The 149th Boat Race took place on 6 April 2003. Held annually, the
Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal
stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. The lead changed
twice during the race, which Oxford won by one foot (30 cm), the
smallest margin of victory in the history of the event. The close race
has been described as "epic". Five-time Olympic gold medallist Steve
Redgrave suggested that the race was the "greatest we will see in any of
our lifetimes". Umpired by the Boat Race veteran Boris Rankov, the 2003
race was the first to be scheduled on a Sunday. As a result of a
collision between the Cambridge boat and a launch, a member of the
Cambridge crew was replaced just two days before the race. This was the
first Boat Race to feature two sets of brothers on opposing sides. In
the reserve race Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis and Oxford won
the women's race.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Race_2003>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1809:
Napoleonic Wars: British forces captured the French frigate
Niémen in the Bay of Biscay.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_April_1809>
1945:
Second World War: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville
Island concluded with a decisive victory for the Australian Army's 7th
Brigade against the Imperial Japanese Army's 6th Division.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Slater%27s_Knoll>
2005:
Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was elected by the National
Assembly as the first non-Arab president of Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_Talabani>
2009:
An earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the
central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more
than 66,000 homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_L%27Aquila_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tight end:
1. (American football)
2. The position at the end of the offensive line whose primary jobs are
to block and serve as a short receiver.
3. A player (called an end) playing the position of tight end (sense
1.1).
4. (Canadian football, historical)
5. The position at the end of the offensive line whose primary jobs were
to block and serve as a short receiver; this position is no longer used.
6. A player (called an end) playing the position of tight end (sense
2.1).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tight_end>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
No good government can ever want more than two things for its
support: 1st, Its own excellence; and, 2dly, a people sufficiently
instructed, to be aware of that excellence. Every other pretended
support, must ultimately tend to its subversion, by lessening its
dependence upon these.
--James Mill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Mill>