Eduard Streltsov (1937–1990) was a Soviet football forward who
represented Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team. He was widely
regarded as one of the Soviet Union's finest players, earning the
nickname "the Russian Pelé". Streltsov joined Torpedo in 1953, aged 16,
and made his international debut two years later; he then played a key
role in winning the gold medal for the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics. Ranked among the top seven footballers in Europe during 1957,
he was accused of rape the following year. Evidence against Streltsov
was inconclusive, but government agents told him that he would be
retained in the USSR's 1958 World Cup team if he confessed. When he did
so, he was instead convicted and sentenced to twelve years in the Gulag.
He was released after five, and received a hero's welcome from fans when
he resumed his football career with Torpedo Moscow in 1965. In the first
season of Streltsov's comeback, Torpedo won the Soviet Championship. He
returned to the national team in 1966, and was twice named Soviet
Footballer of the Year before he retired in 1970. Since Streltsov's
death in 1990, Torpedo's home stadium has been renamed after him, and
two statues depicting his likeness have been erected in Moscow.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Streltsov>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
356 BC:
The Temple of Artemis (model pictured) in Ephesus, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was destroyed in an act of arson by
a man named Herostratus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis>
1774:
The Russo-Turkish War officially ended after the Russian Empire
and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, with the
latter ceding parts of the Yedisan region to the former.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_(1768%E2%80%931774)>
1861:
In the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle in
the American Civil War, the Confederate Army under Joseph E. Johnston
and P. G. T. Beauregard routed Union Army troops under Irvin McDowell.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run>
1925:
American high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found
guilty of violating Tennessee's Butler Act by teaching evolution in
class.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial>
2007:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the
popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, was released to record
sales of 15 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-
selling book in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
mither:
1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make an unnecessary fuss, moan,
bother.
2. (transitive) To pester or irritate someone. Usually directed at
children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mither>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.
--Robin Williams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Williams>
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