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From today's featured article

Tony Pulis, Gillingham's manager in 1998–99

During the 1998–99 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the 67th season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 49th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. The club signed two new forwards, each for a new club record transfer fee, but started the season in poor form, winning only one of the first eight league games. The team then went on a much-improved run, being undefeated for 17 league games, and began challenging for promotion to the Football League First Division. Gillingham finished the regular season in fourth place in the Second Division, qualifying for the play-offs for promotion to the First Division. After defeating Preston North End in the semi-finals, they played Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in the final, where Manchester City won the concluding penalty shoot-out to gain promotion. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

William H. Rieger

... that William H. Rieger (pictured), a prominent American singer in the late 19th century, turned down an offered opera career in favor of remaining a concert tenor?
... that a Harry Styles song was originally written as a Christmas song, but the concept was abandoned after the first two lines?
... that a plane flown by Ruth Reinhold was called "pilotless" because her height made it difficult for tower operators to see her in the cockpit?
... that Cratoraricrus is a rare example of a fossilized centipede?
... that Debbie Windett, who went on to be one of the top-20 winningest coaches in U.S. high-school field hockey, was initially booed when she was hired?
... that health workers supporting Mzimba District Hospital received bicycles to save walking up to 20 kilometres (12 mi) to visit patients?
... that Shigeru Morita started oil painting at age 13?
... that Terminator the Second retells the story of Terminator 2: Judgment Day using only lines from the works of William Shakespeare?
... that the Panama women's national flag football team won a gold medal after outscoring its opponents 349–7?

In the news

Sabastian Sawe

In the London Marathon, Sabastian Sawe (pictured) and Tigst Assefa win the men's and women's races, both setting world record times.
In Mali, the Azawad Liberation Front and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin launch a joint offensive against the government.
The Progressive Bulgaria coalition, led by former president Rumen Radev, wins a majority of the National Assembly in the parliamentary election, in a bid to end the ongoing Bulgarian political crisis.
In Ukraine, seven people are killed and fourteen others are injured in a mass shooting at a Kyiv supermarket.

On this day

April 29

Centaurus A

1386 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania decisively won the Battle of the Vikhra River, forcibly making the Principality of Smolensk a vassal state.
1826 – In Parramatta, Australia, Scottish astronomer James Dunlop discovered Centaurus A (pictured), which was later recognised as one of the nearest radio galaxies to Earth.
1922 - Sixteen-year-old Lilian Salkeld became the first woman to walk from London to Brighton.
1991 – A powerful tropical cyclone struck Chittagong, Bangladesh, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving up to 10 million homeless across the region.
2011 – Watched by a worldwide television audience of tens of millions, Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey in London.

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (b. 1665)
Georgia Hopley (b. 1858)
Elisabeth Mills Reid (d. 1931)
JJ (b. 2001)

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From today's featured list

Paul Greengrass

United 93, a 2006 British docudrama and action film, won 27 awards from 49 nominations in various categories, with recognition for its direction, screenplay, cinematography, and film editing. The film was written and directed by Paul Greengrass (pictured), who co-produced it with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Lloyd Levin. The film largely chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four hijacked flights during the September 11 attacks; Flight 93 was the only plane to not hit its intended target, due to the intervention of its passengers and crew. The film garnered two nominations at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Film Editing. At the 60th British Academy Film Awards, it received six nominations and won two awards for Best Direction and Outstanding British Film. Several critics groups including the London Film Critics' Circle, National Society of Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Circle awarded it Best Film. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Adularescence is an optical phenomenon that is produced in gemstones like moonstone. It is best described as a milky, bluish luster or glow originating from below the surface of the gemstone. The luster, appearing to move as the gemstone is turned or as the light source is moved, gives the impression of moonlight floating on water. It is most typically produced in adularia, an orthoclase. This photograph shows adularescence in a moonstone cabochon from Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Photograph credit: Didier Descouens

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