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Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (8 August 1874 – 4 November 1948), was the managing director and chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) from 1910 to 1933, and the chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) from 1933 to 1947. At a young age, he held senior positions in the tramway systems of Detroit and New Jersey. In 1907 he was recruited by the UERL, where he integrated the company's management and used advertising and public relations to improve profits. As managing director of the UERL from 1910, he led the take-over of competing companies and operations to form Combine, an integrated transport operation. He was Member of Parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne from 1916 to 1920 and President of the Board of Trade between 1916 and 1919. He returned to the UERL and then chaired it and its successor the LPTB during the organisation's greatest period of expansion between the two world wars, making it an exemplar of the best form of public administration. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that on top of being used as a culinary herb, Tulbaghia acutiloba (pictured) has traditionally been used in treating infectious diseases and hypertension?
- ... that Olympian Ruby Remati got into synchronized swimming because she liked the competitors' "sparkly suits" as a child?
- ... that São Tomé and Príncipe was popularly known as the Chocolate Islands in the early 1900s, when it was the world's top exporter of cocoa?
- ... that when not rock climbing, American Olympian Jesse Grupper develops exoskeletons?
- ... that a Japanese essayist and film historian has called Godzilla Minus One a "dangerous movie"?
- ... that refugee Hadi Tiranvalipour spent his first ten days in Italy living in a forest before joining the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics?
- ... that in its two years of existence, the Hunter River Railway Company initiated construction on what would eventually become the Great Northern Railway connecting Sydney to Queensland?
- ... that Patrick Gottsch, the founder of RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel, led the effort to break the Guinness World Record for the largest parade of pickup trucks?
In the news
- Sheikh Hasina (pictured) resigns as the prime minister of Bangladesh and flees to India following anti-government protests.
- Following a mass stabbing in Southport, far-right protesters riot in England and Northern Ireland.
- The United States, Russia, and their respective allies agree to a prisoner exchange of 26 people.
- Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, is assassinated in Tehran, Iran.
On this day
- 1264 – Reconquista: In the early stages of the Mudéjar revolt, Muslim rebels captured the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera in present-day Spain, holding it for about two months.
- 1919 – The Third Anglo-Afghan War ended with the United Kingdom signing a treaty to recognise the independence of the Emirate of Afghanistan.
- 1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin (pictured) departed Lakehurst, New Jersey, on a flight to circumnavigate the world.
- 2009 – Nine people died when a tour helicopter and a small private airplane collided over the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey.
- 2014 – The World Health Organization declared the Western African Ebola epidemic, which began in December 2013, to be a public health emergency of international concern.
- Christoph Ludwig Agricola (d. 1724)
- Esther Hobart Morris (b. 1814)
- Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (b. 1874)
- Elisabeth Abegg (d. 1974)
Today's featured picture
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Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, swallowtails inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera. This Zerynthia rumina butterfly, also known as the Spanish festoon, was photographed in Extremadura, Spain. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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