Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 November 30

Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–88) was a French composer and pianist. Alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, he was among the leading virtuoso pianists in Paris. His career was marked by his occasional long withdrawals for personal reasons from public performance, and from 1848 he began to adopt a reclusive life style, while continuing with his compositions, virtually all of which are for the keyboard. During this period he published his collections of large-scale studies in all the major keys (Op. 35) and all the minor keys (Op. 39). The latter includes his Symphony for Solo Piano and Concerto for Solo Piano, considered among his masterpieces, of great musical and technical complexity. Alkan's attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He was the first composer to incorporate Jewish melodies in art music. Fluent in Hebrew and Greek, he devoted much time to a complete new translation of the Bible into French. After his death (which according to a persistent myth was caused by a falling bookcase), his music was neglected, but since the late 1960s many pianists have recorded it and brought it back into the repertoire. (Full article...)

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• Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (pictured) resigns following the Riga supermarket roof collapse.
• A 1640 copy of the Bay Psalm Book sells for US$14.2 million at auction, a record for a printed book.
• The earliest known Buddhist shrine is uncovered at Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal.
• In Canadian football, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the 101st Grey Cup.
• Iran signs an interim agreement with the P5+1 countries, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions.

Recent deaths: Arik Einstein

November 30: Cities for Life Day; Independence Day in Barbados (1966); Saint Andrew's Day in Scotland

• 1853 – Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, precipitating the Crimean War.
• 1872 – The first-ever international football match took place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
• 1939 – The Winter War broke out as the Soviet Red Army invaded Finland (Finnish troops pictured) and quickly advanced to the Mannerheim Line, an action judged as illegal by the League of Nations.
• 1993 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law, requiring purchasers of handguns to pass a background check.
• 1999 – Protests by anti-globalization activists against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle forced the cancellation of its opening ceremonies.

More anniversaries: November 29 – November 30 – December 1

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The Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) is a nomadic bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae which can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia. They eat a variety of food, including molluscs, frogs, grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts.

Photo: JJ Harrison