Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 October 13

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From today's featured article

Banksia caleyi, the red lantern banksia, is a species of dense, woody shrub of the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia. It generally grows up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, with serrated leaves and red inflorescences. First described by Scottish naturalist Robert Brown in 1830, it was named in honour of the English botanist George Caley. No subspecies are recognised. It is one of three or four closely related species within the genus with hanging inflorescences. Found from the vicinity of Jerramungup to south and east of the Stirling Range, B. caleyi is killed by periodic bushfires and regenerates by seed afterwards. The species was classified as "Not Threatened" under the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia. In contrast to most other Western Australian banksias, it appears to have some resistance to dieback from the soil-borne water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi, and is comparatively easy to grow in cultivation. (Full article...)

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16th-century Tibetan painting of Rāhula

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... that Sheila Heaney, director of the Women's Royal Army Corps, visited the United States in 1972 to study how women were being integrated into the U.S. Army?
... that Narendra Modi's experiences in dealing with the after-effects of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake led him to propose the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure?
... that Harry Caray called his first Major League Baseball game on radio station WTMV in the St. Louis area?
... that Chinese admiral Wei Jinshan was awarded the Medal of Honour by President Xi Jinping and the Order of the National Flag by North Korea?
... that Fort George Amusement Park, which featured roller coasters, carousels, and Ferris wheels, was in Upper Manhattan in a locality once referred to as "Harlem's Coney Island"?
... that Swiss pediatrician Heinrich Willi was among the first to recognise the potential of bone marrow aspiration as a diagnostic technique?
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In the news

Alexei Leonov

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours, in a non-IAAF event in Vienna, Austria.
Former cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (pictured), the first person to conduct a spacewalk, dies at the age of 85.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in easing the long-standing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Following the 2018 cancellation, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and the 2019 prize is awarded to Peter Handke.

On this day

October 13

Templar knights being burned at the stake

1307 – Agents of King Philip IV of France launched a raid on the Knights Templar at dawn, arresting many members, subsequently torturing them into giving false confessions and burning them at the stake (depiction shown).
1710 – Queen Anne's War: French and Wabanaki forces surrendered to end the Siege of Port Royal, giving the British permanent possession of Nova Scotia.
1843 – B'nai B'rith, the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world, was founded in New York City.
1917 – At least 30,000 people witnessed the Miracle of the Sun in the fields of Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal.
1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a remote area in the Andes mountains near the border of Chile and Argentina; the remaining 16 survivors were not rescued until December 23.

Rudolf Virchow (b. 1821) · Jackie Ronne (b. 1919) · Jamal Khashoggi (b. 1958)

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Today's featured picture

Siege of Mafeking currency was issued by the British commander, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, during the 217-day siege for the town of Mafeking (now Mahikeng) in South Africa from 13 October 1899 to 17 May 1900, during the Second Boer War. To ease the problems caused by the lack of genuine banknotes, Baden-Powell authorised the issue of siege banknotes in late 1899. Made by Mafeking printers Townshend & Son using woodcut printing, notes were backed by the Standard Bank of South Africa and issued in denominations of one-, two-, three- and ten-shilling coupons, as well as one-pound notes, of which 620 were printed. The intention was that, after the siege was over, these could be exchanged for genuine currency, but in practice few were; most were kept as souvenirs.

This picture shows a ten-shilling note from the Siege of Mafeking, dated March 1900; it is now in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Banknote credit: Townshend & Son; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection

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