Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 13

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Sterndale Bennett (13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, and conductor who became a leading force in musical education. As a student at the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), he was admired by Felix Mendelssohn, who invited him to come to Germany. In three long visits there between 1836 and 1842 he performed as a pianist and composed, befriending Robert Schumann. In 1837 he began teaching at the RAM, with which he was associated for most of his life. His pupils included Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, and Tobias Matthay. He performed throughout the 1840s and 1850s, returning to composition in 1858; by this time his works were considered old-fashioned, though they were still popular. He was Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge from 1856 to 1866, then became Principal of the RAM, rescuing it from closure. He was knighted in 1871. He died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In recent years, appreciation of Bennett's compositions has been rekindled and many of his works have been recorded. Several concerts of his music are planned for his bicentenary year of 2016. (Full article...)

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- Howard Marks
- Merle Haggard

On this day...

April 13: Vaisakhi (Sikhism); Thingyan begins in Myanmar; Lao New Year in Laos; Thai New Year's Day

Ba Cụt

1598 – King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian forces conducted a surprise attack against a Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1941 – The Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan signed a neutrality pact, which lasted through most of World War II.
1956 – The Vietnamese National Army captured Ba Cụt (pictured), military commander of the Hoa Hao religious sect, which ran a de facto state in southern Vietnam in opposition to Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem.
2015 – Czech politician Vít Jedlička proclaimed the micronation Liberland on a patch of land between Croatia and Serbia that had been unclaimed by either side due to a territorial dispute.

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The Siberian rubythroat (Luscinia calliope) is a small passerine bird generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher of the family Muscicapidae. This migratory insectivorous species breeds in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in Siberia, where it nests near the ground. It winters in Thailand, India and Indonesia. It is an extremely rare vagrant to Western Europe and the Aleutian Islands.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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