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From today's featured article

[[File:|180px|Ceilings of the Central Hall at the Natural History Museum, London ]]

The decorated ceilings of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, were designed by the museum's architect Alfred Waterhouse, and were unveiled at the building's opening in 1881. The ceiling of the large Central Hall (pictured) consists of 162 panels, 108 of which depict plants considered significant to the history of the museum, to the British Empire or to the museum's visitors. The remaining 54 are highly stylised decorative botanical paintings. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall consists of 36 panels, 18 of which depict plants growing in the British Isles. Both ceilings make extensive use of gilding for visual effect. Built of lath and plaster to save costs, the ceilings are unusually fragile and require extensive maintenance and restoration. Since 2016 the skeleton of a blue whale has been suspended from the ceiling of the Central Hall. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Wycliffe Smith

... that pastor, poet, teacher, and musician Wycliffe Smith (pictured) has served as lieutenant governor of Saba and prime minister of Sint Maarten?
... that during Operation Security and Order, Mbah Suro's followers fought against Indonesian Army special forces with clubs and headbands?
... that NFL player Henry Monroe retired after one season to enter medical school?
... that workers of Jakarta's Public Facility Maintenance Agency are known as "orange troops"?
... that Luis Aranaz was named an "adopted son" of Sabadell after captaining the city's football club to two Spanish second-division titles in the 1940s?
... that the SWAT unit in Regina recruited their first female officer from the Regina Police Service in May 1991?
... that Namibian activist Werner Mamugwe was banned from entering Bechuanaland Protectorate due to his political activities?
... that North Korea thanked the United States for helping its sailors defeat a group of pirates?
... that "the Psycho" controlled the drug trade in Finglas, Cabra and Ballymun from the early 1990s until his death in 1996?

In the news

Hannah Hampton

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific Ocean.
In association football, the UEFA Women's Euro concludes with England defeating Spain in the final (player of the match Hannah Hampton pictured).
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar wins the Tour de France.
American professional wrestler Hulk Hogan dies at the age of 71.

On this day

August 4

MTS Oceanos in 1986

1265 – Second Barons' War: Royal troops led by Prince Edward defeated baronial forces under Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in Worcestershire, England.
1862 – In Brooklyn, a mob composed largely of Irish Americans attacked a group of African Americans in a riot.
1991 – An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos ruptured its hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all 571 people on board rescued.
2006 – Sri Lankan civil war: Seventeen employees of the French nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Mutur.
2020 – A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage.

Henry I of France (d. 1060)
Samuel J. Tilden (d. 1886)
Daniel Dae Kim (b. 1968)
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (b. 1981)

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From today's featured list

Tages with a copy of "Sleep Little Girl"

The Swedish pop group Tages released six studio albums and 26 singles in their home country during their existence from 1963 to 1970. Their professional career began during the summer of 1964, when they won a contest awarding them a recording contract with Platina Records, an independent record label. Their debut single, "Sleep Little Girl", was released in October 1964 and became a large hit in Sweden. The band's debut album, Tages, was released in November 1965, reaching the top 10 of the Finnish Albums Charts. The band's fourth and fifth albums, Contrast and Studio (both 1967), were released by Parlophone, whereas their sixth and final album, The Lilac Years (1969), was released through Fontana Records. The Lilac Years and the band's final three singles were released under the name Blond, which was considered more internationally viable by their management. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Cheat is a 1923 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is a remake of Cecil B. DeMille's 1915 film The Cheat, using the same script by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie MacPherson. The remake stars Pola Negri and was directed by George Fitzmaurice, and tells the story of Carmelita De Cordoba, a beautiful young South American woman who has been betrothed by her stern father to Don Pablo, whom she despises, and then meets and falls in love with Dudley Drake, a New York City broker. With no known prints of The Cheat remaining, it is considered a lost film, although there is an extant version in novel form, written in the same year as the film by Russell Holman, a Paramount Pictures employee. This color lithograph poster was produced in 1923 by Paramount to promote The Cheat, and depicts Negri as Carmelita with Charles de Rochefort as Claude Mace, an art swindler masquerading as the East Indian prince Rao-Singh.

Poster credit: Paramount Pictures; restored by Ezarate

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