Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, England. Before 1974, it was in the county of Staffordshire. The town lies on the route of the ancient Watling Street. Although there is no record of its existence before the 17th century, Ogley Hay – a district of the town today – is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book. Brownhills quickly grew around the coal-mining industry, especially in the mid-19th century after the town was linked to the railway and canal networks. By the end of the century, Brownhills had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town of more than 13,000, of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s; the subsequent closure of the pits led to a severe economic decline that has continued until the present. The local authority instituted a regeneration programme in 2007, but there has been little subsequent development.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownhills
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1875:
French composer Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (poster pictured), based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen
1945:
Second World War: The Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the neighbourhood of Bezuidenhout in The Hague, killing 511 evacuees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Bezuidenhout
1972:
The British rock band Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick, a parody concept album allegedly adapted from an eight-year-old boy's epic poem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick
2012:
Two passenger trains collided near Szczekociny, Poland, resulting in 16 deaths and 58 injuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczekociny_rail_crash
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
triangulation: 1. (uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the principles of trigonometry; (countable) an instance of the use of this technique. 2. (countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are the basis of a chart or map. 3. (countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a triangular path to force the advance of a pawn. 4. (countable, geometry) A subdivision of a planar object into triangles, and by extension the subdivision of a higher-dimension geometric object into simplices. 5. (uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown location is found using three known distances from known locations. 6. (uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre. 7. (uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more) researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triangulation
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people. From President Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world. --Joe Biden https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden