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From today's featured article The King and I is a musical by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. Their relationship is marked by conflict through much of the piece, and a love that neither can admit. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the musical for veteran star Gertrude Lawrence. Rex Harrison, who played the King in the 1946 movie of Landon's book, was unavailable, so Yul Brynner was chosen. The musical premiered in March 1951 at Broadway's St. James Theatre and ran nearly three years. It was an immediate hit, winning Tony Awards for Best Musical and for Best Actress and Best Featured Actor for Lawrence and Brynner (pictured). A hit London run and U.S. national tour followed, together with a 1956 film for which Brynner won an Academy Award. Professional and amateur revivals of The King and I are staged regularly throughout the English-speaking world. (Full article...) Recently featured: Olga Constantinovna of Russia – Jack Marsh – Tropical Depression Ten (2007) Did you know... From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content: ... that the conservation designation County Wildlife Site (example site pictured) confers no legal protection at all? ... that Marcellus Neal was the first African-American graduate of Indiana University? ... that San Francisco artists and craftspeople fought the police and city hall for years to bring about a Street Artists Program that lets them legally sell their work on the city's sidewalks? ... that the music video for Kylie Minogue's 2010 single "All the Lovers" was intended as homage to the singer's gay audience? ... that a Mediterranean tropical cyclone in 1969 resulted in hundreds of deaths in Tunisia and Algeria? ... that although Monsanto's Charles A. Thomas promised to return the Runnymede Playhouse intact, it became so contaminated with radioactivity from the Manhattan Project it was demolished and buried?

In the news The Winter Olympics close with host nation Russia winning the most gold medals and most medals overall. Following widespread demonstrations and civil unrest, the Ukrainian parliament restores the 2004 constitution and frees Yulia Tymoshenko, while Oleksandr Turchynov (pictured) becomes acting President. Matteo Renzi is sworn in as the Italian Prime Minister. Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, is arrested. Recent deaths: Harold Ramis On this day... February 25: Soviet Occupation Day in Georgia (1921); National Day in Kuwait (1961) 628 – Khosrau II, the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, was overthrown by his son Kavadh II. 1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discovered a human skull that a prominent geologist claimed was proof (later disproven) that humans had existed during the Pliocene age. 1956 – In his speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" to the 20th Party Congress, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced the personality cult and dictatorship of his predecessor Joseph Stalin. 1986 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda were ousted from power by the non-violent People Power Revolution, with Corazon Aquino (pictured) taking over the government. 1994 – Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim Arabs praying at the mosque in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 people and wounding 125 others. More anniversaries: February 24 – February 25 – February 26 It is now February 25, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture Œnone is a poem written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in 1829. Inspired by the the Greek mythological figure Oenone, first wife of Paris of Troy, the poem is a dramatic monologue following the lead-up to the Trojan War and the war itself. This illustration, by William Edward Frank Britten, is accompanied by the lines "O mother Ida, many-fountain'd Ida, / Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die". Illustration: William Edward Frank Britten; restoration: Adam Cuerden Recently featured: Les raboteurs de parquet – Yak – Long-toed Stint

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