Arthur Gilligan (23 December 1894 – 5 September 1976) was an English first-class cricketer who captained the England cricket team nine times in 1924 and 1925, winning four Test matches, losing four and drawing one. In first-class cricket, he played mainly for Cambridge University and Sussex, and captained the latter team between 1922 and 1929. A fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Gilligan completed the double in 1923 and was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year for 1924. As a captain, Gilligan was well-liked by players and commentators, although many did not believe he was an effective tactician. During his playing days, Gilligan was a member of the British Fascists, and it is possible he helped to establish small fascist groups in Australia when he captained the England team there during the 1924–25 tour. As the Marylebone Cricket Club president during England's 1968–69 tour of South Africa, he played a part in the D'Oliveira affair.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Gilligan
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis (painting shown). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_resignation_as_commander-in-chief
1919:
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act was enacted, lifting most of the existing common-law restrictions on women in the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Disqualification_%28Removal%29_Act_1919
1984:
An engine fire caused Aeroflot Flight 3519 to crash shortly after takeoff from Krasnoyarsk, USSR, killing all but one of the 111 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_3519
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
run someone ragged: (originally US, idiomatic) To exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/run_someone_ragged
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Laws, wisely administered, will secure men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body, at a comparatively small personal sacrifice; but no laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual action, economy, and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights. The Government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflex of the individuals composing it. The Government that is ahead of the people will inevitably be dragged down to their level, as the Government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up. In the order of nature, the collective character of a nation will as surely find its befitting results in its law and government, as water finds its own level. The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly. Indeed all experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. For the nation is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of the personal improvement of the men, women, and children of whom society is composed. --Samuel Smiles https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Smiles