Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 January 9

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From today's featured article

John Adair (1757–1840) was an American pioneer, soldier and statesman. He was the eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the U.S. House and Senate. Adair participated in the Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, and was elected to eight terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He ascended to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by John Breckinridge's resignation, but failed to win the subsequent election due to his implication in the Burr conspiracy. He was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing, but the negative publicity kept him out of politics for more than a decade. Adair's participation in the War of 1812, and his defense of Kentucky's soldiers against charges of cowardice at the Battle of New Orleans, restored his reputation. He returned to the state House in 1817 and was elected governor three years later on a platform of financial relief for Kentuckians hit hard by the Panic of 1819. He created the Bank of the Commonwealth, but other financial reforms were deemed unconstitutional by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, touching off the Old Court – New Court controversy. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (three main characters pictured), the 1924 Dutch children's book based on a real-life shipwreck in 1618, has sold more than 250,000 copies?
... that illustrator, hill farmer, and painter Reg Gammon was honoured by a retrospective at the RWA for his 100th birthday?
... that the first Test of India's 2013–14 series against South Africa saw wicket-keepers from both teams bowling in the same match for the first time ever in Test cricket?
... that Stein Reinertsen is the first bishop of Church of Norway since Reformation who was not appointed by the Norwegian government?
... that Aeroflot Flight 3519 crashed in 1984, killing 110 people?
... that Addison Cresswell, agent to Jonathan Ross and Michael McIntyre, founded a company with Paul Merton and Julian Clary?
... that the music video for Tupac Shakur's song "Temptations" does not feature Shakur because he was incarcerated at the time?

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In the news

The United States Senate confirms Janet Yellen (pictured) as the Federal Reserve System's first female chair.
Archeologists identify the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Sobekhotep I.
North America experiences record low temperatures.
Amid violence and a boycott by opposition parties, the Bangladesh Awami League wins the general election.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captures the city of Fallujah.
Latvia becomes the 18th EU member state to adopt the euro.
More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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On this day...

January 9: St. Stephen's Day (Eastern Christianity)

475 – Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor after Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.
1816 – Inventor Humphry Davy first tested his Davy lamp, a safety lamp containing a candle for use in coal mines.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the British flag (pictured) 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1972 – The Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, ending a 33-game winning streak, the longest of any team in American professional sports.
2004 – Twenty-eight illegal Albanian emigrants died when their inflatable boat stalled near the Karaburun Peninsula while on the way to Brindisi, Italy.

More anniversaries: January 8 – January 9 – January 10

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It is now January 9, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

LH 95 is a modestly sized stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud orbiting the Milky Way.

Photo: NASA/ESA

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