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From today's featured article

The band's members in 2006; from left to right: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway

The members of Radiohead

OK Computer is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Radiohead (pictured), released on 16 June 1997 in the UK by EMI subsidiaries Parlophone and Capitol Records. The band made a deliberate attempt to distance themselves from the guitar-oriented, lyrically introspective style of prior works like The Bends. OK Computer's abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic range of influences laid the groundwork for the more experimental style Radiohead adopted beginning with their next album, Kid A. Although record label executives feared the progressive album would be difficult to market, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the band's highest album entry on the American charts at the time, debuting at number 21 on the Billboard 200. The album's lyrics, depicting a world fraught with rampant consumerism, social alienation, emotional isolation and political malaise, are often interpreted as having prescient insight into the mood of 21st-century life. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Abigail Franks

... that letters written by Abigail Franks (pictured) to her son in England are peppered with family gossip, local politics, and observations on the state of Judaism in 18th-century colonial New York?
... that arson in royal dockyards‎ was one of the last four crimes in the United Kingdom to carry the death penalty?
... that in 2016 Pascal Rophé conducted works by Henri Dutilleux to celebrate the composer's centenary, including Tout un monde lointain... and Le temps l'horloge?
... that in the Southern Hemisphere, all willow sawflies are female, while in the Northern Hemisphere both males and females occur?
... that Deepak Kumar was one of the first Indian condensed matter physicists to predict the experimental consequences of spin clusters near the percolation threshold?
... that the Beach Boys' experimental album Smiley Smile (1967) was used by some rehab centers to help ease patients off drugs?
... that walnut soup is a part of the cuisines of China, Italy, and Mexico?
... that Jimmy Florian won the Ford Motor Company's first NASCAR Grand National Series race while driving a car that was formerly owned by the Detroit chief of police?

In the news

Grenfell Tower on fire

The 24-storey Grenfell Tower in London is destroyed by fire (pictured), with at least seventeen fatalities reported.
An attack on members of the United States Congress in Alexandria, Virginia, injures five people.
Following his election as leader of Fine Gael on 2 June, Leo Varadkar becomes Taoiseach of Ireland.
More than 150 people are killed in Bangladesh's worst-ever monsoon-related landslides.
The inaugural United Nations Ocean Conference concludes with more than 1,300 voluntary commitments by UN member states to promote marine conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.

On this day...

June 16

William Cornwallis

632 – The final king of the Sasanian Empire of Iran, Yazdegerd III, took the throne at the age of eight.
1795 – French Revolutionary Wars: Off the coast of Brittany, a British Royal Navy battle squadron commanded by William Cornwallis (pictured) fended off a numerically superior French Navy fleet.
1911 – Computing company IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.
1961 – Pioneering Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with the help of French police and a Parisian socialite friend.
2013 – A multi-day cloudburst caused severe flooding in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand, resulting in over 5,700 deaths.

Jean de Thévenot (b. 1633) · Adam Smith (b. 1723) · Tony Gwynn (d. 2014)

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From today's featured list

Landon Donovan

Landon Donovan scored 57 goals during 157 appearances for the United States men's national soccer team from 2000 to 2014. Since 2008, he has been the United States's all-time male top goalscorer. Donovan scored in his debut for the United States, a 2–0 win over Mexico in a friendly played on October 25, 2000. His first competitive goal came on January 19, 2002 against South Korea in the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup. A few months later, he played in his first FIFA World Cup, scoring against Poland on June 14, 2002, and Mexico on June 17, 2002. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Donovan scored three goals, against Slovenia and Algeria in the group stage and Ghana in the Round of 16. Donovan retired from international soccer on October 10, 2014, after not participating in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

St Christopher's Chapel, Great Ormond Street Hospital

The interior of St Christopher's Chapel at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden. Along the back of the chapel is the 'Teddy Bear Choir', a line of teddy bears provided by families. In the foreground is the 'prayer tree', featuring messages of hope for sick children.

Photograph: David Iliff

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