Wikipedia:Today's featured list/April 2015
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April 3
One Tamil film and sixty-five Hindi films, including two yet-to-be-released, have been produced by the Indian entertainment company Yash Raj Films. The company was established by Yash Chopra (pictured) in 1970. Yash Raj Films started a film distribution business in 1997, and in addition to distributing their own productions, the company has distributed 34 films from other companies. Yash Raj Films' first release was the Chopra-directed Daag: A Poem of Love (1973). The company's most successful films include Kaala Patthar (1979), Chandni (1989), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Veer-Zaara (2004), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), and the three films in the Dhoom franchise (2004–14). In addition to directorial ventures from Yash Chopra and his son, Aditya Chopra, the company has launched several new directors, including Sanjay Gadhvi, Kunal Kohli, Siddharth Anand, and Shaad Ali. The most frequent collaborations of the company have been with the actors Rani Mukerji, Rishi Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, and Saif Ali Khan. (Full list...)
April 6
The Yugoslav order of battle prior to the invasion of Yugoslavia was made up of the various operational formations of the Royal Yugoslav Army, Royal Yugoslav Air Force and Royal Yugoslav Navy immediately prior to the World War II Axis invasion of that country (map pictured), which commenced on 6 April 1941. The Yugoslav Army included 33 incompletely mobilised divisions, and most of the heavy weapons and armoured vehicles available to it were obsolete, most formations were heavily reliant on animal-powered transport, and it possessed only 50 tanks that could engage front line German tanks on an equal basis. The Yugoslav Air Force consisted of four almost completely mobilised air brigades with more than 423 aircraft of Yugoslav, German, Italian, French, Czech and British design, including 107 modern fighter aircraft, and 100 modern medium bombers. The small navy was centred on a destroyer leader, three smaller destroyers, four obsolescent submarines and a gunboat. (Full list...)
April 10
The discography of Taylor Swift, an American singer-songwriter, includes five studio albums, two live albums, two video albums, two extended plays (EPs), 34 singles, three featured singles, 11 promotional singles, and 34 music videos. Swift signed a record deal with Big Machine Records in 2005 and released her eponymous debut album the following year. In the United States, Taylor Swift peaked at number five on the Billboard 200. Swift released her second studio album, Fearless, in 2008. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for eleven non-consecutive weeks and became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. Her fifth studio album, 1989, was released in October 2014. It became her fourth consecutive album to peak at number one on Billboard 200 with sales of 1.287 million copies and her third to sell over 1 million copies. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Swift is the best-selling digital singles artist in the United States. To date, she has sold 27.67 million albums in the United States, making her the seventh-largest selling female artist, in terms of album sales, since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. (Full list...)
April 13
In September 2011, The New 52 imprint publications initiative was organized in a relaunch of the DC Comics line. The relaunch saw DC introduce same-day release of physical comics with digital platforms, as well as characters from the former WildStorm and Vertigo imprints being absorbed into a rebooted DC Universe. The intent was to publish 52 ongoing titles each month across the DC Universe. However, DC has also counted one-shots, miniseries and maxiseries in that number. In subsequent Septembers following the launch, DC has featured unique publishing initiatives to commemorate the relaunch. DC released a total of 93 ongoing titles across multiple "wave" releases, to "constantly refresh the line". To expand The New 52 universe, DC has also released 21 one-shots, 17 miniseries and 3 maxiseries. The New 52 titles are organized under seven different "families," grouping similar characters or themes within the books together. (Full list...)
April 17
The largest volcanic eruptions on Earth can have a major regional or even global impact; some affect the climate and contribute to mass extinctions. In a volcanic eruption, lava, tephra (volcanic bombs, lapilli, and ash), and various gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure. Volcanic eruptions can generally be characterized as either explosive eruptions, sudden ejections of rock and ash, or effusive eruptions, relatively gentle outpourings of lava. Numerous eruptions have produced at least 1,000 km3 (240 cu mi) of lava and tephra; for explosive eruptions, this corresponds to a Volcanic Explosivity Index (or VEI) of 8, at least a thousand times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, which produced only 1 km3 (0.2 cu mi) of material, and at least six times larger than the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, the largest eruption in recent history, which produced 160 km3 (38 cu mi) of volcanic deposits. There have probably been many such eruptions during Earth's history beyond those shown in these lists. However, erosion and plate tectonics have taken their toll, and many eruptions have not left enough evidence for geologists to establish their size. (Full list...)
April 20
The County Championship is an annual first-class cricket league competition for county cricket clubs in England and Wales. The league is contested on a round-robin basis and the championship awarded to the team that is top of the league at the end of the season. The first references to county cricket come during the early 18th century, during which time cricket was played almost exclusively in the south-east of England, with teams representing Kent, Middlesex, London and Surrey frequently playing each other. The sport soon became popular through the rest of the country, and by the end of the 18th century, the game was being played nationwide. In 1744, Kent faced "All England" and became the first notional English cricket champions, winning by one wicket. The title of "Champion County" was awarded intermittently and unreliably from 1826, with no team other than Kent, Surrey or Sussex being named champions until 1852. After a meeting of the principal clubs' secretaries in 1889, a method of ranking the teams was agreed upon, and the 1890 season is considered the first official competing of the County Championship. (Full list...)
April 24
The deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915 was an event during the Armenian Genocide in which leaders of the Armenian community of the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (today Istanbul) and later other locations were arrested and sent into exile by orders of the Ottoman government. Among those detained were poets, writers, musicians, doctors, architects, and other Armenian intellectuals belonging to different professions. Most of the 2,345 Armenians who were detained and then deported were ultimately killed. A few, such as Vrtanes Papazian and Komitas, were saved through intervention. Some survivors, such as Komitas, developed serious cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. 24 April has been chosen as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in order to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Most who commemorate the Armenian Genocide consider 24 April 1915 to be the date on which the event began. (Full list...)
April 27
There are 26 current and seven former places of worship in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The southern part of the district forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, and almost all of the churches are in the towns and villages within this continuous built-up area. The rural northern part of the district has one ancient church that is still in use, and another former chapel that served a now deserted medieval village. Seven of Adur's extant places of worship, and two former churches, have been awarded listed status (Grade I listed Coombes Church pictured). By the 11th century, the area now covered by Adur district had several small settlements, each with their own church. Although some have been restored and altered, most ancient structural work and internal features remain. These include an anchorite's cell (where a hermit was walled up for life), a rare series of wall paintings, and a "Rhenish helm" four-gabled tower cap that is unique in England. (Full list...)