George V (1865–1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British
Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through World War I
until his death in 1936. He was the first British monarch of the House
of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From the age of twelve George served in
the Royal Navy, but upon the unexpected death of his elder brother,
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, he became heir to
the throne and married his brother's fiancée, Mary of Teck. Although
they occasionally toured the British Empire, George preferred to stay
at home with his stamp collection and lived what later biographers
would consider a dull life because of its conventionality. George
became King-Emperor in 1910 on the death of his father, King
Edward VII. During World War I he relinquished all German titles and
styles on behalf of his relatives who were British subjects, and
changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to
Windsor. During his reign, the Statute of Westminster separated the
crown so that George ruled the dominions as separate kingdoms,
preparing the way for the future development of the Commonwealth of
Nations. His reign also witnessed the rise of socialism, communism,
fascism, Irish republicanism, and the first Labour ministry.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_V_of_the_United_Kingdom>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee
and Stonewall Jackson, scored a Confederate victory at the Battle of
Chancellorsville near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville>
1882:
The United States Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act,
implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United States that
eventually lasted for over 60 years until the 1943 Magnuson Act.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act>
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while
trying to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, killing
over 30 people on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg>
1994:
The Channel Tunnel, a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel
beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover connecting
Folkestone, Kent, England to Coquelles, France, officially opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
umpteenth (num):
(informal) Occurring in a relatively large but unspecified position in
a sequence
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umpteenth>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
When true simplicity is gain'd
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our
delight
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
--Joseph Brackett
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Brackett>