Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 August 3

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From today's featured article

Memorial at Moorgate station

The Moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 February 1975 on the London Underground's Northern City Line; 43 people died and 74 were injured after a train failed to stop at the line's southern terminus, Moorgate station, and crashed into its end wall. It is the worst peacetime accident on the London Underground. The crash forced the first carriage into the roof of the tunnel; the second carriage collapsed at the front as it collided with the first, and the third rode over the rear of the second. The brakes were not applied and the dead man's handle was still depressed when the train crashed. The inquiry by the Department of the Environment found no fault with the train and concluded that the accident was caused by Leslie Newson, the 56-year-old driver. The post-mortem on Newson showed no medical reason to explain the crash, and a cause has never been established. After the crash, London Underground introduced a new safety system that automatically stops a train that is travelling too fast. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Reusable coffin with an open trapdoor

... that Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, caused outrage in 1784 when he ordered that people be buried naked in reusable coffins (example pictured) from which the body fell into the grave via a trapdoor?
... that at George Floyd's funeral, a montage mistakenly included a photograph of the still-living former American football player George Floyd?
... that Crewe Alexandra finished last in the Football League eight times between 1894 and 1982, more than any other league club?
... that Vikram Misri was the Indian ambassador to China during the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes?
... that the intricate seal of Columbia University was the first instance in which both Greek and Latin appeared on a college or university seal?
... that John Matthews's pension was suspended because he was accused of leading a call for a theatre performance to play "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail, Columbia"?
... that the Elazığ Girls' Institute was established in 1937 to assimilate "primitive" Kurdish girls by transforming them into "civilized" Turkish women?
... that Alex Schaefer has never burned down a bank, despite all the evidence suggesting otherwise?

In the news

Yulimar Rojas

Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas (pictured) breaks a 26-year-old world record in the women's triple jump.
Wildfires in southern Turkey kill at least eight people and injure more than 800 others.
Flooding in western Maharashtra, India, results in more than 250 deaths.
Typhoon In-fa and resulting flash floods leave more than 300 people dead across China, Japan, and the Philippines.
The Saint Lucia Labour Party wins the general election, and Philip J. Pierre becomes prime minister.

On this day

August 3: Eid al-Mubahalah (Shia Islam, 2021)

Defence of the Arrah House, 1857 by William Tayler

1857 – Indian Rebellion: An eight-day siege (depicted) of a fortified outbuilding in Arrah occupied by 68 defenders against more than 10,000 men ended when a relief party dispersed the besiegers.
1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaimed a republic, which existed for ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town.
1913 – An agricultural workers' strike in Wheatland degenerated into a riot, becoming one of the first major farm labor confrontations in California.
1959 – Portuguese state police opened fire on striking dock workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing at least 25 people in a step that led to the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence four years later.
2005 – Mauritanian president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was overthrown in a military coup while he attended the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Christopher Anstey (d. 1805)
Martha Stewart (b. 1941)
Alexander Mair (d. 1969)

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Today's featured picture

Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. This 1888 work, titled Corn Harvest in Provence, is one of many oil-on-canvas paintings he created that included them. This harvest scene was painted just outside Arles, and exemplifies Van Gogh's use of colour in full brilliance to depict the "burning brightness of the heat wave". The painting is in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Painting credit: Vincent van Gogh

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