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From today's featured article

Old Trafford, venue of the match

A Manchester United and Ipswich Town football match was played at Old Trafford (pictured), Manchester, in March 1995 as part of the 1994–95 FA Premier League. It finished in a 9–0 victory for the home team. The result is a joint record for the largest winning margin in the Premier League, later equalled by three other matches with the same scoreline in 2019, in 2021 and in 2022. Manchester United and Ipswich Town went into the match at opposite ends of the table; United were second, while Ipswich were second-last. In the corresponding fixture at Ipswich's Portman Road in September 1994, they beat United 3–2. United were missing Eric Cantona, who was on a nine-month suspension, and their attacking partnership of Andy Cole and Mark Hughes was not well regarded by pundits. Ipswich's victory at Portman Road proved to be the more significant result with regard to the final placings, as United missed out on the title by one point. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Triệu Quân Sự

... that Vietnamese prisoner Triệu Quân Sự (pictured) escaped from jail four times, and was twice caught while playing online games at internet cafés?
... that while a British school inspired by a circus tent was described as "eclectic and witty", its "plain functional" replacement won an RIBA Award?
... that the pianist Panka Pelishek was a Heroine of Socialist Labor?
... that China's imperial chancellor committed suicide after he was blamed for the devastation of the 29 BC Yellow River flood?
... that a hospitalized Ruth El Saffar had to dictate the introduction of her final book to Diana de Armas Wilson, with whom she had co-edited Quixotic Desire?
... that a public service announcement about drunk driving was voted the best television advertisement in New Zealand?
... that Denise Stoklos's "essential theatre" involves minimizing her acting methods while maximizing "the power of drama"?
... that Donald Trump applies his own makeup each day, according to his former press secretary?
... that where NFL player Spencer Reid is from, "There's no McDonald's. There's no nothing"?

In the news

Galerie d'Apollon

Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are stolen during a robbery from the Galerie d'Apollon (pictured) of the Louvre in Paris.
Michael Randrianirina becomes President of Madagascar after Andry Rajoelina flees the country following mass protests and a military coup.
Dallin H. Oaks becomes the 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt are awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on the impacts of technology on economic growth.

On this day

October 21

"Galop infernal" from Orpheus in the Underworld,
popularly used as can-can music

1345 – Hundred Years' War: The English victory at the Battle of Auberoche marked a change in the military balance of power in Aquitaine, with the subsequent collapse of the French position.
1858 – French composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, featuring the music most associated with the can-can (audio featured), was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris.
1910 – HMS Niobe arrived in Halifax Harbour to become the first large ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.
1959 – The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City.
1994 – North Korea and the United States signed the Agreed Framework to limit the former's nuclear weapons program and to normalize relations between the two countries.

Sims Reeves (b. 1821)
Dorothy Hale (d. 1938)
Yulimar Rojas (b. 1995)
Einár (d. 2021)

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Today's featured picture

Tihar is a five-day Hindu festival of lights, celebrated in Nepal and parts of India (Sikkim, Darjeeling and Assam) by the Nepalese and Indian Gorkha people. The festival coincides and shares similarities with Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated by Hindus across the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere, but also has some distinct features, such as the celebration of animals associated with the Hindu deity Yama. Today (21 October 2025) is the third day of the festival, Lakshmi Puja, representing the cow, and is considered the most important day of Tihar. This photograph shows a woman lighting diyas for Tihar, in the Telgha area of Nepal.

Photograph credit: Mithun Kunwar

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