The Boat Races 2017 took place on 2 April. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. For the second time in the history of the event, the men's, the women's and both reserves' races were all held on the Tideway on the same day. In the men's reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie were beaten by Oxford's Isis, and in the women's reserve race, Cambridge's Blondie defeated Oxford's Osiris. In the women's race, Cambridge won by a large margin following a disastrous start by the Oxford boat. This win, their second in ten years, took Cambridge's advantage in the overall standings to 42–30. The Oxford men's boat won their race after leading from the start, their fourth victory in five years, taking the overall record in the event to 82–80 in Cambridge's favour. The races were watched by around a quarter of a million spectators live, including, for the first time, on YouTube.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Races_2017
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León reached Florida, becoming the first European known to do so, purportedly while searching for the Fountain of Youth in the New World. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Le%C3%B3n
1863:
In Richmond, Virginia, U.S., about 5,000 people, mostly poor women, rioted in protest of the exorbitant price of bread. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_bread_riots
1973:
The Liberal Movement broke away from the Liberal and Country League in South Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Movement_(Australia)
1992:
Bosnian War (Yugoslav Wars): At least 48 civilians were killed in the town of Bijeljina. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijeljina_massacre
2002:
Operation Defensive Shield: Approximately 200 Palestinian militants fled the advancing Israel Defense Forces into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, starting a month-long standoff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_the_Church_of_the_Nativity_in_Bethlehem
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
beer o'clock: (slang, humorous) The time of the first beer (or alcoholic beverage) of the day. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beer_o%27clock
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I attacked those Western playwrights who use their influence and affluence to preach to the world the nihilistic doctrine that life is pointless and irrationally destructive, and that there is nothing we can do about it. Until everyone is fed, clothed, housed and taught, until human beings have equal leisure to contemplate the overwhelming fact of mortality, we should not (I argued) indulge in the luxury of "privileged despair." --Kenneth Tynan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Tynan