Tom Simpson (1937–1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He began his career track cycling, specializing in pursuit races. In this discipline he won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1959 Simpson moved to France and turned professional in road racing. In the 1962 Tour de France he became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey. In 1965 he became Britain's first world road race champion. He won three Monument classic races: the 1961 Tour of Flanders, the 1964 Milan–San Remo and the 1965 Giro di Lombardia. At the 1967 Tour de France, he collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. He was 29 years old. The post-mortem examination found that he had mixed amphetamines and alcohol. He was known to have taken performance-enhancing drugs during his career, when no doping controls existed. Despite this, he is held in high esteem by many cyclists for his character and will to win.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

917:

Liu Yan declared himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu (present-day Guangzhou). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Yan_(emperor)

1697:

War of the Grand Alliance: A French warship captured York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in present-day Manitoba, Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson%27s_Bay

1914:

World War I: The First Battle of the Marne began with French forces engaging the advancing German army at the Marne River near Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne

1945:

Cold War: Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada with over 100 documents on Soviet espionage activities and sleeper agents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko

1975:

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a devotee of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynette_Fromme

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

thebacon: Dihydrocodeinone enol acetate, a semisynthetic opioid that is similar to hydrocodone and manufactured from thebaine. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thebacon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Before we can build a stable civilization worthy of humanity as a whole, it is necessary that each historical civilization should become conscious of its limitations and it's unworthiness to become the ideal civilization of the world.   --Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan