Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 April 24

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Today's featured article
Mellitus was the first Bishop of London, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons. He arrived in 601 AD, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus a letter now known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually and integrate pagan rituals and customs. Following the deaths of his patrons, King Sæberht of Essex and King Æthelberht of Kent, Mellitus was exiled from London and forced to take refuge in Gaul. Æthelberht's successor converted to Christianity the following year, and Mellitus returned to England. Unable to return to the pagan inhabitants of London, he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint. (more...) Recently featured: Shakespeare authorship question – Nafaanra language – Royal Maundy Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that Bach was only in his twenties when he composed the cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, for Easter (pictured), using in seven movements the words and tune of Martin Luther's Easter chorale? ... that child actor Darryl Richard made his last TV appearance on the series finale of ABC's The Donna Reed Show, March 19, 1966, a day after his 20th birthday? ... that it is said that Thomas à Becket preached either in the church dedicated to him, in Capel, Kent, or in its churchyard? ... that Joseph Bloomfield Leake left the Iowa State Senate to serve in the American Civil War but was later elected back to the Senate? ... that St. Andrews Biological Station in New Brunswick is Canada's first marine biological research station? ... that Nelson F.C. lost only one home match in the Football League Third Division North during the 1924–25 season? ... that Geoff Emerick, who co-created the send tape echo echo delay audio effect at Abbey Road Studios, once said that "God only knows" how it worked? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Sukhoi Superjet 100 Indian guru and spiritual figure Sathya Sai Baba dies at the age of 84. At least 70 people are reported killed in the deadliest day of protests in Syria this year. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 (pictured), the first airliner developed from start to finish in post-Soviet Russia, performs its first commercial flight. Photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros are killed in the Battle of Misrata in Libya. Goodluck Jonathan is elected President of Nigeria. Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
April 24: Easter (Christianity, 2011); Republic Day in The Gambia (1970) 1479 BC – Thutmose III (statue pictured) became the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, although during the first 22 years of the reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut. 1800 – The Library of Congress, the de facto national library of the United States, was established as part of an act of Congress providing for the transfer of the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. 1915 – The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the arrest and deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in Constantinople. 1967 – The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 1 crashed in Siberia during its return to Earth, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, the first human to die during a spaceflight. More anniversaries: April 23 – April 24 – April 25 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now April 24, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Concretions on Bowling Ball Beach in Mendocino County, California. A concretion is a volume of sedimentary rock in which a mineral cement fills the spaces between the sediment grains, usually forming an ovoid or spherical shape. This normally occurs early in the burial history of the sediment, before the rest of the sediment is hardened into rock.

Photo: Mila Zinkova

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