Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 February 8

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Baden-Powell House is a Scouting hostel and conference centre in South Kensington, London. Built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, it is owned by The Scout Association. The house was designed in 1956 in the modern architectural style by Ralph Tubbs, whose works included the Dome of Discovery, the highlight of the 1951 Festival of Britain. Olave Baden-Powell laid the foundation stone in 1959, and the building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1961. A granite statue of Baden-Powell, sculpted by Don Potter, was unveiled at the opening. The building has been refurbished several times, and now provides lodging for Scouts, Girl Guides and the general public. A collection of Baden-Powell memorabilia formerly displayed at the site, including several first editions of his books and many of his drawings and letters, has been moved to the headquarters for Scouting in the UK at Gilwell Park. (Full article...)

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Partial view of Borgo Nuovo, c. 1930

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In the news

Kirk Douglas

At least 41 people are killed in two avalanches in Bahçesaray, Van, Turkey.
The United States Senate votes to acquit President Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Malawian Constitutional Court annuls the results of the 2019 general election which re-elected President Peter Mutharika, ordering a fresh election.
At the British Academy Film Awards, 1917 wins Best Film, along with six other awards.

On this day

February 8

Mary, Queen of Scots

1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (portrait shown), was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.
1879 – At a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute, engineer and inventor Sandford Fleming proposed the idea of standard time zones based on a single universal world time.
1960 – The official groundbreaking for the Walk of Fame took place in Hollywood, California.
2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggered a series of avalanches that buried over 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road, killed 171 people and trapped more than 2,500 travellers.

Daniele Barbaro (b. 1514) · Kate Chopin (b. 1850) · Walther Bothe (d. 1957)

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Today's featured picture

William Grant Still (1895–1978) was an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies and nine operas. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers", Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera. His first symphony, entitled Afro-American Symphony, was until 1950 the most widely performed symphony composed by an American. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later Edgard Varèse. Still was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra and the first to have an opera performed on national television. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, he is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

This picture of Still was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1949; the photograph is in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Photograph credit: Carl Van Vechten; restored by Adam Cuerden

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