Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 August 13

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The Tunnel Railway was a narrow gauge underground railway in Ramsgate, Kent, England. Following the restructuring of railway lines in Ramsgate in 1926 a section of main line between Broadstairs and Ramsgate Harbour including a tunnel was abandoned. In 1936 a narrow gauge railway was opened in the disused tunnel to connect tourist attractions and shops near Ramsgate harbour with the new railway main line at Dumpton Park. Except for its two stations—one at each end of the tunnel—the line ran entirely underground. The line was built in less than three months, and on its completion in 1936 was one of the shortest independent railway lines in the country. It was open for only three years before being converted to a major air-raid shelter during World War II. After the war's end, it was not included in the 1948 nationalisation of British railways but remained in private hands. Passenger numbers fell during the 1960s, and the line became economically nonviable. Following a train crash in 1965, the owners decided to close at the end of September that year. The tunnel still exists, but no trace of the stations remains. (Full article...)

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• Mathematicians Artur Avila, Manjul Bhargava, Martin Hairer, and Maryam Mirzakhani are awarded the Fields Medal, with Mirzakhani its first ever woman recipient.
• Actor and comedian Robin Williams (pictured) dies at the age of 63.
• Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing at least 38 people.
• Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed tribunal.
• The ESA spacecraft Rosetta reaches the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
• Official commemorations are held in Europe to mark the outbreak of the First World War 100 years ago.

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August 13

• 1624 – Cardinal Richelieu (pictured) became the chief minister to King Louis XIII, and under his supervision, France's feudal political structure transformed into one with a powerful central government.
• 1779 – American Revolutionary War: Off the coast of Maine, the United States suffered its worst naval defeat until the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.
• 1868 – A major earthquake near Arica, Peru, caused an estimated 25,000 casualties, and the subsequent tsunami caused considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
• 1954 – The complete version of "Qaumi Taranah", the national anthem of Pakistan, was broadcast for the first time on Radio Pakistan.
• 2004 – Hurricane Charley struck the U.S. state of Florida, just 22 hours after Tropical Storm Bonnie inflicted its own damage to the state.

More anniversaries: August 12 – August 13 – August 14

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The Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae, found from Argentina in the south to California in the north.

Photograph: Wilfredor