Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 October 30

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From today's featured article
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924) was an Irish composer, teacher, and conductor. While still an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College. He was instrumental in raising the status of the Cambridge University Musical Society, attracting international stars to perform with it. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also the professor of music at Cambridge. As a teacher, Stanford was sceptical about modernism, and based his instruction chiefly on classical principles as exemplified in the music of Brahms. Among his pupils were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a conductor, Stanford held posts with the Bach Choir and the Leeds triennial music festival. He composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but his best-remembered pieces are his choral works for church performance, chiefly composed in the Anglican tradition. Some critics regarded Stanford, together with Hubert Parry and Alexander Mackenzie, as responsible for a renaissance in English music. (Read the full article) Recently featured: "Give Peace a Chance" – Porbeagle – Louis Riel Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray (pictured) made his last documentary in 1987 on his father, as a tribute to celebrate the centenary of his birth? ... that Helen Porter helped to pioneer the use of radioactive tracers in botany? ... that the Early Neolithic settlement of Nea Nikomedeia is one of the earliest known sites in Macedonia, dated to 6250–6050 BC? ... that HMS Ambrose was a British cargo liner that was converted into an armed merchant cruiser and then into a submarine depot ship during World War I? ... that the variable bushy feather star is sometimes kept in a reef aquarium but usually dies because of starvation? ... that neuropsychologist Eleanor Maguire was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for demonstrating that London taxi drivers have large hippocampi? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
After causing more than 65 deaths in the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy makes landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey. In baseball, the San Francisco Giants defeat the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series (MVP Pablo Sandoval pictured). At least 80 people are killed in fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine State, Burma. Recent deaths: Jacques Barzun – Russell Means Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
October 30: Thevar Jayanthi in Tamil Nadu, India; Mischief Night in some areas of the United States 1501 – Cardinal Cesare Borgia held an infamous feast in the Papal Palace where fifty prostitutes or courtesans were in attendance for the sexual entertainment of the guests. 1806 – War of the Fourth Coalition: Believing they were massively outnumbered, the 5,300-man German garrison at Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), surrendered to a much smaller French force without a fight. 1942 – Second World War: British sailors boarded German submarine U-559 as it was sinking and retrieved cryptographic materials that proved crucial to breaking the Enigma code. 1983 – Raúl Alfonsín (pictured) became President of Argentina after the country's first democratic election following the end of the military dictatorship. 1993 – The Troubles: Three members of the Ulster Defence Association opened fire in a crowded pub during a Halloween party, killing eight civilians and wounding thirteen. More anniversaries: October 29 – October 30 – October 31 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now October 30, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

De Zoeker ("The Seeker") is an oil windmill located in the Zaanse Schans, Zaanstad, Netherlands. Built in 1672, it is the only oil mill still in operation, and is one of five remaining oil mills in the area.

Photo: Murdockcrc

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