Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 September 10

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Hurricane Gordon at peak intensity

Hurricane Gordon was the third hurricane and first major hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first tropical cyclone since 1992 to affect the Azores while retaining tropical characteristics. Gordon formed on September 10 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It gradually matured into a hurricane as it tracked northward, reaching its peak intensity with winds of 195 km/h (121 mph) early on September 14 while located about 925 km (575 mi) southeast of Bermuda. It weakened after moving over cooler waters, and passed through the Azores on September 20. Wind gusts reached hurricane force on Santa Maria Island, but the Azores sustained little damage. Gordon then became an extratropical cyclone and affected Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In Spain, wind gusts reached 183 km/h (114 mph) along the northwest coast, left 100,000 people without power, and injured five people. In Northern Ireland, high winds left 120,000 people without power and caused one injury. (Full article...)

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In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Andrew Holness

Andrew Holness (pictured) is sworn in as Prime Minister of Jamaica after the Labour Party win the general election.
Flooding in Sudan kills at least 100 people and leaves more than 100,000 others homeless.
Scientists confirm the first detection, using gravitational-wave astronomy, of a black hole in the upper mass gap.
Parliamentary elections in Montenegro result in the first victory for opposition parties in 30 years.

On this day

September 10

Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro

1509 – A strong earthquake occurred in the Sea of Marmara, devastating much of Constantinople and causing at least 1,000 deaths.
1547 – Anglo-Scottish Wars: English forces defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie near Musselburgh, Lothian, Scotland.
1945 – Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated on a farm in Colorado; he survived another 18 months as part of sideshows before choking to death in Phoenix, Arizona.
1990 – Pope John Paul II consecrated the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (pictured), one of the largest churches in the world, in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
2000 – British forces freed soldiers and civilians who had been held captive by a militia group, contributing to the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War.

H.D. (b. 1886)
Gunpei Yokoi (b. 1941)
Erna Mohr (d. 1968)

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Today's featured picture

Nicholas Lanier (baptised 10 September 1588 – buried 24 February 1666) was an English composer and musician; the first to hold the title of Master of the King's Music, in the service of Charles I and Charles II. He was one of the first composers to introduce monody and recitative to England.

After this oil-on-canvas portrait was painted by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck in Antwerp, Lanier convinced the king to bring van Dyck to England, where he became the leading court painter. The portrait displays an attitude of studied carelessness, often termed sprezzatura, defined as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it". The painting now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Painting credit: Anthony van Dyck

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