Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 November 24

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Victoria Beckham

"A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American television comedy-drama Ugly Betty and the series's 30th episode overall. It was written by Silvio Horta and Marco Pennette, and directed by James Hayman. The episode was originally broadcast on ABC in the United States on November 8, 2007. Ugly Betty centers on Betty Suarez's job at the fashion magazine MODE, and in this episode MODE's creative director Wilhelmina Slater attempts to marry the magazine's publisher Bradford Meade. Victoria Beckham (pictured) guest-stars as herself in the episode, appearing as Wilhelmina's maid of honor who steals attention from the wedding. Vanessa Williams's ex-husband Rick Fox appears as Wilhelmina's bodyguard and lover. Vera Wang makes a cameo appearance, and designed Wilhelmina's wedding dress and Beckham's bridesmaid dress. The episode received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and an NAACP Image Award. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

1950 cover of Women's Barracks

... that Women's Barracks (cover pictured), regarded as a classic of lesbian pulp fiction, was banned in Canada and became the first paperback-original bestseller in the United States?
... that two Royal Navy ships named HMS Surly were launched within a year of each other: an 1855 mortar vessel and an 1856 gunboat?
... that American diplomat John B. Stetson Jr. gave a book bound in human skin to Harvard's Houghton Library?
... that in Ainu mythology, it is believed that a gigantic octopus god lives in Uchiura Bay?
... that although Saluche was blacklisted by the Unity Labour Party for his political jokes, the ULP prime minister attended his funeral?
... that the costumes of the ballet In Creases are modified from old leotards from another ballet and unused unitards?
... that Maddalena Mariani Masi performed the title role of Ponchielli's La Gioconda in the 1876 world premiere at La Scala?
... that the Book of Ezekiel prophesied Nebuchadnezzar II's Siege of Tyre, which lasted 13 years?

In the news

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

Arecibo Observatory

Douglas Stuart's debut novel Shuggie Bain wins the Booker Prize.
The National Science Foundation announces the decommissioning of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope (pictured) in Puerto Rico.
The Brereton Report is released, documenting evidence of 39 unlawful killings, primarily of civilians and prisoners, by Australian Defence Force personnel during the war in Afghanistan.

On this day

November 24

Ruby about to shoot Oswald

1542 – Anglo-Scottish Wars: England captured about 1,200 Scottish prisoners with a victory at the Battle of Solway Moss.
1750 – Tarabai, the former regent of the Maratha Empire, had Rajaram II, whom she had previously claimed to be her grandson, arrested as an impostor.
1963 – During a live television broadcast, businessman Jack Ruby shot and fatally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald (shooting pictured), who assassinated U.S. president John F. Kennedy, fueling numerous conspiracy theories.
2015 – A Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M after the latter had allegedly strayed into Turkish airspace and ignored warnings to change course.

Bagrat IV of Georgia (d. 1072)
Laurence Sterne (b. 1713)
Beth Phoenix (b. 1980)

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Today's featured picture

The bird-cherry ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella) is a species of moth in the family Yponomeutidae, native to Europe and parts of Asia. The caterpillars are gregarious and feed on the leaves of the bird cherry tree, forming silken webbing for their own protection. They create further webbing on the trunk and near the base of the tree, which hides them as they pupate. This photograph shows one of many bird-cherry ermine caterpillar nests on a tree in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia. In some years, they are so numerous that they can completely strip a tree of its foliage.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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