The City of Portsmouth War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the English city of Portsmouth, Hampshire. The city suffered significant losses during the war, and after the conflict a site close to the Town Hall and the railway station was selected as the location for a memorial. The architects James Gibson and Walter Gordon designed it, with sculptural elements by Charles Jagger. The memorial consists of a semi-circular sunken recess (an exedra) with a screen bearing bronze panels listing the names of the dead. Balustrades lead into Guildhall Square, terminating in sculptures of a life-size soldier and sailor with machine guns. In the centre is a cenotaph, surmounted by an urn and decorated on the sides with relief carvings of wartime scenes. The memorial was unveiled on 19 October 1921, before its completion. In the 1970s another wall was created, listing the names of casualties from the Second World War; a monument to that conflict was added in 2005. The memorial is a Grade II* listed building.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1850:

The inaugural National Women's Rights Convention, presided over by American activist Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, began in Worcester, Massachusetts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Women%27s_Rights_Convention

1906:

Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his biplane 14-bis (depicted) for 50 metres (160 ft) at a height of about four metres (13 ft). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santos-Dumont_14-bis

1934:

Jeannette Piccard piloted a hot-air balloon flight that reached 57,579 feet (17,550 m), becoming the first woman to fly in the stratosphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannette_Piccard

1956:

The Hungarian Revolution began as a peaceful student demonstration that attracted thousands while marching through central Budapest to the parliament building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

wilderness: 1. (uncountable) Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild. 2. (by extension) 3. (countable) A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness. 4. (countable, horticulture) An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness. 5. (uncountable, obsolete) Unrefinedness; wildness. 6. (countable, figuratively) 7. Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things. 8. A place or situation that is bewildering and in which one may get lost. 9. Often preceded by in the: a situation of disfavour or lack of recognition; (specifically, politics) of a politician, political party, etc.: a situation of being out of office. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wilderness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely emerges in another form. Even if you don't believe in God, you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.   --Michael Crichton https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton