Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 February 12

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Arthur Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer best known for his operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Among his early works were a ballet, a symphony, a cello concerto and a one-act comic opera, Cox and Box, which is still widely performed. He wrote his first opera with Gilbert, Thespis, in 1871. In 1875 the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte engaged Gilbert and Sullivan to create a one-act piece, Trial by Jury. Its box-office success led the partners to collaborate on 12 full-length comic operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sullivan's only grand opera, Ivanhoe, though initially successful in 1891, has rarely been revived. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, 10 choral works and oratorios, 2 ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord". (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Ruins of Castle Folds and Great Asby Scar

... that Castle Folds is surrounded by Great Asby Scar (pictured)?
... that Dagmar Schmidt, elected to the Bundestag shortly after giving birth to a son with Down syndrome, stated in a debate about prenatal testing that there should be a "right not to know"?
... that Fry's award-winning vegan meat was created by a former livestock trader?
... that the child queen Margaret, Maid of Norway, died before reaching Scotland, so her place in the list of Scottish monarchs is in dispute?
... that the 2002 World Matchplay saw the first nine-dart finish to be broadcast live in the United Kingdom?
... that the Hong Kong government withdrew their decision to use Fai Ming Estate as a quarantine facility following protests from nearby residents?
... that since its completion in 2015, Liberty Plaza in Atlanta has hosted demonstrations for both March for Our Lives and the September 2019 climate strikes?
... that Brian Lohse was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2018, six years after he and his wife won US$202 million in the state's Powerball lottery jackpot?

In the news

Bong Joon-ho

South Korean film Parasite wins four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Bong Joon-ho (pictured).
A mass shooting in Korat, Thailand, leaves 30 people dead and more than 50 others injured.
Two avalanches near the Turkish town of Bahçesaray kill at least 41 people.
The United States Senate votes to acquit President Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Malawian Constitutional Court annuls the results of the 2019 general election which re-elected President Peter Mutharika, ordering a fresh election.

On this day

February 12: Red Hand Day; Darwin Day

Isabella I of Castile

1502 – Isabella I (portrait shown) issued an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
1909 – The ferry SS Penguin struck a rock in Wellington Harbour and sank, killing 75 people in New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century.
1946 – African-American U.S. Army veteran Isaac Woodard was severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer, losing sight in both eyes, an incident that galvanized the civil rights movement.
1968 – Vietnam War: Unarmed citizens in the villages of Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất were massacred, allegedly by South Korean Marines.
2016 – In the first meeting between the leaders of the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow signed the Havana Declaration at José Martí International Airport in Cuba.

Wulfhelm (d. 941) · Bobby Peel (b. 1857) · Judy Blume (b. 1938)

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"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to more than 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in U.S. history. Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared millions of slaves free in 1863, King said "one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free". Toward the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme "I have a dream", prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

This photograph, taken by Rowland Scherman, features King and fellow civil rights activist Mathew Ahmann (with glasses) among a crowd of other protestors during the March on Washington.

Photograph credit: Rowland Scherman; restored by Adam Cuerden

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