Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 January 20

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From today's featured article

E. W. Hornung (1866–1921) was an English author and poet who wrote the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. After school in the UK, Hornung spent two years in Australia before returning to London. His first known work was published in 1887; his Australian experiences strongly influenced his early writing. In 1898 he wrote "In the Chains of Crime", which introduced Raffles and his sidekick, Bunny Manders; the characters were based partly on his friends Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, and also on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the characters created by Hornung's brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle. The death of Hornung's son in the First World War brought an end to Hornung's storytelling, and led the writer to join the YMCA, initially in England, then in France, where he helped run a canteen and library and published two collections of poetry. After the war, he wrote more poetry and an account of his time in France. Hornung's fragile constitution was weakened by the stress of his war work, and he died at the age of 54. Although much of Hornung's work has fallen into obscurity, his Raffles stories continue to be popular, and have inspired numerous film and television adaptations. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the non-photosynthetic plants of the subfamily Monotropoideae (pictured) depend on both mycorrhizal fungi for food and bumblebees for pollination?
... that the 19th-century forger and swindler Monroe Edwards once used forged letters to get money from Lord Spencer, but later repaid the nobleman with funds obtained from a later fraud?
... that none of the three major professional sports teams owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment have won a championship since 1967?
... that Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), a Yash Raj Films production, is the longest-running film of Indian cinema?
... that Novel Therapeutic Targets for Antiarrhythmic Drugs was described as an "illuminating and far reaching" work on arrhythmia treatment?
... that the Western Australian shrub Lechenaultia biloba is renowned for its vivid blue flowers?
... that Mohammad Beg, the vizier of the Safavid king of Persia, was an ethnic Armenian who once served as a "military slave"?

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In the news

After the Swiss National Bank ends its cap on the exchange rate to the euro, the franc increases in value significantly.
Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson become the first people to successfully free climb the 3,000-foot (900 m) Dawn Wall of El Capitan (pictured) in Yosemite National Park, California.
Giorgio Napolitano, the longest-serving President of Italy, resigns due to age.
Seventy-three people die after drinking contaminated beer at a funeral in Mozambique.
More than three million people, including dozens of world leaders, march for unity in France following the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
Maithripala Sirisena is elected President of Sri Lanka.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Anita Ekberg – Francesco Rosi

On this day...

January 20: Martyrs' Day in Azerbaijan (1990)

1265 – Summoned by Simon de Montfort (pictured), the first English parliament held its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster.
1576 – León in Guanajuato, Mexico, was founded by order of Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza of New Spain.
1843 – Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, became the de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil.
1945 – World War II: Germany began the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, an operation which took nearly two months to complete.
1990 – The Soviet Red Army violently cracked down on Azeri pro-independence demonstrations in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR.

More anniversaries: January 19 – January 20 – January 21

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Today's featured picture

The Boeing YAL-1 is a missile defense weapons system consisting of a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted inside a modified Boeing 747-400F. It was intended to destroy tactical ballistic missiles while in their boost phase. Only one YAL-1 was produced, and the program was canceled in December 2011; the aircraft made its first flight on July 18, 2002, and its last on February 14, 2012.

Photo: Missile Defense Agency

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