Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 January 2

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From today's featured article

Sir Michael Tippett (1905–1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during the Second World War. He was considered to rank with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th century. Among his best-known works are the oratorio A Child of Our Time, the orchestral Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, and the opera The Midsummer Marriage. Tippett withdrew or destroyed his earliest compositions, and was 30 before any of his works were published. Initial difficulties in accepting his homosexuality led him in 1939 to Jungian psychoanalysis. Until the mid-1950s his music was broadly lyrical in character, before changing to a more astringent and experimental style, open to new influences including jazz and blues. He was much honoured in his lifetime, but uneven critical judgement reserved praise generally for his earlier works. Having briefly embraced communism in the 1930s, Tippett avoided identifying with any political party. A pacifist after 1940, he was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to carry out war-related duties. He was a strong advocate of music education, a radio broadcaster and a writer on music. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the genera for fork-marked lemurs (pictured) and giant mouse lemurs were named after characters in the British comedy The Palace of Truth by W. S. Gilbert?
... that Jean-Claude Van Damme is returning in the remake of the original Kickboxer film?
... that King Bayinnaung of Burma entered into several marriages of state, and had more than 50 wives and nearly 100 children?
... that Robert Cade led the research team that formulated Gatorade, which has significant medical application in the treatment of dehydration?
... that Indian film actor Rajesh Khanna contested the 1996 Gandhinagar parliamentary by-election?
... that Peter Moore announced Grand Theft Auto IV by rolling up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of the logo?
... that the success of the U.S. Auto Defense Choc was based on prepacked equipment?

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In the news

Lithuania becomes the 19th member of the Eurozone.
Authorities confirm the discovery of debris and bodies from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (aircraft pictured), which crashed en route to Singapore with 162 people on board.
Italian ferry Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Adriatic Sea with 466 passengers and crew on board, killing at least 11 people.
A militant attack on tribal people and subsequent retaliations in Assam, India, result in at least 85 deaths.
Beji Caid Essebsi wins the Tunisian presidential election.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III successfully completes its first flight, carrying the crew vehicle demonstrator CARE.

Ongoing: Southeast Asian floods – Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Luise Rainer – Tomaž Šalamun – Leo Tindemans

On this day...

January 2: Feast Day of Gregory of Nazianzus (Roman Catholic Church)

1920 – Under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (pictured), Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists across 30 cities in 23 states.
1944 – World War II: The United States and Australia successfully landed 13,000 troops on Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
1971 – At Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland, 66 people were killed in a stampede during an Old Firm football match.
1981 – English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was arrested in Sheffield, ending one of the largest police investigations in British history.
2004 – The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.

More anniversaries: January 1 – January 2 – January 3

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From today's featured list

A painting of three men facing right and looking right while holding their hands in front of themselves and wearing black hats and black and pink robes

The emperors of the Han dynasty were the supreme heads of government during the second imperial dynasty of China. The emperor appointed all government officials ranging from the highest levels of administration to the county level. He also functioned as a lawgiver, the highest court judge, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and high priest of the state-sponsored religious cults. The Han dynasty was founded by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gao. The longest reigning emperor of the dynasty was Emperor Wu, who reigned for 54 years. The dynasty was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of Wang Mang, but he was overthrown in 23 AD and the Han dynasty was reestablished by Liu Xiu, known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu (pictured). The last Han emperor, Emperor Xian, was a puppet monarch of Chancellor Cao Cao, whose son Pi usurped the throne as Emperor Wen of Wei and ended the Han dynasty. (Full list...)

Part of the Han dynasty series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Today's featured picture

Ophelia is an oil painting on canvas completed by Sir John Everett Millais between 1851 and 1852. It depicts the character Ophelia, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark; this death scene is not seen onstage, but is instead described in a speech by Queen Gertrude. The painting was completed in two stages: first, the setting (drawn from the Hogsmill River in Surrey) then Ophelia (portrayed by Elizabeth Siddal). The painting is now owned by Tate Britain and valued at more than £30 million.

Painting: John Everett Millais

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