John Richard Clark Hall (1855–1931) was a British scholar of Old English, and a barrister. Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary(pictured) became a widely used work upon its 1894 publication, and after multiple revisions remains in print as of 2021. His 1901 prose translation of Beowulf was still the canonical introduction to the poem into the 1960s; some later editions included a prefatory essay by J. R. R. Tolkien. Hall's other work on Beowulf included a metrical translation in 1914, and the translation and collection of Knut Stjerna's Swedish papers on the poem in the 1912 work Essays on Questions Connected with the Old English Poem of Beowulf. In the final decade of his life, Hall's writings took to a Christian theme. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published two of his works in this time: Herbert Tingle, and Especially his Boyhood, and Birth-Control and Self-Control. Hall worked as a clerk at the Local Government Board in Whitehall, becoming principal clerk in 1898. (Full article...)
The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train, but became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in November 1846. Running out of food, some resorted to cannibalism to survive. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party had been slowed by following a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which crossed the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. They lost many cattle and wagons in the rugged terrain, and divisions formed within the group. Their food supplies ran low after they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall high in the mountains. In mid-December some of the group set out on foot and were able to obtain help. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California. Historians have described the episode as one of the most spectacular tragedies in California history. (Full article...)
1844 – The last known pair of great auks(one pictured), the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus of flightless birds, were killed on Eldey, Iceland.
550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th Street and 56th Street in New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building was completed in 1984. It is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was originally the headquarters of AT&T Corp., which relocated from 195 Broadway, the company's previous headquarters. Following the breakup of the Bell System in 1982, AT&T spun off subsidiary corporations and never occupied the entire building as it had originally intended. The building later became the American headquarters of Sony. An annex to the west was demolished and replaced in the early 2020s. Opinion of the building has been mixed ever since its design was first announced in March 1978. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building's exterior as a landmark in 2018. (Full article...)
The double sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom with a nominal value of two pounds sterling (£2). It features the reigning monarch on its obverse and, most often, Benedetto Pistrucci's depiction of Saint George and the Dragon on the reverse (pictured). It was rarely issued in the first century and a half after its debut in 1820, usually in a new monarch's coronation year or to mark the institution of a new coinage portrait of the monarch. In addition to the usual coinage in Britain, specimens were struck at Australia's Sydney Mint in 1887 and 1902. Most often struck as a proof coin, the double sovereign has been issued for circulation in only four years, and few examples worn from commercial use are known. It is now a collector and bullion coin, and has been struck by the Royal Mint most years since 1980. In some years, it has not been issued and the Royal Mint instead placed gold versions of the commemorative £2 piece in the annual gold proof sets. (Full article...)
1976 – The Teton Dam in eastern Idaho, U.S., collapsed as its reservoir was being filled for the first time, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and 13,000 cattle, and causing up to $2 billion in damage.
American Cemetery, where the film's opening and closing scenes are set
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in France during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), on their mission to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is to be brought home after his three brothers are killed in action. Inspired by the books of Stephen E. Ambrose and accounts of the deaths of members of a single family such as the Niland brothers, Rodat drafted the script and Paramount Pictures hired him to finish the writing. Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as authentic as possible, and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with veterans. The cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the soldier experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997 in England and Ireland. Saving Private Ryan earned critical acclaim for its graphic portrayal of combat. (Full article...)
Munsey's Magazine was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in 1889. Originally launched in 1889 as Munsey's Weekly, it became an illustrated monthly in 1891, printing both fiction and non-fiction. In 1893 the price was reduced from 25 to 10 cents and circulation rose to more than 250,000 issues. The same year Munsey became one of the first publishers to regularly feature a pretty girl on the cover. Circulation was also helped by the liberal use of illustrations, and reached a peak of about 700,000 in 1897, declining in the 1910s. Well-known writers appeared, including O. Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, P. G. Wodehouse, and Joseph Conrad. In 1929 it was merged with Argosy, another of Munsey's magazines. Magazine historians consider Munsey's to have started a revolution in magazine publishing by setting a low price to increase circulation, and attracting sufficient advertising revenue to make a substantial profit. Other magazines quickly followed the example of Munsey's. (Full article...)
1832 – The Reform Act, which is widely credited with launching modern democracy in the United Kingdom, received royal assent.
1892 – Homer Plessy, a mixed-race man from New Orleans, was arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the "whites-only" car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
Bill Newton (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, honoured for his actions as a bomber pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943. Raised in Melbourne, he joined the Citizen Military Forces in 1938 and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in February 1940. He served as a flying instructor in Australia before being posted to No. 22 Squadron, which began operating Boston light bombers in New Guinea late in 1942. Having just taken part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he was on his fifty-second mission when he was shot down. Newton was still posted as missing when given the Victoria Cross in October 1943. It later emerged that he was captured by the Japanese and beheaded. Newton was the only Australian airman to receive a Victoria Cross for action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the sole Australian to be so decorated while flying with an RAAF squadron. (Full article...)
2009 – Two American journalists, having been arrested for illegal entry into North Korea, were sentenced to twelve years hard labor before being pardoned two months later.
Marasmius rotula, the pinwheel mushroom, is a fungus in the family Marasmiaceae. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it was first described scientifically in 1772 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The mushrooms are characterized by thin whitish caps up to 2.0 cm (0.8 in) wide that are sunken in the center and pleated with scalloped margins. The wiry black hollow stalks measure up to 8.0 cm (3.1 in) long by 1.5 mm (0.06 in) thick. On the underside of the caps are widely spaced white gills, attached to a collar encircling the stalk. The mushrooms grow in groups or clusters on decaying wood such as moss-covered logs and stumps. Spore release is dependent upon sufficient moisture. Dried mushrooms may revive after rehydrating and release spores for up to three weeks, much longer than most gilled mushrooms. Although the mushrooms are not generally considered edible, they produce a unique peroxidase enzyme that is attracting research interest for use in bioengineering applications. (Full article...)
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and began to work as a sports broadcaster in Iowa. In 1937, he moved to California, and became a well-known film actor there. From 1947 to 1952, and from 1959 to 1960, Reagan served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1968 election as well as the 1976 election, but won both the nomination and election in 1980 election. As president, Reagan implemented new political initiatives as well as economic policies, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy, but the extent to which these ideas were implemented is debatable. The policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", included substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. (Full article...)
Incapillo is a Pleistocene-age caldera – a depression formed by the collapse of a volcano – in La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is part of the southernmost volcanic centre in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ). Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate is responsible for most of the volcanism in the CVZ. Volcanism commenced in the Incapillo region 6.5 million years ago, forming the high volcanic edifices of Monte Pissis, Cerro Bonete Chico and Sierra de Veladero. Incapillo is known to have erupted the Incapillo ignimbrite 0.52 ± 0.03 and 0.51 ± 0.04 million years ago; this has a total volume of about 20.4 cubic kilometres (4.9 cu mi). A caldera with dimensions of 5 by 6 kilometres (3.1 mi × 3.7 mi) formed during the eruptions. Later volcanism generated more lava domes within the caldera and a debris flow in the Sierra de Veladero. The lake within the caldera may overlie an area of ongoing hydrothermal activity.
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The Battle of Villers-Bocage took place on 13 June 1944 during World War II. Following the D-Day landings on 6 June, the Germans established defences in front of Caen. The British attacked in an attempt to exploit a gap in the German defences west of the city. They reached Villers-Bocage without incident in the morning but were ambushed by Tiger I tanks as they left the town and numerous tanks, anti-tank guns and transport vehicles were destroyed. The Germans then attacked the town but were repulsed. The British withdrew west of Villers-Bocage that evening and repulsed another attack the next day. The British conduct in the battle was controversial because their withdrawal marked the end of the post–D-Day "scramble for ground" and the start of an attritional battle for Caen. Some historians wrote that the British attack was a failure caused by a lack of conviction among some senior commanders; others judged the British force to be insufficiently strong for the task. (Full article...)
The Spider was an American pulp magazine published by Popular Publications from 1933 to 1943. Every issue included a lead novel featuring The Spider, a heroic crime-fighter. The novels in the first two issues were written by R. T. M. Scott; thereafter every lead novel was credited to "Grant Stockbridge", a house name. Norvell Page, a prolific pulp author, wrote most of these. Unlike some contemporary pulp heroes, The Spider was willing to kill criminals, and when he did so he left a red spider inked on his victims. Page in particular wrote stories with violent storylines, often with science-fiction plot devices. Continuity from novel to novel was often disregarded, with characters killed in one issue appearing unscathed in later issues. Each magazine also featured short stories, occasionally including elements of horror fiction. Most of the cover art was painted by John Newton Howitt or Rafael de Soto. The magazine was cancelled in 1943 due to a paper shortage caused by World War II. (Full article...)
1646 – Franco-Spanish War: French and Spanish fleets fought the inconclusive Battle of Orbetello, with sailing vessels of both sides having to be towed into action by galleys due to light winds.
Kevin Gately died on 15 June 1974 as the result of a head injury received in the Red Lion Square public disorder in London while protesting against the National Front, a far-right, fascist party. Gately, a 20-year-old student, was not a member of any organisation. On the day, the National Front held a march through central London in support of the expulsion of immigrants. A counter-demonstration was planned by Liberation, an anti-colonial pressure group. When the Liberation march reached Red Lion Square, the International Marxist Group twice charged the police cordon blocking access to Conway Hall(pictured). Police reinforcements forced the demonstrators out of the square. Gately was found unconscious on the ground. He was taken to hospital and died later that day. A public inquiry into the events was conducted by Lord Scarman, who found no evidence that Gately had been killed by the police, although he found fault with some police actions. There was further violence associated with National Front marches and the counter-demonstrations they faced, including in Birmingham, Manchester, the East End of London (all 1977) and in 1979 in Southall, which led to the death of Blair Peach. (Full article...)
The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Developed from ponies brought to Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries, the breed is mentioned in Icelandic literature and historical records. They are long-lived, hardy, and have few diseases in their native country. In addition to the gaits typical of other horse breeds, many Icelandic horses can also do the tölt(pictured) and the flying pace. The only breed of horse in Iceland, sizable populations exist in Europe and North America. They are used for sheepherding work in Iceland, leisure, showing, and racing. Selective breeding and natural selection with the Icelandic climate developed them into their current form. In the 1780s, much of the breed was killed after a volcanic eruption at Laki. The first breed society for the Icelandic horse was created in Iceland in 1904; the breed is now represented by organizations in 19 nations organized under the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations. (Full article...)
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor a stellar remnant. The archetypal examples are eight planets in the Solar System: the four terrestrialsMercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the four giant planetsJupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The term was initially used to denote the Sun, the Moon, and the five naked-eye planets that move across the background of the stars: they historically were seen as having associations with the gods. As scientific knowledge advanced, human perception of the planets changed. Copernicus suggested that the planets orbited the Sun and that the Earth was itself a planet, and the development of the telescope led to a broadening of the definition to accommodate other discoveries within and beyond the Solar System. Many extrasolar planets display features unseen in the Solar System. The International Astronomical Union defines a planet in the Solar System to have cleared its neighbourhood of other bodies, and that extrasolar planets should orbit stars and not be large enough to support deuterium fusion; however, many planetary scientists continue to apply the word "planet" more broadly, including dwarf planets, planetary-mass moons, rogue planets, and brown dwarfs. (Full article...)
The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus Giraffa. It is known for its extremely long neck and legs, its horn-like ossicones, and its spotted coat patterns. Traditionally, giraffes have been thought of as one species, but more recent evidence has proposed dividing them into multiple species. Giraffes usually inhabit savannahs and woodlands. Their food source is leaves, fruits, and flowers of woody plants, primarily acacia species, which they browse at heights most other herbivores cannot reach. Giraffes live in herds of related females and their offspring or bachelor herds of unrelated adult males, but are gregarious and may gather in large aggregations. Females bear sole responsibility for rearing the young. Giraffes have been featured in paintings, books, and cartoons. Giraffes are assessed as Vulnerable from a conservation perspective by the IUCN. They are found in numerous national parks and game reserves. (Full article...)
Capri-Sun is a brand of juice concentrate–based drinks manufactured by the German company Wild and regional licensees. Rudolf Wild invented the drink in 1969 and introduced it in West Germany as Capri-Sonne. It is now sold in over 100 countries, with licensees including Kraft Foods in the United States and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in parts of Europe. It is one of the most popular juice brands in the world, with orange its best-known flavor. As of 2023, roughly 6 billion pouches are sold per year globally, packaged in laminated foil vacuum Doy-N-Pack pouches, with which the brand has become strongly associated. Capri-Sun's main products are high in sugar, although lower than many competitors. Marketing to children and use of the term "all-natural" have led to conflict in several countries. It is one of the most favorably rated brands among Generation Z Americans; in France, it figures prominently in rap music. (Full article...)
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