Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 June 1

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Today's featured article
Steve Dodd (born 1928) is an Indigenous Australian actor, notable for playing indigenous characters across seven decades of Australian film. After beginning his working life as a stockman and rodeo rider, Dodd was given his first film roles by prominent Australian actor Chips Rafferty. His career was interrupted by six years in the Australian Army during the Korean War, and limited by discrimination and typecasting. Despite this, by 1985 he had appeared in 55 movies or television features. Dodd has performed in some of Australia's most prominent movies, including Gallipoli and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, in which he played Tabidgi, the murdering uncle of the lead character. He has also held minor parts in Australia-based international film productions including The Coca-Cola Kid, Quigley Down Under and The Matrix. He has appeared in minor roles in early Australian television series, such as Homicide and Rush, as well as more recent series including The Flying Doctors. (more...) Recently featured: Chadderton – Louis Slotin – Timor Leste Defence Force Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Niels Kaas (pictured) was the chancellor of Denmark during the late 1500s? ... that Action Saybusch was intended to be the first of several German expulsions of Poles from Silesia to the occupied General Government in World War II? ... that renowned German furniture designer Tommi Parzinger spent the last 15 years of his life working on Expressionist paintings? ... that Brule Lake in Minnesota is the source of two rivers that enter Lake Superior forty miles apart? ... that after a WNBL game in which Kristen Veal scored 16 points, other players shaved Veal's head to support the Leukemia Foundation? ... that the deluxe cover to Simian Mobile Disco's 2012 album, Unpatterns, is back to front and forms a moiré pattern with the CD image? ... that Arsenal went 995 minutes without conceding a goal in European football? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Viswanathan Anand (pictured) defeats Boris Gelfand to win a fourth consecutive World Chess Championship. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry approves the names flerovium and livermorium for two recently discovered elements. American author Madeline Miller wins the Orange Prize for Fiction for her novel The Song of Achilles. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War. In response to the Houla massacre, high-ranking Syrian diplomats are expelled from several countries. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
June 1: International Children's Day 1648 – Second English Civil War: Parliamentarian troops defeated Royalist forces in the Battle of Maidstone. 1794 – The Glorious First of June (pictured), the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars, was fought. 1813 – War of 1812: Mortally wounded during a battle against the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon, American naval commander James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake ordered his crew "Don't give up the ship!", today a popular battle cry. 1942 – Second World War: The crews of three Japanese Ko-hyoteki class submarines scuttled and committed suicide after entering Sydney Harbour and launching a failed attack. 2009 – En route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 aboard. More anniversaries: May 31 – June 1 – June 2 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now June 1, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Sheet music for the Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, a solo piano piece written by Frédéric Chopin in 1842. This work is one of Chopin's most admired compositions and has long been a favorite of the classical piano repertoire. The piece, which is very difficult, requires exceptional pianistic skills and great virtuosity to be interpreted. A typical performance of the polonaise lasts seven minutes.

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