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From today's featured article

Red Skelton (1913–1997) was an American entertainer known for his national radio and television acts. He began developing his comedic and pantomime skills at age 10 in a traveling medicine show. Over the next decade he worked on a showboat, in the burlesque circuit, and in vaudeville. In 1938 he became the host of radio's Avalon Time, and got his own radio show in 1941, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, which debuted many of his comedy characters. Though he regularly appeared on radio and film, Skelton was most eager to work in television. The Red Skelton Show premiered in 1951, and continued on a variety of networks and under several names until 1971. Afterwards, he focused on painting, and probably earned more from sales of lithographs of his works than from his entire television career. He received many accolades, including two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and induction into the Television and National Radio Halls of Fame. (Full article...)

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In the news

Formula One driver Jules Bianchi (pictured in 2012) dies at the age of 25, nine months after an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix left him in a coma.
An agreement is announced between the P5+1 countries and Iran regarding its nuclear program.
Scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider announce the observation of pentaquarks.
The New Horizons space probe performs the first planetary flyby of Pluto.
In tennis, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams win the Wimbledon singles titles.
Drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escapes from a Mexican federal prison for the second time, resulting in a manhunt.

Ongoing events:
- Greek debt crisis
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On this day...

July 18: Constitution Day in Uruguay (1830)

1290 – Edward I issued an edict expelling all Jews from England.
1841 – Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil, having reigned in minority since 1831, was acclaimed, crowned and consecrated.
1870 – The First Vatican Council declared that the Pope is infallible when he solemnly declares a dogmatic teaching on faith as being contained in divine revelation.
1995 – After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano began a still-ongoing eruption (pictured), devastating the island of Montserrat.
2005 – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush announced the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement, a bilateral treaty on civil nuclear cooperation between their two countries.

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Today's featured picture

Vertigo is a 1958 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Tom Helmore. Based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac, the film follows a former police detective who struggles against his acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sensation of rotation) to follow an acquaintance's wife. Although it received mixed reviews upon release, Vertigo has since been considered one of Hitchcock's best works.

Poster: Saul Bass; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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