WIKIPEDIA:MAIN PAGE HISTORY 2012 JULY 21

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Today's featured article
Eduard Streltsov (1937–1990) was a Soviet football forward who represented Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team. He was widely regarded as one of the Soviet Union's finest players, earning the nickname "the Russian Pelé". Streltsov joined Torpedo in 1953, aged 16, and made his international debut two years later; he then played a key role in winning the gold medal for the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Ranked among the top seven footballers in Europe during 1957, he was accused of rape the following year. Evidence against Streltsov was inconclusive, but government agents told him that he would be retained in the USSR's 1958 World Cup team if he confessed. When he did so, he was instead convicted and sentenced to twelve years in the Gulag. He was released after five, and received a hero's welcome from fans when he resumed his football career with Torpedo Moscow in 1965. In the first season of Streltsov's comeback, Torpedo won the Soviet Championship. He returned to the national team in 1966, and was twice named Soviet Footballer of the Year before he retired in 1970. Since Streltsov's death in 1990, Torpedo's home stadium has been renamed after him, and two statues depicting his likeness have been erected in Moscow. ( more...) Recently featured: Nature fakers controversy – Manchester Ship Canal – Ganoga Lake Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that St Cuthbert's Church (pictured) near Edenhall in Cumbria, England, has a nave and a chancel dated from the 12th century, a tower from the 15th, and a vestry and stained glass windows from the 19th? ... that despite sustaining over 100 holes in his aircraft during a dogfight at Makarovo in 1942, Soviet Air Forces pilot Konstantin Krasavin survived and went on to win the title of Hero of the Soviet Union? ... that Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk, the first Broadway musical with an all-black cast, was written in a single night? ... that the constellation of Microscopium can't be seen from locations affected by light pollution? ... that the 1929 film The Secret of Borobudur featured a woman in a bikini-like costume? ... that the 10th-century Hamdanid prince Sayf al-Dawla is said to have fought against the Byzantines in over 40 battles? ... that the 300-year-old Codex of Santa Catarina Ixtepeji was recently re-discovered and identified in a collection housed at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Rajesh Khanna A gunman kills 12 people and injures 58 others during a midnight film screening in the U.S. state of Colorado. Bollywood actor and film producer Rajesh Khanna (pictured) dies at the age of 69. Syrian defense minister Dawoud Rajiha and deputy defense minister Assef Shawkat are killed in a bomb attack on the Military Intelligence Directorate headquarters in Damascus. At least seven people are killed in an attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria. The National Forces Alliance, led by Mahmoud Jibril, gains a plurality in the Libyan General National Congress election, the first election since the deposition of Muammar Gaddafi. English keyboardist Jon Lord dies at the age of 71. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
July 21: National Day in Belgium ( 1831) 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis (model pictured) in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was destroyed in an act of arson by a man named Herostratus. 1774 – The Russo-Turkish War officially ended after the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, with the latter ceding parts of the Yedisan region to the former. 1861 – In the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle in the American Civil War, the Confederate Army under Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard routed Union Army troops under Irvin McDowell. 1925 – American high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee's Butler Act by teaching evolution in class. 2007 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, was released to record sales of 15 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling book in history. More anniversaries: July 20 – July 21 – July 22 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now July 21, 2012 ( UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Johnny Evers (1883–1947) was an American baseball player and manager. He spent the majority of his playing career with the Chicago Cubs (as pictured here), winning the 1907 and 1908 World Series with them. He was traded to the Boston Braves in 1914 and helped them to win the 1914 World Series. Evers' name was immortalized in the poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon as the middle component of the " Tinker to Evers to Chance" double play combination. After retiring as a player in 1917 he managed the Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, and the minor league Albany Senators. In 1946 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Photo: Bain News Service; Restoration: Staxringold

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