Bobby Peel (12 February 1857 – 12 August 1941) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire between 1883 and 1897. Although an effective batsman, he was primarily a left-arm spin bowler; when conditions favoured his bowling style, he was a matchwinner. Between 1884 and 1896, Peel was regularly selected to represent England, playing 20 Test matches in which he took 101 wickets; in one such game, he bowled England to victory after they had followed on in Australia in 1894–95. Peel began playing for Yorkshire in 1883 and was the team's main spinner by 1887; he regularly took over 100 wickets in a season, despite receiving little support from other bowlers, and was among the leading batsmen for the county. As a player, he was very popular but had a reputation for drinking heavily. In 1897 he was suspended for drunkenness during a match and never played for Yorkshire again, although the events leading up to this are unclear. Later stories, generally dismissed by historians, suggested he urinated on the pitch. He continued to play and coach cricket for most of his life. Among his other jobs, he became the landlord of a public house and worked in a mill.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Peel
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
On the first anniversary of its victory in the Battle of Chacabuco, Chile formally declared its independence from Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Declaration_of_Independence
1912:
Xinhai Revolution: Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated under a deal brokered by military official and politician Yuan Shikai, formally replacing the Qing dynasty with a new republic in China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi
1947:
The French fashion company Christian Dior SE unveiled a "New Look" that revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Dior_SE
1994:
Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream
2001:
NASA's robotic space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
abderitism: (philosophy) The theory that the human race's morality will never advance beyond its present state. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abderitism
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Congratulations. You're alive. There's an unbroken thread that stretches across more than three billion years that connects us to the first life that ever touched this world. Think of how tough, resourceful and lucky all of our countless ancestors must have been to survive long enough to pass on the message of life to the next and the next and the next generation, hundreds of millions of times before it came to us. There were so many rivers to cross, so many hazards along the way. Predators, starvation, disease, miscalculation, long winters, drought, flood and violence. Not to mention the occasional upheavals that erupted from within our planet and the apocalyptic bolts that come from the blue. No matter where we hail from or who our parents were, we are descended from the hearty survivors of unimaginable catastrophes. Each of us is a runner in the longest and most dangerous relay race there ever was, and at this moment, we hold the baton in our hands. --Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Spacetime_Odyssey