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Today's featured article

The band Cream, with Eric Clapton (right)

"Cross Road Blues" is a song written by the American blues artist Robert Johnson. He sang it as a solo piece with acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues style. The lyrics describe Johnson's grief at being unable to catch a ride at an intersection before the sun sets. Some have attached a supernatural significance to the song. One of Johnson's two recorded performances was released in 1937 as a single, heard mainly in the Mississippi Delta area. The second, which reached a wider audience, was included on King of the Delta Blues Singers, a compilation album of some of Johnson's songs released in 1961 during the American folk music revival. Elmore James recorded a version of the song in 1954, and another in either 1960 or 1961. In the late 1960s, guitarist Eric Clapton and his bandmates in the British rock group Cream (pictured) popularized it as "Crossroads". Their blues rock interpretation became one of their best-known songs, inspiring many cover versions. (Full article...)

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On this day...

April 28: Workers' Memorial Day

Mounted police maintaining order at the 1923 FA Cup final

1253 – The Japanese monk Nichiren declared the mantra Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, now a central part of Nichiren Buddhism.
1789 – Fletcher Christian, the acting lieutenant on board the Royal Navy ship Bounty, led a mutiny against the commander William Bligh in the South Pacific.
1923 – The FA Cup final (crowd and police pictured) between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United was held on the opening day of the Empire Stadium in London.
1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini, the deposed fascist dictator of Italy, was executed by partisans in Giulino.
1983 – The West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from the purported diaries of Adolf Hitler, later revealed to be forgeries.

Bajirao I (d. 1740)
Jane Cobden (b. 1851)
Regina Martínez Pérez (d. 2012)

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In the News

Manasseh Sogavare

Acting President and Prime Minister of Haiti Ariel Henry resigns, and is replaced by the Transitional Presidential Council.
The Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party, led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (pictured), wins the most seats in the Solomon Islands general election but falls short of a majority.
NASA announces that the Voyager 1 space probe is sending readable data for the first time in five months.
The HDZ-led coalition wins the most seats in the Croatian parliamentary election but falls short of a majority.
Ichthyotitan, the largest known marine reptile, is formally described.

Did you know?

Francis of Delirium

... that Francis of Delirium (pictured) overcame Luxembourg's relatively quiet alternative music scene to become a prominent artist?
... that the Cistern of Pulcheria is one of the best-conserved Byzantine reservoirs in Istanbul?
... that Saint Tarbula of Persia was martyred by being cut in half by a saw after being accused of witchcraft?
... that It Sticks Out Half a Mile is a radio sequel series to Dad's Army that follows three of the main characters in their attempts to renovate a seaside pier in post-war Britain?
... that Uwe Boll has described his 2024 crime drama film First Shift as the least violent in his body of work?
... that All Nations Baptist Church in New York City is primarily associated with ethnic Koreans of the former Soviet Union?
... that home repair and maintenance educator Mercury Stardust and her friend Jory Vizcaino have raised more than $4 million for transgender healthcare through their TikTok-A-Thon for Trans Healthcare?
... that the promotion and hype around obtaining Mew in the original Pokémon games resulted in the games' sales increasing more than threefold?
... that zombie-like obedience has been attributed to Jesuits, the military, and followers of totalitarian regimes?

{{{Image text}}} Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

Libellula depressa

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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