Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. On the north side are shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials; the south side holds the Royal Opera House (also called Covent Garden), the Drury Lane theatre, the London Transport Museum, and other cultural and entertainment venues. Its central square (pictured) is a popular shopping and tourist site. The area was originally the "garden of the Abbey and Convent", with orchards for Westminster Abbey, around 1200. In 1630 the 4th Earl of Bedford commissioned Inigo Jones to design the Italianate arcaded square, which served as a prototype for other estates as London grew. A small open-air market and its neighbourhood fell into disrepute as taverns, theatres and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in. Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and organise the market. Further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. The central building reopened as a shopping centre in 1980 with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1559:

During a jousting match, Gabriel Montgomery of the Garde Écossaise mortally wounded King Henry II of France, piercing him in the eye with his lance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France

1860:

Seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated in an evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum in Oxford, England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Oxford_evolution_debate

1908:

A massive explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, knocking over 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

1966:

The National Organization for Women, one of the United States' leading feminist organizations, was founded in Washington, D.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organization_for_Women

2009:

Schoolgirl Bahia Bakari was the sole survivor when Yemenia Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean killing 152 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenia_Flight_626

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

coop: 1. A basket, pen or enclosure for birds. 2. A wickerwork basket (kipe) or other enclosure for catching fish. 3. (figuratively, slang) A narrow place of confinement, a cage; a jail, a prison. […] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coop

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There was a time when only wise books were read helping us to bear our pain and misery. This, after all, is not quite the same as leafing through a thousand works fresh from psychiatric clinics. And yet the world is different from what it seems to be and we are other than how we see ourselves in our ravings.   --Czesław Miłosz https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz