Gubby Allen (1902–1989) was a cricketer who captained England in
eleven Test matches. Born in Sydney, Australia, on 31 July 1902, his
family moved to London when he was six. In first-class matches, he
played for Middlesex and Cambridge University. A fast bowler and hard-
hitting lower-order batsman for England, Allen was appointed captain in
1936 and led the team during the unsuccessful 1936–37 tour of
Australia. He captained England in a Test series in the West Indies in
1947–48. He later became an influential cricket administrator who held
key positions in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which effectively
ruled English cricket at the time. He was instrumental in the creation
of an MCC coaching manual, and worked hard to eliminate illegal bowling
actions. As chairman of selectors from 1955 to 1961, he presided over a
period of great success for English cricket, during which he worked
closely with the Test captain Peter May. In 1963, he became MCC's
president, and was made the club's treasurer the following year. In this
role, he was deeply involved in the D'Oliveira affair, a controversy
over the potential selection of Basil D'Oliveira to tour South Africa.
He was knighted in 1986.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubby_Allen>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1201:
John Komnenos the Fat briefly seized the throne of the
Byzantine Empire from Alexios III Angelos, but he was soon caught and
executed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Komnenos_the_Fat>
1423:
Hundred Years' War: The English and their Burgundian allies
were victorious over the French at the Battle of Cravant near Auxerre,
France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cravant>
1917:
First World War: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres
in West Flanders, Belgium, with the Allied Powers aiming to force German
troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele>
1972:
The Troubles: Free Derry (Free Derry Corner pictured), an
autonomous self-declared area of Derry, Northern Ireland, was brought to
an end by the British Army's Operation Motorman.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Motorman>
2002:
Hamas detonated a bomb at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, killing nine students and injuring about 100
more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_University_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ha-ha:
1. A laugh.
2. Something funny; a joke. […]
3. A ditch with one vertical side, acting as a sunken fence, designed to
block the entry of animals into lawns and parks without breaking
sightlines.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ha-ha>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
NEVER let your guard down! You expect a battle to be fair! — A
battle will never be fair!
--Wonder Woman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(2017_film)>