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From today's featured article

Don Bradman, the Australian captain

The Second Test of the 1948 Ashes series was one of five Tests in The Ashes cricket series between Australia and England. The match was played at Lord's in London between 24 and 29 June 1948. Australia won the match by 409 runs to take a 2–0 lead, meaning that England would need to win the remaining three matches to regain The Ashes. The Australian captain Don Bradman (pictured) won the toss and elected to bat. Australia scored 350 in their first innings. England finished their first innings at 215 early on the third morning; the Australian paceman Ray Lindwall took 5/70. Australia reached 460/7 in their second innings before Bradman declared, setting England a target of 596. The hosts reached 106/3 at stumps on the fourth day, but then collapsed on the final morning to be all out for 186, handing Australia a 409-run victory. The leading English batsman Len Hutton was controversially dropped for the following match. The match set a new record for the highest attendance at a Test in England. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Ophicleide

... that the ophicleide (example pictured) was used in early British brass bands in the 19th century before being replaced by the euphonium?
... that, at the 1964 Summer Olympics, high jumper Henri Elendé placed first in the qualifiers and placed last in the final?
... that the audience at the premiere of the film Viet Flakes unknowingly controlled the projection equipment through their physical responses to images of the Vietnam War?
... that to get to her training in Germany, luger Verona Marjanović had to run through an airport while bullets were being fired?
... that Robert Baker Park in Baltimore was named after Robert Lewis Baker, whose personal garden was recreated at the city's Flower and Garden Show the year after his death?
... that Kathleen O'Melia's conversion to the Catholic Church so embarrassed the Anglican Church in Vancouver that there are almost no references to it in primary sources?
... that a 1995 demonstration of the 1969-era AL1 microprocessor using Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges successfully challenged Texas Instruments' patents on the microprocessor?
... that it took a two-year "campaign" from future NFL player Fred Shirey, his friends and coaches for Shirey's father to allow him to try out for his high school team?
... that the reconstructed ancestral language of the Siouan languages had two sounds that linguists call "funny w" and "funny r"?

In the news

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne (pictured), the lead singer of Black Sabbath, dies at the age of 76.
A fighter jet crashes into a college in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than 30 people.
In golf, Scottie Scheffler wins the Open Championship.
A tourist boat capsizes during a thunderstorm in Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam, leaving at least 36 people dead.

On this day

July 24: Pioneer Day in Utah, United States (1847)

Depiction of the Albanian revolt of 1910

1411 – Scottish clansmen led by Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, and Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, fought the Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie, Scotland.
1910 – Ottoman forces captured the city of Shkodër, ending the Albanian revolt of 1910 (depicted).
1920 – Franco-Syrian War: At the Battle of Maysalun forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria were defeated by a French army moving to occupy the territory allocated to them by the San Remo conference.
1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne was signed to settle part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire, establishing the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
2019 – Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the Conservative Party leadership election.

Martin Van Buren (d. 1862)
Zelda Fitzgerald (b. 1900)
Nayib Bukele (b. 1981)
Hamzah Haz (d. 2024)

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Today's featured picture

The emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) is a species in the marine angelfish family Pomacanthidae. It is a reef-associated fish, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea to Hawaii and the Austral Islands. Adults are found in areas where there is a rich growth of corals on clear lagoon, channel, or seaward reefs, at depths between 1 and 100 metres (3 and 330 feet). The emperor angelfish shows a marked difference between the juveniles and the adults. The juveniles have a dark blue body, which is marked with concentric curving lines, alternating between pale blue and white, while adults are striped with blue and yellow horizontal stripes, a light blue face with a dark blue mask over the eyes and a yellow caudal fin. It can attain a maximum total length of around 40 centimetres (16 inches). This adult emperor angelfish was photographed in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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