Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 October 18

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From today's featured article

Sherwood Forest

The Coterel gang was an armed group in the English North Midlands that roamed across the countryside in the late 1320s and early 1330s, a period of political upheaval and lawlessness. Despite repeated attempts by the crown to suppress James Coterel and his band, they committed murder, extortion and kidnapping across the Peak District. Basing themselves in Sherwood Forest (pictured), other wooded areas of north Nottinghamshire and the peaks of Derbyshire, the Coterels frequently cooperated with other groups, including the Folville gang. As members of the gentry, Coterel and his immediate supporters were expected to assist the crown in the maintenance of law and order, rather than encourage its collapse, but most of the band received royal pardons following service abroad or in Scotland. Groups such as the Coterels may have inspired many of the stories woven around Robin Hood in the 15th century. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Clara Wieck at age 15

... that when pianist Clara Wieck (pictured with the score) composed her Piano Concerto in A minor as a teenager, her future husband Robert Schumann helped with the orchestration?
... that Yu Zhenwu conducted the first successful flight of China's first indigenously designed jet aircraft and, decades later, became Commander of the People's Liberation Army Air Force?
... that the annual charity radiothon at Wyoming high school radio station KYDZ was commended by a thank-you letter from President Ronald Reagan?
... that after drug cartel member Raúl Alberto Trejo Benavides was killed in a shootout, his comrades tried to fabricate a suicide?
... that in 1916, three members of a military band were killed in action during the Battle of Columbus in New Mexico?
... that according to dietician Amy Brown, a researcher of social barriers to breastfeeding, smacking children is acceptable to more British people than breastfeeding in public?
... that satellites in a geostationary orbit appear stationary in the sky to a ground observer?
... that surgeon Robert N. McClelland tried to save the lives of both John F. Kennedy and his assassin?

In the news

Abhijit Banerjee

The trial of Catalonia independence leaders concludes with nine prison sentences, sparking protests across the region.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Abhijit Banerjee (pictured), Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their work in poverty reduction.
Ten days of protests in Ecuador end after President Lenín Moreno agrees to restore fuel subsidies.
Kenyan Brigid Kosgei breaks the women's marathon world record at the Chicago Marathon.

On this day

October 18: Feast day of Saint Luke (Christianity); Alaska Day (1867); Independence Day in Azerbaijan (1991)

Scene from Moby-Dick

1587 – Filipino sailors disembarked from the Manila galleon Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza in what is now Morro Bay, California, the first documented instance of Asians in the Americas.
1851 – Moby-Dick (illustration shown), a novel by American writer Herman Melville, was first published as The Whale in London.
1929 – In the Persons Case, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate.
1963 – Aboard the French Véronique AGI 47 sounding rocket, a bicolor cat designated C 341, later known as Félicette, became the first cat in space.

Anna Jagiellon (b. 1523) · Isaac Jogues (d. 1646) · Christine Murrell (b. 1874; d. 1933)

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From today's featured list

Satyajit Ray

Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray received numerous awards and honours, including India's highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1984) and India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna (1992). He was also awarded the Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France (1987) and an Honorary Award at the 64th Academy Awards (1991). Ray won thirty-five National Film Awards during his four-decade career. Six of his films – Pather Panchali (1955), Apur Sansar (1959), Charulata (1964), Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1968), Seemabaddha (1971) and Agantuk (1991) – won Best Feature Film. Three films – Jalsaghar (1958), Abhijan (1962) and Pratidwandi (1970) – were awarded with Second Best Feature Film and Mahanagar (1963) was awarded the Third Best Feature Film. Ray won 21 awards for his direction, including seven Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, six Indian National Film Awards, two Silver Bear awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and two Golden Gate Awards at the San Francisco International Film Festival. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Perseus and Andromeda is an oil-on-canvas painting by British artist Sir Frederic Leighton. Completed in 1891, the year it was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts, it depicts the Greek mythological story of Perseus and Andromeda. In contrast to the basis of a classical tale, Leighton used a Gothic style for the artwork. The mythological theme of Andromeda is depicted in a dramatic manner; the scene is a representation of the myth set on a rocky shore. Perseus is depicted flying above the head of Andromeda, on his winged horse, Pegasus. He is shooting an arrow from the air, that hits the sea monster, Cetus, who turns his head upwards, towards the hero. Andromeda's almost naked, twisted body is shaded by the wings of the dark creature, creating a visual sign of imminent danger. Her sinuous body is contrasted against the dark masses of the monster's irregular and jagged body, as well as depicted in white, representing pure and untouched innocence, indicating an unfair sacrifice for a divine punishment that was not directed towards her, but her mother, Cassiopeia, who, with her husband Cepheus, sacrificed her to Cetus. Pegasus and Perseus are surrounded by a halo of light that connects them visually to the white body of the princess, chained to the rock. The painting is now in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England.

Painting credit: Frederic Leighton

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