Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 June 21

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Today's featured article
Dan Leno (1860–1904) was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was perhaps best known, aside from his music hall act, for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1888 to 1904. As a youth, he was famous for his clog dancing, and in his teen years, he became the star of his family's act. As a solo artist, he became increasingly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s, when he was one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. He developed a music hall act of talking about life's mundane subjects, mixed with comic songs and surreal observations, and created a host of mostly working-class characters to illustrate his stories. In 1901, still at the peak of his career, he performed his "Huntsman" sketch for Edward VII at Sandringham. The monarch was so impressed that Leno became publicly known as "the king's jester". Leno continued to appear in musical comedies and his own music hall routines until 1902, although he suffered increasingly from alcoholism. This, together with his long association with dame and low comedy roles, prevented him from being taken seriously as a dramatic actor. He suffered a mental breakdown in early 1903 and was committed to a mental asylum, but was discharged later that year. After one more show, his health declined, and he died aged 43. (more...) Recently featured: Javan rhinoceros – Amador Valley High School – Washington quarter Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that it was Giovanni Lusieri who suggested that his employer should remove the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon (pictured)? ... that even though the Saudi Arabia women's national football team does not exist, women in the country have created, coached and played for their own club team outside the sight of men? ... that two ministers in Kenya's government died in a helicopter crash in June 2012? ... that poet George Ellis accompanied England's Earl of Malmesbury to France in 1796 as a member of the peace negotiations? ... that When the Emperor was Divine, a historical fiction novel about Japanese American internment, was described as "a meditation on what it means to be loyal to one's country and to one's self"? ... that the Northern Khmer dialect is spoken by descendants of the Khmer Empire native to the Isan region of Thailand? ... that at the revived KunstRAI art fair in Amsterdam in May, Bart Jansen created a stir by exhibiting his dead cat, Orville, transformed into a radio-controlled helicopter? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Yousaf Raza Gillani The Supreme Court of Pakistan retroactively discharges Yousaf Raza Gillani (pictured) from the prime ministership due to his contempt of court conviction. The 7th G-20 summit is held in Los Cabos, Mexico. The Socialist Party gains a majority in the French legislative election. In golf, Webb Simpson wins the U.S. Open. New Democracy, led by Antonis Samaras, gains a plurality in the second Greek legislative election of 2012. Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer, and André Lotterer win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the race's first victory in a hybrid car. Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is named the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia following the death of Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
June 21: National Aboriginal Day in Canada 217 BC – Second Punic War: The Carthaginians under Hannibal executed one of the largest military ambushes in history when they overwhelmingly defeated the Romans. 1898 – In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam from Spain. 1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow to prevent the ships from being seized and divided amongst the Allied Powers. 1948 – The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program. 1963 – Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope Paul VI (pictured). 1964 – Three civil rights workers were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi, US. More anniversaries: June 20 – June 21 – June 22 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now June 21, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A panoramic view of Signal Hill in 1923, a small city in Southern California. On June 21, 1921, oil was discovered in Signal Hill, part of the Long Beach Oil Field, and the city was soon covered with over 100 oil derricks (seen here). Because of its prickly appearance at a distance, it gained the nickname "Porcupine Hill". Today, many of the oil wells and nodding donkey oil pumps are gone, although some remain. Signal Hill is now a mix of residential and commercial areas.

Photo: The Aerograph Co.; Restoration: Jujutacular

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