The 2020 Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament held from 12 to 19 January 2020 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It was the 46th Masters tournament, and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2019–20 snooker season, following the 2019 UK Championship and preceding the 2020 World Snooker Championship. The knockout tournament involved the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, it was broadcast by the BBC and Eurosport in Europe. Judd Trump was the defending champion, but was eliminated in the first round. The previous year's finalist, Ronnie O'Sullivan, chose not to participate, thus giving his entry to Ali Carter, who reached the final (pictured) but lost to Stuart Bingham. Claiming his first Masters title, Bingham became the oldest Masters champion, at the age of 43 years and 243 days, beating the previous record set by Ray Reardon in 1976.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Masters_%28snooker%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1511:

War of the League of Cambrai: Troops led by Pope Julius II captured Mirandola after a brief siege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mirandola_%281511%29

1920:

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded by the directors of the National Civil Liberties Bureau. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union

1972:

The French newspaper L'Aurore revealed that the former Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon", had been found to be living in Peru. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie

2012:

The Hong Kong–based file-sharing website Megaupload was shut down by the FBI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

chambers: 1. (archaic) A set of rooms in a building used as an office or a residential apartment. 2. (by extension, law) 3. Chiefly in in chambers: a judge's private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court. 4. (Britain) Originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building. 5. Euphemistic form of chamber pot (“a container used for defecation and urination”); also, synonym of potty (“a small (chiefly plastic) pot used by children for defecation and urination when toilet-training”). 6. (Britain, historical) In full king's chambers: parts of the sea next to the coast of England and Wales delimited by imaginary lines connecting headlands, over which the Crown asserted exclusive jurisdiction; these have now been superseded by the concept of the territorial sea. [...] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chambers

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Mobilization of the world must outpace the next military mobilization of our joint enemy. The supplying of Ukraine with air defense systems must outpace Russia’s next missile attacks. The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks. The restoration of security and peace in Ukraine must outpace Russia’s attack on security and peace in other countries. A tribunal for military crimes must prevent new ones.   --Volodymyr Zelenskyy https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy