William Beach Thomas (1868–1957) was a British author and journalist
who worked as a war correspondent and wrote about nature and country
life. After a short-lived career as a schoolmaster, he began to write
articles for newspapers and periodicals, as well as books. During the
early part of the First World War he defied military authorities by
reporting news stories from the Western Front for his employer, the
Daily Mail. He was briefly imprisoned before being granted official
accreditation as a war correspondent. His book With the British on the
Somme (1917) portrayed the English soldier in a very favourable light.
Both France and Britain rewarded him with knighthoods after the war, but
Beach Thomas regretted some of his wartime output. His primary interest
as an adult was in rural matters. He was an advocate for the creation of
national parks in England and Wales, and mourned the decline of
traditional village society. He wrote extensively, particularly for The
Observer newspaper and The Spectator, a conservative magazine. His book
The English Landscape (1938) includes selections from his contributions
to Country Life magazine.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beach_Thomas>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of
explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaks_explosion>
1911:
The final Delhi Durbar, a mass assembly at Coronation Park to
mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India, took place.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Durbar>
1942:
World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an
attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of
Stalingrad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Winter_Storm>
1964:
Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of
Kenya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta>
2000:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that the election
recount of the ballots cast in Florida for the presidential election
must stop, effectively making George W. Bush the winner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Wiktionary:
1. A collaborative project run by the Wikimedia Foundation to produce a
free and complete dictionary in every language.
2. The dictionaries, collectively, produced by that project.
3. A particular version of this dictionary project, written in a certain
language, such as the English-language Wiktionary (often known simply as
the English Wiktionary).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
One becomes a critic when one cannot be an artist, just as a man
becomes a stool pigeon when he cannot be a soldier.
--Gustave Flaubert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert>
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