Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 10, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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assiduity
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| Article of the Day | |
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 William II of EnglandWilliam Rufus was a Norman king of England who disliked the English and their culture and was, in turn, despised by his subjects and in conflict with the church. He inherited the throne in 1087 from his father, who had conquered England, and he ruled until 1100, subjugating Scotland and Wales. He never married or produced offspring, and his younger brother succeeded him after he was killed by a misfired arrow. Why do some question whether his death was really an accident? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Opens on Broadway (1949)Considered Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman won a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award for Best Play, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Best Play award in its first year. An unconventional tragedy, it tells the story of the last day of the life of Willy Loman, a failed salesman betrayed by his own hollow values. The play follows Loman's stream of consciousness. As he talks to people from his past, those from his present wonder if he is unraveling. What is the play's final line? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Leontyne Price (1927)When she was a young girl in Mississippi, Price was given a toy piano by her parents. Her passion for music was further inflamed by a Marian Anderson performance she saw as a child. She later enrolled in Juilliard and, with her remarkable vocal range and power, went on to become one of the Metropolitan Opera's most popular stars and the first internationally recognized African-American opera singer. What unusual fee did the soprano reportedly request for a 1981 appearance with Luciano Pavarotti? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Did it ever strike you, on such a morning as this, that drowning would be happiness and peace?Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (2021)This feast is a commemoration in Malta of the shipwreck of St. Paul on the island in 60 CE, an event told about in the New Testament. When storms drove the ship aground, Paul was welcomed by the "barbarous people" (meaning they were not Greco-Romans). According to legend, he got their attention when a snake bit him on the hand but did him no harm, and he then healed people of diseases. Paul is the patron saint of Malta and snakebite victims. The day is a public holiday, and is observed with family gatherings and religious ceremonies and processions. More... | |