Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 July 17

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From today's featured article

Somerset County Cricket Club's 2009 season saw the team compete in four English competitions: the first divisions of the County Championship and the NatWest Pro40 League, the Friends Provident Trophy, and the Twenty20 Cup. Somerset were in contention to win the County Championship until the last few weeks of the season, but the batting-friendly pitch at their home ground meant that they finished with too many draws to claim their first Championship title. Somerset were unbeaten in the group stage of the Friends Provident Trophy, but were eliminated in the first knock-out round, and finished runners-up by one point in the NatWest Pro40. In the Twenty20 Cup, Somerset finished as losing finalists, thus qualifying for the international Champions League Twenty20, where they were eliminated in the second group stage. Overall, Somerset had a successful season but fell short of winning any competitions, prompting their Director of Cricket Brian Rose to say "We've had enough of being cricket's nearly men." Marcus Trescothick (pictured) topped the national batting tables and was named by the Professional Cricketers' Association as Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the Year. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that with her 1906 ascent of Pinnacle Peak (22,735 ft or 6,930 m) in the Himalaya, Fanny Bullock Workman (pictured) set an altitude record for women that stood until 1934?
... that the 1944 One Million Plan was the first time Jewish immigration from Arab and Muslim countries became official policy of the Zionist leadership?
... that as a boy, golf course designer Archie Simpson was the favourite caddy of Sir Alexander Grant, Principal of Edinburgh University?
... that the Anna Crusis Women's Choir is the oldest feminist choir in the United States?
... that Su Rong is the highest-ranking Chinese official to come under investigation for corruption during the presidency of Xi Jinping?
... that flooding in New Market, caused by a tropical depression over Jamaica in 1979, had not fully subsided after six months?
... that Olivia Pope was spoofed by Jennifer Hudson when the Obama administration needed a spokesman for its Affordable Care Act?

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In the news

The BRICS summit is held in Brazil.
A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 160 others.
The FIFA World Cup concludes with Germany (captain Philipp Lahm pictured) defeating Argentina in the final.
The Party of Miro Cerar wins a plurality in the Slovenian parliamentary election.
The maiden flight of the Russian Angara rocket concludes successfully.
Israel launches an offensive on the Gaza Strip.
The prehistoric Pelagornis sandersi is identified as the largest flying bird yet discovered.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak
Recent deaths: Lorin Maazel – Nadine Gordimer – Tommy Ramone

On this day...

July 17: Feast day of the Scillitan Martyrs (Roman Catholic Church); Constitution Day in South Korea (1948)

1453 – The Battle of Castillon, the last conflict of the Hundred Years' War, ended with the English losing all landholdings in France, except Calais.
1863 – The New Zealand land wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.
1918 – Russian Revolution: Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II (pictured) and his family at Yekaterinburg.
1944 – Two ships laden with ammunition for World War II exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, killing 320 sailors and civilians, and injuring more than 400 others.
1992 – Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Manchester Metrolink, the first modern street running light rail system in the United Kingdom.

More anniversaries: July 16 – July 17 – July 18

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It is now July 17, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Schloss Johannisburg is a schloss in Aschaffenburg, Germany, that was erected between 1605 and 1614 by Georg Ridinger. This red sandstone building overlooks the River Main.

Photograph: Rainer Lippert; edit: Carschten

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