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Lieutenant-General Henry de Hinuber (1767–1833) was a Hanoverian army officer who commanded units of the King's German Legion (KGL) during the Napoleonic Wars. Initially serving in the Hanoverian Army, in 1782 he fought in the Second Anglo-Mysore War in India. He was present at the siege of Cuddalore. The French Revolutionary Wars began a decade later and Hinuber served in the Flanders Campaign. When Hanover was invaded in 1803, Hinuber offered his services to the British Army and was given command of the 3rd Line Battalion of the KGL before commanding a brigade in the Bay of Naples in 1809. He was promoted to major-general in 1811 and given command of a brigade in Lord Wellington's Peninsular War army in 1813. Hinuber commanded his brigade at the Battle of Nivelle in 1813 and then at the siege of Bayonne the following year, when he led the response to the French counter-attack. He joined the army of the new Kingdom of Hanover in 1816. He received his last command in 1831, of the 2nd Division of a corps of the German Federal Army, and died in Frankfurt two years later. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir

... that Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir (pictured) scored two goals for the Iceland women's national football team the day before she graduated from university?
... that the literary heritage of Nova Scotia includes the first newspaper and the first literary journal in Canada?
... that according to the Zoo Miami communications director, 100 men could beat a single gorilla if they "envelop the gorilla and create a human straightjacket"?
... that the memorial for James Bunbury White, the founder of Whiteville, North Carolina, was knocked down in a car crash 200 years after his death?
... that before the establishment of Singapore's Rail Test Centre, the bulk of rolling-stock testing had to be conducted overseas?
... that the artist Cady Noland has disavowed artworks that she no longer considered genuine because they were damaged or altered?
... that Christ Church, Amherstburg, a Canadian church built by a Loyalist, features timbers fashioned after a ship's hull?
... that Li Jinhua was the first female spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
... that an announcer damaged the tower of an Arkansas radio station while driving a moving van?

In the news

Muhammadu Buhari

Former president of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari (pictured) dies at the age of 82.
Clashes between Druze militias and the Syrian Armed Forces result in hundreds of deaths.
The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani over their alleged persecution of women in Afghanistan.
Flooding in Central Texas, United States, leaves at least 140 people dead.

On this day

July 18

Nadia Comăneci on the balance beam

1290 – King Edward I issued an edict to expel all Jews from England.
1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz in Leipzig.
1976 – At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci (pictured) became the first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics event.
1989 – American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
1995 – Selena's album Dreaming of You, instrumental in popularizing Tejano music, was released posthumously.

Benito Juárez (d. 1872)
Richard Branson (b. 1950)
M.I.A. (b. 1975)
Amy Gillett (d. 2005)

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From today's featured list

Painted bat

There are 30 extant kerivouline species, which are members of Kerivoulinae, one of the four subfamilies of Vespertilionidae, itself one of twenty families of bats in the mammalian order Chiroptera, and part of the microbat suborder. Kerivoulines, or woolly bats, are found in Africa and Asia, primarily in forests and caves, though some species can also be found in grasslands, savannas, or wetlands. They range in size from the least woolly bat, at 2 cm (1 in) plus a 2 cm (1 in) tail, to the Kachin woolly bat, at 6 cm (2 in) plus a 7 cm (3 in) tail. The 30 extant species of Kerivoulinae are divided between two genera, with 26 species in Kerivoula and the remaining four in Phoniscus. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Basilica of St Paul is a Catholic parish church in Rabat, Malta, located on the edge of the site of the Roman city of Melite. The present church was built between 1653 and 1658, replacing a church that was completed in 1578. It was constructed with funds from the noblewoman Cosmana Navarra, on plans prepared by Francesco Buonamici. The final stages were completed by Lorenzo Gafà. It was elevated to the status of a minor basilica in 2020. The church features a grotto where, according to tradition, Paul the Apostle lived and preached during his three-month stay in Malta in AD 60. This photograph shows the facade of the Basilica of St Paul in 2021.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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