The 1956 Winter Olympics was a multi-sport event celebrated in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February. Cortina, which had originally been awarded the 1944 Winter Olympics, beat out Montreal, Colorado Springs and Lake Placid for the right to host the 1956 Games. The Cortina Games were the first to rely heavily on corporate sponsorship for funding. Thirty-two nations—the largest number of participating Winter Olympic countries to that point—competed in four sports and twenty-four events. The Italian army transported large amounts of snow to cover the alpine skiing courses. Toni Sailer of the Austrian team became the first person to win all three alpine skiing events in a single Olympics. The figure skating competition (pictured) was held outdoors for the last time. These games were the first Winter Olympics televised to a multi-national audience. For the first time at an Olympic Games, the venues were built with television in mind.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Winter_Olympics

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1788:

Captain Arthur Phillip and the British First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove on the shore of Port Jackson in present-day Sydney, establishing the first permanent European settlement in Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Fleet

1905:

The Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found at 3,106.75 carats (621.350 g), was discovered at the Premier Mine in Cullinan, Gauteng, South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond

1949:

The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world for 28 years, saw first light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Telescope

2009:

Rioting broke out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that led to the deposal of President Marc Ravalomanana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Malagasy_political_crisis

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

emu: 1. (obsolete) A cassowary (genus Casuarius). 2. A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius novaehollandiae. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emu

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I shall set my course to the end that no man need fear to speak the truth. I could not do less, for the opportunities for service my country has given me and the honors it has conferred upon me have imposed an obligation which is not discharged by the termination of public service. Much that I have seen since my return to my native land after an absence of many years has filled me with immeasurable satisfaction and pride. Our material progress has been little short of phenomenal. It has established an eminence in material strength so far in advance of any other nation or combination of nations that talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. It is not of any external threat that I concern myself but rather of insidious forces working from within which have already so drastically altered the character of our free institutions — those institutions which formerly we hailed as something beyond question or challenge — those institutions we proudly called the American way of life.   --Douglas MacArthur https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur