Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 April 24

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From today's featured article

Æthelberht was the King of Wessex from 860 until his death in 865. He was the third son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife, Osburh. In 855 Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome and appointed Æthelberht as king of the recently conquered territory of Kent. Æthelberht's older brother, Æthelbald, was named king of Wessex. After the deaths of his father in 858 and his brother in 860, Æthelberht ruled both Wessex and Kent without appointing a sub-king, fully uniting the two territories for the first time. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he reigned "in good harmony and in great peace". He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers, the future kings Æthelred I and Alfred the Great. The kingdom came under attack from Viking raids during his reign, but these were minor compared to the invasions after his death. Æthelberht died in the autumn of 865 and was buried next to his brother Æthelbald at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. He was succeeded by Æthelred. (Full article...)

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In the news

Volodymyr Zelensky

At least 16 people are killed in an earthquake in Luzon, the Philippines.
Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) wins the Ukrainian presidential election.
More than 350 people are killed and hundreds of others are injured in multiple bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
Scientists announce the discovery of naturally occurring helium hydride ions, believed to be the first compound to have formed in the universe, in the planetary nebula NGC 7027.

On this day

April 24: Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day; Administrative Professionals Day in various countries (2019)

Hubble Space Telescope

1704 – John Campbell released the first issue of The Boston News-Letter, the first continuously published newspaper in British North America.
1904 – Realizing that the Russification of Lithuania was not working, the Russian Empire lifted the 40-year-old ban on publications using the Lithuanian language.
1932 – An estimated 400 ramblers committed a willful trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District of England to highlight the denial of access to areas of open country.
1965 – The Dominican Civil War broke out due to tensions caused by a military coup of the democratically elected government two years previous.
1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope (pictured) was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in mission STS-31.

Vincent de Paul (b. 1581) · Axel von Fersen the Elder (d. 1794) · Estée Lauder (d. 2004)

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Today's featured picture

An 1876 advertisement for the Great Western Railway for travel via the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, the world's first working railway suspension bridge, which connected Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, to Niagara Falls, New York, United States. The bridge was operational from 1855 to 1897, and was replaced by the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.

Image credit: Clay, Cosack & Co.

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