Main Page
From today's featured article
Prince Alfred (1780–1782) was the fourteenth child and the ninth and youngest son of King George III of Great Britain and Ireland and his queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Alfred was baptised by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace on 21 October 1780. His godparents were his elder siblings George, Prince of Wales; Prince Frederick; and Charlotte, Princess Royal. Alfred was a delicate child. He suffered from "eruptions" on his face and, throughout his life, a cough. In 1782, Alfred became unwell and died after his inoculation against the smallpox virus. Although the household did not go into mourning (it was not prescribed for royal children under seven), his parents took the loss harshly. Alfred's early death, along with that of his brother Prince Octavius six months later, deeply distressed the royal family. In his later bouts of madness, King George imagined conversations with both of his youngest sons. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the Kölner Domchor (pictured) from Cologne Cathedral sang Palmeri's Misa a Buenos Aires at a 2013 festival in Rome dedicated to Pope Francis, with the composer at the piano?
- ... that Pete Johnson was the first Republican to hold statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era?
- ... that Jacques-Louis David's Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki from 1781 has been described as one of his masterpieces?
- ... that as a teenager in a B'nai B'rith camp in Canada, Holocaust survivor and future Canadian ambassador Fred Bild learned English from his camp counselor, future actor William Shatner?
- ... that the experimental film 13 Lakes, which consists of 13 ten-minute-long static shots of different lakes in the United States, was deemed to be significant by the Library of Congress?
- ... that Gator Rivers dribbled a basketball around chairs and under tables in a closet when trying out for the Harlem Globetrotters?
- ... that though Mohamed Oufkir was appointed as Minister of Defence as a result of the 1971 Moroccan coup d'état attempt, he would later organize his own coup?
- ... that Lonzo Anderson "grew up rather like a rabbit" while unsupervised outdoors, anticipating his work on Two Hundred Rabbits?
In the news
.jpg?lang=en)
- In cricket, the Indian Premier League concludes with the Chennai Super Kings defeating the Gujarat Titans in the final (player of the match Devon Conway pictured).
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is reelected President of Turkey in a runoff.
- In auto racing, Josef Newgarden wins the Indianapolis 500.
- Rock singer and actress Tina Turner dies at the age of 83.
- The International Booker Prize is awarded to Time Shelter, written by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel.
On this day
June 2: Festa della Repubblica in Italy (1946)
.jpg?lang=en)
- 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured the British-held Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, Martinique.
- 1886 – The wedding of Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom took place in the White House, the only time a U.S. president used that building for the ceremony.
- 1953 – Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
- 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, a German university student, was killed in West Berlin while protesting the visit of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran; the anarchist militant 2 June Movement was later named after the incident.
- 1983 – After an emergency landing due to an in-flight fire, 23 passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a flashover occurred as the aircraft's doors opened.
- Ogata Kōrin (d. 1716)
- Adelaide Casely-Hayford (b. 1868)
- Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry (d. 1982)
From today's featured list
There have been many private and public sculptures of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, including busts, reliefs, and statues. The first, a bust (pictured) by Franz Klein, was commissioned by Johann Andreas Streicher and created in 1812, while the composer was still alive. After Beethoven's death in 1827, his hometown, Bonn, immediately began planning a monument. A design competition was eventually held, in which a submission by Ernst Julius Hähnel beat ones from Friedrich von Amerling, Gustav Bläser and Friedrich Drake. Hähnel's monument was erected in 1845. The Beethoven monuments that followed, while retaining a high pedestal, began to portray the composer in a less simplistic and increasingly heroic light. In the early 20th century, the glorified portrayals of Beethoven reached their peak, with god-like representations such as Max Klinger's monument (1902), unveiled at the Vienna Secession and Fidus's unexecuted design for a "Beethoven temple" (1903). (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
|
The western bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata) is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae. The species is endemic to Australia, where it has a disjunct distribution, occurring in both Central Australia and the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is 24 to 28 centimetres (9.4 to 11.0 in) in length with a mass of 120 to 150 grams (4.2 to 5.3 oz). The plumage is brown with reddish or buff spots over the throat, chest, neck, back head and wings, with a pink erectile crest on the nape. Its tail is brown, with the undersides buff. Males and females are similar in appearance, except that the tail of the female is slightly longer and it is more spotted on the throat than the male. This western bowerbird was photographed near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in 2022. Photograph credit: John Harrison
Recently featured:
|
Other areas of Wikipedia
- Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
- Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
- Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
- Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
- Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.
Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
MediaWiki
Wiki software development -
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikispecies
Directory of species -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Wikipedia languages
This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
-
1,000,000+ articles
-
250,000+ articles
-
50,000+ articles