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W. Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer. He achieved national celebrity as a playwright; by 1908 he had four plays running simultaneously in London's West End. After 1933 he concentrated on novels and short stories. His popularity provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, and many belittled him as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage as a masterpiece, and his short stories are held in high critical regard. Maugham's plain prose became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical commentary. During World War I Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, later drawing on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s. He married Syrie Wellcome in 1917, and they had a daughter, Liza. However, his principal partner was Gerald Haxton; after Haxton's death, Alan Searle became Maugham's secretary and companion. Maugham gave up writing novels after World War II and died in 1965. (Full article...)

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Self-Portrait as a Tahitian (1934)

... that Self-Portrait as a Tahitian (pictured) depicts Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil standing in the shadow of an unknown man?
... that in his first month in the job, Wali Mohammad Itoo suspended all 23 opposition representatives when they questioned his integrity as the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly?
... that VMB-611 was the only United States Marine Corps bombing squadron to operate in the Philippines during World War II?
... that Japanese actress Junko Ikeuchi was known as the "Queen of TV Dramas" from the 1960s to the 1980s?
... that a commemorative coin was made for a cancelled royal visit to New Zealand?
... that because of New York City's Summer Streets program, Park Avenue in Manhattan has no motor traffic in three mornings in August?
... that the British musician Coupdekat recorded the vocals for "It's Not You" while trampolining on her bed?
... that the book A City on Mars covers sex in space, raising children in low gravity, space law, and space cannibalism?

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On this day

January 25: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (Eastern Christianity) and Dwynwen

Protester during the 2011 Egyptian revolution

1792 – Thomas Hardy founded the London Corresponding Society to seek a "radical reform of parliament", later influencing the reform movements of early-19th-century England.
1944 – Representatives of the Chetnik movement began a four-day congress to organise political opposition to the Allied support of the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans in Yugoslavia.
1971 – Idi Amin seized power from Ugandan president Milton Obote in a coup d'état, beginning eight years of military rule.
1993 – Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kansi shot five people outside the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, killing two.
2011 – The Egyptian revolution began with protests (protester pictured) on the "Day of Anger", eventually leading to the removal of President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years of rule.

J. Marion Sims (b. 1813)
Ernst Alexanderson (b. 1878)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy (b. 1978)
Adele Astaire (d. 1981)

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Today's featured picture

Lahaul and Spiti is a district of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Located in the Himalayas, it was formed by the merger of the districts of Lahaul and Spiti in 1960. At the 2011 census of India, it was the least densely populated district of India. This photograph shows the valley of the Bhaga River in Lahaul, with the villages of Kardang (left) and Biling (right) visible on opposite sides of the river, near the district headquarters of Kyelang.

Photograph credit: Timothy A. Gonsalves

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