Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 December 24

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From today's featured article

Cefnllys Castle was a medieval spur castle sited on a ridge – possibly an earlier Iron Age hillfort – above the River Ithon in Radnorshire, Wales. The first masonry castle at the site was constructed around 1242 to control several routes through the Welsh Marches. Cefnllys became a source of friction between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Roger Mortimer in the prelude to Edward I's conquest of Wales. The castle was captured and razed in 1262 by Llywelyn, during a war with Henry III of England, and Cefnllys featured prominently in the ensuing peace treaty. The construction of a new castle was a contributing factor to Llywelyn's refusal to swear fealty to Edward I in 1275, leading to war in 1276. The castle may have been sacked during the revolts of Madog ap Llywelyn (1294–1295) and Owain Glyndŵr (1400–1415), but it remained occupied until at least the mid-15th century. Both castles are now entirely ruinous and only traces remain. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Marley's Ghost by John Leech, 1843

... that after a visit to a ragged school, Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, in which he uses the ghost of Jacob Marley (illustrated) as a mouthpiece for his own views on social responsibility?
... that James W. Nance tested the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior aboard USS Forrestal, which he later commanded?
... that St. Michael, a 17th-century chapel on a hill near Kaubenheim, Bavaria, which offers services in summer and for Christmas, received electricity around 1980?
... that after Houkje Gerrits Bouma won one of the earliest women's speed skating competitions in 1809, women's competitions were not held anymore because women skating with bare arms was considered obscene?
... that a football club in Finland called FC Santa Claus has competed as high as the third tier?
... that Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger wrote "Süßer die Glocken nie klingen", a popular 19th-century Christmas carol to the melody of an evening song, evoking the sound of bells as a symbol of peace and joy?
... that the staff of the Embassy of the Philippines in Tokyo at one point formed the entire Philippine foreign service?
... that Fishbait Miller, the doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives, greeted Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom in 1951 by saying, "Howdy, Ma'am"?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

Chang'e 5

The closest great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn since 1623 occurs.
The Chang'e 5 (illustration shown) sample-return mission returns lunar material to Earth.
Nana Akufo-Addo is re-elected for a second term as President of Ghana.
In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia win the World Rally Championship, while Hyundai win the manufacturers' title.

On this day

December 24

Du Fu

759 – The Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu (pictured) departed for Chengdu, where he lived for the next five years and composed poems about life in his thatched cottage.
1826 – More than a third of U.S. Military Academy cadets in West Point, New York, rioted after consuming eggnog with whiskey during a Christmas party.
1846 – The Sultanate of Brunei ceded the island of Labuan to the British Empire.
1964 – The Viet Cong bombed the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, killing two U.S. Army officers and raising fears of an escalation of the Vietnam War.
1999 – Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 to force the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India.

Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik (d. 738)
Walter Bower (d. 1449)
Anthony Fauci (b. 1940)

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Today's featured picture

Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621) was a Flemish-born Dutch still-life painter and art dealer. A rising interest in botany and a passion for flowers led to an increase in still-life paintings of flowers at the end of the 1500s in the Netherlands and Germany, and Bosschaert was the first great Dutch specialist in the genre. In this oil-on-copper painting, butterflies, a dragonfly, a bumblebee and a caterpillar are nestled among roses, forget-me-nots, lilies-of-the-valley, tulips and other flowers. The painting is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Painting credit: Ambrosius Bosschaert

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