Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 January 17

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Rihanna

"Talk That Talk" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her 2011 studio album of the same name. It features a rap verse by Jay-Z, who had previously collaborated with her on "Umbrella" in 2007 and "Run This Town" in 2009. A hip hop song with R&B beats, rough drums and unrefined synths, it was written by Jay-Z, Ester Dean, The Notorious B.I.G., Buckwild, Sean Combs, and Chucky Thompson together with the Norwegian production duo StarGate. Def Jam Recordings serviced the track to urban radio in the United States on January 17, 2012. The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2013 ceremony. It reached number 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 25 on the UK Singles Chart, and made top ten lists in Israel, Norway, and South Korea. Over one million copies were downloaded in the US. Rihanna performed the song on The Jonathan Ross Show and Saturday Night Live, and included it on set lists on tour with Eminem. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Bedřich Fritta's caricature of the Theresienstadt Ghetto

... that the Nazi authorities promoted Theresienstadt Ghetto (caricature shown) as a "spa town" and "retirement settlement" for Jews?
... that American suffragist Annie Nowlin Savery came into conflict with some woman suffragists because she supported free love?
... that Chief Justice Murray Gleeson suggested that public confidence in the independence of Australian judges largely consists of taking things for granted?
... that 79 pages of Robin Coste Lewis's anthology Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems are devoted to the titular poem, which consists of "titles, catalog entries, or exhibit descriptions" depicting the black female form in Western art?
... that "Varsity", the University of Michigan fight song, was written in 1911 by two Michigan students while they were riding a street car in Detroit?
... that the journalist Johann Georg Reißmüller, a co-publisher of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, is credited with playing an important part in Germany's recognition of Croatia and Slovenia?
... that the production of the film El Caracazo required a military security presence for the filming of scenes of riot and massacre in the centre of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas?
... that the man who named a nearly blind amphibian Dermophis donaldtrumpi did so to raise awareness of Donald Trump's policies on climate change?

In the news

Paweł Adamowicz

A terrorist attack by the militant group Al-Shabaab at a hotel compound in Nairobi, Kenya, kills at least twenty-one people.
In Poland, Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz (pictured) dies after being stabbed on stage at a charity concert.
Fifteen people are killed when a Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crashes on landing at Fath Air Base, Iran.
In the midst of an ongoing constitutional crisis in Venezuela, the National Assembly disputes incumbent president Nicolás Maduro's victory in the May 2018 election and declares Juan Guaidó the acting president.

On this day

January 17

Raoul Wallenberg

1773 – On James Cook's second voyage, his ship HMS Resolution became the first to cross the Antarctic Circle.
1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (pictured), who had saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary, and was never publicly seen again.
1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
1989 – Patrick Purdy opened fire in an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing 5 and wounding 32 others.

Martino Zaccaria (d. 1345) · David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (b. 1871) · Sunanda Pushkar (d. 2014)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Thomas Linley the elder (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795) was an English bass singer and musician. He began his musical career at age 11 in Bath, becoming apprentice to the organist Thomas Chilcot. Linley married in 1752 and fathered eight children, supporting the family by working as a music teacher. As his children grew he developed their musical talent and was able to draw an increasing amount of income from their concerts. When the Bath Assembly Rooms opened in 1771, Linley became musical director and continued to promote his children's careers. He was eventually able to move to London with the thousands of pounds which he had amassed from their concerts. In addition to his children Linley taught tenor Charles Dignum, singer and actress Anna Maria Crouch, and novelist Frances Sheridan. He collaborated with his son Thomas Linley the younger in penning the comic opera The Duenna, with libretto by his son-in-law Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

This picture is an oil-on-canvas painting created around 1770 by Thomas Gainsborough, showing Linley holding his "Elegies for Three Voices". It hangs in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.

Painting: Thomas Gainsborough

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.