The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a coal-mining spoil tip that caused the deaths of 116 children and 28 adults on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, engulfing the local junior school and other buildings. There were seven spoil tips on the slopes above Aberfan; the one that slipped onto the village was 111 feet (34 m) high. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees. The organisation's chairman, Lord Robens, was criticised for making misleading statements. Neither the NCB nor any of its employees were prosecuted and the organisation was not fined. Half of the village's surviving children suffered post- traumatic stress disorder.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1854:

Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses and 15 nuns were sent to Turkey to help treat wounded British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale

1944:

World War II: The three-week-long Battle of Aachen concluded, making the city the first on German soil to be captured by the Allies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aachen

1950:

Korean War: The Battle of Yongju began as British and Australian troops of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade engaged in heavy fighting with North Korean forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yongju

1978:

After reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft, Frederick Valentich disappeared in unexplained circumstances while piloting a Cessna 182L light aircraft over the Bass Strait to King Island, Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Frederick_Valentich

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

tattle: 1. (intransitive) To chatter; to gossip. 2. (intransitive, Canada, US, derogatory) Often said of children: to report incriminating information about another person, or a person's wrongdoing; to tell on somebody. 3. (intransitive, obsolete) To speak like a baby or young child; to babble, to prattle; to speak haltingly, to stutter. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tattle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass, It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on.   --Ursula K. Le Guin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin