Wikipedia:Today's featured list/March 2023

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March 3

The Hugo Award for Best Professional Magazine was one of the Hugo Awards given each year for professionally edited magazines related to science fiction or fantasy. Eligible magazines must have published four or more issues with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar year. The award was first presented in 1953, the first year any Hugo Award was given, and with the exception of 1954 was given annually through 1972 when it was retired in favor of the newly created Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor. For the 1957 awards, the award was split into separate categories for American and British magazines, a distinction that was not repeated in any other year. During the nineteen nomination years, twelve magazines run by fifteen editors were nominated. Of these, only five magazines run by eight editors won. Astounding Science-Fiction (later renamed Analog Science Fact & Fiction) and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction each won eight times, out of eighteen and fifteen nominations, respectively. (Full list...)


March 6

Viking 7
Viking 7

The year 1951 saw extensive exploration of space by the United States and the Soviet Union using suborbital rockets. The Soviet Union launched their first series of biomedical tests to the Kármán line, the 100-kilometre (62 mi) boundary of space. Several American agencies launched more than a dozen scientific sounding rocket flights between them. In August 1951, the United States Navy launched Viking 7 (pictured), the seventh in the Viking series of sounding rockets since 1949, this time reaching a record-breaking altitude of 136 miles (219 km). Development also continued by both superpowers on rockets more powerful than the World War II–era German V-2 that had inaugurated the age of spaceflight. (Full list...)


March 10

Map of relocated NHL teams
Map of relocated NHL teams

There are nineteen defunct and relocated National Hockey League (NHL) teams. The NHL Board of Governors review and approve the relocation of any member club. Each team appoints an individual or individuals to represent their team on the Board of Governors. A majority vote is needed for relocation of a club. The first team to relocate was the Quebec Athletics, who relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, to become the Hamilton Tigers. The NHL president at the time, Frank Calder, stripped the franchise from owner Mike Quinn and sold it to a Hamilton-based company. Three franchises became defunct due to the Great Depression: the Philadelphia Quakers, the St. Louis Eagles, and the Montreal Maroons. During their time in the NHL, the now defunct Ottawa Senators and Maroons both won the Stanley Cup championship multiple times, with four and two titles respectively. (Full list...)


March 13

Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones

The 75th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 2002 and took place on March 23, 2003, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gilbert Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Steve Martin hosted the show for the second time, having previously hosted the 73rd ceremony in 2001. Chicago won six awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones (pictured). Other winners included The Pianist with three awards, and Frida and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with two apiece. The telecast garnered 33 million viewers in the United States. (Full list...)


March 17

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) is a wildlife trust covering the English county of Norfolk in East Anglia. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest of all the trusts. It has more than 35,500 members and eight local groups, and it manages more than fifty nature reserves and other protected sites. It also gives conservation advice to individuals and organisations, provides educational services to young people on field trips and organises entertainment and information events at nature reserves. The NWT reserves include twenty-six Sites of Special Scientific Interest, nine national nature reserves, twelve A Nature Conservation Review sites, sixteen Special Areas of Conservation, twelve Special Protection Areas, eleven Ramsar sites, two local nature reserves, four Geological Conservation Review sites and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. (Full list...)


March 20

The earliest recordings of Little Walter, an American blues artist, were as a sideman, when he contributed harmonica to songs by Chicago blues musicians such as Jimmy Rogers and Muddy Waters. As the featured artist, Little Walter recorded the instrumental "Juke" in 1952. The single reached number one on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and launched his career as a solo artist. A string of popular singles followed, including "Mean Old World", "Blues with a Feeling", and "Key to the Highway". His "My Babe" was one of the biggest R&B sellers of 1955. In addition to his solo career, Little Walter continued to record harmonica for songs by other artists. He recorded at a time when blues musicians were primarily singles artists. His records were released on Checker Records, run by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil. The one album released during his lifetime is a compilation issued by Chess Records, titled The Best of Little Walter (1958). Rolling Stone ranked it at number 198 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". (Full list...)


March 24

Sid Meier
Sid Meier

The Civilization franchise is composed primarily of a series of turn-based strategy video games and associated media. The core of the franchise is a series of six titles for personal computers, released between 1991 and 2016. Sid Meier (pictured) developed Civilization (1991), the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of its sequels. The official titles of the Civilization series, core games, and most spin-offs include his name, as in Sid Meier's Civilization. The first game in the series was created by MicroProse co-founder Meier and Bruce Shelley. MicroProse continued the series for several years, but beginning with Civilization III (2001) through the latest title, Civilization VI (2016), it has been developed by Firaxis Games. In addition to video games, the franchise includes several board games, artbooks, and music albums. (Full list...)


March 27

Peloton at the start of the 1962 Tour de France
Peloton at the start of the 1962 Tour de France

There were fifteen teams each consisting of ten cyclists in the 1962 Tour de France, for a total of 150 riders. From 1930 to 1961, the Tour de France was contested by national cycling teams, but in 1962 commercially sponsored international trade teams returned. Each team was required to have a dominant nationality; at least six cyclists should have the same nationality, or only two nationalities should be present. For the first time, French cyclists were outnumbered; the largest number of riders from a nation came from Italy (52), with the next largest coming from France (50) and Belgium (28). Riders represented a further six nations, all European. Jacques Anquetil won the individual time trial of stage twenty to put himself into the yellow jersey, which he held until the conclusion of the race; he defended his title, winning his third Tour de France. (Full list...)


March 31

Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly, an American actress, had 14 film, 45 television, and 2 stage credits between 1948 and 1977. She made her screen debut in 1948, in the televised play "Old Lady Robbins" as part of the anthology series Kraft Television Theatre. The following year, Kelly made her Broadway debut playing Bertha in The Father. Kelly's film debut was a minor role in the 1951 drama Fourteen Hours. For her performance as Linda Nortley in John Ford's Mogambo, she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1954, she starred in the Alfred Hitchcock–directed thrillers Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland and Rear Window with James Stewart. In the same year, she portrayed the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic actor played by Bing Crosby in The Country Girl, for which Kelly received the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama in 1955. (Full list...)