Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 April 13

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From today's featured article

Carousel (1945) is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics), after their hit Oklahoma! (1943). It was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting the setting to the U.S. state of Maine. Carousel barker Billy Bigelow's romance with millworker Julie Jordan cost them their jobs; after he attempts a robbery that goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. The show includes the songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". It opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, and was an immediate hit with both critics and audiences. It initially ran there for 890 performances, and duplicated its success in the West End in 1950. It has been repeatedly revived and recorded. A 1992 production by Nicholas Hytner enjoyed success in London, in New York, and on tour. Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals. In 1999, Time magazine named it the best musical of the 20th century. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Philip Van Horne House

... that at the Van Horne House (pictured) following the Battle of Bound Brook, the owner hosted British General Cornwallis for breakfast and American Generals Lincoln and Greene for supper?
... that biathlete Jakov Fak won a silver medal for Slovenia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, having previously won a bronze medal for Croatia in Vancouver?
... that "Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig", a hymn about vanity by Michael Franck, is the basis of a chorale cantata by Bach, and quoted in Mauricio Kagel's Passion?
... that British newspaper editor Ian Stephens may have saved "hundreds of thousands" of lives during the Bengal famine of 1943 by publishing photographs of the victims?
... that some leaves of the South African plant Romulea tortuosa are shaped like corkscrews?
... that R. A. Hardie, a Canadian physician and missionary to Korea, was the catalyst for the 1903 Wŏnsan Revival and also inspired the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907?
... that SegaSonic the Hedgehog was desired for inclusion in Sonic Gems Collection, but was left out due to difficulties emulating its trackball controls?
... that Peter Newton founded Sterling Vineyards and Newton Vineyard, and was very proud of his eight-year-old granddaughter, who "discovered" Harry Potter?

In the news

The 10th hole at Augusta National Golf Club

At least 257 people are killed in an Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crash in Algeria.
In golf, Patrick Reed wins the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club (pictured) in the United States.
A suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, kills dozens of people.
In the Hungarian parliamentary election, a coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wins its third consecutive supermajority in the Hungarian National Assembly.

On this day...

April 13

Van Cliburn

1111 – Henry V, the last ruler of the Salian dynasty, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act was granted royal assent, removing the most substantial restrictions on Catholics in the United Kingdom.
1943 – World War II: German news announced the discovery of a mass grave in Katyn, Russia, of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile and the USSR.
1958 – In the midst of the Cold War, American pianist Van Cliburn (pictured) won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1984 – Indian forces launched Operation Meghdoot, a preemptive attack on the disputed Siachen Glacier region of Kashmir, triggering a military conflict with Pakistan.

Catherine de' Medici (b. 1519) · Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743) · Henry De la Beche (d. 1855)

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From today's featured list

Aguascalientes Municipality

The Mexican state of Aguascalientes is divided into eleven municipalities. According to the 2015 Mexican Intercensal Survey, Aguascalientes is the sixth least populous state with 1,312,544 inhabitants and the fourth smallest by land area spanning 5,630.27 square kilometres (2,173.86 sq mi). Municipalities in Aguascalientes are administratively autonomous of the state according to the 115th article of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. Their legal framework derives from the state Constitution and the 2003 Municipal Law for the State of Aguascalientes. Municipalities are responsible for public services (such as water and sewerage), street lighting, public safety, traffic, supervision of slaughterhouses and the maintenance of public parks, gardens and cemeteries. The largest municipality by population is the state capital Aguascalientes (pictured), with 877,190 residents or approximately 66.8% of the state population. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A gold 20-stater depicting Eucratides I, the Greco-Bactrian King who reigned from c. 171 to 145 BC. The largest gold coin ever minted in antiquity, it weighs 169.2 grams and has a diameter of 58 mm. Originally found in Bukhara, and later acquired by Napoleon III, it is now held at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

Photograph: National Library of France

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