Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 November 14

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From today's featured article

Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) is a former professional cyclist from France. With 147 professional victories, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. Hinault started cycling as an amateur in his native Brittany before turning professional in 1975. His successes in the Grand Tours include five victories at the Tour de France, three at the Giro d'Italia and two at the Vuelta a España. He was also successful in one-day races, winning, among others, the 1980 Liège–Bastogne–Liège (run on snow-covered roads), the 1981 Paris–Roubaix and the World Road Race title in 1980. His principal rivals included Joop Zoetemelk, as well as former teammates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond, with whom he battled during the Tours in 1985 and 1986, before retiring at the end of that year. He remains the most recent French winner of the Tour de France. Throughout his career, Hinault was known by the nickname le blaireau, or "badger", for his aggressive racing. (Full article...)

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Michigan Firehouse Museum

... that the Michigan Firehouse Museum (pictured) is home to the largest collection of fire truck bells in the United States?
... that Rear Admiral Ma Weiming has led the development of the electromagnetic catapult system for China's future aircraft carriers?
... that the bark of Guibourtia tessmannii is much esteemed in traditional medicine and is often removed from living trees?
... that George W. Hotchkiss published the world's first lumber journal, the Lumberman's Gazette?
... that a fake version of Bish's album Carrots and Sticks became the sixth-bestselling album in Japan for the week of its release?
... that George Wimpey CEO Joe Dwyer thought general contracting was a "mug's game" and converted the firm into a housebuilder?
... that the death of a track marshal as a result of a two-car collision on lap five of the 2001 Australian Grand Prix was not announced until after the race ended?
... that John Cule was forced to learn Italian because his batman spoke no English?

In the news

Cyclone Bulbul

Cyclone Bulbul (satellite image shown) hits the Indian and Bangladeshi coasts of the Bay of Bengal, killing at least 36 people.
After weeks of protests over electoral fraud, Bolivian president Evo Morales and other high-ranking politicians are forced to resign, and opposition senator Jeanine Áñez becomes interim president.
The Supreme Court of India delivers a unanimous verdict in favour of the construction of a Hindu temple at a disputed holy site in Ayodhya.
A border corridor is opened between Pakistan and India, allowing Indian Sikh pilgrims visa-free access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib for the first time since the partition.

On this day

November 14: World Diabetes Day

Eugene Burton Ely taking off
from USS Birmingham

1680 – German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovered the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope.
1910 – Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a ship (pictured), flying from a makeshift deck on USS Birmingham in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1952 – Al Martino's song "Here in My Heart" became the first number one on the UK Singles Chart.
2003 – Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object Sedna.

Leopold Mozart (b. 1719) · John Lumsden (b. 1869) · Valerie Jarrett (b. 1956)

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Today's featured picture

The Iranian toman is a superunit of the official currency of Iran, the rial. One toman is equivalent to ten rials. Although the rial is the official currency, Iranians use the toman in everyday life. Originally, the toman consisted of 10,000 dinars. Between 1798 and 1825, the toman was also subdivided into eight rials, each of 1,250 dinars. In 1825, the qiran was introduced, worth 1,000 dinars or one-tenth of a toman.

This picture shows a one-toman banknote issued by the Imperial Bank of Persia, dated 1906. The note was produced by English printers Bradbury Wilkinson and Company and depicts Naser al-Din, shah of the Qajar dynasty, on the obverse (top).

Banknote credit: Bradbury Wilkinson and Company; photographed by Andrew Shiva

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