Wikipedia:Today's featured list/April 2017
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April 3
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The Huskies of Honor are the most significant figures in the history of University of Connecticut (UConn) athletics. Connecticut's men's and women's basketball teams are among the most successful in NCAA history, the men's team having won four national championships and the women's team an NCAA-record 11 championships, including four consecutive titles from 2013–16. The women's team also holds the two longest winning streaks in NCAA history, at 111 games from 2014–17 and 90 games from 2008–10. The inaugural honorees, inducted in two separate ceremonies during the 2006–07 season, included thirteen men's basketball players, ten women's basketball players, and four head coaches, of whom two coaches—Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma (pictured)—and one player—Rebecca Lobo—are also enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Since that time, an additional nine women's basketball players, seven men's basketball players, five national championship teams, one women's basketball assistant coach, and one athletic director have been honored. Placards honoring the Huskies of Honor are hung at Gampel Pavilion, the on-campus home court of UConn basketball. (Full list...)
April 7
The Padma Bhushan was presented two hundred times in the 1960s. It is the third-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The recipients receive a Sanad, a certificate signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association. Ten awards were presented in 1960, followed by thirteen in 1961, twenty-seven in 1962, twelve in 1963, eighteen in 1964, twenty-five in 1965, fourteen in 1966, twenty-four in 1967, twenty-eight in 1968, and twenty-nine in 1969, including five foreign recipients. Individuals from nine different fields were awarded. Journalist Manikonda Chalapathi Rau and Kannada writer K. Shivaram Karanth returned their 1968 awards, while sitar player Vilayat Khan refused to accept it, with him stating that "the selection committees were incompetent to judge [his] music". (Full list...)
April 10
American actress Shannen Doherty has appeared in numerous television programs and motion pictures. Landing her first major role in the dramatic western television series Little House on the Prairie, Doherty had her breakthrough role as Brenda Walsh in the teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210. She was later removed from the series due to backstage issues. She starred in television films in the early and mid-1990s in an attempt to rebuild her career. Doherty enjoyed a resurgence in popularity while playing the witch Prue Halliwell on the supernatural drama Charmed. Following disagreements with Spelling and co-star Alyssa Milano, Doherty left the series in its third season. While acting in a string of television films, Doherty has also participated in five reality television shows. (Full list...)
April 14
The U.S. state of Montana contains 129 incorporated municipalities consisting of cities and towns and is divided into 56 counties. Located in the Western United States, Montana is the 7th least populous state with 989,417 inhabitants but the 4th largest by land area spanning 145,545.80 square miles (376,961.9 km2) of land. Montana's municipalities cover only 1.2% of the state's land mass but are home to 53.8% of its population. Municipalities are divided into four classes by state statute based on their population. Members of the three largest classes are deemed cities, while the members of the fourth class are called towns. Cities and towns are classified at the time of their organization, and are reorganized when they change classification due to an increase or decrease in population. The largest municipality by population in Montana is Billings (pictured) with 104,170 residents, and the smallest municipality by population is Ismay with 19 residents. (Full list...)
April 17
The discography of Australian hard rock band Wolfmother consists of four studio albums, four extended plays (EPs), eleven singles, twelve music videos and one video album. The band have also contributed to two soundtracks and one tribute album. Wolfmother were formed in 2000 by vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross, and drummer Myles Heskett. After signing with Modular Recordings and releasing their self-titled debut EP in 2004, the band's debut full-length studio album, also titled Wolfmother, was released in Australia in 2005 and reached number three on the Australian Albums Chart. The album was released internationally the following year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide by 2009. In August 2008, Ross and Heskett left the band due to "irreconcilable personal and musical differences". Wolfmother returned in early 2010 with a new lineup featuring bassist and keyboardist Ian Peres, rhythm guitarist Aidan Nemeth and drummer Dave Atkins. The follow-up to Wolfmother, Cosmic Egg was released in October 2009, again reaching number three in Australia. (Full list...)
April 21
The chapters of the Japanese manga Gantz are written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku, and have been published in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Young Jump since its 32nd issue, published in 2000. The plot follows a teenager named Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato, who die in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous game in which they, and several other recently deceased people, are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. Gantz is divided into three main story arcs, referred to as "phases". After the completion of Phase 1, the author put the series on hiatus for a short time to work on Phase 2, which is also known as "Catastrophe". Phase 1 consists of the first 237 chapters. On November 22, 2006, the first chapter of Phase 2, chapter 238, was released. As of chapter 303, the series was put in hiatus once again in order to let Oku prepare in the making of the final arc of the series. The series continued serialization in October 2009. (Full list...)
April 24
The Kansas City Cowboys' players participated in the American Association (AA) for two seasons from 1888 to 1889. A professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri, the franchise initially used Association Park as their home field in 1888, then moved to Exposition Park for the 1889 season. Although the Cowboys completed their initial season in last place out of the league's eight teams, there were notable player achievements; on June 6, Henry Porter threw a no-hitter, and on June 13, Barkley hit for the cycle. The franchise's only future Hall of Fame player, "Slidin' Billy" Hamilton (pictured), began his career as a part-time outfielder in 1888, and was their starting right fielder in 1889. He is the franchise's all-time leader in runs scored, bases on balls, and stolen bases. With Bill Watkins as the team's manager in 1889, the team improved to seventh in the league. On November 15, 1889, the Cowboys submitted their resignation from the AA. (Full list...)
April 28
Madagascar has three established World Heritage Sites, and seven sites that are listed as tentative and are under consideration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee for elevation to official status. The World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention. The first site in Madagascar, the Strict Nature Reserve of the Tsingy of Bemaraha, was inscribed on the list as a site of natural importance at the 14th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Banff, Canada in 1990. This was followed by the 2001 inscription of the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, a historic village and royal palace compound of cultural importance featuring well-preserved 19th-century palaces and numerous other natural and architectural features of historic, political and spiritual significance to the Malagasy people. Most recently, in 2007 the natural site of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana was added to the list, comprising a cluster of six national parks distinguished by their highly endemic biodiversity (Marojejy National Park pictured). (Full list...)