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Les Holden (6 March 1895 – 18 September 1932) was a fighter ace of World War I. He joined the Australian Light Horse in May 1915, serving in Egypt and France. In December 1916, he volunteered for the Australian Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot. As a member of No. 2 Squadron, he gained the sobriquets "Lucky Les" and "the homing pigeon" after a series of incidents where he limped back to base in bullet-riddled aircraft. Holden was awarded the Military Cross, achieved five aerial victories, finishing the war as an instructor with No. 6 (Training) Squadron in England, earning the Air Force Cross. After leaving the Australian Flying Corps in 1919, he became a manager at Holden's Motor Body Builders. He joined the part-time Citizen Air Force before starting an air service as a commercial pilot. In 1929, he located Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in the north-west Australian desert after the pair were reported missing. Holden died while a passenger in a plane that crashed in Australia. (Full article...)

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In the news

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A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country for at least five decades.
Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
The United States imposes tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

On this day

March 6

William Speirs Bruce

845 – The Abbasid Caliphate executed 42 Byzantine officials who had been captured in the sack of Amorium of 838 for refusing to convert to Islam.
1447 – Tommaso Parentucelli was elected as Pope Nicholas V in Rome.
1904 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce (pictured), the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered by the Scotia.
1988 – The Troubles: In Operation Flavius, the Special Air Service killed three volunteers of the Provisional Irish Republican Army conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar.
2000 – The Marine Parade Community Building, the mural cladding of which is the largest installation art in Singapore, was opened.

Clark Shaughnessy (b. 1892)
Joseph Berchtold (b. 1897)
Shaukat Aziz (b. 1949)
Cyprien Ntaryamira (b. 1955)

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Today's featured picture

Philippe Chaperon (1823–1906) was a French painter and scenic designer, particularly known for his work at the Paris Opera. He produced stage designs for the premieres of numerous 19th-century operas, including Verdi's Don Carlos and Aida, Massenet's Le Cid, Saint-Saëns's Henry VIII, part two of Berlioz's Les Troyens, and the first performances in France of Verdi's Otello and Rigoletto and Wagner's Tannhäuser. His painting style was influenced by his architecture studies, such as his debut work exhibited at the Paris Salon, Ruines d'un Temple dans l'Inde. This photographic portrait of Chaperon, taken around 1900, was produced by the studio (a.k.a. atelier) of the French photographer Nadar.

Photograph credit: Atelier Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden

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