianus was given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate when
he became the first Roman emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus>
1780:
American Revolutionary War: The British Royal Navy gained their first
major naval victory over its European enemies in the war when they
defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._Vincent_%281780%29>
1938:
Benny Goodman's concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall was
instrumental in establishing jazz as a legitimate form of music.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Goodman>
1969:
Student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in Prague to
protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia one year earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Palach>
2008:
Five days after proposing lyrics for the wordless La Marcha Real, the
Spanish national anthem, the Spanish Olympic Committee withdrew the
proposal due to widespread criticism.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcha_Real>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Lethean (adj):
1. (chiefly poetic, Greek mythology) of or relating to the river Lethe.
2. (by extension) of or relating to death or forgetfulness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lethean>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are told we must choose — the old or the new. In fact, we must
choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the
old and the new? It seems to me that one should always be seeking to
talk oneself out of these stark oppositions.
--Susan Sontag
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag>
120px|High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) images of the lower
chest in a 16 year-old boy with diffuse panbronchiolitis
Diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) is an inflammatory lung disease of
unknown cause. It is a severe, progressive form of bronchiolitis, an
inflammatory condition of the bronchioles (small air passages in the
lungs). DPB causes severe inflammation and nodule-like lesions of
terminal bronchioles, chronic sinusitis, and intense coughing with
large amounts of sputum production. The disease is believed to occur
when there is susceptibility, or a lack of immune system resistance, to
DPB-causing bacteria or viruses, caused by several genes that are found
predominantly in individuals of East Asian descent. DPB occurs more
often in males, and usually begins around age 40. It was recognized as
a distinct new disease in the early 1960s, and was formally named
"diffuse panbronchiolitis" in 1969. If left untreated, DPB progresses
to bronchiectasis, an irreversible lung condition that involves
enlargement of the bronchioles, and pooling of mucus in the bronchiolar
passages. The eventual result of untreated DPB can lead to respiratory
failure and heart problems. Daily treatment of DPB with macrolide
antibiotics such as erythromycin eases symptoms and increases survival
time, but the disease has no known cure. (more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1759:
The British Museum in London, today containing one of the largest and
most comprehensive collections in the world, opened to the public in
Montagu House, Bloomsbury.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum>
1919:
A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, burst and a wave of
molasses rushed through the streets , killing 21 people and injuring
150 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster>
1937:
Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdrew after
suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Corunna_Road>
1975:
Portugal signed the Alvor Agreement with UNITA, the MPLA, and the FNLA,
ending the Angolan War of Independence.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvor_Agreement>
1993:
Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, one of the most powerful members of the
Sicilian Mafia, was arrested after three decades as a fugitive.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Riina>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
penny farthing (v):
A type of bicycle popular in the 19th century, with the front wheel far
larger than the rear one
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penny_farthing>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Those whose conduct gives room for talk
Are always the first to attack their neighbors.
--Molière
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moli%C3%A8re>
120px|Queen Victoria holding a Privy Council meeting
The Privy Council is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in
the United Kingdom. Its membership is mostly made up of senior
politicians who are (or have been) members of either the House of
Commons or the House of Lords. The Privy Council, the modern-day
successor to the Privy Council of England, was formerly a powerful
institution, but its policy decisions are now exclusively in the hands
of one of its committees, the Cabinet. The Council formally advises the
Sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and together they
issue executive instruments known as Orders in Council, which among
other things are used to make Regulations. The Council by itself also
has a delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, which are mostly
used to regulate certain public institutions. It advises the Sovereign
on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special
status to incorporated bodies, and city or borough status to local
authorities. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby
Frederick VI of Denmark, a loser in the Napoleonic Wars, ceded Norway
to Sweden in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kiel>
1900:
Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca, based on the play La Tosca by French
dramatist Victorien Sardou, premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosca>
1957:
Kripalu Maharaj became the fifth Jagadguru, the supreme spiritual
leader of Hinduism.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadguru_Kripalu_Maharaj>
1960:
The Reserve Bank of Australia , the country's central bank and
banknote-issuing authority, was established.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Bank_of_Australia>
1967:
The counterculture Human Be-In was held in San Francisco's Golden Gate
Park, launching the Summer of Love.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Be-In>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
restitution (n):
1. (law) A process of compensation for losses.
2. A return or restoration to a previous condition or position
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/restitution>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To relate oneself in the spirit of reverence for life to the multiform
manifestations of the will-to-live which together constitute the world
is ethical mysticism. All profound world-view is mysticism, the essence
of which is just this: that out of my unsophisticated and naïve
existence in the world there comes, as a result of thought about self
and the world, spiritual self-devotion to the mysterious infinite Will
which is continuously manifested in the universe.
--Albert Schweitzer
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer>
Mathew Charles Lamb (1948–1976) was a Canadian spree killer. Seventeen
days after his release from jail in June 1966, Lamb took a shotgun from
his uncle's house and went on a shooting spree around his home-town of
Windsor, Ontario, killing two strangers and wounding two more. He was
found not guilty by reason of insanity in January 1967, and so avoided
Canada's mandatory death penalty for capital murder, but was committed
for an indefinite time in psychiatric care. He displayed a profound
recovery over the course of six years at Penetanguishene Mental Health
Centre's maximum security Oak Ridge unit. The Executive Council of
Ontario released Lamb in early 1973 on the condition that he spend a
year under the supervision of Dr Elliot Barker, his long-time
psychiatrist at Oak Ridge. With Barker's encouragement, Lamb
volunteered for the Rhodesian Security Forces in late 1973. He served
with distinction in the Rhodesian Light Infantry and Special Air
Service until he was killed in action on 7 November 1976, soon after
his promotion to lance-corporal. He received what Newsweek called "a
hero's funeral" in the Rhodesian capital, Salisbury, before his ashes
were returned to Windsor. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathew_Charles_Lamb>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1693:
An intensity XI earthquake, the most powerful in Italian history,
struck the island of Sicily.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake>
1879:
British forces under Lord Chelmsford invaded Zululand without
authorisation by the British Government, opening the Anglo-Zulu War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zulu_War>
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr Area to force the
German Weimar Republic to pay its reparations in the aftermath of World
War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr>
1946:
Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania,
declared the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of
state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha>
1986:
The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at the time the longest
prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge in the world, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
petiole (n):
1. (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.
2. (entomology) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an
insect. Used especially to refer to the metasomal segment of
Hymenoptera such as wasps
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/petiole>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we
have the answers.
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel>
The Green Child is the only completed novel by the English anarchist
poet and critic Herbert Read. Written in 1934 and first published by
Heinemann in 1935, the story is based on the 12th-century legend of two
green children who mysteriously appeared in the English village of
Woolpit, speaking an apparently unknown language. Read described the
story in his English Prose Style, published in 1931, as "the norm to
which all types of fantasy should conform". Each of the novel's three
parts ends with the apparent death of the story's protagonist,
President Olivero, dictator of the fictional South American Republic of
Roncador. In each case Olivero's death is an allegory for his
translation to a "more profound level of existence", reflecting the
book's overall theme of a search for the meaning of life. Read's
interest in psychoanalytic theory is evident throughout the novel,
which is constructed as a "philosophic myth ... in the tradition of
Plato". The story contains many autobiographical elements, and the
character of Olivero owes much to Read's experiences as an officer in
the British Army during the First World War. The novel was positively
received, although some commentators have considered it to be
"inscrutable", and one has suggested that it has been so differently
and vaguely interpreted by those who have given it serious study that
it may lack the form and content to justify the praise it has received.
(more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Child>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
475:
Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor after Zeno was forced to flee
Constantinople.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basiliscus>
1839:
The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype photographic
process, named after its inventor, French artist and chemist Louis
Daguerre .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/daguerreotype>
1923:
Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebelled against the League
of Nations decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French
control.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaip%C4%97da_Revolt>
1972:
RMS Queen Elizabeth, an ocean liner which sailed the Atlantic Ocean for
the Cunard White Star Line, was destroyed by fire in Victoria Harbour,
Hong Kong.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth>
1996:
First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launched raids in the city of
Kizlyar, Republic of Dagestan, which turned into a massive hostage
crisis involving thousands of civilians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye_hostage_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
from the word go (adv):
>From the very beginning; from the outset; immediately upon starting
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/from_the_word_go>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to
other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his
freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others.
--Simone de Beauvoir
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir>
100px|Elvis in 1970
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was an American singer and one of the most
important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He is often referred
to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Born in Tupelo,
Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 13. He
began his career there in 1954 and became the leading figure of the
newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of television
appearances and chart-topping records during the late 1950s.
Conscripted in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years
later with some of his most commercially successful work. In 1968,
after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance
in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las
Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973
Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite,
Aloha from Hawaii, seen by around 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription
drug abuse severely affected his health, and he died suddenly in 1977
from cardiac arrest. With his versatile voice and unusually wide
success encompassing many genres, Presley is the best-selling solo
artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive
Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of
fame. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1297:
Francesco Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, led his men to capture the
fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the
rulers of Monaco.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco>
1904:
Blackstone Library , the first branch of the Chicago Public Library
system, was dedicated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library>
1920:
The steel strike of 1919, an attempt to organize the United States
steel industry in the wake of World War I, collapsed in complete
failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/steel_strike_of_1919>
2003:
Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashed in extensive fog during final
approach to Diyarbakır Airport in Turkey, leaving only five survivors
out of 80 people on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_634>
2010:
Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave
of Cabinda attacked the bus carrying the Togo national football team on
its way to the 2010 African Cup of Nations, killing three.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_national_football_team_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
genet (n):
(biology) A group of genetically identical individuals (plants, fungi,
bacteria etc.) that have grown in a given location, all originating
from asexual reproduction of a single ancestor
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.
--Baltasar Gracián
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n>
100px|The Entombment
The Entombment is a glue-size painting on linen attributed to the
Early Netherlandish painter Dirk Bouts. It shows a scene from the
biblical entombment of Christ, probably completed between 1440 and 1455
as a wing panel for a large hinged polyptych altarpiece. The now lost
altarpiece is thought to have contained a central crucifixion scene
flanked by four wing panel works half its length (two either side)
depicting scenes from the life of Christ. The larger work was probably
commissioned for export, possibly to a Venetian patron whose identity
is lost. The Entombment was first recorded in a mid-19th century Milan
inventory and has been in the National Gallery, London since its
purchase on the gallery's behalf by Charles Eastlake in 1861. The
Entombment is renowned for its austere but affecting portrayal of
sorrow and grief. It shows four female and three male mourners grieving
over the body of Christ. It is one of the few surviving 15th-century
paintings created using glue-size, an extremely fragile medium lacking
durability. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entombment_%28Bouts%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
The first official Italian tricolour was adopted by the government of
the Cispadane Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy>
1940:
Winter War: The Finnish 9th Division stopped and completely destroyed
the overwhelming Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raate_Road>
1979:
The Vietnam People's Army captured the Cambodian capital city Phnom
Penh, deposing Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, which marked the end of
large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War>
1993:
The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as its
president.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ghana>
2010:
Muslim gunmen opened fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians leaving
church after celebrating a midnight Christmas Mass, killing eight of
them as well as one Muslim bystander.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tin ear (n):
Insensitivity to and inability to appreciate the elements of performed
music or the rhythm, elegance, or nuances of language
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tin_ear>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We have inherited an incredibly beautiful and complex garden, but the
trouble is that we have been appallingly bad gardeners. We have not
bothered to acquaint ourselves with the simplest principles of
gardening. By neglecting our garden, we are storing up for ourselves,
in the not very distant future, a world catastrophe as bad as any
atomic war, and we are doing it with all the bland complacency of an
idiot child chopping up a Rembrandt with a pair of scissors.
--Gerald Durrell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell>
100px|Sarah Trimmer
Sarah Trimmer (1741–1810) was a noted writer and critic of British
children's literature in the eighteenth century. Her periodical, The
Guardian of Education, helped to define the emerging genre by seriously
reviewing children's literature for the first time; it also provided
the first history of children's literature, establishing a canon of the
early landmarks of the genre that scholars still use today. Trimmer's
most popular children's book, Fabulous Histories, inspired numerous
children's animal stories and remained in print for over a century.
Trimmer was in many ways dedicated to maintaining the social and
political status quo in her works. As a high church Anglican, she was
intent on promoting the Established Church of Britain and on teaching
young children and the poor the doctrines of Christianity. Her writings
outlined the benefits of social hierarchies, arguing that each class
should remain in its God-given position. Yet, while supporting many of
the traditional political and social ideologies of her time, Trimmer
questioned others, such as those surrounding gender and the family.
(more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1449:
Constantine XI Palaiologos was crowned Byzantine-Roman Emperor, the
last one before the Fall of Constantinople.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_XI_Palaiologos>
1838:
Samuel Morse and his assistant Alfred Vail successfully tested the
electrical telegraph for the first time at Speedwell Ironworks in
Morristown, New Jersey.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/electrical_telegraph>
1912:
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presented his theory of
continental drift.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/continental_drift>
1993:
Indian Border Security Force (BSF) units killed 55 Kashmiri civilians
in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF
patrol.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopore_massacre>
1994:
Two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist Nancy Kerrigan was
clubbed on the right leg by an assailant hired by Jeff Gillooly, the
ex-husband of her rival Tonya Harding.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Kerrigan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
relegate (v):
1. (done to a person) Exile or banish to a particular place.
2. (Roman history, done to a person) Banish from proximity to Rome for
a set time.
3. [[consign
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/relegate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Your thought advocates fame and show. Mine counsels me and implores me
to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the
shore of eternity. Your thought instills in your heart arrogance and
superiority. Mine plants within me love for peace and the desire for
independence. Your thought begets dreams of palaces with furniture of
sandalwood studded with jewels, and beds made of twisted silk threads.
My thought speaks softly in my ears, "Be clean in body and spirit even
if you have nowhere to lay your head." Your thought makes you aspire to
titles and offices. Mine exhorts me to humble service.
--Khalil Gibran
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran>