Cherry Valentine was the stage name of George Ward (1993–2022), an
English drag queen and mental health nurse who competed in the second
series of the television show RuPaul's Drag Race UK. Raised in an
English Traveller community, Ward was the first member of his family to
attend university, where he was introduced to Manchester's drag scene.
He began performing as Cherry Valentine in 2016, while working in a
children's psychiatric intensive-care unit. As part of the LGBT
community, Ward hid his Traveller heritage because he feared he might
receive "hate or backlash". Ward has been credited as the first
contestant on the Drag Race franchise to acknowledge his Romani
heritage. In 2022, he addressed his background in the BBC documentary
film Cherry Valentine: Gypsy Queen and Proud, and in an episode of the
documentary series God Shave the Queens. Following Ward's death in 2022,
a memorial concert and fundraiser was held at London's Clapham Grand
(pictured).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Valentine>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
After a secret meeting in Newfoundland, British prime minister
Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (both
pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a
post–World War II world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter>
1975:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered in London, the first in
its record-breaking run in cinemas, which continues in limited release.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show>
2010:
The inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games opened in
Singapore for athletes aged between 14 and 18.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Olympic_Games>
2013:
Security forces raided two camps of supporters of the ousted
Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, leading to the deaths of at
least 595 civilians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2013_Rabaa_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
minnow:
1. Any small fish.
2. The common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), a small freshwater fish of the
carp family Cyprinidae which has a green back with black elongated
blotches, commonly swimming in large shoals.
3. Chiefly with a qualifying word: any of a number of other (small) fish
from the family Cyprinidae; also (chiefly US), other small (usually
freshwater) fish from other families.
4. (Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of galaxiid (“any member of the
family Galaxiidae of mostly small freshwater fish of the Southern
Hemisphere”); specifically, the common galaxias, inanga, or jollytail
(Galaxias maculatus).
5. (Britain, regional) Synonym of stickleback (family Gasterosteidae).
6. (figuratively) A person or thing of relatively little consequence,
importance, or value.
7. (fishing) An artificial bait in the form of a small fish.
8. (rare) Very small; tiny.
9. To fish for minnows (noun sense 1 and subsenses).
10. To fish, especially for trout, using minnows as bait.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/minnow>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Human civilization is the outgrowth of conscious altruism; and
the directive Moral Purpose in the world nothing but our dim perception,
ever growing through spiritual friction, that we are all bound more and
more toward the understanding of ourselves and each other, and all that
this carries with it.
--John Galsworthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Galsworthy>
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