Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 November 30

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From today's featured article

Plaque honouring Surville's
anchoring at Doubtless Bay

Jean-François-Marie de Surville (1717–1770) was a merchant captain with the French East India Company who commanded a voyage of exploration to the Pacific in 1769 and 1770. Born in Brittany, France, Surville joined the company when he was 10 years old. For the next several years, he sailed on voyages in Indian and Chinese waters. In 1740, he joined the French Navy. He fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, twice becoming a prisoner of war. In 1769, in command of Saint Jean-Baptiste, he sailed from India on an expedition to the Pacific looking for trading opportunities. He explored the seas around the Solomon Islands and anchored in December at Doubtless Bay, New Zealand (commemorative plaque pictured). Part of his route around New Zealand overlapped that of James Cook in Endeavour, who had preceded him by only a few days. Three months later, Surville drowned off the coast of Peru while seeking help for his scurvy-afflicted crew. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Yūki Yamato

... that screenwriter and director Yūki Yamato (pictured) created her first film, That Girl is Dancing by the Seaside, while studying philosophy at Sophia University?
... that following the defense of Katowice on 4 September 1939, dozens of defenders, including a number of Polish Boy and Girl Scouts, were summarily executed?
... that Jedediah Sanger founded New Hartford, but gave his name to Sangerfield?
... that Rainbow Valley, one of the books in the Anne of Green Gables series, draws heavily on Lucy Maud Montgomery's life in the Leaskdale Manse?
... that Chinese virologist George F. Gao led a test laboratory in Sierra Leone during the peak of the 2014 Ebola outbreak?
... that the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory in Brooklyn, originally built for one of the world's largest pencil makers, now contains the Kickstarter headquarters?
... that baritone Hans Braun, who performed 75 roles at the Vienna State Opera, appeared as Mozart's Count Almaviva at the Royal Opera House and as Wagner's Wolfram at La Scala?
... that the tapping sound of the deathwatch beetle has long been considered an omen of an impending death?

In the news

Dresden Castle

An earthquake in northwestern Albania kills at least 50 people and injures more than 900 others.
Several hundred diamonds and jewelled items are stolen from Dresden Castle (pictured) in Germany.
In Canadian football, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the Grey Cup.
Klaus Iohannis of the National Liberal Party is re-elected as President of Romania in a runoff election.

On this day

November 30: Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare; Saint Andrew's Day (Christianity)

Live performance of The Wall

1700 – Great Northern War: Swedish forces led by King Charles XII defeated the Russian army of Tsar Peter the Great at the Battle of Narva.
1853 – Crimean War: Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, prompting France and Britain to enter the war.
1953 – Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, was temporarily deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, the British governor of Uganda.
1979 – The Wall (performance pictured), a rock opera and concept album by the English band Pink Floyd, was first released.
1999 – Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace merged to form BAE Systems, one of the world's largest defence companies.

Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (b. 1719) · Kamehameha IV (d. 1863) · Joan Ganz Cooney (b. 1929)

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Today's featured picture

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando is an 1879 oil-on-canvas painting by French Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. The mixed-race acrobat caused a sensation when she performed at the Cirque Fernando in Montmartre, Paris. In this painting, she is shown suspended from the rafters of the circus dome by a rope clenched between her teeth. Degas sought out such striking modern subjects, concentrating on figures in arresting poses; he may have also been seeking to emulate paintings by Italian artists such as Tiepolo in painting a highly foreshortened figure. In January 1879, he made a series of drawings at the Cirque Fernando, including a pastel study of Miss La La, now in the Tate's collection, which culminated in this painting. The viewer sees the spectacle as the audience would have done, gazing up at the daring feat taking place above. The painting is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Painting credit: Edgar Degas

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