Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 May 20

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Sesame Workshop, originally the Children's Television Workshop, is the American non-profit organization behind the production of Sesame Street, now in its 47th consecutive season on the public broadcasting channel PBS. In 1966 Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett began researching a television show to help children, especially those from low-income families, prepare for school. Sesame Street premiered in 1969. Conney credited "educational advisers, researchers, and television producers ... as equal partners" in the show's success. The early 1980s were a challenging period for the Workshop; the end of government funding, difficulty in finding audiences for their other productions, and a series of bad investments hurt the organization until 1985, when licensing agreements had stabilized revenues. The organization expanded into other areas, including books and music, international co-productions, outreach programs to preschools, and interactive media and new technologies. By 2005, income from international co-productions of the show was $96 million, and by 2008, the Sesame Street Muppets accounted for $15–17 million per year in licensing and merchandising fees. (Full article...)

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RV Cefas Endeavour

... that when Cefas' RV Cefas Endeavour (pictured) performed a marine biology survey of the east coast of England, it also found Exmoor?
... that Hisashi Eguchi abandoned the serialization of his manga Stop!! Hibari-kun! after fleeing to a hotel room?
... that Sitric II may have co-ruled Viking Northumbria with Olaf Cuaran?
... that all eleven tracks from Busker Busker 1st Album charted on the Korea K-Pop Hot 100 and Gaon Digital Chart, including six in the top ten?
... that the Anatolian crested newt is a cryptic species, only shown to be distinct by genetic analysis?
... that during the Welsh Premier Women's Football League 2015–16 season, Llandudno Ladies were one of only two North Wales teams in the league?
... that Dina Kawar, a Jordanian Christian, was the first Arab woman to preside over the United Nations Security Council?
... that the song "Cupid", from Oh My Girl's self-titled debut album, features drumline percussion and "bubblegum cheerleader chants"?

In the news

EgyptAir SU-GCC

EgyptAir Flight 804 (aircraft pictured), with 66 people on board, crashes into the Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo.
The Vegetarian, written by Han Kang and translated by Deborah Smith, wins the Man Booker International Prize.
Max Verstappen becomes the youngest driver to win a Formula One race by winning the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 18.
Jamala, representing Ukraine with the song "1944", wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is suspended after both houses of the National Congress vote to impeach her.

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On this day...

May 20: Day of Remembrance in Cambodia; National Day in Cameroon (1972); Independence Day in East Timor (2002); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908)

First edition of Shakespeare's sonnets

325 – The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey.
1609 – Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets (title page pictured), possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
1882 – The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
1927 – By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.
1996 – The US Supreme Court struck down laws in Colorado that would have prevented any jurisdiction in the state from taking any governmental action to protect homosexual citizens from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation.

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Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai's acting career has encompassed work in over 40 films in five languages. Rai made her acting debut in the Tamil drama Iruvar (1997) and had her first Bollywood release in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997). She established herself in Bollywood with leading roles in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and drama Devdas (2002), both of which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Rai starred in the British film Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and collaborated with the director Rituparno Ghosh on the dramas Chokher Bali (2003) and Raincoat (2004). Her other high-profile credits include the action film Dhoom 2 (2006), the biopic Guru (2007), the historical drama Jodhaa Akbar (2008), the American comedy film The Pink Panther 2 (2009), and the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). Rai took a five-year sabbatical from film acting in 2010, and made her comeback with the thriller Jazbaa (2015). (Full list...)

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The Richard's pipit (Anthus richardi) is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in open grasslands in northern Asia. It is a long-distance migrant moving to open lowlands in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Named after the French naturalist Monsieur Richard of Lunéville, this bird belongs to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It was formerly lumped together with the Australasian, African, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species, though these pipits are now commonly considered to be separate species.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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