James Rowland (1 November 1922 – 27 May 1999) was a senior commander
in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), serving as Chief of the Air
Staff (CAS) from 1975 to 1979. He later held office as Governor of New
South Wales from 1981 to 1989, and was Chancellor of the University of
Sydney from 1990 to 1991. After joining the RAAF in 1942, he was posted
to Britain as a Pathfinder bomber pilot in the air war over Europe,
earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was forced to bail out over
Germany following a collision with another Allied aircraft in 1945, and
was imprisoned. After repatriation and demobilisation, Rowland finished
an aeronautical engineering degree and rejoined the RAAF. He became a
test pilot, serving with and later commanding the Aircraft Research and
Development Unit in the 1950s, and also a senior engineering officer,
being closely involved in the delivery to Australia of the Dassault
Mirage III supersonic fighter in the 1960s. He served as Air Member for
Technical Services from 1972 until 1975, when he was elevated to air
marshal and CAS, the first engineer to hold the position. He was
knighted in 1977 and appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in
1987.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rowland_(RAAF_officer)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1141:
The Anarchy: Matilda's brief reign as the first female ruler of
England ended when Stephen of Blois regained the throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen,_King_of_England>
1611:
The first recorded performance of William Shakespeare's play
The Tempest was held at the Palace of Whitehall in London, exactly seven
years after the first certainly known performance of his tragedy Othello
was held in the same building.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello>
1876:
The Colony of New Zealand dissolved its nine provinces and
replaced them with 63 counties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_New_Zealand>
1941:
American photographer Ansel Adams shot Moonrise, Hernandez, New
Mexico, one of his most famous photographs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrise,_Hernandez,_New_Mexico>
1956:
The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka were
formally created under the States Reorganisation Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
rood screen:
(architecture, Christianity) A carved screen that separated the chancel
and nave in a medieval church; it originally carried a large crucifix.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rood_screen>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The collective name for the ripe fruits of religion in a character
is Saintliness. The saintly character is the character for which
spiritual emotions are the habitual centre of the personal energy; and
there is a certain composite photograph of universal saintliness, the
same in all religions, of which the features can easily be traced.
--William James
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James>