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Today's featured article

The band Cream, with Eric Clapton (right)
The band Cream, with Eric Clapton (right)

"Cross Road Blues" is a song written by the American blues artist Robert Johnson. He sang it as a solo piece with acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues style. The lyrics describe Johnson's grief at being unable to catch a ride at an intersection before the sun sets. Some have attached a supernatural significance to the song. One of Johnson's two recorded performances was released in 1937 as a single, heard mainly in the Mississippi Delta area. The second, which reached a wider audience, was included on King of the Delta Blues Singers, a compilation album of some of Johnson's songs released in 1961 during the American folk music revival. Elmore James recorded a version of the song in 1954, and another in either 1960 or 1961. In the late 1960s, guitarist Eric Clapton and his bandmates in the British rock group Cream (pictured) popularized it as "Crossroads". Their blues rock interpretation became one of their best-known songs, inspiring many cover versions. (Full article...)

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Today's featured picture

Libellula depressa

Libellula depressa, commonly known as the broad-bodied chaser or broad-bodied darter, is a dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. One of the most common dragonflies in Europe and central Asia, its range extends to England, central Asia and the Middle East, with a few limited populations in Scotland. It is not found in Ireland or North Africa, however. This insect is around 39 to 48 millimetres (1.5 to 1.9 inches) in length, with both the male and the female having a broad, flattened abdomen which is brown with yellow patches down the sides. In the male, the abdomen develops a blue pruinescence that covers the brown colour. Both fore and hind wings have a dark patch at the base. This male L. depressa dragonfly was photographed at Wolvercote Lakes in Oxfordshire, England.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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Francis of Delirium
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April 28: Workers' Memorial Day

Mounted police maintaining order at the 1923 FA Cup final
Mounted police maintaining order at the 1923 FA Cup final
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