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This is a selection of recently created new articles and greatly expanded former stub articles on Wikipedia that were featured on the Main Page as part of Did you know? You can submit new pages for consideration. (Archives are in sets of 50–100 items each.)

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[edit] Did you know...

... the Harihareshwara temple in Karnataka, India, was consecrated in 1224 CE, in dedication to Harihara (pictured), a fusion of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu?
... that the St. Philip's Church Ruins include the graves of two North Carolina governors and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court?
... that Pythagoras, a sculptor from Samos in the 5th century BCE, was credited with the innovation of sculpting athletes with visible veins?
... that serial killer Nathaniel White claimed his first murder was inspired by a scene in Robocop 2?
... that Ichitaro Kanie grew Japan's first tomatoes in 1899, founding the ¥157 billion Kagome tomato empire?
... that the Confederate-Union Veterans' Monument in Morgantown, Kentucky was built due to the feelings of reconciliation following the Spanish-American War?
... that the term choral symphony was coined by French composer Hector Berlioz (pictured) when describing his symphony, Roméo et Juliette?
... that the Gottlieb Storz House in Omaha, Nebraska is home to the Astaire Ballroom, which is the only memorial to Adele and Fred Astaire in their home city?
... that the 1999 Chamoli earthquake in India, in which 103 people died, was also felt in the Baitadi, Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur districts in Nepal?
... that former Detroit Red Wings head coach Jacques Demers is the only coach in the National Hockey League to have won the Jack Adams Award twice with the same team?
... that Hoi Khanh Temple in Thu Dau Mot was once used as a meeting place by Vietnamese independence activists, including Ho Chi Minh's father?
... that A Bayou Legend by William Grant Still was the first opera composed by an African American to be broadcast on television?
... that Union general Stephen G. Burbridge spent many years trying to remove the letters CSA from the Thompson and Powell Martyrs Monument (pictured)?
... that Israeli actress Hanna Maron lost her leg after a grenade was thrown at her airplane, but resumed her acting career a year later?
... that Jordan's Municipality of Salt derives its name from the Latin saltus meaning valley of trees as there is much greenery in the area?
... that Harold Clapp's "fiendish efficiency" in improving Victorian Railways' train reliability was credited with losing Melbourne commuters "another excuse for being late for work in the mornings"?
... that the Japanese visual novel Yotsunoha allows the player to navigate in a top-down perspective similar to a console role-playing game?
... that before Homer Plessy challenged the Separate Car Act leading to Plessy v. Ferguson, Daniel Desdunes had challenged it but had his charges dropped?
... that the first generation jet fighters include designs from WWII-era ME-262 (pictured) to Korean War-era F-86?
... that the Orton Plantation near Wilmington, North Carolina, was attacked by Native Americans, used as a military hospital, and once owned by a Colonial governor?
... that Brazilian actress Carmen Silva was diagnosed with the same illness, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, as actor Oswaldo Louzada, who played her husband on the Brazilian telenovela, Mulheres Apaixonadas?
... that scholars disagree on whether the name of the Viking chieftain Jakun means either "blind" or "the handsome one"?
... that Safi Faye's 1975 film Kaddu Beykat was the first commercially distributed feature film made by a Sub-Saharan African woman?
... that one of the major differences between Mechlin (pictured) and Valenciennes lace is the cordonnet, a loosely spun silk cord used to outline and define the pattern?
... that although she was born in Argentina, Renata Fronzi pursued a successful acting career in theater, film and telenovelas in the neighboring country of Brazil?
... that while the New York Vauxhall Gardens drew in colonial New Yorkers with a wax museum and outdoor theater, a copycat competitor attracted them with ice cream?
... that khutba is the sermon delivered before the Muslim weekly congregational prayers on Friday, and after the annual congregational prayers on each of the two Muslim festivals?
... that the second major land reform in Romania took place in 1921, following a promise made by King Ferdinand to the troops during World War I?
... that Major League Baseball pitcher Dom Zanni was once knocked unconscious in the seventh inning, yet went on to finish pitching the game and earn the win for the Chicago White Sox?
... that the Uppland runestone U 328 is an example of the Ringerike style?
... that the Tamil film Nam Iruvar featured songs written by Indian nationalist Subramania Bharati?
... that San Diego's El Cortez Hotel, site of the world's first outdoor glass elevator and moving sidewalk, became a school for evangelists in the 1970s?
... that in his first murder case, real estate and divorce specialist Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence saved suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams from being hanged?
... that railway transport in Nagpur started in 1867 when the Nagpur railway station was constructed using locally found pink sandstone?
... that in her 1992 documentary film Nitrate Kisses Barbara Hammer filmed an elderly lesbian couple making love as part of an exploration of the repression and marginalization of LGBT history?
... that the track "Hell's Angels" from Roy Harper's 1970 album Flat Baroque and Berserk features an acoustic guitar played through a wah-wah pedal?
... that the $2 million Baltimore City Hall (pictured) was designed in 1860 by architect George A. Frederick?
... that the theory of camouflage led the Special Air Service to use pink as the primary color on the desert camouflaged Land Rover Series IIA patrol vehicles, leading to the nickname The Pink Panthers?
... that the assembly location Arkils tingstad may have been made to Christianize the Vikings who lived in its vicinity?
... that the first roadside park in the world was in 1919 at Iron River, Michigan?
... that the Polish minority in Ireland is the country's largest minority group apart from British people?
... that the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece was among the leading painters in Cologne at the beginning of the sixteenth century?
... that astronauts have a patch of velcro inside their helmets that acts as a nose scratcher and that the manufacturing process used to create silent velcro for the U.S. Army is a military secret?
... that Bert Haney (pictured) lost an election to the U.S. Senate, but was later confirmed by the Senate for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit?
... that a timber in Nutley Windmill, an open trestle post mill in Sussex, England, has been dated by dendrochronology to 1738–70, and the main post is even older, dating to 1533–70?
... that former University of Texas at Austin President William S. Livingston also chaired the committee that established the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs?
... that The Janus Man, a thriller concerning espionage and betrayal, is the fourth book in the "Tweed and Co." series, for which Colin Forbes published a book every single year from 1982 to his death in 2006?
... that the 40th Grey Cup in 1952 was the first time this Canadian football championship was broadcast on television?
... that Gilberto Gil describes his 2006 album Gil Luminoso as being religiously themed, although he is an agnostic?
... that the day after the death of six IDF soldiers in the Battle of the Beaufort (pictured), Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was still under the impression that it was won without casualties?
... that the historic Golden Gate Theater was saved by a stop-work order after demolition crews had begun to dismantle the walls?
... that Sam Cowan is the only footballer to have represented Manchester City in three FA Cup finals?
... that after writing Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz was sued for calling Alberta Martin's husband a deserter in the book?
... that DePauw Avenue Historic District, New Albany, Indiana, was once the summer estate of the man who owned two thirds of the plate glass business of the United States?
... that a report criticizing senior Pakistani leaders—including General Abdul Hamid Khan—over their conduct during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, was long suppressed by the Pakistani government?
... that Harley Parker, in 1973, was selected to be the first William A. Kern Institute Professor of Communications at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York?
... that Amman's Mango House (pictured) was built in separate halves for the two brothers who lived there?
... that the cargo ship MV Virginian, now under contract to Military Sealift Command, was accidentally hit by an Exocet missile while unloading cargo in Iraq in 1986?
... that the Madhu school bus bombing was one of a number of attacks on civilian buses in Sri Lanka in early 2008?
... that prior to his election to the Oregon State Senate, Rick Metsger was best-known as a sportscaster for a Portland, Oregon television station?
... that the idiopathic inflammatory lung disease diffuse panbronchiolitis has the highest incidence among Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai cases, indicating a genetic predisposition among East Asians?
... that Dr Arthur Henry Douthwaite's testimony in court against suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams is said to have cost him the presidency of the Royal College of Physicians?
... that Daddy Cool’s 1971 single "Eagle Rock" remained at #1 on the Australian National charts for a record ten weeks before being replaced by the single "Daddy Cool" by another band cashing in their success?
... that 37 people were killed during construction of the Big Four Bridge (pictured) connecting Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana across the Ohio River?
... that Italy's newly appointed Minister for Equal Opportunity, Mara Carfagna, used to be a showgirl and a glamour model?
... that the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates, the worst Pirates team of the 20th century, were so bad that their catcher Joe Garagiola later said "In an eight-team league, we should've finished ninth"?
... that the highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland, where the climate is temperate oceanic, was 33.3ºC (91.9ºF) at Kilkenny Castle on 26 June 1887?
... that the Kaleva Bottle House was built using over 60,000 bottles?
... that S.A. Swaminatha Iyer protested the British salt tax in India at the first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885?
... that after months of work, future Canadian impresario Samuel Gesser made only $200 from his first production, a 1953 Pete Seeger concert?
... that Hurricane Alma (pictured) was the first of three consecutive tropical cyclones to strike the Pacific coast of Mexico during a ten day span?
... that Methodist minister Ephraim Kingsbury Avery is amongst the first clergymen known to have been tried for murder in the United States?
... that England's Auditor of the Imprests, an office responsible for auditing the accounts of public officials such as the Paymaster of the Forces, became a lucrative sinecure before being abolished in 1782?
... that after being found not guilty of murdering her ex-husband, Mary Leonard became the first woman in Oregon allowed to practice law?
... that Safi Faye is a Senegalese film director whose work is better known in Europe than in her native Africa?
... that Ulysses S. Grant sent his family to live in the Licking Riverside neighborhood of Covington, Kentucky in 1862?
... that Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company is the world's largest limestone quarry?
... that The Reverend John H. Taylor served as post-Chief of Staff for former United States President Richard Nixon from 1979 to 1994?
... that Friedrich Guggenberger's U-81 sank the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (pictured) with a single torpedo?
... that association footballers Jimmy Willis and Steve Finnan are the only players to have scored in the top five divisions of English league football?
... that in addition to providing cargo service to Ascension Island, the freighter MV Ascension also helped researchers study its green sea turtle population?
... that in 1838, Philip Kelland became the first English-born and wholly English-educated mathematician to hold the chair of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh?
... that American manufacturing executive Chris J. Lee left the business of making air springs, elastomers, rate controls, rope isolators and solenoid valves to run for Congress?
... that Lakshmisha's 16th century Kannada writing, the Jaimini Bharata, focuses on the horse sacrifice chapter of the Hindu epic Mahabharata?
... that the ghost town of Buffalo City, North Carolina (pictured) was once the largest community in Dare County?
... that the largest post mill in Sussex received the largest Heritage Lottery Fund grant for an individual windmill in the United Kingdom?
... that J. Evetts Haley, the historian of the American West who ran in 1956 for governor of Texas, told Duval County political boss George Parr that "it will be my pleasure to lock you up"?
... that in a VFL game against North Melbourne, Fitzroy player, Frank Curcio, famously stated, hit me as hard as you like, but don’t hurt my fingers?
... that Gibraltarian degree level students studying in a UK university receive a full scholarship from the Government of Gibraltar?
... that Omaha pioneer Andrew J. Hanscom started a large scale fight in the Nebraska Territory House of Representatives over the location of the territorial capital?
... that New Mill, Cross in Hand (pictured), was the last windmill to operate commercially by wind in Sussex?
... that Van Hanh Zen Temple is the base of a team of Buddhist scholars who are producing a Vietnamese translation of the Pali Canon?
... that the effects of tides can affect ice sheet dynamics up to 100 km (150 miles) inland?
... that the author of Captain Lindley Miller's 1864 "Marching Song of the First Arkansas" has only recently been determined?
... that dissidents within the Polish community in Omaha burnt down a church in the Sheelytown neighborhood in 1895 rather than relinquish control to the local Roman Catholic bishop?
... that Heinrich Barbl, an SS-Rottenführer, helped install piping for the gas chambers at Sobibór extermination camp?
... that in 1892, George Brann became only the third cricketer to score two centuries in a match, after W. G. Grace and William Lambert?
... that Sac Tu Tam Bao Temple was used by Vietnamese revolutionaries as a munitions factory by in the 1916 Cochinchina uprising?
... that a swift (pictured) is a tool with an adjustable diameter used to hold a skein of yarn while it is being wound off?
... that the Tinh Xa Trung Tam Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City is regarded as the spiritual birthplace of the khất sĩ tradition?
... that Elvia Carrillo Puerto founded the first feminist leagues to provide family planning programs with legalized birth control in the Western Hemisphere?
... that Hall of Fame goaltender Glenn Hall ended his record-setting 502 consecutive games streak in the National Hockey League as a Chicago Blackhawk during the 1962–63 season?
... that British actress Jacqueline Voltaire won a "most bizarre sex scene" award in 2005 for her performance in the Mexican film Matando Cabos?
... that the Kh'Leang Temple in Soc Trang is a Khmer Theravada building from 1533—predating Vietnamese settlement—which incorporates Greek architecture?
... that screenwriter Allan Loeb's agent dropped him the day he began writing the script that saved his career?
...that the footprints of the Buddha (pictured) often bear distinguishing marks, such as a Dharmachakra or the 32, 108 or 132 auspicious signs of the Buddha?
...that fire is one of the most important forming processes of the geography and ecology of the Everglades?
...that the barrack at Aghavannagh, which was primarily built so that British forces could more easily track rebels of the 1798 rebellion, became a youth hostel during the 1900s?
...that sportswriter and Green Bay Packers employee Lee Remmel was one of twelve people to cover the first forty Super Bowls?
...that to preserve national unity, Polish king Stefan Batory restored the city of Danzig's economic and religious privileges after an uprising?
...that the Silver Snoopy award is presented to recipients personally by astronauts?
...that Israeli writer Eli Amir called for more Israeli literature to be translated into Arabic to promote understanding?
...that Bobby Hull became the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season during the 1961–62 Chicago Black Hawks season?
...that the main hall of Tay An Temple contains around 200 Buddhist statues?
... that at age 14 Amy Evans (pictured), a Welsh singer and actress, won the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Cardiff?
... that as a college athlete, Detroit Tigers outfielder Matt Joyce (pictured) played in an exhibition game against the Tigers three years before his Major League debut with them?
... that Belgian filmmaker Armand Denis, who became famous for his wildlife documentaries with his wife Michaela in the 1950s, began his career working as a scientist and inventor?
... that the rural settlement of Mount Mee, Queensland, gets its name from the local Indigenous Australian word mia-mia, meaning "lookout"?
... that a young black aspiring actor by the name of James Earl Jones had his beginnings at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan?
... that Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism was a concept adapted by the same people who earlier thought that this concept was suicidal?
... that Kitch-iti-kipi is Michigan's largest freshwater spring and a major tourist attraction?
... that pulmonary laceration was thought to be uncommon before CT scanning (example pictured) became widely available, because the injury is difficult to detect with X-rays alone?
... that sanfedisti irregulars, led by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, toppled the Parthenopaean Republic in 1799, restoring the monarchy of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies?
... that Barzillai Quaife has been described both as "New Zealand's first public anti-racist" and "Australia's first philosopher"?
... that the Pond Eddy Bridge, built in 1904, is the only artery to access 22 homes in Pennsylvania?
... that because it reflects Hungarian phonology, the original middle name of singer and comedian Ioan Gyuri Pascu was misspelled on his Romanian-issued birth certificate?
... that Devil's Den gully, located within the Heber Down Conservation Area, was so named because the local inhabitants believed that the Devil was holding court there?
... that Chris Garneau's debut album Music For Tourists has a hidden track that is a cover of an Elliott Smith song?
... that the Medusa Rondanini (pictured) in a prominent Roman collection was ignored until it was praised by Goethe in 1786?
... that the Reverend Henry Tibbs was accused of calling Winston Churchill a drug addict in 1940?
... that Birely, Hillman & Streaker was the only Philadelphian manufacturer of wooden ships to survive the post-Civil War slump?
... that Odd With, member of the Norwegian Parliament for the Christian Democratic Party, was the grandfather of 2006 Pop Idol victor Aleksander Denstad With?
... that the US Navy's Casco-class monitors, long delayed due to the exacting standards of Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, proved barely able to float on debut and were quickly withdrawn from service?
... that the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, Netherlands annually attracts around 10 million visitors?
... that the Nebraska Republican Party nabbed Democratic candidate Max Yashirin's namesake domain name and posted unflattering photos of him there after he stood for Nebraska's 1st congressional district?
... that the Buis (pictured) was first adapted for use as a fishing vessel in the Netherlands, after the invention of gibbing made it possible to preserve herring at sea?
... that Milorg resistance member Osmund Faremo later served as member of the national parliament and local mayor for the Norwegian Labour Party?
... that the last old-Kannada grammar, authored by Bhattakalanka Deva in circa 1604 CE, followed the model of Sanskrit grammar?
... that US abolitionist Robert Purvis had two grandparents who were English, a grandmother kidnapped at twelve from Morocco and enslaved in Charleston, and a grandfather who was German Jewish?
... that in Holy Trinity Church, Warrington, is a brass chandelier which formerly hung in St Stephen's Chapel in the British House of Commons?
... that publisher Gopal Raju, considered a pioneer of ethnic media in the United States, founded India Abroad, which claims to be the oldest Indian American newspaper in North America?
... that the Klaipėda Geothermal Demonstration Plant in Klaipėda, Lithuania, constructed during the late 1990s and early 2000s, is the first geothermal heating plant in the Baltic Sea region?
.... that Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein (pictured) shot many miles of film in Mexico with the backing of American author Upton Sinclair to make ¡Qué viva México!?
... that the military prowess of the Tulunid dynasty of Arab Egypt was due to its multi-ethnic army composed of Turkish, Sudanese, and Greek soldiers?
... that a nuclear bomb test that significantly fails to produce its estimated yield is called a fizzle?
... that the Yan emperor Shi Chaoyi committed suicide to avoid capture, and that after his death, his head was delivered to the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an?
... that males of the White-winged Fairy-wren carry petals of contrasting colours to attract females other than their spouses for extra-marital mating?
... that Theodore O'Hara's Bivouac of the Dead, popularized in American Civil War memorials, was actually written for fallen Kentucky soldiers in Latin America a decade before the War?
... that Harold Dow Bugbee of Texas sought to become the premier artist of the South Plains, as Charles M. Russell became for the northern Great Plains?
... that William Miles Maskell was a New Zealandic farmer and entomologist who advocated biological pest control and staunchly opposed Darwinism?
... that after surviving a dynamite attack in 1896, fraternity parties in the 1940s, and an earthquake in 1994, Stimson House (pictured) is now a convent for Catholic nuns?
... that Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar was the first Mayor of Chennai Corporation, after the mayoralty was reinstated in 1933?
... that U.S. shipping company Sealift Incorporated has been awarded over US$400,000,000 in government contracts since the start of the 2000 fiscal year?
... that Bahá'í Faith in Niger began during a period of wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa near the end of its colonial period?
... that Albert Kidd scored two goals in the last 10 minutes of the 1985-86 Scottish football season to deny Hearts the championship, despite having not scored in the whole season until then?
... that the Champion passenger train connected New York City and St. Petersburg, Florida for forty years before Amtrak consolidated it with its former rival the Silver Meteor?
... that Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (pictured) was the first African-American to sing at Carnegie Hall?
... that the Central Eurasian Studies Society is the first society for Central Asian scholars based in North America?
... that the book Fear by Jan T. Gross has been a subject of significant controversy in Poland?
... that De Doctrina Christiana, identified as John Milton's attempt to define his own particular Christian theology, was suppressed by the government of the day and not published until 150 years after his death?
... that Valda Cooper became the first female managing editor of any daily newspaper in New Mexico?
... that Louisville, Kentucky's first rock and roll venue, in Lake Dreamland, may have been burned down by an angry resident?
... that the portrait bust of the Beriah Magoffin Monument (pictured) in Harrodsburg, Kentucky was built in Neoclassical style, a style more commonly used a century before the monument was constructed?
... that in 1686 Michael Shen Fu-Tsung, a Jesuit convert from Nanking, arrived at the court of James II and became the first recorded Chinese person to visit Britain?
... that in the Jilava Massacre, perpetrated in Romania in 1940, 64 prisoners were shot to death, including a former prime minister, justice minister, and chief of secret police?
... that Indian film director Nitin Bose, who directed the blockbuster Ganga Jamuna in 1961, had introduced playback singing in Indian cinema in 1935?
... that during the Liberian Civil Wars over 5,000 artifacts were looted from the Liberian National Museum but a 250-year-old dining table given as a gift from Queen Victoria to Liberia's first President remains?
... that Raleigh Springs Mall in Memphis, Tennessee lost three of its four anchor stores (JCPenney, Dillard's and Goldsmith's) all in the same year?
... that Flaithbertach Ua Néill, king of Ailech in Ireland, was called Flaithbertach an Trostáin, Flaithbertach of the Pilgrim's staff, as a result of his pilgrimage to Rome in 1030?
... that William H. Mumler claimed to take a photograph (pictured) showing Mary Todd Lincoln with the spirit of her deceased husband, Abraham Lincoln?
... that besides training its own officers, the Pakistan Naval Academy has trained over 2000 officers of allied navies including the Chief of Naval Staff of the Qatar Emiri Navy?
... that the United States Forest Service and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife partnered with the Paisley, Oregon community to restore the Chewaucan River habitat for native redband trout?
... that French Jesuit missionary and mathematician Guy Tachard was involved in embassies to Siam, which came as responses to embassies sent by the Siamese King Narai to France in order to obtain an alliance against the Dutch?
... that the Schweizer SGP 1-1 glider was launched by an elastic bungee cord, originally pulled by children and later by a Ford Model A car?
... that Governor of Italian Libya Italo Balbo brought 20,000 Italians to Libya in 1938, founding 26 new villages for them, in an attempt to colonise it?
... that bouclé is a type of novelty yarn that uses special plying techniques to obtain its charateristic loopy appearence?
... that in 1687 Philippe Couplet published Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (pictured), the first known Western translation of a Chinese literary work?
... that tourism in Kenya is the country's second largest source of foreign revenue?
... that the Buckeye is the only U.S. breed of chicken known to have been created by a woman?
... that the TARDIS broke while filming the final scene of the Doctor Who episode "The Poison Sky"?
... that a story in Janna's 13th-century Kannada classic Yashodhara Charite deals with sadomasochism and transmigration of the soul?
... that the land acquisitions for the Southern Railway's Spencer Shops in 1896 were secretly done to prevent land speculation?
... that anthropologist Therkel Mathiassen described Comer's Midden as the only substantial find of pure Thule culture in Greenland?
... that the revitalized Historic District of Apex, North Carolina has been described as a "Gucci Mayberry"?
... that legendary princess Yennenga, the "mother" of the Mossi people, was such a great warrior that her father refused to allow her to marry?
... that publication of Malaysian newspaper Makkal Osai was suspended following its printing of a caricature of Jesus holding a cigarette and a can of beer?
... that Sark Windmill (pictured), built in 1571, is the second oldest surviving windmill in the British Isles?
... that Joseph M. Street a 19th century American pioneer, was present at the signing of the peace treaty ending the Winnebago War?
... that following the Darwin Rebellion of December 1918, HMAS Encounter was sent to Darwin to protect Administrator John Gilruth and his family?
... that troops of Tadayoshi Sano, a lieutenant general for the Imperial Japanese Army, were reported to have committed atrocities against civilians in Hong Kong and British prisoners of war?
... that, during a Fersommling, the only language spoken is Pennsylvania Dutch and that anyone who speaks English has to pay a fine for each word?

... that the French stormed the Bagration flèches eight times during the Battle of Borodino in 1812?
... that Canadian radio broadcaster Clyde Gilmour hosted a weekly national show for more than 40 years, presenting from his substantial personal music collection?
... that in 1789 Spain seized the British sloop Princess Royal, nearly causing a war, then used the vessel to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca, finding the San Juan Islands and the entrances to Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia?

... that the obscure mealybug, a pest of vineyards in New Zealand and California, is believed to have been introduced from Australia or South America?
... that the present-day city of Davenport, Iowa is named after George Davenport, a 19th century American frontiersman, trader and US Army officer?
... that the Tamil film Thyagabhoomi is the only Indian film banned by the British Raj for propagating the cause of India's freedom struggle?
... that Benjamin Motte published many famous works such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and the first English edition of Isaac Newton's Principia, an edition that became the standard translation for over 200 years?
... that Daniel Carter Beard's boyhood home was a nurses' dormitory when it became a National Historic Landmark?
... that it was rumored that some seals escaped Minneapolis's Longfellow Zoological Gardens into nearby Minnehaha Creek?
... that the forthcoming Tamil film, Guru En Aalu, starring Madhavan and Mamta Mohandas is a remake of the 1997 film, Yes Boss?
... that McCarty Church (pictured) in Los Angeles gained attention for its pastor's decision to racially integrate his white Protestant church in the mid-1950s?
... that Bradford City footballers Geoff Smith and George Mulholland each played more than 200 consecutive appearances for the club during the 1950s?
... that Salt Lake City-based robotics firm Sarcos is developing a military powered exoskeleton allowing wearers to easily lift 200 pounds (91 kg)?
... that in 1847 French Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille sent a captain to attack Vietnam to obtain the release of a bishop, not knowing the bishop had already been freed?
... that a riot reportedly instigated by writer André Breton broke out during the 1923 premiere of Tristan Tzara's Le Cœur à gaz, a play written as a nonsensical dialog between human body parts?
... that in 1994 Martin Doherty became the first person to be killed in the Republic of Ireland by loyalist paramilitaries since 1975?
... that inscriptions found on a stone pillar in the village of Talagunda in India describe the rise of the Kadamba dynasty?
... that in spite of its similar appearance to the European Robin, the colourful Rose Robin (pictured) of southeastern Australia is more closely related to the crow family?
... that Andayya's 13th century Kannada work Kabbigara Kava is considered important for its strict adherence to the indigenous Kannada language?
... that the sacrifice of Jean Cadieux on behalf of his companions during an Iroquois attack in 1707 is still commemorated by the inhabitants of Calumet Island?
... that Lena Guerrero (1957-2008), a Texas state legislator at twenty-five, was the first non-Anglo person to have served on the Texas Railroad Commission?
... that Robert the Devil, an operatic parody by W. S. Gilbert of Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable, ends with the devil being punished by becoming part of the exhibit at Madame Tussaud's?
... that VFL footballer Charlie Moore, the first Australian to die of gunshot wounds in the Boer War, played in the 1898 VFL Grand Final against Stan Reid, who died in the same war six weeks later?
... that the Stöðulög laws of 1871 declared Iceland an inseparable part of Denmark?
... that the 18th century American soldier Isaac Bowman, his father George Bowman, and his grandfather Jost Hite were all prominent pioneers in the Colony of Virginia?
... that the windmill at South Barrule, Isle of Man (pictured) worked an incline on a railway at a slate quarry?
... that Shabdamanidarpana, a comprehensive and authoritative work on the grammar of the Kannada language, was written in the 13th century by the Indian linguist and poet Kesiraja?
... that the 1927 disappearance of the French biplane The White Bird (L'Oiseau Blanc), in an attempt to make the first nonstop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, is one of the great unexplained mysteries of aviation?
... that English football full back Alfred Bower was the last amateur player to captain the English national team in 1927?
... that screenwriter Daniel Knauf's polio-afflicted father was the inspiration for his television series Carnivàle?
... that a majority of the 114 killed in the 1994 Gowari stampede at Nagpur were women and children crushed to death under the crowd’s feet?
... that according