Welcome to Wikipedia

Avery Hopwood

The Demi-Virgin is a play written by Avery Hopwood (pictured). Producer A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway; it premiered on October 18, 1921, and was one of the most successful plays of the season. The play is a bedroom farce about former couple Gloria Graham and Wally Deane, both movie actors, whose marriage was so brief that the press speculated about Gloria's virginity. Because it contained suggestive dialog and the female cast wore revealing clothes, the production was considered highly risqué at the time. The script alluded to a contemporary scandal involving actor Roscoe Arbuckle. Reviewers panned the play as unfunny and vulgar. A magistrate ruled the play was obscene, and obscenity charges were brought against Woods, but a grand jury declined to indict him. Woods promoted the controversy to increase ticket sales. The play had no long-term literary impact and was never published, but it stimulated arguments over censorship of theatrical performances. (Full article...)

James Buchanan

• ... that James Buchanan (pictured) helped to open talks over buying Alaska by spreading a rumor that Mormons were planning to emigrate there?
• ... that William Ruhlmann of AllMusic thought that the English-language version of "an enormous French hit" seemed to "drag along for most of its length"?
• ... that Lucy Daniels wrote and completed her debut novel while being treated at a psychiatric hospital?
• ... that Julie d'Aubigny, the most well-known 17th-century female fencer, fenced three noblemen in the same evening after kissing the lady whom they were courting?
• ... that small leads were banned from Bonaparte Lake due to mating loons?
• ... that Sam Obisanya from Ted Lasso was originally written as a Ghanaian character, but was changed to Nigerian after Toheeb Jimoh was cast in the role?
• ... that simply buying a new "dumb phone" may not be a "magic pill" to solve smartphone addiction?
• ... that Edward Francis contracted tularemia while investigating the cause of the disease?
• ... that a Californian restaurateur claimed to be a prince and the inventor of strawberries Romanoff?

King Khalid International Airport

• The International Bureau of Weights and Measures votes to abolish the leap second over concerns that it could disrupt computer systems.
• The Houthis launch a series of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports, including King Khalid International Airport (satellite image shown), killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 370 others.
• South African jurist Navi Pillay is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Canadian poet Anne Carson is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• American software engineer Margaret Hamilton dies at the age of 90.

October 18: Double Ninth Festival in China (2026); Alaska Day

Johannes Brahms

• 1356 – The most significant earthquake to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history destroyed Basel, Switzerland.
• 1887 – Johannes Brahms (pictured) conducted the premiere of his Double Concerto, composed for violinist Joseph Joachim and cellist Robert Hausmann.
• 1943 – Pere Areny, convicted of the murder of his brother, became the last person to be executed by Andorra.
• 1963 – The first cat in space, later known as Félicette, launched aboard a French Véronique rocket.
• 2019 – Protests in Santiago that started 11 days prior escalated into open battle against the Chilean national police, forcing President Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of emergency.