Wikipedia:Today's featured list/July 2015
|
Featured list tools: |
July 3
The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, formerly the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam ([Chủ tịch Ủy ban Thường vụ Quốc hội Việt Nam] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) from 1946 to 1981, is the legislative speaker of the Vietnamese parliament, the National Assembly. It is, in the words of the constitution, "the highest representative organ of the people; the highest organ of state power ... , the sole organ that has constitutional and legislative rights". The chairman is elected by the deputies (members) of the National Assembly in the first season of the assembly's tenure. The Standing Committee, which the chairman is a member of, is a permanent body which controls the activities of the National Assembly when it is not in session. The chairman, and the other members of the Standing Committee, have to resign from their post when the National Assembly dissolves itself, which it normally does every fifth year. The powers and prestige of the office of chairman have varied throughout the years. The current chairman is Nguyễn Sinh Hùng (pictured), and he is ranked fourth in the Politburo hierarchy. (Full list...)
July 6
Thirty-six men have coached the Navy Midshipmen football team, which has represented the United States Naval Academy in intercollegiate college football since 1879. The Midshipmen joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A when it was created in 1978, becoming one of the first independent schools in that division. In addition to the 36 head coaches, the program has had one interim coach and two separate periods where it went without a coach since its formation. The Midshipmen have played in over 1200 games during the program's 132 seasons (through the 2014 regular season). In those seasons, seven coaches have led the Midshipmen to postseason bowl games, eight have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and one, Bill Ingram, has led the school to a national championship. George Welsh is the all-time leader in seasons coached at Navy with nine, and also leads in number of games coached (102). Ken Niumatalolo overtook Welsh in 2014 for the most games won at Navy, with 57. In 2014, Niumatalolo overtook Paul Johnson (pictured), his predecessor, for the most bowl games coached, with seven, and most number of bowl games won (3). (Full list...)
July 10
Greater Manchester has a rail network that includes 91 stations. Transport for Greater Manchester is responsible for specifying fares and service levels of train services operating in the county. The Northern Rail train operating company provides most of these services. The four main railway stations in Manchester city centre are Piccadilly, Victoria, Oxford Road and Deansgate which all form part of the Manchester station group. All services run to or through one of Manchester city centre's major stations, Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly. The network is effectively divided into two operating halves based on these stations, although the opening of a connecting line in 1988 improved operational flexibility by joining the north and south halves. The region's rail network started to develop during the Industrial Revolution, when it was at the centre of a textile manufacturing boom. Manchester was at the forefront of the railway building revolution during the Victorian era. The world's first passenger railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened on 15 September 1830. Its original terminus, Liverpool Road railway station, was closed to passengers in 1844, but still exists and is the oldest surviving passenger station in the world. (Full list...)
July 13
The works of the British writer Sax Rohmer include songs, sketches, plays and stories. After attempting careers in the civil service, as well as the banking, journalism and gas industries, Rohmer began writing comic songs, monologues and sketches for music hall performers, including Little Tich and George Robey. Rohmer's first book was Pause!, a series of sketches conceived by Robey and written by Rohmer, which was published anonymously in 1910; his second book was the ghost-written biography of Little Tich, published with Tich's real name, Harry Relph. In 1913 The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu was published, a novel that introduced Fu Manchu, described by Rohmer as "the yellow peril incarnate in one man"; the book brought the author popularity and wealth. In total he wrote 15 Fu Manchu books and although he killed the character off more than once, public pressure demanded his return. Fu Manchu is the character with which Rohmer "remains most strongly identified", and was described by Rohmer's biographer Will Murray as one of the literary characters that "has achieved universal acceptance and popularity which will not be forgotten". From 1951 onwards Rohmer published five novels with Sumuru as the central protagonist; she was a female conterpart of Fu Manchu, and the novels were both popular and successful. (Full list...)
July 17
Salman Khan's acting career has spanned over two decades. Khan, an Indian actor, made his debut in 1989 with a supporting role in the family drama Biwi Ho To Aisi, following which he had his breakthrough role in the blockbuster romance Maine Pyar Kiya. After suffering from a brief setback during the early 1990s, he established his career in Bollywood with the blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! His other successful films of the decade include Karan Arjun (1995), Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998), and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). In 2003, Khan earned praise for playing a scorned lover in the romantic drama Tere Naam. He went on to play the lead in the top-grossing Hindi films Garv (2004), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), No Entry (2005), and Partner (2007). In 2014, Khan became the first actor to star in seven Bollywood films, including Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), and Kick (2014), that have earned over ₹1 billion. (Full list...)
July 20
Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable for their face value of silver dollar coins and later (for one year – 24 June 1967 to 24 June 1968) in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but still valid legal tender. Large-size silver certificates (1878 to 1923) were issued initially in denominations from $10 to $1,000 (in 1878 and 1880) and in 1886 the $1, $2, and $5 were authorized. In 1928, all United States bank notes were re-designed and the size reduced. The small-size silver certificate (1928–1964) was only issued in denominations of $1, $5, and $10. (Full list...)
July 24
Forty titles were produced for the Sega 32X, an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", the 32X was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a holdover until the release of the Sega Saturn. Independent of the Genesis, the 32X used its own ROM cartridges and had its own library of games. The product was originally conceived as an entirely new console by Sega of Japan and positioned as an inexpensive alternative for gamers into the 32-bit era, but at the suggestion of Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller, the console was converted into an add-on to the existing Genesis and made more powerful, with two 32-bit central processing unit chips and a 3D graphics processor. Among the titles for the 32X were ports of arcade games Space Harrier and Star Wars Arcade, a sidescroller with a hummingbird as a main character in Kolibri, a 32X-exclusive game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series in Knuckles' Chaotix, and a version of Doom that was noted for its movement and game length issues when compared to other versions of the game. (This list is part of a featured topic: Sega Genesis.)
July 27
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It was first awarded at the 24th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1972, when the award was originally called Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama for two years. The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were presented in 1974, when this award was renamed Outstanding Drama Series and given in honor of a daytime drama. The award was first presented to The Doctors, which first aired in 1963. General Hospital holds the record for the most awards, winning on eleven occasions. In 2007, Guiding Light and The Young and the Restless tied in the voting, which was the first tie in this category. The Young and the Restless has also received the most nominations, with a total of thirty-three. In 2015, Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless became the most recent recipients of the award in a tie. ABC has been the most successful network, with a total of twenty-one wins. (Full list...)
July 31
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote from a pre-determined shortlist, to have achieved the most that year. The recipient must either be British or reside and play a significant amount of their sport in the United Kingdom. Sports Personality of the Year was created by Paul Fox, who thought of the idea while he was editor of the magazine show Sportsview. The first award ceremony took place in 1954 as part of Sportsview, and was presented by Peter Dimmock. Approximately 14,500 votes were cast by postcard, and Christopher Chataway beat Roger Bannister to win the inaugural BBC Sportsview's Personality of the Year Award. Three people have won the award more than once: boxer Henry Cooper and the Formula One racing drivers Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill have each won twice. The most recent award winner is Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who won in 2014. (Full list...)