Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 December 31

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From today's featured article

John Doubleday (about 1798 – 1856) was a British craftsperson, restorer, and dealer in antiquities. He was employed by the British Museum for the last 20 years of his life as a specialist restorer, perhaps the first person in that role. In 1845 the Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass piece, was smashed into hundreds of pieces, and Doubleday was selected for the restoration. Guided by a watercolour of the fragments by Thomas H. Shepherd, he glued the vase whole again within a few months, omitting only 37 small splinters. This restoration would remain for more than 100 years, until the adhesive grew increasingly discoloured. In other work for the museum, he cleaned bronzes from Nimrud, and he at least twice testified in criminal trials. By the time of his death he had amassed one of the largest collections of casts of seals in the world. In 2006 William Andrew Oddy of the British Museum ranked him "in the forefront of the craftsmen-restorers of his time". (Full article...)

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Did you know...

The Death of General Montgomery

... that American John Trumbull's The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 (pictured) was painted in the London studio of Benjamin West?
... that among the babies born at the Parsi Lying-in Hospital was the Indian politician Feroze Gandhi?
... that Wolfgang Unger was director of music at the University of Leipzig, where he founded two instrumental ensembles named after the original Paulinerkirche?
... that the Romanian destroyers Mărăști and Mărășești both changed owners three times and were renamed four times during their careers?
... that the 1923 World Congress of Jewish Women in Vienna unanimously resolved to support the settlement of Jews in Palestine?
... that the year before he first played in baseball's National Association, Marty Swandell umpired the game that decided the league's championship?
... that A Summer in a Sea Shell was the first Slovenian coming-of-age film to have popular music and dancing?
... that Peng Shilu, the "father of China's nuclear submarines", was jailed at age eight?

In the news

Damage from the Sunda Strait tsunami

A tsunami hits the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, killing at least 426 people and injuring more than 7,000 others (aftermath pictured).
In field hockey, the World Cup concludes with Belgium defeating the Netherlands in the final.
The Balangiga bells, taken by US Army soldiers from the Philippines in 1901 as war trophies, are repatriated.
Nine people are killed when a high-speed train collides with a locomotive in Ankara, Turkey.

On this day

December 31

Painting of helicopter rescue efforts at the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire

1775 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulsed an attack by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and enlist French Canadian support.
1857 – Queen Victoria selected Ottawa, then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.
1963 – Despite Prime Minister Roy Welensky's efforts, the Central African Federation officially collapsed, subsequently becoming three separate nations: Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1986 – Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others (rescue efforts depicted), making it the second deadliest hotel fire in United States history.
1999 – Panama took control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States, in accordance with the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

Richard Montgomery (d. 1775) · Henri Matisse (b. 1869) · Junot Díaz (b. 1968)

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From today's featured list

Maryland football team in a 1914 game

Many Maryland Terrapins football players have received accolades. The team was founded in 1892 to represent the University of Maryland in intercollegiate competition and has participated in the sport all but one season since its inception. Over the course of the team's history, the Terrapins' performance has run the gamut from national championships to winless seasons. In total, Terrapins have been named to an All-America team 58 times, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference team 196 times, an All-Big Ten Conference team 7 times, and an All-Southern Conference team 14 times. Terrapins have won several nationally recognized individual awards, including the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Dick Butkus Award, the Lombardi Award, and the Outland Trophy, each of which recognizes the best player at a particular position in a given season. The College Football Hall of Fame has inducted six former Maryland players, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame has enshrined two. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console by Sega, released in various countries between 1990 and 1992. The Game Gear shares much of its hardware with the Sega Master System, and can play Master System games through an adapter. Containing a full-color backlit screen with a landscape format, Sega positioned the Game Gear as a technologically superior handheld to the rival Nintendo Game Boy but due to issues with its short battery life, lack of original titles, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear was unable to beat the Game Boy. The Game Gear was succeeded by the Sega Nomad in 1995 and discontinued in 1997. It sold approximately 11 million units.

Photograph: Evan Amos

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