Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 January 4

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From today's featured article

Brian Horrocks (1895–1985) was a British Army officer who commanded XXX Corps during the Second World War. He also served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War, was taken prisoner twice, and competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Later he was a television presenter, a military history author, and Black Rod in the House of Lords. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery identified Horrocks as one of his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in North Africa and Europe. Horrocks was seriously wounded in 1943, and took more than a year to recover before returning to command a corps. His wound caused continuing health problems and led to his early retirement from the army. Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some historians as one of the most successful British generals of the war; Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, called him "the outstanding British general under Montgomery". (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Simeon Monument

... that, upon completion of the Simeon Monument (pictured), a local resident complained that "among the generality of the inhabitants it is called a p****** post"?
... that Howard J. Green's screenplay for I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang led to the elimination of the chain gang system in the U.S. state of Georgia in 1937?
... that Falcon 9 booster B1050 malfunctioned during re-entry and missed its landing target at LZ-1, but still managed a soft landing in the ocean just offshore?
... that Roberto Tobar officiated the 2017 Segunda División final, in which only one team took part in the penalty shootout?
... that the Loch Maree Hotel poisoning of 1922 was the first recorded outbreak of botulism in the United Kingdom?
... that Bernard A. Maguire suppressed an uprising at Georgetown University by dismissing 70 students?
... that the 1931 accident triangle theory proposed a link between the number of minor accidents and those that led to serious injury?
... that Hazel Smith coined the term "outlaw country" to describe the music of performers such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings?

In the news

Michael van Gerwen

CNSA's Chang'e 4 becomes the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon.
A train accident on the Great Belt Fixed Link in Denmark kills 8 passengers.
In darts, Michael van Gerwen (pictured) defeats Michael Smith to win the PDC World Championship.
NASA's New Horizons space probe performs a successful flyby of trans-Neptunian object Ultima Thule.
An apartment block collapses in Magnitogorsk, Russia, killing 38 people.

On this day

January 4: Colonial Martyrs Repression Day in Angola (1961)

Constantine Hangerli

46 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Forces loyal to Julius Caesar were defeated in the Battle of Ruspina by the Republican forces of the Optimates.
1698 – Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, from 1530 the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.
1798 – After his investiture as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli (pictured) arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne.
1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul.
1989 – Two American F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers that appeared to be attempting to engage them over the Gulf of Sirte in the Mediterranean Sea.

George Tryon (b. 1832) · Josef Suk (b. 1874) · Erwin Schrödinger (d. 1961)

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From today's featured list

British Commandos after Operation Abercrombie

Commando raids were made by the Western Allies during much of the Second World War against the Atlantic Wall. The raids were conducted by the armed forces of Britain, the Commonwealth and a small number of men from the occupied territories serving with No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando during the Second World War. All the operations took place between the Arctic Circle in Norway and the French border with Spain, along what was known as the Atlantic Wall. The raiding forces were mostly provided by the British Commandos, but the two largest raids, Operation Gauntlet and Operation Jubilee, drew heavily on Canadian troops. The size of the raiding force depended on the objective. The 57 raids were all between 1940 and 1944 and were mostly against targets in France, which had 36 raids. The raids ended in mid-1944 on the orders of Major-General Robert Laycock, the chief of Combined Operations Headquarters. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) is a relatively small bird of prey found in the Americas. A vocal species, it is often the most common raptor in its range. It has many subspecies, and although previously placed in the genus Buteo, it is now usually placed in the monotypic genus Rupornis. The roadside hawk is 31–41 cm (12–16 in) long and weighs 250–300 g (8.8–10.6 oz). Males are about 20% smaller than females, but otherwise the sexes are similar.

This picture shows an immature roadside hawk in the Pantanal, Brazil.

Photograph: Charles J. Sharp

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