Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 January 21

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From today's featured article

Jane Austen

Jane Austen's novels have risen in popularity in recent decades, becoming the subject of intense scholarly study and the centre of a diverse fan culture. Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1815), is one of the most widely read novelists in the English language. During her lifetime, her novels brought her little personal fame; like many women writers, she published anonymously. When they were published, her works received few positive reviews. By the mid-19th century, her novels were admired by members of the literary elite, but it was not until the 1940s that Austen was widely accepted in academia as a "great English novelist". The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of scholarship exploring artistic, ideological and historical aspects of her works. The 1940 film Pride and Prejudice was the first of many television and film adaptations. In the 21st century, Austen fandom supports an industry of printed sequels and prequels. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Minchington Hall

... that Minchington Hall (pictured) in Middlesex, England, was said to have one window for every week of the year?
... that Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld introduced Breslov Hasidism to the United States?
... that "The Bird Language", a short story by Pu Songling, may have been written to antagonise corrupt officials?
... that Swedish logging sportsman Ferry Svan accidentally severed a tendon in his leg with an axe only weeks before the 2018 Timbersports Champions Trophy, but still competed and set a national record?
... that Home and Away character Dean Thompson was described in 2018 as the serial's "new favourite bad boy"?
... that Peter McAdams received the Medal of Honor for carrying his wounded comrade 250 yards (230 m) while under fire during the Battle of Salem Church?
... that the northern chink shell has two types of teeth, changing from one type to the other following a change of diet?
... that small-town Utah doctor John Steele used herbal medicines to treat patients, and also cast their horoscopes?

In the news

Stefan Löfven

More than eighty people are killed and dozens of others are injured in an explosion at an oil pipeline near Tlahuelilpan, Mexico.
Four months after the Swedish general election, the Riksdag re-elects incumbent Stefan Löfven (pictured) as Prime Minister.
A car bombing at the General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá, Colombia, kills twenty-one people.
In Zimbabwe, eight people are killed amid protests over the government's increase in the price of fuel.
Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is acquitted of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

On this day

January 21: Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States (2019)

The First Dáil Éireann

763 – The Abbasid Caliphate crushed the Alid revolt when one of the rebel leaders was mortally wounded in battle near Basra, in what is now Iraq.
1789 – The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown, widely considered to be the first American novel, was published.
1919 – The First Dáil Éireann (members pictured) first convened at the Mansion House in Dublin, adopting a Declaration of Independence calling for a new sovereign state: the Irish Republic.
1972 – Tripura, part of the former independent Twipra Kingdom, became a full-fledged state in India.
2017 – An estimated five million people worldwide participated in demonstrations to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues.

Chaim of Volozhin (b. 1749) · Eusapia Palladino (b. 1854) · Frances Gertrude McGill (d. 1959)

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From today's featured list

Rutland Water

There are 19 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Rutland, a landlocked ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. SSSIs are designated by Natural England, a non-departmental public body which is responsible for protecting England's natural environment. Designation as an SSSI gives legal protection to the most important wildlife and geological sites. Sixteen of the 19 SSSIs in Rutland are designated for their biological importance, one for its geological importance and two under both criteria. The largest site is Rutland Water (pictured) at 1,555 hectares (3,840 acres), a Ramsar internationally important wetland site and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The smallest is Tolethorpe Road Verges at 1.0 hectare (2.5 acres), which has several regionally uncommon plants on Jurassic limestone. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is a strongly migratory bird, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in Australia, New Zealand, and south and southeast Asia. The curlew sandpiper is similar to the dunlin, and has a length of 18–23 cm (7.1–9.1 in) and wingspan of 38–41 cm (15–16 in). In breeding season it has a bright red underside. This picture shows a curlew sandpiper in Thailand, with its winter plumage.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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