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The southern entrance

Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) southwest of Manchester city centre. Until the late 19th century, it was the ancestral home of the Trafford family, who sold it to financier Ernest Terah Hooley in 1896. It was the first planned industrial estate in the world and remains the largest in Europe, at 4.7 square miles (12 km²). Trafford Park was a major supplier of materiel in the First and Second World Wars, producing the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines used to power both the Spitfire and the Lancaster. At its peak in 1945, an estimated 75,000 workers were employed in the park. Employment began to decline in the 1960s as companies closed in favour of newer, more efficient plants elsewhere. The new Manchester Metrolink line from Pomona to the Trafford Centre opened in 2020. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Antimonumento 49 ABC

... that sculptures of children's shoes at the Antimonumento 49 ABC (pictured)—honoring those killed in a fire—were later stolen?
... that marmalade, mashed potato and fish knives were all used in the book Class to identify different British social classes?
... that until the 1990s, linguists often confused the Nizaa language with a similarly named local language?
... that Julian Yacoub Mourad, an archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church, escaped from the Islamic State after being held captive for more than four months?
... that the role of the British Mobile Defence Corps was to carry out rescue work in the aftermath of a nuclear attack?
... that the chairman of the board of a Texas TV station was found to have died from drinking cyanide-laced cola?
... that Tyla became the second female African artist to score multiple solo entries on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Push 2 Start"?
... that pianist Phyllis Chen started playing the smaller toy piano after both her arms became sore from tendinopathy?
... that Welwitschia mirabilis only ever grows two leaves, which last for the plant's entire life?

In the news

Lee Jae-myung

Lee Jae-myung (pictured) is elected as president of South Korea.
Karol Nawrocki is elected as president of Poland.
Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat is sworn in as the new episcopal co-prince of Andorra.
Kenyan writer and activist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o dies at the age of 87.
Flooding submerges the town of Mokwa, Nigeria, leaving more than 200 people dead.

On this day

June 5: World Environment Day; Day of Arafah (Islam)

Antonio Luna

1897 – The Ancient Temples and Shrines Preservation Law was passed, instituting the protection of structures and artifacts in Japan designated National Treasures.
1899 – Antonio Luna (pictured), Commanding General of the Philippine Army, was assassinated in the midst of the Philippine–American War.
1997 – Anticipating a coup attempt, President Pascal Lissouba of the Republic of the Congo ordered the detention of his rival Denis Sassou Nguesso, initiating a second civil war.
2004 – Noël Mamère, the mayor of Bègles, conducted a marriage ceremony for two men, even though same-sex marriage in France had not yet been legalised.
2009 – After almost two months of civil disobedience, at least 31 people were killed in clashes between the National Police and indigenous people in Bagua province, Peru.

Ivy Compton-Burnett (b. 1884)
Theippan Maung Wa (b. 1899)
Elizabeth Gloster (b. 1949)
Megumi Nakajima (b. 1989)

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Today's featured picture

London King's Cross railway station is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest railway stations in the United Kingdom, and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to Yorkshire and the Humber, North East England and Scotland. The station was opened in King's Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway, and has been expanded and redeveloped several times since. This panoramic photograph shows the western departures concourse of King's Cross station, which was designed by John McAslan and opened in March 2012 as part of a major renovation project. McAslan said that the roof was the longest single-span station structure in Europe; the semi-circular structure has a radius of 59 yards (54 metres) and more than 2,000 triangular roof panels, half of which are glass.

Photograph credit: Colin

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