Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 24

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From today's featured article

William Wurtenburg (1863–1957) was an American college football player and coach. Born to German parents and raised in western New York, Wurtenburg played for Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University. The 1887 Yale squad outscored their opponents 515–12, and the 1888 squad, which he quarterbacked, held all opponents scoreless; both teams were later recognized as national champions. Wurtenburg received his medical degree from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1893. He coached football for a year at the United States Naval Academy and then for five years at Dartmouth College. In his first four years at Dartmouth, the teams had perfect records against both of their Triangular Football League opponents. Wurtenburg spent several years refereeing for Yale's football team, then had a practice as an ear, nose and throat specialist in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1904 until at least 1920. He is particularly remembered for a 35-yard run in a close game in 1887 against rival Harvard, a game that was described as "undoubtedly the finest ever played in America". (Full article...)

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Frans Francken: De Visitatie

... that Johannes Eccard composed Übers Gebirg Maria geht (Over the mountains Mary goes)—a retelling of Mary 's Visitation (pictured) to Elisabeth—as a motet for five voices?
... that new Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell was hired on his 36th birthday?
... that the Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran comprises three Armenian monasteries established between the 7th and 14th centuries C.E.?
... that despite his role in saving its property from seizure by the Kingdom of Italy, Augustine Schulte was denied rectorship of the American College in Rome?
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... that puppeteer Bernard H. Paul performed the first children's television program?
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In the news

Falcon 9 rocket's first stage on the landing pad

After launching a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX successfully lands the vehicle's first stage (pictured) in Cape Canaveral.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the suspended presidents of FIFA and UEFA respectively, are banned from association football for eight years amid a corruption case.
More than 70 people are missing after a landslide in Shenzhen, China.
In the Spanish general election, the ruling People's Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, loses one third of its seats, but remains the largest single party.
Deep coal mining ceases in the United Kingdom with the closure of Kellingley Colliery.

Ongoing events:
- Syrian Civil War
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Jimmy Hill
- Kurt Masur

On this day...

December 24: Christmas Eve (Gregorian calendar)

Christmas truce

1294 – Boniface VIII began his papacy, replacing St. Celestine V, who had declared that it was permissible for a Pope to resign, and then promptly did so.
1865 – Six Confederate veterans of the American Civil War founded the Ku Klux Klan, which would later become a white supremacist group.
1914 – British and German soldiers interrupted the First World War to celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce.
1955 – The NORAD Tracks Santa program began when children began calling the Continental Air Defense Command Center to inquire about Santa Claus' whereabouts due to a misprinted phone number.
2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began attacks on several villages in Haut-Uele District, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 400 deaths and numerous atrocities.

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Today's featured picture

Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877) is the best-known painting by the French artist Gustave Caillebotte. This large oil painting shows a number of figures walking through the Carrefour de Moscou, a road intersection to the east of the Gare Saint-Lazare in north Paris. It was first shown at the Third Impressionist Exhibition of 1877, and is currently owned by the Art Institute of Chicago.

Painting: Gustave Caillebotte

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