Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 November 20

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From today's featured article

The name ship of the class Beograd (right) and the flotilla leader Dubrovnik in the Bay of Kotor after being captured by Italy

The Beograd class consisted of three destroyers built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1930s, to a French design. Beograd was constructed in France, and Zagreb and Ljubljana were built in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Zagreb was scuttled to prevent its capture, and the other two were seized by the Italians. The Royal Italian Navy operated the two captured ships as convoy escorts between Italy, the Aegean Sea and North Africa. One was lost in the Gulf of Tunis in April 1943; the other was seized by the Germans in September 1943 after the Italian surrender, and was operated by the German Navy. There are conflicting reports about the fate of the last ship, but it was lost in the final weeks of the war. In 1967, a French film was made about the scuttling of Zagreb. In 1973, the President of Yugoslavia and wartime Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito awarded the Order of the People's Hero posthumously to the two officers who scuttled Zagreb. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Campo troupial

... that one individual Campo troupial (pictured) was found to have 126 fly larvae in its stomach?
... that Games and Culture criticised Sheva Alomar for being the video game equivalent of Pocahontas?
... that on his first commission from the US, John Rutter composed Gloria as a concert piece for choir, brass, percussion, and organ?
... that Philip Caves' influence on attitudes at Glasgow's Children's Hospital in the 1970s was described as "whirlwind" as he operated on newborns previously considered unfit for surgery?
... that the Norwegian mountaineer Arne Næss Jr. died in a climbing accident four months before he could accept his Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award?
... that biologist Inez Whipple Wilder made contributions to the study of fingerprints and salamanders?
... that the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal ran out of funds in 2009?
... that Amy H. Herring led a study whose data showed some American women were reportedly virgins at the birth of their first child?

In the news

Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi (pictured), generally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sells at auction for US$450.3 million, a new record for an artwork.
Zimbabwe National Army troops seize control of Harare and place President Robert Mugabe under house arrest.
Borut Pahor is re-elected President of Slovenia.
An earthquake strikes the border between Iraq and Iran, killing at least 540 people and injuring more than 8,000 others.
The Paradise Papers—more than 13 million financial documents relating to offshore investment—are leaked.

On this day...

November 20: Reciting the sermon on the night of the martyrdom of Imam Reza (Islam, 2017); Transgender Day of Remembrance; National Sovereignty Day in Argentina

Diocletian on a Roman coin

284 – Diocletian (pictured on coin) became Roman emperor, eventually establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Fort Lee marked the invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and the subsequent general retreat of the Continental Army.
1917 – First World War: The Battle of Cambrai began with British forces having initial success over Germany's Hindenburg Line.
1990 – Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers with 56 convicted murders, was arrested in Novocherkassk.
1994 – In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the Angolan Civil War.

Giovanni Battista Agucchi (b. 1570) · Gervase Helwys (d. 1615) · Cri-Zelda Brits (b. 1983)

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From today's featured list

Frank Otis House in Fairview-Riverside State Park

The state of Louisiana has 22 state parks, which are governed by the Office of Lieutenant Governor, a division of the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. Louisiana's state park system began in 1934 when the state passed legislation that created the State Parks Commission of Louisiana. In 1952, legislation broadened the role of the commission to include the development of outdoor recreation programs and resources. After the State Parks Commission of Louisiana was formed in 1934, 7 sites were acquired for use as state parks. During World War II, the rate of new park acquisition declined with the addition of only one new site, Sam Houston Jones State Park in 1944. In 1966, the National Park Service reviewed Louisiana's state parks system and made many recommendations, which led to specific guidelines and requirements for state parks. Louisiana state parks are selected on the criteria that they must be natural areas of unique or exceptional scenic value. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Luncheon of the Boating Party is a painting completed by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir between 1880 and 1881. It depicts a group of his friends relaxing on a balcony at the Maison Fournaise restaurant beside the Seine River in Chatou, France. Included in the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, it was purchased from the artist by Paul Durand-Ruel before being bought after a decade-long pursuit in 1923 by industrialist Duncan Phillips. The painting, now in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., has a richness of form, a fluidity of brush stroke, and a flickering light.

Painting: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

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