Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 May 24

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From today's featured article

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, 6.2 miles (10.0 km) east of Manchester. "Ashton", deriving from Old English for "settlement by ash trees", probably dates from the Anglo-Saxon period. In the Middle Ages, Ashton-under-Lyne was a parish and township and Ashton Old Hall was held by the de Asshetons, lords of the manor. Granted a Royal Charter in 1414, the manor spanned a rural area of marshland, moorland, villages and hamlets. By the mid-19th century Ashton had emerged as an important mill town at a convergence of newly constructed canals and railways. The transport network allowed for an economic boom in cotton spinning, weaving, and coal mining, which led to the granting of municipal borough status in 1847. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Drawing of Claridge's in 1897

... that C. W. Stephens was the architect of Claridge's (drawing pictured), Harrods, and Harvey Nichols?
... that the whiteknee hermit crab is benefitted by the presence of the hedgehog hydroid but harmed by the barnacle Clistosaccus?
... that Marie C. Brehm scolded an audience for waving handkerchiefs and spreading disease at a temperance meeting?
... that the 1938 book Composite Nationalism and Islam by Hussain Ahmed Madani argued that different religions do not constitute different nationalities?
... that Ruhut Sitompul landed a role in a telenovela because he was the production studio's legal adviser?
... that Peniscola Castle, in the Valencian Community of Spain, was used as a papal residence by the Antipope Benedict XIII?
... that the New York City Board of Aldermen was at different times in its history an upper house and a lower house?
... that Celestina Casapietra, an Italian soprano at the Berlin State Opera, and the conductor Herbert Kegel were regarded as the glamour couple of the GDR in the 1960s?
... that the First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark went missing for more than a decade?

In the news

Narendra Modi

The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, led by Narendra Modi (pictured), win a majority in the Indian general election.
Joko Widodo is re-elected President of Indonesia, and his party, PDI-P, wins the largest share of legislative votes.
The Netherlands, represented by Duncan Laurence with the song "Arcade", wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Ibiza affair, a political scandal, causes the collapse of the Austrian government and triggers a snap election.

On this day

May 24: Aldersgate Day (Methodism)

Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia

1567 – The mentally ill King Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murdered five incarcerated nobles, including some members of the influential Sture family.
1683 – Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum, the world's first university museum, opened.
1913 – Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia (pictured) married Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, one of the last great social events of European royalty before World War I began fourteen months later.
1982 – The port city of Khorramshahr was liberated by Iranian forces during the Iran–Iraq War after 575 days.
2006 – An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary film that has been credited for raising international public awareness of climate change and re-energizing the environmental movement, was released.

Marek Sobieski (b. 1628) · Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent (b. 1819) · Stormé DeLarverie (d. 2014)

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From today's featured list

Seventy-three episodes of the American fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones aired. The series was created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and is based on George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire. It takes place on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and chronicles the power struggles among noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. The series premiered on April 17, 2011, on HBO. Filming for the series has taken place in a number of locations, including Croatia, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Iceland and Spain. The series concluded with its eighth season, which premiered on April 14, 2019, and consisted of six episodes. The show's episodes have won numerous awards including three Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Joseph F. Ambrose (May 24, 1896 – May 1, 1988), nicknamed "Doughboy Joe", was a U.S. World War I veteran who served in Company I, 140th Infantry, 35th Division, in the American Expeditionary Forces. Born in Joliet, Illinois, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1917 and served until 1919. Ambrose became nationally known for this photograph, circulated by the Defense Audiovisual Agency, depicting him attending the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., on November 13, 1982, at the age of 86. He was photographed wearing his Doughboy uniform, helmet and field equipment, as well as carrying the American flag that had covered the casket of his son, Clement A. Ambrose, who was killed in the Korean War in 1951. The photograph is in the collection of the National Archives at College Park.

Photograph credit: Mickey Sanborn

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