Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 July 6

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From today's featured article

HMS Levant was a sixth-rate 28-gun frigate of the Coventry class, launched in 1758. Principally a hunter of privateers, she was also designed to be a match for small French frigates, but with a broader hull and sturdier build at the expense of some speed and manoeuvrability. Assigned to the Jamaica station in 1759, Levant defeated nine French vessels in three years at sea and was part of the British expedition against Martinique in 1762. The frigate was decommissioned in 1763, returned to service in 1766 for patrol duties in the Caribbean, decommissioned for a second time in 1770, and reinstated at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Sent to the Mediterranean and based at Gibraltar, Levant captured or sank a total of fourteen enemy craft over the next three years, including an 18-gun American privateer. The ageing frigate was removed from Navy service in 1779 and broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1780, having secured a total of 31 victories during 21 years at sea. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

"Your Britain. Fight for It Now" poster

... that Kensal House, the UK's first modernist block designed for the working class, was used by Abram Games for his 1942 poster "Your Britain. Fight for It Now" (pictured)?
... that to make the ethnographic film series The Doon School Quintet, visual anthropologist David MacDougall was given unprecedented access to film students at an all-boys boarding school in India?
... that Frank Sargent was the first person to be president of two national amateur sporting associations in Canada?
... that a number of Confederate cannons were captured at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge because battery horses were posted on the wrong side of the river?
... that Markham's storm petrel, which nests in Peru and northern Chile, has been described as "one of the least known seabirds in the world"?
... that James A. Baker helped to reveal the murder conspiracy against wealthy businessman William Marsh Rice?
... that in 1381, the Monastery of St Lawrence at Buda gained greatly in prestige when it received the body of Paul of Thebes?
... that while researching for his book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, Randall Munroe enlisted Serena Williams to knock a drone out of the sky with a tennis ball?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

Presidential edition of the Russian constitution

Floods in Kyushu, Japan, kill 34 people.
The Russian electorate votes to amend the Russian constitution (pictured).
European police agencies infiltrate EncroChat, an alleged criminal chat system, leading to the arrest of more than 800 people.
More than 170 people are killed in a landslide at a jade mine in Hpakant, Myanmar.

On this day

July 6: Independence Day in Malawi (1964); Statehood Day in Lithuania (1253); Festival of San Fermín begins in Pamplona, Spain

Story Bridge

1253 – Mindaugas, the first known grand duke of Lithuania, was crowned king, becoming the only person ever to hold that title.
1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: A Royal Navy squadron attempted to eliminate a smaller French Navy squadron at Algeciras before they could join their Spanish allies.
1940 – The Story Bridge (pictured) in Brisbane, the longest cantilever bridge in Australia, was opened by Sir Leslie Wilson, Governor of Queensland.
2013 – In the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 airliner, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed on final approach to San Francisco International Airport, resulting in three deaths.

Godelieve (d. 1070)
Maria Luisa, Duchess of Lucca (b. 1782)
Nancy Reagan (b. 1921)

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From today's featured list

The Japanese holding company Bandai Namco is best known for its video game franchises. The company was formed following the merger of Bandai and Namco on 29 September 2005, with both companies' assets being merged into a single corporate entity. The core video game branch of the company is Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly called Namco Bandai Games, which develops games for home consoles, arcades and mobile phones internationally. Pac-Man is its highest-grossing franchise, with over US$12.8 billion by 2016, while Tekken is its best-selling franchise, with over 49 million copies across multiple platforms. Bandai Namco owns former developer Banpresto, which operates as a toy company in Japan and was purchased in 2006, and acquired a 95-percent stake in D3 Publisher in 2009. Bandai Namco also owns the video game rights to several anime licenses, notably Dragon Ball. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Giuseppe Tominz (6 July 1790 – 24 April 1866) was an Italian-Slovenian portrait painter. His work was influenced by late Classicism and the style of Viennese artists of the Biedermeier period. The individuals in his portraits have sharp features and clear forms, but despite this the depictions are realistic, sometimes with an ironic touch. The backgrounds are filled with landscapes or the city from which the person depicted originated.

Tominz painted this oil-on-canvas portrait of Pietro Stanislao Parisi and his family in 1849. Parisi was head of a trading company, still active in Trieste today; the shipping visible in the background represents the family's mercantile interests. The painting is currently held in a private collection in Rome.

Painting credit: Giuseppe Tominz

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