Douglas Jardine (1900–1958) was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34. A right-handed batsman, he played 22 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 15 of those matches, winning nine, losing one and drawing five. Jardine is best known for captaining the English team during the 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, in which his team employed Bodyline tactics against Donald Bradman and other opposing Australian batsmen. A controversial figure among cricketers, Jardine was well known for his dislike of Australian players and crowds and was unpopular in Australia, particularly for his manner and especially so after the Bodyline tour. He retired from all first-class cricket in 1934 following a tour to India. Jardine was a qualified solicitor but did not work much in law, working in banking and, later on, journalism. He joined the Territorial Army in the Second World War, most of which he spent in India. After the war, he worked as a secretary to a paper manufacturer and returned to journalism. While on a business trip in 1957, he became ill with what proved to be lung cancer and died aged 57 in 1958.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Jardine

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

811:

Bulgarian forces led by Khan Krum defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Pliska, annihilating almost the whole army and killing Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pliska

1882:

Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic poem Parzival about Arthurian knight Percival and his quest for the Holy Grail, officially premiered at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, present-day Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal

1936:

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial , a memorial site near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France, dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during World War I, was unveiled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial

1990:

U.S. President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990

1999:

Fighting in the Kargil War ended after Indian troops cleared the Drass in Kashmir of Pakistani forces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_War

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

irrefutable (adj): Undeniable; unable to be disproved or refuted http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/irrefutable

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" --George Bernard Shaw http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw