Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 July 25

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Today's featured article
Georg Solti (1912–1997) was an orchestral and operatic conductor, best known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. After the war, he was appointed musical director of the Bavarian State Opera in 1946, the Frankfurt Opera in 1952, and the Covent Garden Opera Company in London in 1961. In 1969 Solti was appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 22 years. He restored the orchestra's reputation after it had been in decline for most of the previous decade. Known in his early years for the intensity of his music making, Solti was widely considered to have mellowed as a conductor in later years. He recorded many works two or three times at various stages of his career, and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The most famous of his recordings is probably Decca's complete set of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, made between 1958 and 1965. (more...) Recently featured: Pham Ngoc Thao – Ed, Edd n Eddy – Pi Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Gossip Girl actor Chace Crawford (pictured) is Leona Lewis's love interest in her music video for "I Will Be"? ... that capital punishment in Gibraltar was last enforced in 1944 when British hangman Albert Pierrepoint travelled undercover to the territory to hang two young Spanish spies? ... that Baseball Hall of Fame executive Ed Barrow discovered Honus Wagner, converted Babe Ruth into an outfielder, and pioneered the first uniform numbers? ... that bovine tuberculosis costing £100 million per annum is leading to badger culling in the United Kingdom? ... that in 1799, Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse became the first woman to make a parachute jump? ... that so-called bath salts, a class of designer drug that became popular in the last decade, often contain mephedrone, which was first synthesised in the 1920s? ... that the German architect Hermann Muthesius noted in 1904 that it was "considered downright inadmissible" for the toilet to be in a British bathroom, rather than a room of its own? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Ghanaian President John Atta Mills (pictured) dies at the age of 68 and is succeeded by Vice President John Dramani Mahama. At least 116 people are killed and more than 250 others wounded in a string of bombings and attacks in Iraq. In golf, Ernie Els wins the Open Championship. In cycling, Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. Pranab Mukherjee is elected President of India. A gunman kills 12 people and injures 58 others during a midnight film screening in the U.S. state of Colorado. Bollywood actor and film producer Rajesh Khanna dies at the age of 69. Syrian defense minister Dawoud Rajiha and deputy defense minister Assef Shawkat are killed in a bomb attack on the Military Intelligence Directorate headquarters in Damascus. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
July 25: Commonwealth Constitution Day in Puerto Rico (1952) 1139 – Prince Afonso Henriques (pictured) led Portuguese troops to victory over the Almoravid Moors at the Battle of Ourique. 1609 – During a hurricane, the crew of British sailing ship Sea Venture grounded her on the reefs of Bermuda, which is widely believed to have inspired Shakepeare's The Tempest. 1814 – War of 1812: In present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario, the United States and Great Britain engaged in one of the deadliest battles ever fought on Canadian soil. 1909 – French aviator Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel in a heavier-than-air flying machine, flying from near Calais, France, to Dover, England. 1978 – Louise Brown, the world's first baby conceived through in vitro fertilisation, was born in Oldham, England. 2010 – WikiLeaks published 75,000 classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. More anniversaries: July 24 – July 25 – July 26 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now July 25, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

On July 25, 1976, the Viking 1 spacecraft captured images of a mesa in the Cydonia region of Mars with the appearance of a humanoid face (see inset), which led to much speculation about life on Mars. In 2007, high-resolution images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the same structure definitively showed that the face was merely an optical illusion known as pareidolia.

Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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