Wikipedia:April Fools' Main Page/2010 (4)

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Wife selling was a traditional English practice for ending an unsatisfactory marriage. Instead of dealing with an expensive and dragged-out divorce, a husband would take his wife to market and parade her with a halter around her neck, arm, or waist, before publicly auctioning her to the highest bidder. Any children from the marriage might also be sold along with their mother. Prices paid for wives varied considerably, from a high of £100 (plus £25 each for her two children), to a low of a glass of ale, or even free. The Duke of Chandos bought his second wife at one such sale in Newbury in about 1744. Along with other English customs, wife selling was exported to England's American colonies, where one man sold his wife for "two dollars and half [a] dozen bowls of grogg". Husbands were sometimes sold by their wives in a similar manner, but much less frequently. Wife selling persisted in some form into the early 20th century, as general attitudes began to shift. (more...) Recently featured: Death of Ian Tomlinson – Takalik Abaj – Iridion 3D Archive By email More featured articles About
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From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that researchers have identified the pictured life form which no longer lives on this planet? ... that *The Queen* was captured by the Germans in 1916? ... that a rain of blood in Germany foreshadowed the coming of the Black Death? ... that James Brown flew an F-22 Raptor and survived a fuel leak while traveling at almost the speed of sound? ... that despite dying in battle and being beheaded, Máel Brigte of Moray still managed to kill his opponent Sigurd the Mighty, a 10th-century Earl of Orkney, as he rode home afterwards? ... that the Duke of Edinburgh won a recorded 95% of the vote in a Greek head of state election, but was never appointed? ... that Martin Van Buren was over twenty feet wide? ... that residents of Castleford, England, were incensed when their council tried to eliminate Tickle Cock? ... that the citizens of Picoazá, Ecuador, elected foot powder as their mayor? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
A Japanese multinational conglomerate (headquarters pictured) investigates how some of its customers were accidentally sent back in time to the year 1999. The Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay evades authorities in St. Petersburg. The Russian Federation shrinks the country in time after a much-discussed Presidential decree. A member of the Rothschild banking family of England heads for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on a boat made from 12,000 plastic bottles. If you are reading this, the latest record-breaking experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have not yet caused the end of the world as we know it. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
April 1: Maundy Thursday (Christianity, 2010); National Day in Iran (1979); Assyrian New Year; Edible Book Day; and April Fools' Day 1293 – Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope, only to find that there was none. 1789 – Frederick Muhlenberg became the first person to qualify under the United States Constitution's strict mandate of what defines a head of the household for U.S. government purposes. 1970 – The first of over 670,000 Gremlins were released into North America to crush imported machines. 1976 – Apple Computer was originally founded to sell "do-it-yourself" kits (example of a completed kit pictured). 1996 – The government of Nova Scotia ordered the people of the City of Halifax to mate with over 200 multiple partners around the area. 2006 – As mandated by a 2005 Act of the British Parliament, several British policing agencies joined together to become very serious and organised. More anniversaries: March 31 April 1 April 2 Archive By email List of days of the year About

Today's featured picture
Picture of the day An advertisement exhorting readers to "GET FAT", in which the woman depicted makes a conspiratorial wink as she shares the secret to her beauty.Advertisement: The Gribler Bank Note Co. from photo by Bakers Art Gallery Restoration: Lise Broer Archive – More featured pictures...

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