Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 October 5

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From today's featured article

Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864–1945) was a prelate of the Church of England who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). He was a parish priest in Leeds and Portsmouth, and a suffragan Bishop of Stepney, before his surprise appointment as Archbishop of York. A controversial speech in the House of Lords in 1908, against the Lords' proposal to reject David Lloyd George's 1909 "People's Budget", marked him as a radical, although he soon discarded this reputation. After the First World War he promoted church unity, and supported the failed attempt to revise the Book of Common Prayer. As Archbishop of Canterbury during the 1930s Lang condemned European fascism and anti-semitism. However, he later supported the appeasement policies of the British government, as necessary for the preservation of world peace. During the abdication crisis of 1936, he took a strong moral stance, his public comments being widely condemned as uncharitable towards the ex-king. After retiring in 1942 Lang considered himself a failure, believing he had achieved little. Others have praised his qualities of industry, efficiency, and commitment to his calling. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Alice by John Tenniel

... that Lewis Carroll may have based Alice (pictured) on Alice?
... that the Olympia, Washington war memorial Winged Victory features a Red Cross nurse?
... that Lancastrian lord John Clifford was killed, possibly by an arrow in the throat, while the main Lancastrian army was only a few miles away?
... that in 1974, Mattoon, Illinois's Cross County Mall became the first shopping center in the US to have J. C. Penney, Sears, and Kmart, then the nation's three largest retailers?
... that as UK secretary in the Economic Directorate of the Allied Control Council in post-war Berlin, Lorna Arnold slept with a revolver under her pillow?
... that songs and books for children often depict happy farm animals in attractive countryside, glossing over the realities of impersonal, mechanized activities involved in modern intensive farming?
... that twin sisters Bertha and Bernice C. Downing became owners and publishers of the Santa Clara Journal when they were 17 years old?
... that the black-backed forktail has a call reminiscent of a squeaky hinge?

In the news

Las Vegas Strip

In the United States, 59 people are killed and 489 others are injured in a mass shooting at a concert near Las Vegas (location pictured).
Amidst a constitutional crisis, an independence referendum takes place in Catalonia, Spain.
In Saudi Arabia, a decree by King Salman effectively removes a longstanding ban on women driving in the country.
Iraqi Kurdistan votes in favour of independence, though the vote is dismissed as unconstitutional by the Iraqi federal government.
The CDU/CSU, led by Angela Merkel, wins the most seats in the German federal election.

On this day...

October 5: Sukkot begins (Judaism, 2017)

Samuel Griffith

610 – Heraclius was crowned Byzantine Emperor, having personally beheaded the previous emperor Phocas.
1869 – During construction of the Hennepin Island tunnel in St. Anthony, Minnesota (now Minneapolis), U.S., the Mississippi River broke through the tunnel's limestone ceiling, nearly destroying Saint Anthony Falls.
1903 – Samuel Griffith (pictured) became the first Chief Justice of Australia, while Edmund Barton and Richard O'Connor became the first Puisne Justices of the High Court of Australia.
1962 – Dr. No, the first in the James Bond film series, was released.
2011 – Two Chinese cargo ships were attacked on a stretch of the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle area of Southeast Asia, and their crews murdered.

Jacques Offenbach (d. 1880) · Magda Szabó (b. 1917) · Kate Winslet (b. 1975)

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Today's featured picture

Lupinus texensis, popularly known as the Texas bluebonnet, is a species of bluebonnet endemic to Texas. Together with other native bluebonnet species, it is the state flower of Texas.

Photograph: David R. Tribble

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