Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 January 13 - Wikipedia

The Jersey Act was a 1913 regulation by the British Jockey Club and the owners of the General Stud Book that prevented most American-bred Thoroughbred horses from registering with them. It was intended to halt the increasing importation of racehorses of possibly impure bloodlines after a series of bans on gambling by US states, including gambling on horse races. The loss of breeding records during the American Civil War and the late beginning of the registration of American Thoroughbreds led many in the British racing establishment to doubt that the American-bred horses were purebred. The Act prohibited the registration of horses unless all of their Thoroughbred ancestors had been registered. Despite protests from American breeders the regulation was in force until 1949. By then, ineligible horses were increasingly successful in races in Europe, British and Irish breeders had lost access to French Thoroughbreds during and after the Second World War, and any impure ancestors of the American bloodlines had receded far back in most horses' ancestry. (Full article...)

• ... that more than 5,000 hen fleas (specimen pictured) were recorded from the nest of a coal tit?
• ... that Elisheva Barak-Ussoskin's rulings on labor law and labor relations were said to have furthered the rights of workers more than those of any other Israeli judge?
• ... that under the terms of a 1931 bequest to the University of Washington, if the university president does not live at Hill-Crest, the property must be sold?
• ... that Swedish radio presenter Roger Nordin revealed during a live broadcast in 2005 that he was gay?
• ... that the idea for Disney's MagicBands came from a magnetic therapy bracelet found in SkyMall?
• ... that the constellation Corvus was depicted as a raven as early as 1100 BCE in Babylonia?
• ... that Fred Pfeffer, Tom Burns, and Ned Williamson each had three hits in the same inning of an 1883 major-league baseball game, and no other player had a three-hit inning until 1953?

• Passenger services are inaugurated on the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, a fast electric railway connecting the Ethiopian capital to the Red Sea.
• A cold wave affecting Eastern and Central Europe (frozen Danube pictured) causes more than 60 deaths.
• La La Land wins a record-breaking seven awards at the Golden Globe Awards.
• An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 70 others.

January 13: St. Knut's Day in Finland and Sweden

• 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle off the coast of Brittany between two British frigates and a French ship of the line ended with over 900 deaths when the latter ran aground.
• 1822 – The design of the current flag of Greece was adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus for their naval flag.
• 1915 – About 30,000 people in Avezzano, Italy—96% of its population—were killed when an earthquake struck the region.
• 1963 – Togo's first President, Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated by military officers in a coup d'état led by Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma, and Kléber Dadjo.
• 2000 – Steve Ballmer (pictured) replaced Bill Gates as Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft.