Edward the Martyr (c. 962 – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. His father, King Edgar, had been a strong and overbearing monarch who had forced the nobility to surrender land to the monasteries. Edward's reign is remembered as a time of lawlessness, because of the efforts of the nobles to get their land back, sometimes by force, and because of disputes between the leading magnates, although these never led to warfare. His short reign ended in his murder in unclear circumstances. Medieval kings were believed to be sacrosanct, and Edward's violent death deeply troubled contemporaries. He soon came to be regarded as a saint, and his feast of 18 March is still listed by the Church of England. Edward was known in his own time for his violent temper, and the historian Tom Watson comments: "For an obnoxious teenager who showed no evidence of sanctity or kingly attributes and who should have been barely a footnote, his cult has endured mightily well." (Full article...)
1977 – The punk group the Clash released their first single, "White Riot", described as their "most controversial song" due to its lyrics about class economics and race.
Steele's Greenville expedition took place from April 2 to April 25, 1863, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces commanded by Major General Frederick Steele(pictured) occupied Greenville, Mississippi, and operated in the surrounding area, to divert Confederate attention from a more important movement made in Louisiana by Major General John A. McClernand's corps. Minor skirmishing between the two sides occurred, particularly in the early stages of the expedition. More than 1,000 slaves were freed during the operation, and large quantities of supplies and animals were destroyed or removed from the area. Along with other operations, including Grierson's Raid, Steele's Greenville expedition distracted Confederate attention from McClernand's movement. Some historians have suggested that the Greenville expedition represented the Union war policy's shifting more towards expanding the war to Confederate social and economic structures and the Confederate homefront. (Full article...)
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating energy from its surface mainly as light and infrared radiation. It is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf, though its light is actually white. It formed about 4.6 billion years ago and is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. From Earth the Sun is 1 astronomical unit (1.496×108 km) or about 8 light-minutes away. Its diameter is about 1,391,400 km (864,600 mi), 109 times that of Earth. Its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, making up about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Every second, the Sun fuses about 600 billion kilograms (kg) of hydrogen into helium and converts 4 billion kg of matter into energy. Venerated in many cultures, it is a central subject for astronomical research since antiquity. (This article is part of a featured topic: Solar System.)
"All-American Bitch" is a 2023 song by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo(pictured) from her second studio album, Guts. Lyrically, it is satire and explores Rodrigo's concerns about society's double standards and contradictory expectations for women. Rodrigo co-wrote the song with its producer, Dan Nigro, and believed it captured feelings repressed since age 15. It begins as a folk song and transitions into pop-punk during the chorus, incorporating influences of punk, rock, grunge, and pop rock. "All-American Bitch" was viewed as a successful opening track that appealed to Generation Z by music critics, who praised Rodrigo's vocals and the production. The song reached number 13 in the US and the top 10 in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Rodrigo performed it on Saturday Night Live, where she stabbed a red-colored cake at a tea party and splattered it on her face; the performance received positive reviews. She also included it on the set list of the 2024–2025 Guts World Tour. (Full article...)
The True Record was a pictorial magazine published in Shanghai, China, between June 1912 and March or April 1913. The magazine was established by brothers Gao Qifeng and Gao Jianfu as the nascent Republic of China was seeking to develop a new culture after centuries of Qing rule. It sought to monitor the new republic, report the welfare of the people, promote socialism, and distribute world knowledge. Under the Gaos and fellow editor Huang Binhong, the magazine published seventeen issues and expanded its reach from China through Southeast Asia to Hawaii. Supportive of Sun Yat-sen and the nationalist movement, the magazine was critical of Provisional President Yuan Shikai and closed during a time when he was consolidating his power. Articles covered such topics as art, current events, technology and politics. Despite having been published for less than one year, The True Record has been described as one of the most important illustrated magazines of the first years of the Republic of China. (Full article...)
1913 – Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed emperor of Vietnam, was arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
Michael Tritter is a fictional character in the medical drama series House, played by David Morse(pictured). The main antagonist of the third season (2006–07), Tritter is a police detective who tries to get Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) to apologize for leaving him with a thermometer in his rectum. After House refuses, Tritter discovers his Vicodin addiction, and forces him to go to rehab. The character was created as somebody who could go "toe-to-toe" with House. Morse, who had never seen the show before, was unsure if he could portray the character. The excited reaction of his friends convinced him to take the role. Initial critical responses were mostly positive, but critics later felt that the six-episode Tritter story arc became boring. Morse, though, was praised for his portrayal and received an Emmy nomination. He stated in a 2006 TV Guide interview that, although he had discussed it with the show's writers, reprising the character would be "practically impossible". (Full article...)
1989 – Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim which was later discredited.
1994 – Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into a hillside in Russia's Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 75 people on board, after the pilot's 15-year-old son had unknowingly disabled the autopilot while seated at the controls.
2005 – A fire and explosion at the third-largest oil refinery in the United States killed 15 workers and kicked off process safety programs throughout the world.
Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. He first used the film before audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act: the frisky, childlike dinosaur Gertie did tricks at his command. His employer, magnate William Randolph Hearst, later curtailed McCay's vaudeville activities, so McCay added a live-action introductory sequence to the film for its theatrical release. Gertie was the first film to use animation techniques such as keyframes, registration marks, tracing paper, the Mutoscope action viewer, and animation loops, and the first to feature a dinosaur. Gertie influenced the next generation of animators, including the Fleischer brothers, Otto Messmer, Paul Terry, and Walt Disney. McCay abandoned a sequel, Gertie on Tour, around 1921 after producing about a minute of footage. Gertie is the best preserved of his films—others are lost or in fragments—and has been preserved in the US National Film Registry. (Full article...)
1934 – The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years.
Flotilla is a 2010 turn-based strategy space combat video game developed by Brendon Chung (pictured) and his studio, Blendo Games. The game was released in March 2010 on Steam for Microsoft Windows and on Xbox Live Indie Games for the Xbox 360. Flotilla was designed with Microsoft's XNA tools, and its development was influenced by animals as well as board games such as Axis & Allies and Arkham Horror. The game takes the player on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy. Chung began developing Flotilla after the closure of Pandemic Studios, where he had worked as a designer. The new game used assets imported from Chung's early space combat prototype Space Piñata. Flotilla incorporates pieces of classical music in its score such as Frédéric Chopin's "Raindrop" prelude. It received mixed reviews from video game media outlets, scoring 72 out of 100 on review aggregate website Metacritic, and was included in Mike Rose's book 250 Indie Games You Must Play. (Full article...)
1812 – The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term "gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry(pictured), who approved the legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
The Spy Who Loved Me is the ninth novel and tenth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. First published on 16 April 1962, it is the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as the only Bond novel told in the first person. Its narrator is a young Canadian woman, Viv Michel. Bond does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book, arriving at precisely the right moment to save Viv from being raped and murdered. Fleming wrote a prologue to the novel giving the character Viv credit as a co-author. The story uses a recurring motif of Saint George against the dragon, and contains themes of power and the moral ambiguity between those acting with good and evil intent. The reviews were largely negative, with some expressing a desire for a return to the structure and form of the previous Bond novels. Fleming attempted to suppress elements of the book: he blocked a paperback edition and only permitted Eon Productions to use the book's title but not its plot. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and short stories.)
Interstate 182 (I-182) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It serves as a connector from I-82 to the Tri-Cities region that crosses the Columbia River on the Interstate 182 Bridge between Richland and Pasco. I-182 is 15 miles (24 km) long and entirely concurrent with U.S. Route 12; it intersects State Route 240 and US 395. Business leaders in the Tri-Cities began lobbying for a freeway in 1958 after early alignments for I-82 were routed away from the area. I-182 was a compromise to the routing dispute, which allowed for direct access to the Tri-Cities and a bypass for other traffic. The new freeway would also include construction of a bridge between Richland and Pasco. Construction on I-182 was scheduled to begin in 1971, but was delayed and began in late 1980; it opened to traffic three years later. The final sections of the freeway, between I-82 and Richland, opened to traffic in March 1986. (This article is part of a featured topic: Interstate 82.)
Hurricane Cindy was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana in July 2005. The third named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Cindy developed from a tropical wave on July 3, off the east coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Soon after, it moved over land before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico. It tracked toward the northern Gulf Coast and strengthened to reach maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), making it a Category 1 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The hurricane struck Louisiana, on July 5 at peak intensity, but weakened by the time it made a second landfall along southern Mississippi. It weakened over the southeastern US and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on July 7. The remnants of Cindy produced an outbreak of 42 tornadoes across six states before they moved into Atlantic Canada and dissipated on July 13 over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Cindy caused six traffic deaths and its damage was significant. (Full article...)
"Your Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey(pictured) for her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi. She wrote the track with Marc Shemer, who also produced it with her under the name Scram Jones. The lyrics of "Your Girl" are about confidently approaching a potential lover. To convey this sentiment, Carey employs belting in her vocal performance. The track was influenced by disco, gospel, jazz, pop, and soul, while sampling vocals and an acoustic guitar from the 2003 Adeaze song "A Life with You". Some reviewers considered "Your Girl" one of the best tracks on The Emancipation of Mimi; others criticized the vocals. Regretful that it was not issued as a single from the album, Carey later released two remixes featuring rappers Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, and N.O.R.E. as part of a 2021 digital extended play. She has performed the song live during the 2006 The Adventures of Mimi concert tour and the 2024 Celebration of Mimi concert residency in Las Vegas. (Full article...)
The Apollo 15 postal covers incident involved the crew of NASA's Apollo 15, who in 1971 carried about 400 unauthorized postal covers(example pictured) to the Moon's surface. American astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin agreed to receive about $7,000 each for transporting the covers, which were inside the Lunar ModuleFalcon as Scott and Irwin walked on the Moon. The covers were postmarked both prior to liftoff from Kennedy Space Center and after splashdown. Though the astronauts returned the money, they were reprimanded by NASA for poor judgment and were called before a closed session of a Senate committee. They were removed as the backup crew for Apollo 17 and never flew in space again; by 1977 all had left NASA. In 1983, Worden sued for the return of those covers that had been impounded in 1972, and the three men received them in an out-of-court settlement. One of the covers provided to West German stamp dealer Hermann Sieger sold for over $50,000 in 2014. (Full article...)
Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
1871 – The Duke of Buckingham(pictured) opened the first section of the Brill Tramway, a short railway line to transport goods between his lands and the national rail network.
1952 – Israel enacted a citizenship law, prior to which the country technically had no citizens.
The 2012 Aston Martin Vanquish was the second generation of the Vanquish, a grand touring car. It was produced between 2012 and 2018 by the British carmaker Aston Martin. It succeeded the DBS, resurrected the name of the 2001–2007 model, and was available as both a coupe and a convertible, the latter known as the Volante. The Vanquish, which is based upon the DB9's architecture, extensively incorporates aluminium throughout its construction. The Vanquish was designed by Marek Reichman and showcased at several events in 2012. It was produced in Gaydon, a village in Warwickshire, England. Aston Martin unveiled the Vanquish Volante in August 2013 and began deliveries late that year. In 2014, they implemented minor modifications to the Vanquish's engine performance. A significantly modified version, the Vanquish S, was launched in 2016; its Volante version was released the following year. The Vanquish S introduced such updates as increased horsepower and torque, and a new body kit. (Full article...)
A British Army helicopter was destroyed in a friendly fire incident during the Falklands War, killing its four occupants. In the early hours of 6 June 1982, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cardiff was looking for aircraft supplying the Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands. An Army Air CorpsGazelle helicopter was making a delivery to British troops on East Falkland. Cardiff's crew assumed it was hostile and fired two missiles, destroying it. The loss was attributed to enemy fire. Although Cardiff was suspected, scientific tests on the wreckage were inconclusive. No formal inquiry was held until four years later. Defending their claim that the helicopter had been lost in action, the Ministry of Defence stated that they had not wanted to upset relatives until they ascertained how it had been shot down. A board of inquiry identified factors including a lack of communication between the army and the navy and the army's decision to turn off helicopters' identification friend or foe transmitters. (Full article...)
The giant anteater is a large insectivorousmammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteater and is classified with sloths in the orderPilosa. This species is mostly terrestrial, in contrast to other living anteaters, which are arboreal or semi-arboreal. It is the largest of its family, stretching 182–217 cm (5.97–7.12 ft) and weighing 33–41 kg (73–90 lb) for males and 27–39 kg (60–86 lb) for females. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long foreclaws and distinctively colored pelage. The anteater's habitats include grassland and rainforest and it feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its foreclaws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. The giant anteater is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Threats to its survival include habitat destruction and hunting. The anteater has been featured in pre-Columbianmyths and folktales, and modern popular culture. (Full article...)
The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a 2020 adventure video game developed by One-O-One Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment. It focuses on Nicole Wilson returning to her family's hotel ten years after she and her mother left, once her father's affair with the teenaged Rachel Foster was discovered, who then killed herself while pregnant. Trapped in the hotel due to a snowstorm, Nicole seeks to uncover the mystery of Rachel's suicide. Borne out of the studio's desire to create a horror game relying on suspense over monsters, it was set in a hotel to elicit fear and claustrophobia in players. The developers sought professional advice to portray topics like child sexual abuse and suicide compassionately. Released on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, the game received mixed reviews. The handling of child sexual abuse and suicide was heavily criticized, particularly over an interactive suicide attempt. A sequel, The Fading of Nicole Wilson is set to be released in 2025. (Full article...)
What a Merry-Go-Round is the eighteenth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, made for the Autumn/Winter 2001 season of his eponymous fashion house. The collection drew on imagery of clowns and carnivals, inspired by McQueen's feelings about childhood and his experiences in the fashion industry. The designs were influenced by military chic, cinema such as Nosferatu (1922) and Cabaret (1972), 1920s flapper fashion and the French Revolution. The palette comprised dark colours complemented with neutrals and muted greens. The collection's runway show was staged in February 2001 and was staged in a dark room with a carousel at the centre. It was McQueen's final show in London. Sixty-two looks were presented in the main runway show. Critical response to the collection was generally positive, and it has attracted some academic analysis for the theme and messaging. It served as a critique of the fashion industry, which he sometimes described as toxic and suffocating. (Full article...)
2001 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey(artist's conception pictured), the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, launched from Cape Canaveral.
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