Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 March 30

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From today's featured article

Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His first execution was in December 1932, assisting his uncle Thomas. His father Henry had also been a hangman. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner. During his tenure he hanged 200 people who had been convicted of war crimes in Germany and Austria, as well as several high-profile murderers—including Gordon Cummins (the Blackout Ripper), John Haigh (the Acid Bath Murderer) and John Christie (the Rillington Place Strangler). He undertook several contentious executions, including Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis. He executed William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw-Haw) and John Amery for high treason, and Theodore Schurch for treachery. In the 2005 film Pierrepoint he was portrayed by Timothy Spall. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Christine Ferber

... that jams made by French chocolatier Christine Ferber (pictured) are sold in Tokyo Isetan department stores, each wrapped in red cloth with a white bow?
... that The Marriage is a video game that tries to convey meaning through its mechanics rather than through audio or visuals?
... that Ursula K. Le Guin once rejected an offer from Hayao Miyazaki to adapt her Earthsea series for the screen, but changed her mind after watching Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro?
... that the 1923 film The Shepherd King about the Biblical David has an opening scene in Egypt because of King Tut?
... that the soprano Melitta Muszely appeared as the four women Hoffmann loves in Felsenstein's production at the Komische Oper Berlin in 1958, and still sang recitals at age 80?
... that the Ussuri shrew feeds largely on earthworms and needs to eat more than twice its bodyweight each day?
... that Hungarian ice hockey referee László Schell set an unofficial record of 22 Ice Hockey World Championship matches officiated in a year?
... that Stackpole Books sold 12,000 copies of Mein Kampf in English before being ordered to stop?

In the news

Robert Mueller

A Special Counsel investigation, headed by Robert Mueller (pictured), concludes and reports its findings to the United States Attorney General.
At least 160 people are killed in attacks against Fulani herdsmen in central Mali.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant loses its last territory in Syria following a defeat by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the U.S.-led coalition.
An explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui, Jiangsu, China, kills at least 78 people and injures more than 90 others.

On this day

March 30: Land Day (Palestinians)

Alex Trebek, longtime host of Jeopardy!

1842 – American physician Crawford Long became the first person to use diethyl ether as an anesthetic in a surgical procedure.
1861 – British chemist William Crookes announced his discovery of thallium, which he had done using flame spectroscopy.
1918 – Fighting began during the March Days revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting in about 12,000 deaths.
1964 – Jeopardy! (host Alex Trebek pictured), the popular American game show created by Merv Griffin, made its debut on the NBC television network.
2009 – Twelve gunmen attacked the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, and held it for several hours before security forces could retake it.

Kazimierz Łyszczyński (d. 1689) · Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (d. 1842) · DJ AM (b. 1973)

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Today's featured picture

The Eckert VI projection is an equal-area pseudocylindrical map projection. The length of the polar line is half that of the equator, and lines of longitude are sinusoids. It was first described by Max Eckert in 1906 as one of a series of three pairs of pseudocylindrical projections. In each pair, the meridians have the same shape, and the odd-numbered projection has equally spaced parallels, whereas the even-numbered projection has parallels spaced to preserve area. The pair to Eckert VI is the Eckert V projection.

Map: Strebe, using Geocart

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