Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 November 16b

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From today's featured article

Jane Grigson (13 March 1928 – 12 March 1990) was an English cookery writer. In the latter part of the 20th century she was the author of the food column for The Observer and wrote numerous books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. In 1966 she was awarded the John Florio Prize for Italian translation. Her 1967 book Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery was well received and, after a recommendation by the food writer Elizabeth David, Grigson gained her position at The Observer. Her books English Food (1974), Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book (1978) and Jane Grigson's Fruit Book (1982) won Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards. She was a political lobbyist, campaigning against battery farming and for animal welfare, food provenance and smallholders. Her writing put food into its social and historical context, drawing on poetry, novels and the cookery writers of the Industrial Revolution era, including Hannah Glasse, Elizabeth Raffald, Maria Rundell and Eliza Acton. Through her writing she changed the eating habits of the British, making many forgotten dishes popular once again. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Casaba-type warhead

... that an effort to build a nuclear shaped charge was called the Casaba Howitzer (warhead type illustrated) because General Atomics was "on a melon kick that year"?
... that Faustas Latėnas, vice-minister of Lithuania's Ministry of Culture, composed incidental music, film scores, and a string quartet subtitled "In loving memory"?
... that though it received mixed reviews at its release in 1987, Floodland by the Sisters of Mercy is now considered an essential gothic rock album?
... that despite the biggest missing-person investigation in the history of the Toronto Police Service, no physical evidence regarding the 1985 disappearance of Nicole Morin was ever found?
... that the ballet Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is performed in sneakers?
... that medieval Russians sometimes built churches in one day to ward off epidemics?
... that serial entrepreneur John Teeling broke the monopoly in Irish whiskey held by Irish Distillers by launching Cooley Distillery?
... that a newly discovered species of green pit viper, Trimeresurus salazar, was named after Salazar Slytherin from the Harry Potter series?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

SpaceX Crew-1 launching from Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX Crew-1 launches (pictured) with astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Soichi Noguchi, and Shannon Walker.
Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula One World Championship, while Mercedes win the constructors' title.
In Peru, following the impeachment and removal of President Martín Vizcarra, interim president Manuel Merino resigns amidst nationwide protests.
Typhoon Vamco makes landfall in Vietnam, after crossing the Philippines and killing at least 69 people.

On this day

November 16

First Qantas office, 1921

1476 – With the help of Stephen III and Stephen Báthory, Vlad the Impaler ousted Basarab the Old and became the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.
1885 – After a five-day trial following the North-West Rebellion, the Canadian Métis leader and "Father of Manitoba" Louis Riel was hanged for high treason.
1920 – Qantas, Australia's national airline, was founded as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (first office pictured).
1945 – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded.
2002 – The first case of SARS, a zoonotic respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus, was recorded in Guangdong, China.

Charles-Antoine Campion (b. 1720)
Chinua Achebe (b. 1930)
Clark Gable (d. 1960)

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From today's featured list

Satyajit Ray

The National Film Award for Best Direction is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), an organisation set up by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Since 1967, the award is given by a national panel appointed annually by the DFF to a director for their work within Indian cinema. It is presented by the president of India at a ceremony held in New Delhi. The winner is given a "Swarna Kamal" (Golden Lotus) certificate and a cash prize of ₹2.5 lakh (US$3,500). Including ties and repeat winners, the DFF has presented a total of 52 Best Direction awards to 33 different directors. Although Indian cinema produces films in more than twenty languages, the performances of films that have won awards are of nine languages. The first recipient was Satyajit Ray (pictured), who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards for directing the Bengali film Chiriyakhana (1967). Ray is the also most frequent recipient, with six wins. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Portrait of a Man is an oil-on-poplar painting from about 1475 by the Italian Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina. The work portrays an unknown man, whose garments belonged to the upper middle class of the time. He wears a leather blouse, under which a white shirt is visible, and a red cloth cap. The portrait is in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Painting credit: Antonello da Messina

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