Ernie Toshack (8 December 1914 – 11 May 2003) was an Australian
cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. He made his first-
class debut in 1945 as a left-arm medium paced bowler; his accuracy,
stamina, changes of pace, and movement in both directions confounded
batsmen. After only seven matches in the Sheffield Shield domestic
competition, he was selected for Australia's tour of New Zealand. In
Wellington, he opened the bowling in a match that was later classed as
an official Test match. He became a regular member of the Australian
team, playing in all of its Tests until the 1947–48 series against
India; he took a career-best 11 wickets for 31 runs in the First Test
but began to suffer recurring knee injuries. As a member of Don
Bradman's Invincibles team, which went undefeated on a tour of England
in 1948, Toshack played in the first four Tests before being injured
again. After a long convalescence, he attempted a comeback during
Australia's 1949–50 season, but further injury forced him to retire.
As a player, he was popular with crowds for his sense of humour.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Toshack>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
A woman appeared on stage as a professional actress in England
for the first time, most often credited to Margaret Hughes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hughes>
1880:
At an assembly of 10,000 Boers, Paul Kruger announced the
fulfilment of the decision to restore the South African Republic
government and volksraad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kruger>
1941:
The Holocaust: The Chełmno extermination camp in occupied
Poland, the first such Nazi camp to kill the Jews of the Ghetto
Litzmannstadt and the Warthegau by poison gas, began operating.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che%C5%82mno_extermination_camp>
1991:
Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the Belavezha
Accords, agreeing to dissolve the Soviet Union and establish the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States>
2010:
The Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS (model pictured)
passed by Venus at about 80,800 km distance, completing its planned
mission to demonstrate solar sail technology.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKAROS>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tankie:
1. (slang) A tank engine.
2. (slang, historical, Britain) A member of the Communist Party of Great
Britain who slavishly agreed with the Soviet Union's policy of crushing
revolts in Hungary in the 1950s and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by
sending army tanks into these countries.
3. (slang, derogatory, by extension) A person acting as an apologist for
the brutal policies of Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), the leader of the
Soviet Union.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tankie>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.
--Horace
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horace>