Alan McNicoll (1908–1987) was a senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and a diplomat. He graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College in 1926. Attached to the Royal Navy in the Second World War, he was decorated with the George Medal in 1941 for disarming enemy ordnance. He was posted for staff duties with the Admiralty in September 1943 and helped plan the Normandy landings, then returned to Australia in October 1944. After serving in a series of naval commands and chairing the planning committee for the British nuclear tests on the Montebello Islands, he returned to London to attend the Imperial Defence College in 1955. He occupied staff positions in London and Canberra before being posted to the Naval Board as Chief of Personnel in 1960. This was followed by a term as Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet and, in 1965, a promotion to vice admiral and Chief of Navy, overseeing an extensive modernisation of the Australian fleet. Knighted the next year, he presided over the RAN contribution to the Vietnam War before serving as the inaugural Australian Ambassador to Turkey for five years.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1043:

Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England, the last king of the House of Wessex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Confessor

1895:

The libel trial instigated by Irish author Oscar Wilde began, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of gross indecency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde

1922:

Joseph Stalin became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

1946:

Imperial Japanese Army officer Masaharu Homma was executed for war crimes relating to the Bataan Death March. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaharu_Homma

1996:

A US Air Force CT-43 crashed into a mountainside while attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia, killing Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and all the other 34 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Croatia_USAF_CT-43_crash

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

mother: A stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of acetobacters) which develops in fermenting alcoholic liquids (such as wine, or cider), and turns the alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The most important thing is to actually think about what you do. To become aware and actually think about the effect of what you do on the environment and on society. That's key, and that underlies everything else.   --Jane Goodall https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall