August 1, 2008

510 years ago
1498

Exploration
On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.

210 years ago
1798

War
The Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) began when a British fleet engaged the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.

170 years ago
1838

Society
Non-labourer slaves in most of the British Empire were emancipated.

110 years ago
1898

Born on this date
Morris Stoloff. U.S. musician and composer. Mr. Stoloff was a violin prodigy who performed as a feature soloist before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 17. He worked as concertmaster of Paramount Pictures and then as musical director for Columbia Pictures (1936-1962). Mr. Stoloff often took partial credit for scores when working with a composer, and was nominated for 17 Academy Awards, winning for Cover Girl (1944); The Jolson Story (1946); and Song Without End (1960). He's perhaps best known for the single Moonglow and Theme from Picnic, which reached #1 on the Billboard Disc Jockey chart for three weeks in 1956. Mr. Stoloff left Columbia Pictures to become the musical director at Reprise Records. He died on April 16, 1980 at the age of 81.

100 years ago
1908

Disasters
Fire destroyed the coal mining town of Fernie, British Columbia; the fire then burned up the Elk River valley, over Hosmer and up Michel Creek to Michel, B.C.

80 years ago
1928

Diplomacy
Honduras rejected the U.S.A.'s offer to submit the Honduran boundary dispute with Guatemala to the Central American Tribunal.

Aviation
Captain Frank Courtney and three companions left the Azores for Newfoundland, but their plane caught fire and they dropped into the sea, where they were rescued by the steamer Minnewaska. They arrived in New York City on August 6.

Disasters
A 500-ton lifting crane fell at Welland Ship Canal Works in Thorold, Ontario, killing 8 men and inuring 30.

Olympics
Percy Williams of Canada won the gold medal in the men's 100-metre sprint in the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, two days after winning the 200-metre event.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
John Aasen, 48. U.S. actor. Mr. Aasen was a 7'2" sideshow performer who appeared in 14 movies, including Why Worry? (1923); Should Married Men Go Home? (1928); and Bengal Tiger (1936). He died from pneumonia.

Boxing
Johnny Paychek (21-3-1) knocked out Al Globe (15-11-5) at 2:15 of the 5th round of their heavyweight bout at Riverview Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

60 years ago
1948

Disasters
A Latecoere 631 flying boat with 52 passengers disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean and was presumed to have crashed.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): All I Have to Do is Dream--The Everly Brothers (5th week at #1)

Space
The U.S. Air Force's Man in Space Soonest program was cancelled, just five weeks after the nine men selected to be astronauts were named. The program was soon replaced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury.

Defense
The United States detonated a missile-borne nuclear device in the air over its Johnson island test site in the Pacific Ocean as part of the current test series.

World events
91 South African opponents of apartheid went on trial in Pretoria on charges of high treason in an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Politics and government
The Japanese Communist Party's national convention in Tokyo re-elected Sanzo Nozaka as party chairman and named Kenji Miyamoto as secretary-general.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Saskatchewan (0-1) 28 @ Ottawa (1-0) 29
Hamilton (0-1) 7 @ British Columbia (1-1) 14

Bobby Judd, George Brancato, Bob Simpson, and Ed Petrarca scored touchdowns for the Rough Riders as they edged the Roughriders before 10,000 fans at Lansdowne Park. Mr. Petrarca's touchdown culminated a 70-yard drive led by rookie quarterback Russ Jackson, whose 42-yard rush was the key play of the drive. Jack Hill, Mike Hagler, Ron Adam, and Bob McKeiver scored Saskatchewan TDs. Mr. McKeiver's touchdown came with 3:30 remaining in the game, but Mr. Hill missed the convert that would have tied the score.

Bill Britton scored a touchdown in the 1st quarter and By Bailey added a TD in the 2nd quarter as the Lions defeated the defending Grey Cup champion Tiger-Cats at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Fran Rogel scored the Hamilton touchdown in the 1st quarter.

40 years ago
1968

Music
The Beatles completed recording the song Hey Jude at Trident Studios in London.

War
The U.S. command in Vietnam announced that the number of American troops in South Vietnam had risen to 541,000.

Politics and government
Kristjan Eldjarn, who had been elected on June 30, was inaugurated into a four-year term as President of Iceland.

Economics and finance
The Royal Canadian Mint began replacing silver with nickel in Canadian coinage, except for commemorative items and the silver dollar.

U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed a housing act that authorized a $5-billion building program for low-income families.

Disasters
Four days of eruption of the Mount Arenal volcano in Cost Rica resulted in 78 deaths, with more than 100 injured and many missing.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (0-1) 13 @ Ottawa (1-0) 53

Russ Jackson directed an effective attack at quarterback for the Rough Riders as they routed the defending Grey Cup champion Tiger-Cats at Lansdowne Park, spoiling Joe Restic's regular season debut as Hamilton's head coach. Vic Washington played his first CFL game for the Rough Riders and returned a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown. It was the first game in an Ottawa uniform for former Calgary Stampeders' star fullback Lovell Coleman, and he caught a pass from Mr. Jackson for a 54-yard gain.

30 years ago
1978

Music
The Eagles, with opening acts Pablo Cruise and the Steve Miller Band, performed before 65,000 fans at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow President Jimmy Carter to end the embargo on the sale of arms to Turkey.

Crime
A U.S. federal grand jury in Washington indicted General Juan Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, former head of Chile's secret police, and six others for the 1976 assassination in Washington of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and his American colleague Ronni Moffit.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (1-2-1) 22 @ British Columbia (1-1-2) 22
Ottawa (2-1) 24 @ Edmonton (3-1) 23

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were among the 24,397 in attendance at Clarke Stadium to see the Rough Riders jump out to an early 17-0 lead and hold on to edge the Eskimos. Rookie Warren Moon played most of the game at quarterback for the Eskimos and got Edmonton on the scoreboard with his first Canadian Football League touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Dave Cutler missed the convert, ending a then-record streak of 137 consecutive converts going back to 1974. His miss proved to be the margin of victory. Tom Clements completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Peter Stenerson with 11:28 remaining in the game to put the Rough Riders ahead to stay.

Jimmy Jones completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to John Kinch and a 2-point convert pass to Lawrie Skolrood with 2:52 remaining in the game to give the Tiger-Cats their tie with the Lions before 23,662 fans at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Hamilton's Ken Clark punted from the B.C. 39-yard on the last play of the game, but B.C.'s Lui Passaglia goaded the Tiger-Cats into a no-yards penalty in the B.C. end zone, preventing a game-winning single.

Baseball
Bob Horner batted 3 for 5 with a home run, double, 4 runs, and 4 runs batted in, while Barry Bonnell batted 4 for 5 with a homer, double, 3 runs, and 3 RBIs to help the Atlanta Braves rout the Cincinnati Reds 16-4 before 31,159 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Cincinnati third baseman Pete Rose was 0 for 4 with a base on balls, and struck out to end the game, ending his hitting streak at 44 games, tied for the National League record with Willie Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles in 1897.



Andre Dawson's 2-run home run climaxed a 4-run 2nd inning as the Montreal Expos held on to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 before 21,287 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Pirates scored all their runs in the 4th inning against winning pitcher Steve Rogers.

Derrel Thomas singled home Bill Almon with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the San Diego Padres a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers before 40,846 fans at San Diego Stadium. Randy Jones pitched a 7-hit shutout to win the pitchers' duel over Burt Hooton.

Reggie Jackson batted 2 for 2 with a home run, double, 2 bases on balls, and 3 runs to help the New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 8-1 before 18,485 fans at Yankee Stadium. Catfish Hunter, who had failed to retire a batter in his most recent start, allowed only 3 hits in pitching 8 scoreless innings to get the win. Bobby Bonds homered off Sparky Lyle with 1 out in the top of the 9th to break up the shutout.

Rick Manning led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a double and scored on a 2-out single by Buddy Bell to break a 1-1 tie as the Cleveland Indians edged the Kansas City Royals 2-1 before 8,236 fans at Cleveland Stadium.

Rick Langford pitched a 3-hitter and struck out 11 batters to win the pitchers' duel over Nolan Ryan as the Oakland Athletics edged the California Angels 1-0 before 19,485 fans at Anaheim Stadium. Miguel Dilone singled home Mario Guerrero with 2 out in the top of the 2nd inning for the game's only run. Mr. Ryan pitched a 6-hit complete game, with 8 strikeouts and 7 bases on balls.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Age of Reason--John Farnham

On the radio
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally syndicated radio program across the United States.

Died on this date
Florence Eldridge, 86. U.S. actress. Miss Eldridge was a character actress who appeared in 23 movies and television programs from 1923-1978, but was better known as a stage actress. She appeared in more than 20 Broadway plays in a career spanning almost 40 years, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her starring performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night (1956), which co-starred her husband Fredric March, who won a Tony Award for his performance.

10 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Eva Bartok, 71. Hungarian-born U.K. actress. Miss Bartok, born Éva Ivanovics, appeared in movies from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, including The Crimson Pirate (1952) and Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957).

Academia
Muslim Medics was founded as one of the largest student-led societies in Imperial College London, providing both academic and wellbeing support to medical students of all backgrounds.