Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 April 19

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games and released in 2009. Two teams of five players battle in player-versus-player combat, with each player controlling a character with a unique play style and abilities. At launch, the game was generally well-received; later critical reappraisals, arising as a result of the game's long lifespan, have trended positively, noting the regular content updates. In 2019 the game routinely recorded 8 million concurrent players, and its popularity and longevity have led to various tie-ins, including virtual groups like K/DA, narrative collaborations with Marvel Comics, spin-off video games, and an upcoming animated series. The game is played professionally, and is frequently cited as the world's largest esport; the 2019 League of Legends World Championship had over 100 million unique viewers, peaking at a concurrent 44 million viewers, with a minimum prize pool of US$2.5 million. (Full article...)

Hunterdon Art Museum

• ... that the Hunterdon Art Museum (pictured), located in a historic stone mill, was described as the "most charming and picturesque" museum in New Jersey?
• ... that Madame Gavaudan, a soprano of the Opéra-Comique in Paris, created the role of Benjamin in Étienne Méhul's Joseph?
• ... that all three albums in the discography of the emo band American Football are eponymous, so the media and Polyvinyl Records refer to them as LP1, LP2, and LP3?
• ... that the cucumber seeds that botanist Elwyn Meader brought back from Korea in 1948 became the basis for all modern cucumber hybrids grown worldwide?
• ... that during the 2020 Zagreb flash flood, residents broke into a dam control building to drain floodwaters from the city?
• ... that Mississippi legislator Thelma Farr Baxter introduced a bill to keep livestock off the roads after her husband was fatally injured in a highway collision with a cow?
• ... that in 1984, a Spanish fishing trawler sank after being fired upon by the Irish patrol vessel Aisling?
• ... that despite his side winning the 1998 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Grimsby's Alan Buckley said "Anybody who says they enjoy play-offs aren't football managers"?

Mostert's Mill in 2012

• In South Africa, a fire on Table Mountain, Cape Town, destroys historic monuments including Mostert's Mill (pictured) and the University of Cape Town's special collections library.
• Guillermo Lasso is elected President of Ecuador.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Nomadland wins four awards, including Best Film.
• In golf, Hideki Matsuyama wins the Masters Tournament.
• In horse racing, Minella Times wins the Grand National, with Rachael Blackmore becoming the first female jockey to win in the race's 182-year history.

April 19: Feast day of Saint Ælfheah of Canterbury (Catholicism, Anglicanism); Patriots' Day in various U.S. states (2021)

Mae West

• 797 – Byzantine emperor Constantine VI was captured, blinded, and imprisoned by the supporters of his mother Irene.
• 1809 – War of the Fifth Coalition: The French won a hard-fought victory over Austria in Lower Bavaria when their opponents withdrew from the field of battle that evening.
• 1927 – American actress Mae West (pictured) was sentenced to ten days in jail for "corrupting the morals of youth" for her play Sex.
• 1971 – The first space station, Salyut 1, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR, USSR.
• 1984 – "Advance Australia Fair", written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, officially replaced "God Save the Queen" as Australia's national anthem.