Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 November 19

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From today's featured article

Life's Shop Window is an American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards, released on November 19, 1914. Starring Claire Whitney and Stuart Holmes, it is a film adaptation of the 1907 novel by Annie Sophie Cory. It depicts the story of English orphan Lydia Wilton (Whitney) and her husband Bernard Chetwin (Holmes). Although Wilton's marriage is legitimate, it was conducted in secret, and she is accused of having a child out of wedlock. Forced to leave England, she reunites with her husband in Arizona. There, she meets an old acquaintance, Eustace Pelham, and considers running away with him before she sees the error of her ways and returns to her family. Life's Shop Window was the first film produced, rather than simply distributed, by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company, the corporate predecessor to Fox Film. Reviewers' opinions of the film's quality were mixed, but it was very popular upon its initial release in New York. Like many of Fox's early works, it was likely lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Cathedral of the Plains

... that farmers hauled 17 million lb (7.7 million kg) of Kansas Fencepost limestone in horse-drawn wagons to build the Cathedral of the Plains (pictured)?
... that Udo Zimmermann composed two operas about the resistance group White Rose, one while he was a student?
... that in 1345, the Earl of Derby attacked and defeated an army of 7,000 Frenchmen with a force of 1,200 Anglo-Gascons?
... that in 1975, Margaret Guilfoyle became the first woman in the history of the Australian parliament to hold a cabinet-level ministerial portfolio?
... that Derrick Barnes based the main character of Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut on his own son?
... that 65 percent of internees at the Topaz War Relocation Center were American citizens of Japanese descent?
... that during its time 200 million years ago, Ledumahadi's estimated weight of 12 tonnes (26,000 lb) made it the largest animal to have lived on Earth?
... that the Nazi doctor Friedrich Entress organised and administered phenol injections directly into the hearts of Auschwitz prisoners?
... that the calls of the black-collared starling include a kraak kraak sounding like a jay and a whistling prrü like a bee-eater?
... that the Twitter user dril published the Dril Official "Mr. Ten Years" Anniversary Collection to preserve his best tweets in case of a future societal collapse?

In the news

ARA San Juan in March 2007

The wreck of Argentinian submarine San Juan (pictured), which disappeared in November 2017, is found in the South Atlantic.
David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sells for more than US$90 million, the highest price for a work by a living artist at auction.
The General Conference on Weights and Measures confirms new definitions for the units kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole.
Amidst a constitutional crisis, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka suspends the attempt by President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve parliament.

On this day

November 19: International Men's Day; World Toilet Day

Reagan (left) and Gorbachev in Geneva

1794 – The United States and Great Britain signed the Jay Treaty, the basis for ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
1863 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
1943 – The Holocaust: Inmates at the Janowska concentration camp near what is now Lviv, Ukraine, staged a failed uprising, after which the SS liquidated the camp, resulting in at least 6,000 deaths.
1985 – Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan (both pictured) held the first of five summit meetings between them in Geneva.
2002 – The Greek oil tanker Prestige split in half off the coast of Galicia, after spilling an estimated 17.8 million US gallons (420,000 bbl) in the worst environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history.

Nicolas Poussin (d. 1665) · Mikhail Kalinin (b. 1875) · James Ensor (d. 1949)

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From today's featured list

The Last Judgment by Hans Memling

Predictions of apocalyptic events that would result in the extinction of humanity, a collapse of civilization, or the destruction of the planet have been made since at least the beginning of the Common Era. Most predictions are related to Abrahamic religions, often standing for or similar to the eschatological events described in their scriptures. Christian predictions typically refer to events like the Rapture, Great Tribulation, Last Judgment (artist's impression pictured), and the Second Coming of Jesus. End-time events are usually predicted to occur within the lifetime of the person making the prediction, and are usually made using the Bible, particularly the New Testament, as either the primary or exclusive source for the predictions. Often this takes the form of mathematical calculations, such as trying to calculate the point where it will have been 6000 years since the supposed creation of the Earth by the Abrahamic God, which according to the Talmud marks the deadline for the Messiah to appear. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1625 until his execution in 1649. The second son of King James VI of Scotland, he spent most of his life in England after his father inherited the English throne in 1603. His reign was marked by quarrels with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. His defeat led to his execution, followed by establishment of a republic called the Commonwealth of England.

This painting, titled Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, is an oil-on-canvas work by Charles's Principal Painter in Ordinary, Anthony van Dyck. The portrait, now in the National Gallery in London, is thought to have been painted in about 1637–38, and is one of many portraits of Charles by van Dyck, including several equestrian portraits.

Painting: Anthony van Dyck

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