The 149th Boat Race took place on 6 April 2003. 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. The lead changed twice during the race, which Oxford won by one foot (30 cm), the smallest margin of victory in the history of the event. The close race has been described as "epic". Five-time Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave suggested that the race was the "greatest we will see in any of our lifetimes". Umpired by the Boat Race veteran Boris Rankov, the 2003 race was the first to be scheduled on a Sunday. As a result of a collision between the Cambridge boat and a launch, a member of the Cambridge crew was replaced just two days before the race. This was the first Boat Race to feature two sets of brothers on opposing sides. In the reserve race Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis and Oxford won the women's race.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Race_2003

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1809:

Napoleonic Wars: British forces captured the French frigate Niémen in the Bay of Biscay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_April_1809

1945:

Second World War: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville Island concluded with a decisive victory for the Australian Army's 7th Brigade against the Imperial Japanese Army's 6th Division. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Slater%27s_Knoll

2005:

Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was elected by the National Assembly as the first non-Arab president of Iraq. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_Talabani

2009:

An earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more than 66,000 homeless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_L%27Aquila_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

tight end: 1. (American football) 2. The position at the end of the offensive line whose primary jobs are to block and serve as a short receiver. 3. A player (called an end) playing the position of tight end (sense 1.1). 4. (Canadian football, historical) 5. The position at the end of the offensive line whose primary jobs were to block and serve as a short receiver; this position is no longer used. 6. A player (called an end) playing the position of tight end (sense 2.1). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tight_end

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

No good government can ever want more than two things for its support: 1st, Its own excellence; and, 2dly, a people sufficiently instructed, to be aware of that excellence. Every other pretended support, must ultimately tend to its subversion, by lessening its dependence upon these.   --James Mill https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Mill