Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 December 9b

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From today's featured article

Alister Murdoch (9 December 1912 – 29 November 1984) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Joining the Air Force in 1930, Murdoch trained as a seaplane pilot, and went on an Antarctic rescue mission in 1935. During World War II, he commanded No. 221 Squadron RAF in Europe and the Middle East, and later occupied senior positions on the staff of RAAF formations in the South West Pacific. His post-war appointments included Commandant of RAAF College from 1952 to 1953, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command from 1953 to 1955, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1958 to 1959, AOC Operational Command from 1962 to 1965, and finally Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from 1965 to 1969, when he retired. His term as CAS coincided with increased Australian participation in the Vietnam War, and he came into conflict with Australian Army commanders over the employment of helicopters in battle. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Marjon Lambriks (right) with Paula Lindberg

... that Marjon Lambriks, who studied voice in the Netherlands with Paula Lindberg (both pictured) and made a career in Vienna, recorded La traviata alongside Pavarotti?
... that Hamro Lok Sanskriti (Our Folk Culture) was one of three books to win the first Madan Puraskar, Nepal's highest literary honour?
... that Thomas Paxton helped establish a saw mill, flour mill, foundry, and railway as a founding father of Port Perry?
... that 18.33 inches (46.6 cm) of rain fell within 24 hours in Guam during Typhoon Alice, a record for the territory that was not surpassed for another 23 years?
... that professional footballer Shaun Brisley scored for Peterborough United in the 2014 Football League Trophy Final after initially turning down a move to the club due to homesickness?
... that a two-year Native American housing protest group called the Chicago Indian Village started next to the Chicago Cubs home stadium, Wrigley Field?
... that medieval murals were discovered in Brönnestad Church in 1935, but not restored until 1980?
... that American historian Sarah Wilkerson Freeman curated a photo exhibit depicting the fluidity of race, gender, and sexuality in New Orleans during the McCarthy era?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

Julien Ingrassia

In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia (pictured) win the World Rally Championship, while Hyundai win the manufacturers' title.
Hayabusa2 successfully returns samples collected from asteroid 162173 Ryugu to Earth.
Zdravko Krivokapić takes office as Prime Minister of Montenegro, becoming the first independent to hold the post.
In India, a nationwide general strike occurs and 100,000 people continue with the farmers' protests surrounding New Delhi.

On this day

December 9

Marguerite Durand

1897 – French actress, journalist and leading suffragette Marguerite Durand (pictured) founded the feminist newspaper La Fronde.
1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 miners despite a well-organized rescue effort led by the United States Bureau of Mines.
1940 – Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert campaign.
2017 – Same-sex marriage in Australia became legal as the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 came into effect.

Gertrude of Brunswick (d. 1117)
Íñigo López de Mendoza (b. 1493)
Joan Armatrading (b. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

Wat Arun is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna. This photograph shows the sculptures of two mythical giant demons, Thotsakan (green-skinned) and Sahatsadecha (white-skinned), guarding the eastern gate of the temple's ordination hall, a building designated for the performance of upasampadā, the Buddhist ordination ritual, and other ritual ceremonies. The entrance of the ordination hall has a roof with a central spire, decorated in coloured ceramic and stucco and sheathed in coloured china.

Photograph credit: BerryJ

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