April 10, 2008

475 years ago
1533

Died on this date
Frederik I, 61. King of Denmark, 1523-1533; King of Norway, 1524-1533. Frederik I, the younger son of King Christian I, acceded to the Danish throne upon the abdication of his nephew Christian II. He was elected King of Norway in 1524, but never set foot in the country, and was never crowned. King Frederik put down revolts in 1524 and 1525 by peasants who demanded the restoration of Christian II to the throne. Frederik I was Denmark's last Roman Catholic monarch, but was more tolerant toward Lutherans than Christian II, and succeeded in preventing war between Protestants and Catholics. King Frederik I was succeeded on his thrones by his son Christian III.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
S.J. Weyman, 72. Welsh novelist. Mr. Weyman's books dealt with widely different periods in the history of England, France, Italy, Holland, Ireland and Switzerland. His best-known work was Under the Red Robe, published in 1894.

Law
A suit and countersuit involving the Ku Klux Klan were being heard in U.S. federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Klan was suing five members who had been banned from the local Klans, asking damages for their attacks on the order. The countersuit sought to bar the KKK from Pennsylvania and demanded an accounting of approximately $20 million in dues paid by more than 300,000 members in that state. This day’s testimony included tales of atrocities by "night riders’" and allegations that the Klan had burned men at the stake and had bombed their own meetings in order to increase membership and arouse antagonism against Roman Catholics.

World events
A bomb was found under the track of the railway over which Italian Premier Benito Mussolini was to pass on his return from Milan to Rome, and a man hiding near the track was arrested.

Hockey
At the Montreal Forum, the hometown Maroons defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Stanley Cup finals.

75 years ago
1933

Economics and finance
Canada went off the gold standard when an Order-in-Council officially suspended the redemption of Dominion notes for gold. It was widely regarded as just a temporary measure during the depths of the depression; a return to the gold standard was expected when economic times improved.

70 years ago
1938

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Toronto 1 @ Chicago 2 (Chicago led best-of-five series 2-1)
Mike Karakas, who had missed the first two games in the series because of a broken toe, was back in goal for the Black Hawks as they edged the Maple Leafs at Chicago Stadium.

60 years ago
1948

Basketball
BAA
Finals
Baltimore 60 @ Philadelphia 71 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Detroit 2 @ Toronto 4 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 2-0)

50 years ago
1958

Died on this date
Chuck Willis, 30. U.S. singer. A rhythm and blues singer who was known for wearing colourful turbans, Mr. Willis died after a long-postponed stomach operation. His hits included It’s Too Late ; C.C. Rider ; Betty and Dupree ; and the current release at the time of his death, the ironically-titled two-sided hit What Am I Living For/Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes . My favourite Chuck Willis song is one that hadn’t yet been released at the time of his death: From the Bottom of My Heart .

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Boston 5 @ Montreal 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Don Simmons starred in goal for the Bruins, and forwards Larry Regan, Bronco Horvath and Norm Johnson also played feature roles in the victory over the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

40 years ago
1968

Movies
The Academy Awards for 1967 were presented at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. The winners included: Picture--In the Heat of the Night; Director--Mike Nichols (The Graduate); Actor--Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night); Actress--Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner); Supporting Actor--George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke); Supporting Actress--Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde).

War
A U.S. report said that the North Vietnamese Tet offensive had cost $173,633,000 in damages, with 115,276 homes damaged or razed.

Economics and finance
20,410,000 shares, the third record total of the month, were sold on the New York Stock Exchange. The record was attributed to continued optimism on peace in Vietnam and backlog orders piled up the day before during the exchange’s closing in honour of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Disasters
An inter island ferry with 700 aboard sank in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, after hitting a reef during a 120-mile-per-hour storm. 47 were left dead and 6 were missing.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Philadelphia 2 @ St. Louis 3 (2OT) (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Larry Keenan scored at 4:10 of the 2nd overtime period to give the Blues their win over the Flyers in the first Stanley Cup game ever played at St. Louis Arena.

CPHL
Adams Cup
Semi-Finals
Tulsa 1 @ Oklahoma City 2 (Oklahoma City led best-of-seven series 3-2)
Kansas City 4 @ Fort Worth 1 (Kansas City led best-of-five series 1-0)

Wayne Rivers scored 3 goals for the Blues as they beat the Wings at Will Rogers Coliseum.

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Division Finals
Philadelphia 115 @ Boston 106 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Western Division Finals
San Francisco 112 @ Los Angeles 115 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 2-0)

ABA
Eastern Division Finals
Pittsburgh 107 @ Minnesota 99 (Pittsburgh led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Western Division Finals
New Orleans 110 @ Dallas 107 (New Orleans led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Baseball
The major league regular season opened. Among the games played was the Athletics’ first regular season game after moving from Kansas City to Oakland. They were visiting the defending American League champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, and lost 3-1. Rookie outfielder Reggie Jackson’s home run accounted for the Athletics’ scoring.

30 years ago
1978

Died on this date
Long John Nebel, 66. U.S. radio personality. Mr. Nebel pioneered late-night talk radio in the United States when he took over the midnight-5:30 A.M. slot at New York station WOR in 1954. His show often dealt with unexplained topics, such as psychic phenomena and UFOs, and drew huge ratings, in no small part because WOR had a very strong signal which enabled Mr. Nebel’s show to reach half the American population. In 1962, Mr. Nebel accepted a then-unheard-of offer of $100,000 per year to jump to WNBC. He remained there until 1973, then moved to WMCA when WNBC changed formats. His co-host on WMCA was his wife, former World War II pinup Candy Jones, who alleged that she was a victim of Central Intelligence Agency brainwashing. Mr. Nebel’s show during these years often dealt with this topic. Jackie Gleason was a frequent guest on Mr. Nebel’s show, as were science fiction writers Lester del Rey and Frederick Pohl, philosopher Mortimer Adler, and Christian apologist Walter Martin. The Mutual Broadcasting System picked up Mr. Nebel’s show for nationwide broadcasting in the 1970s; when Mr. Nebel died after a long battle with prostate cancer, MBS gave his time slot to Larry King.

Crime
L. Patrick Gray III, former acting head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as two other FBI officials, Mark Felt and Edward Miller, were indicted on charges of conspiring to deprive U.S. citizens of their civil rights. The three men were charged with having used illegal entries and searches in locating members of the Weathermen antiwar group in 1972 and 1973. Mr. Felt had been acting associate director of the FBI, and Mr. Miller was chief of the bureau’s counterintelligence section. Mr. Felt was also fingered by reporter Bob Woodward in later years as "Deep Throat," the source of much information for the book All the President's Men. In announcing the indictments, Attorney General Griffin Bell also announced that charges against John J. Kearney were being dismissed. Evidence showed that Mr. Kearney, a lower-level FBI official in New York who had been involved in the same case, had been acting under orders from his superiors.

Diplomacy
United Nations and U.S. State Department spokesman announced that Arkady N. Shevchenko, 47, top-ranking Soviet official in the U.N. Secretariat, had defected from the Soviet Union.

25 years ago
1983

Diplomacy
King Hussein of Jordan announced that he was discontinuing his attempts to implement U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s Middle East peace plan. The king blamed Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat for pulling back from an agreement worked out at Amman a week earlier. Mr. Reagan blamed the outcome on "radical elements of the PLO." Meanwhile, Dr. Issam Sartawi, a moderate PLO leader and an adviser to Mr. Arafat, was shot to death in Portugal, with an extremist Palestinian faction claiming responsibility.

Hockey
In Stanley Cup playoff action, three Canadian teams were eliminated from further playoff action. The Boston Bruins edged the Quebec Nordiques 2-1, Calgary Flames defeated Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime, and the Minnesota North Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime. All three of these first-round best-of-five series were decided in four games.

20 years ago
1988

War
Hundreds of people were killed when a series of explosions ripped through an ammunition depot near Islamabad, Pakistan. The dump contained most of the weapons flown in by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to beef up the fighting power of the Afghan rebels in their war against the Soviet invaders before an agreement became effective barring the U.S. and U.S.S.R. from sending weapons into the country.

Golf
Sandy Lyle of Scotland won the Masters tournament at Augusta, Georgia, with a 7-under par total of 281 strokes. Mr. Lyle, who had won the Greater Greensboro Open a week earlier, claimed the first prize money of $183,000 U.S.

Hockey
In first-round Stanley Cup playoff action, the New York Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-4 in overtime. The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 to take a 3-1 lead in their series; the Hartford Whalers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 7-5 to cut the Canadiens’ series lead to 3-1; and the Detroit Red Wings embarrassed the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens to take a 3-1 lead in their series.

10 years ago
1998

Diplomacy
A landmark peace agreement was reached in Northern Ireland. Protestants and Roman Catholics were to govern jointly; concessions were exacted from both sides. Britain was to retain Ulster, with the Irish Republic gaining a voice in affairs. Two referendums were scheduled.