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Course on the Great Ouse

The Boat Race 2021 comprised two side-by-side rowing races that took place on 4 April. The Boat Race is contested annually between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Traditionally held on the Championship Course in London, the 2021 race instead took place on the River Great Ouse near Ely (course map pictured). This was the 75th women's race and the 166th men's race; the 2020 race was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the 2021 races, Cambridge led 84–80 in the men's race and 44–30 in the women's. For the first time, both races were officiated by female umpires, Judith Packer and Sarah Winckless. Cambridge's women were strong favourites; Oxford took an early lead but Cambridge responded to win. Oxford were slight favourites in the men's race, but Cambridge won by just under one length. Cambridge completed a clean sweep in the reserve races on 25 April 2021 when their Goldie won the men's event and their Blondie won the women's race. (Full article...)

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In the news

Missile strike site in Kyiv

Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine (missile strike site pictured).
The Winter Olympics conclude in Beijing, China.
At least 176 people are killed due to mudslides and floods in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

On this day

February 24: Fat Thursday (Western Christianity, 2022); Independence Day in Estonia (1918)

The Drury Lane theatre in 1809

1525 – A Habsburg army defeated French forces at the Battle of Pavia, the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526.
1720 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Spanish forces began a failed assault on the British settlement of Nassau in the Bahamas.
1809 – After standing only 15 years, London's Drury Lane theatre (pictured), the third building of that name, burned down.
1968 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese forces led by Ngô Quang Trưởng recaptured the citadel of Huế.
1978 – Five men disappeared after attending a college basketball game in Chico, California; the bodies of four of them were discovered four months later.

Edmund Andros (d. 1714)
Carlo Buonaparte (d. 1785)
Risa Hontiveros (b. 1966)

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Today's featured picture

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1390–1447), was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was a benefactor and protector of the University of Oxford, donating more than 280 manuscripts, and his name lives on in Duke Humfrey's Library, part of the university's Bodleian Library, the interior of which is shown in this photograph. The possession of such a library did much to stimulate new learning.

Photograph credit: David Iliff

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