Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 January 12

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Keen Johnson was the 45th Governor of Kentucky (1939–43) and the only journalist to have held that office. Born on January 12, 1896, he served in World War I and earned a journalism degree from the University of Kentucky. Johnson served as lieutenant governor under Governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler from 1935 to 1939. He had already secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination when Chandler resigned and elevated him to governor so that he could appoint Chandler to the U.S. Senate. Johnson went on to win a full gubernatorial term in the general election. He ran a fiscally conservative administration and took the state from a $7 million shortfall to a surplus of $10 million by the end of his term. Afterwards, Johnson joined Reynolds Metals as a special assistant to the president. He took a one-year leave of absence to serve as the first U.S. Undersecretary of Labor in 1946, then continued working for the company until 1961. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1960, losing to incumbent Republican John Sherman Cooper. He died in 1970 in Richmond, Kentucky. (Full article...)

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Cedar of Lebanon

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... that percussionist Annette A. Aguilar was sent to South Africa by the U.S. State Department as a Latin Jazz Ambassador?
... that Andrew Tremlett had his appointment as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons blocked because he was "another white middle aged man"?
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In the news

David Bowie in 2002

English singer, songwriter and producer David Bowie (pictured) dies at the age of 69.
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is recaptured six months after escaping from prison.
North Korea conducts its fourth nuclear test, claiming to have used a hydrogen bomb.
A terrorist attack at India's Pathankot Air Force Station kills at least seven members of the security forces.
Saudi Arabia executes Nimr al-Nimr for his role in the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests.

Ongoing events:
- European migrant crisis
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On this day...

January 12: Zanzibar Revolution Day in Tanzania (1964)

St. Mary's Church, Reculver

1808 – John Rennie's scheme to defend St Mary's Church, Reculver (pictured), from coastal erosion was abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture.
1899 – During a storm, the crew of the Lynmouth Lifeboat Station transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to rescue a damaged schooner.
1921 – Seeking to restore confidence after the Black Sox Scandal, owners of Major League Baseball teams elected former United States district court judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the league's first commissioner.
1967 – Seventy-three-year-old psychology professor James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically frozen with intent of future resuscitation.
2007 – Comet McNaught reached perihelion and became the brightest comet in over 40 years with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.

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Today's featured picture

The Bara Imambara is an imambara complex in Lucknow, India. Built by Asaf-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh, in 1785, the building reflects a maturation of ornamented Mughal design (as seen in the Badshahi Mosque).

Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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