Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 December 28

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From today's featured article

Beyoncé performing "Halo" in 2013

"Halo" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). Inspired by Ray LaMontagne's 2004 song "Shelter", "Halo" was written by Ryan Tedder, E. Kidd Bogart, Eric Nealante Phillips, and Beyoncé herself. The song is a pop power ballad, with lyrics describing a sublime love. The single won Best Song at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and was nominated for Record of the Year. "Halo" topped the singles charts of Brazil, Norway, and Slovakia, and reached the top five in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the US. Philip Andelman directed Beyoncé and actor Michael Ealy in the accompanying music video. The song was performed on the television show Glee and has been covered by many artists, including Florence and the Machine, Harper Blynn, and Westlife. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Australasian gannet in flight

... that Australasian gannets (example pictured) established a breeding colony on Young Nick's Head after being attracted there by decoy birds and pre-recorded calls?
... that Sakura-Variationen, a trio for saxophone, piano, and percussion by Helmut Lachenmann, was composed for a children's concert?
... that the followers of Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, the founder of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn, believed that he would return after his death, and kept a saddled horse at the entrance of his tomb?
... that the Poplar Hill mansion on Long Island was reportedly used to spy on the neighboring Killenworth mansion, which housed the Soviet delegation to the United Nations?
... that Pat Marsh was described as "the first lady of British ice hockey"?
... that the Slovak Jewish Center, set up by the Nazis, was taken over by a resistance group?
... that in 1909 Mamie Garvin Fields became one of the first African-American public school teachers in Charleston County, South Carolina?
... that the ending of Avengers: Infinity War inspired the largest user ban in Reddit's history?

In the news

Damage from the Sunda Strait tsunami

A tsunami hits the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, killing at least 429 people and injuring more than 1,400 others (aftermath pictured).
In field hockey, the World Cup concludes with Belgium defeating the Netherlands in the final.
The Balangiga bells, taken by US Army soldiers from the Philippines in 1901 as war trophies, are repatriated.
Nine people are killed when a high-speed train collides with a locomotive in Ankara, Turkey.

On this day

December 28: Proclamation Day in South Australia (1836)

Westminster Abbey

1065 – Westminster Abbey (pictured) in London, built by Edward the Confessor between 1045 and 1050, was consecrated.
1768 – Taksin the Great was crowned king of the newly established Thonburi Kingdom in the new capital at Thonburi, present-day Thailand.
1918 – Irishwoman Constance Markievicz became the first female Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, although she never served.
1943 – World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured Ortona, Italy.
2006 – Somali Civil War: Troops of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and their Ethiopian allies captured Mogadishu unopposed.

William Carstares (d. 1715) · Carl-Gustaf Rossby (b. 1898) · Ratan Tata (b. 1937)

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From today's featured list

Charlie Brooker

The British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror has been nominated for seventy-nine awards, winning twenty-one of them. The series was created by Charlie Brooker (pictured). Premiering on 4 December 2011, the first two series aired on British network Channel 4, as did the special "White Christmas", whereas the following two series were released on the American streaming platform Netflix. The most acclaimed episodes are "USS Callister", which won four Emmy Awards, and "San Junipero", which won two. As actors rarely appear in more than one episode, the only people to receive two awards for their work on the show are writer Brooker, production designer Joel Collins and editors Kenny Clark and Michael Maroussas. The series has been nominated for fourteen British Academy Film Awards, winning two, and thirteen Emmy Awards, winning five. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Little Street (Het Straatje) is a painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, dating to around 1657–58. An oil-on-canvas work, it is a relatively small painting, being 54.3 centimetres (21.4 in) high by 44.0 centimetres (17.3 in) wide. It depicts a street in Vermeer's hometown of Delft, one of three he painted of the town, the others being View of Delft and the now lost House Standing in Delft. The painting bears the signature "I V MEER", below the left hand corner below the window. The Little Street is now exhibited at the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.

Painting: Johannes Vermeer

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