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Hensley Henson (8 November 1863 – 27 September 1947) was an Anglican cleric who was Bishop of Hereford from 1918 to 1920 and Bishop of Durham from 1920 to 1939. He gained a first-class degree from Oxford in 1884 and was elected as a fellow of All Souls. Ordained in 1888, Henson served in the East End and Barking, becoming chaplain of Ilford Hospital Chapel in 1895. Appointed rector of St Margaret's, Westminster, and canon of Westminster Abbey in 1900, his tolerance of a wide range of theological views led the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England to try to block his appointment to the see of Hereford. Henson was opposed to strikes, trade unions and socialism, which made him unpopular in the diocese, but some of his opinions changed over time. He came to believe that politicians should not legislate on church matters. He opposed prohibition and Nazi aggression. He supported reform of the divorce laws, the controversial 1928 revision of the Book of Common Prayer and ecumenism. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Landscape watercolour by Claude Hayes

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In the news

James Watson

American molecular biologist James Watson (pictured), co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies at the age of 97.
A fire in a retirement home in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaves at least 13 people dead.
UPS Airlines Flight 2976 crashes after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky, United States, killing at least 14 people.
The United States federal government shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history.

On this day

November 8

Christian II of Denmark

960 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Having been the target of many raids by the Emirate of Aleppo, Byzantine forces led by Leo Phokas the Younger ambushed the Hamdanids and annihilated their army.
1520 – Following a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under Christian II (pictured), scores of Swedish leaders in Stockholm were later executed despite Christian's promise of general amnesty.
1940 – The Italian invasion of Greece failed as outnumbered Greek units repulsed the Italians at the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
2013 – Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Visayas region of the Philippines, killing at least 6,300 people, making it the deadliest Philippine typhoon recorded in modern history.

Nyaungyan Min (b. 1555)
Subroto Mukerjee (d. 1960)
Dorothy Kilgallen (d. 1965)
Tom Anderson (b. 1970)

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Today's featured picture

The Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird in the family Monarchidae, the monarch flycatchers. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, with resident and breeding populations in most of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, as well as parts of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The bird has a length of 20 to 50 centimetres (7.9 to 19.7 inches) from beak to tail. Males have elongated central tail feathers, and a black and rufous plumage in some populations, while others have white plumage. Females are short-tailed with rufous wings and a black head. The Indian paradise flycatcher feeds on insects, including grasshoppers, butterflies and praying mantises, as well as flies. It typically captures prey in the air, kills it by hitting it on a rock, and then extracts the inner parts. This Indian paradise flycatcher in flight was photographed in Pilibhit in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Photograph credit: Prasan Shrestha

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