August 18, 2008

170 years ago
1838

Exploration
The six-ship United States Exploring Expedition, exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands, weighed anchor at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

140 years ago
1868

Space
A total solar eclipse, visible in India, occurred, known as "The King of Siam's eclipse" because Siamese King Rama IV (Mongkut) had predicted it two years earlier. French astronomer Pierre Janssen observed the eclipse, and discovered helium.

130 years ago
1878

Journalism
P. G. Laurie published the first issue of the Saskatchewan Herald in Battleford.

110 years ago
1898

Born on this date
Jack Haley. U.S. actor. Mr. Haley began his career in vaudeville and was known for performing in musical comedies. He was best known for playing the Tin Woodman in the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). Mr. Haley died of a heart attack on June 6, 1979 at the age of 80.

70 years ago
1938

Transportation
The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York with Ontario over the St. Lawrence River, was dedicated at Gananoque, Ontario by Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

60 years ago
1948

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. vetoed Ceylon's United Nations membership in the Security Council, claiming that Ceylon was still dominated by the United Kingdom.

The Danube Conference in Belgrade ended with the passage of a U.S.S.R.-sponsored agreement for exclusive eastern European control of the Danube waterway. U.S. representatives abstained in the final vote, but attacked the agreement as a Soviet attempt to impose "political and economic enslavement" on the Danube region.

Maria Provaznikova, leader of the Czech women's Olympic team, sought asylum in the United States and denounced Czech government purges of the national youth organization.

Politics and government
The French cabinet asked the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to participate in a conference on the creation of a European parliament.

Protest
U.S. Negro civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph quit the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation after U.S. President Harry Truman promised to end segregation in the armed forces. Bayard Rustin and othe civil rights leaders vowed to continue their civil disobedience campaign.

Technology
Republic Steel Corporation announced the development of a machine which cast molten steel into semi-finished shapes, shortening the steel-making process and saving $3 per ton in production.

Business
The Studebaker assembly line in Hamilton, Ontario rolled off its first vehicle, a blue Champion four-door sedan. The plant, a former anti-aircraft gun factory purchased from the Canadian government, had 400 employees, and produced cars until March 16, 1966.

The U.S. War Assets Administration announced an agreement to sell one of the world's largest blast furnace and coke oven facilities in Cleveland to Kaiser-Frazer Corp. for $14.2 million.

Labour
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruled that hiring halls operated by the National Maritime Union in the Great Lakes region were illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act. The ruling invalidated a provisional agreement between the NMU and Atlantic and Gulf Coast shippers allowing continued operation of unon hiring halls.

Sport
Australia won its fifth consecutive Test of the 1948 Ashes series, becoming the first Test cricket team to go undefeated in England, earning the Australian team the nickname "The Invincibles."

Football
WIFU-ORFU
Pre-season
Toronto (2-0) 1 @ Saskatchewan (0-1) 0

Johnny Lake punted for the game's only point as the Beaches Indians edged the Roughriders at Taylor Field in Regina.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)--Domenico Modugno (Best Seller--1st week at #1; Hot 100--1st week at #1)

Literature
Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita was published in the United States.

Diplomacy
Following three days of talks in Cairo, United Arab Republic President Gamal Nasser and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Faisal issued a joint communique condemning "the presence of any foreign forces on the territory of any Arab state."

Defense
Both houses of the United States Congress unanimously passed a joint resolution to award a special gold medal to U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover for his part "in directing the development and construction of the world's first nuclear-powered ships."

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives defeated Democratic-sponsored bills providing for labour reform, slum clearance, and creation of a federal food stamp program.

Society
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overruled a federal district court's decision to allow a 2 1/2-year stay of racial integration at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Swimming
Brojen Das of East Pakistan swam across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors.

Boxing
Floyd Patterson (34-1) retained his world heavyweight title when challenger Roy Harris (23-1) failed to come out for the 13th round at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.



Rory Calhoun (36-5-1) scored a technical knockout of George Mercer (3-6-1) at 1:26 of the 6th round of a light heavyweight bout in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Football
CFL
WIFU
The Calgary Stampeders signed quarterback Cotton Davidson, recently released by the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League. Mr. Davidson had played with the Colts in 1954 and 1957, spending the 1955 and 1956 seasons in the United States Army.

British Columbia (0-2) 0 @ Calgary (1-0) 42
Saskatchewan (1-1) 6 @ Edmonton (1-1) 40

Nobby Wirkowski threw touchdown passes to Chuck Holloway and Lynn Bottoms and rushed for a touchdown of his own to lead the Stampeders to their rout of the Lions before 15,138 fans at Mewata Stadium. Jim Bakhtiar, Jack Gotta, and Ernie Warlick also scored touchdowns, with Doug Brown adding 3 converts and a field goal. It was the first Canadian Football League game for, among others, Messrs. Holloway, Bakhtiar, Brown, and Calgary tackle Don Luzzi.

Jackie Parker completed 12 of 16 passes and threw touchdown passes to Don Stiller, Jim Letcavits, and Joe-Bob Smith to lead the Eskimos to their rout of the Roughriders before 18,000 fans at Clarke Stadium. Mr. Smith also caught a touchdown pass from Don Getty, while Johnny Bright rushed 11 times for 167 yards, including a 90-yard touchdown. Ron Adam completed a pass to Jack Hill for the Saskatchewan touchdown.

40 years ago
1968

Died on this date
Arthur Marshall, 86. U.S. composer. Mr. Marshall was a composer and performer of ragtime music in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Golf
Julius Boros won the Westchester Golf Classic in Harrison, New York with a total score of 272. First prize money was $50,000.

Football
CFL
Calgary (3-1) 31 @ Winnipeg (0-4) 0

Peter Liske completed 20 of 38 passes for 313 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Stampeders as they routed the Blue Bombers before 14,500 fans at Winnipeg Stadium.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (6th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (17th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): En chantant--Michel Sardou (5th week at #1)

Music
The album Who Are You by the Who was released on MCA Records. It was the group's last album with drummer Keith Moon, who died 20 days later.

Crime
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Assassinations concluded five days of public hearings on the April 4, 1968 assassination of Negro civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convicted assassin James Earl Ray testified before the committee during the last three days, denying his guilt and claiming that he had been framed by a man named "Raoul." Rep. Louis Stokes (Democrat--Georgia), cross-examined Mr. Ray and exposed numerous contradictions in Mr. Ray's defense. The committee also called on Coy Dean Cowden who had told Mr. Ray's lawyer, Mark Lane, that he had seen Mr. Ray 6 1/2 blocks from the assassination site at the time of ths shooting. Mr. Cowden retracted the alibi and said that he had been in Beaumont, Texas at the time.

Labour
Policemen in Memphis, Tennessee ended a 9-day wildcat strike when they accepted a new contract. Firemen, who had joined the strike on August 14, also accepted a new contract and returned to work. 1,500 National Guard troops had policed the city during the strike.

Disasters
At least 102 women and children were killed when two sightseeing buses were swept into a typhoon rain-swollen river during a landslide in Honshu, Japan.

An Egyptian airliner plunged into the Mediterranean Sea north of Port Said, killing all 40 people aboard.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
Canada's top 30
1 1999--Prince
2 Maniac--Michael Sembello
3 Never Gonna Let You Go--Sergio Mendes
4 China Girl--David Bowie
5 Rock and Roll is King--Electric Light Orchestra
6 Every Breath You Take--The Police
7 Is There Something I Should Know--Duran Duran
8 It's a Mistake--Men at Work
9 Hot Girls in Love--Loverboy
10 She Works Hard for the Money--Donna Summer
11 Video Kids--Prototype
12 Human Touch--Rick Springfield
13 Change--Tears for Fears
14 All This Love--Debarge
15 Baby Jane--Rod Stewart
16 Tell Her About It--Billy Joel
17 Human Nature--Michael Jackson
18 Take Me to Heart--Quarterflash
19 Through the Years--Tim Finn
20 Mistake--Michael Sembello
21 Stand Back--Stevie Nicks
22 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)--Eurythmics
23 Wanna Be Startin' Something--Michael Jackson
24 Rise Up--Parachute Club
25 (She's) Sexy and Seventeen--The Stray Cats
26 I'll Tumble 4 Ya--Culture Club
27 Fascination--The Human League
28 20 Questions--Tic Toc
29 Wishing--A Flock of Seagulls
30 Burning Down the House--The Talking Heads

World events
450 French paratroopers left France for the Central African Republic, which bordered on Chad. Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar el-Gaddafi denied that Libyan troops were operating in Chad, and said that U.S. involvement in Chad constituted an "imperialist threat" to Libya.

Diplomacy
At a meeting in the Kremlin with nine United States Senators, Soviet President Yuri Andropov announced a "unilateral moratorium" on the deployment of anti-satellite weapons. He said that the superpowers should agree to eliminate existing anti-satellite systems and refreain from developing new ones.

Disasters
Hurricane Alicia struck southern Texas, claiming 17-22 lives and causing about $1 billion in damage. The city of Galveston, in the Gulf of Mexico, was heavily damaged, and the glass facades of tall office buildings in Houston were also damaged.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gimme Hope Jo’anna--Eddy Grant (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Im Nin'alu--Ofra Haza

Politics and government
At the U.S. Republican National Convention at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana was officially nominated as the party's candidate for Vice President of the United States of America in the November 1988 election. Referring to himself as "one humble Hoosier," Sen. Quayle rejected Democratic Party presidential nominee Michael Dukakis's assertion that the campaign was about competence rather than ideology, saying that competence "makes the trains run on time but doesn't know where they're going."

Hockey
NHL
Guy Lafleur, who had starred with the Montreal Canadiens from 1971-1984 before retiring, signed with the New York Rangers.

Football
CFL
British Columbia (3-3) 27 @ Ottawa (1-5) 20

10 years ago
1998

Protest
Micmacs at the Listuguj First Nation, Québec ended a three-week standoff with the Québec government over timber rights.