June 28, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, James Remnant!

910 years ago
1098

War
Fighters of the First Crusade led by Bohemond defeated Kerbogha of Mosul in what is now Iraq.

230 years ago
1778

War
The American Continental Army engaged British forces in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey, resulting in a standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness.

170 years ago
1838

Britannica
Queen Victoria was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.

Politics and government
Canadian Governor General Lord Durham banished eight Patriote leaders to Bermuda without trial, including Dr. Wolfred Nelson. He proclaimed an amnesty for 107 jailed rebels (released on bail of $5,000-20,000), but not for the 16 Patriotes still in the United States (including George-Etienne Cartier), and the ten accused of the murder of George Weir.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Alfred Fronval. French aviator. Mr. Fronval, who held the world's record for looping the loop, burned to death when his aircraft struck a parked military aircraft while landing during the Vincennes Fair in Vincennes.

Aviation
Captain Frank Horton flew a monoplane from Lisbon to Horta in the Azores, 1,000 miles in 11 hours.

Politics and government
The U.S. Democratic National Convention continued at Sam Houston Hall in Houston, with New York Governor Al Smith being elected on the first ballot as the party's 1928 U.S. presidential nominee.

60 years ago
1948

On the radio
The Casebook of Gregory Hood, starring Elliott Lewis, on MBS

War
United Nations mediator Folke Bernadotte submitted a proposal for a permanent Palestine settlement to the Arab League and Israel, calling for a union of Arab Palestine with Transjordan; free Jewish immigration for a trial period of two years; and territorial readjustments (the Negev Desert going to the Arabs and the western Gallilee to the Jews).

Politics and government
The Tito–Stalin Split resulted in the expulsion of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from the Cominform.

Peruvian President Jose Luis Bustamante imposed emergency rule by decree to avert an "acute national crisis" caused by the "dangerous" growth of political tension and unrest within the armed forces.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Harry Truman signed the $6.03-billion foreign aid bill, providing funds for the Marshall Plan; U.S. aid to Greece, Turkey, and China; and U.S. participation in the International Children's Fund and the International Relief Organization.

Labour
King George VI proclaimed a state of emergency and authorized soldiers to move cargoes immobilized on London's docks by a 15-day wildcat strike of 19,000 London longshoremen.

Disasters
A series of earthquakes followed by fires destroyed most of the Japanese industrial city of Fukui and surrounding towns on Honshu, killing over 3,200 residents.

Boxing
Sugar Ray Robinson (87-1-1) retained his world welterweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Bernard Docusen (49-3-4) at Comiskey Park in Chicago.



Dick Turpin (73-13-5) won a 15-round decision over Vince Hawkins (73-6-1) before 40,000 fans at Villa Park in Birmingham, England to win the British and British Empire middleweight titles, becoming the first Negro British champion in the modern era.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Twilight Time--The Platters

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): March from the River Kwai and Colonel Bogey--Mitch Miller and his Orchestra (12th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Hello, le soleil brille--Annie Cordy (16th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): All I Have to Do is Dream/Claudette--The Everly Brothers

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Purple People Eater--Sheb Wooley (3rd week at #1)
2 All I Have to Do is Dream--The Everly Brothers
3 Yakety-Yak--The Coasters
4 Secretly--Jimmie Rodgers
5 Do You Want to Dance--Bobby Freeman
6 Jennie Lee--Jan & Arnie
7 Return to Me--Dean Martin
8 Big Man--The Four Preps
9 Witch Doctor--David Seville
10 Endless Sleep--Jody Reynolds

Singles entering the chart were Hard Headed Woman by Elvis Presley (#34); Baubles, Bangles and Beads by the Kirby Stone Four (#43); Angel Baby by Dean Martin (#57); and Little Serenade by the Ames Brothers (#67). Hard Headed Woman was from the movie King Creole (1958).

War
Cuban guerrillas captured 29 U.S. servicemen returning by bus to the Guantanamo Bay Navy base.

Politics and government
France ordered the release of 30 Algerian political prisoners in order to win Muslim support for French plans for the colony's future. The French cabinet also approved decrees limiting the powers of General Raoul Salan's military administration, and named Algerian Secretary General Rene Brouillet as central coordinator for the execution of Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle's Algerian policies.

The Connecticut Democratic convention renominated Governor Abraham Ribicoff and nominated former U.S. Representative Thomas Dodd for the Senate.

Golf
Mickey Wright, 23, became the first player to win the top two prizes in women's golf in the same season, defeating Louise Suggs in the United States Open at Pontiac, Michigan, three weeks after beating Fay Crocker in the LPGA championship at Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. First prize money was $1,800.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Lazy Sunday--Small Faces

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Sky Pilot (Parts One and Two)--Eric Burdon and the Animals
2 Lady Willpower--Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
3 Yummy Yummy Yummy--Ohio Express
4 Angel of the Morning--Merrilee Rush
5 Sleepy Joe--Herman's Hermits
6 Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me--Tiny Tim
7 Jumpin' Jack Flash--The Rolling Stones
8 I Love You--People
9 D.W. Washburn--The Monkees
10 Bring a Little Lovin'--Los Bravos
Pick hit of the Week: Tell Someone You Love Them--Dino, Desi and Billy
New this week: Just a Little Bit--Blue Cheer
Everybody's Talkin'--Nilsson
Girl from the North Country--Tom Northcott
Hello, I Love You--The Doors

Those who remember Everybody's Talkin' as a hit in the fall of 1969 taken from the soundtrack of Midnight Cowboy might be surprised to learn that the song was originally released a year earlier. The 1968 single, with Don't Leave Me as the B-side, was taken from Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet. Released in mono, the 1968 single failed to chart in the United States, but made it to #35 in Canada. The 1969 single, released in stereo, had The Rainmaker as the B-side, and made it to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Disasters
4 people were killed and at least 20 injured in the flaming collision of a Greyhound bus and a passenger car 13 miles south of Eugene, Oregon.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): You're the One that I Want--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Clifford Dupont, 72. 1st President of Rhodesia, 1970-1975. Mr. Dupont, a member of the Dominion Party and then the Rhodesian Front, was a British Royal Artillery officer who moved to Rhodesia in the early 1950s. He was Deputy Prime Minister to Ian Smith from 1964-1965, and following Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence, served as Officer Administrating the Government from 1965-1970 and then as President. Mr. Dupont died while undergoing radium treatment for what was believed to be cancer, after several years of declining health.

Diplomacy
U.S. businessman F. Jay Crawford, a representative of International Harvester, was released in the custody of U.S. Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. Malcolm Toon, 16 days after Mr. Crawford had been arrested in Moscow on charges of having exchanged 20,000 rubles (U.S.$29,000 at the official rate of exchange) for dollars on the black market. Mr. Crawford's release was apparently in exchange for the June 26 release by the United States of two accused Soviet spies, on $2 million bail each, into the custody of U.S.S.R. Ambassador to the U.S.A. Anatoly Dobrynin.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke to bar quota systems in college admissions, but declared that affirmative action programs giving advantage to minorities were constitutional.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Montreal (2-1) 25 @ Ottawa (1-2) 4
Winnipeg (2-1) 25 @ Calgary (1-2) 10

20 years ago
1988

Politics and government
In a keynote address on the opening day of the 19th All-Union Conference of the Soviet Communist Party--and the first such conference since 1941--Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed to create a central government headed by a strong president who would be chosen by a 2,250-member Congress of People's Deputies, representative of the Soviet people. He called for a limit of two five-year terms for party leaders; multi-candidate elections; a commission to combat corruption; a review of the Soviet constitution; more authority for local legislatures over local matters; and a ban on interference in the management of economic affairs by party organizations. Mr. Gorbachev supported freedom of conscience in religion, and he condemned the "cult of personality" under Josef Stalin and the "period of stagnation" under Leonid Brezhnev. He also warned that the government's budget deficit was growing.

The legislatures of British Columbia and Ontario ratified the Meech Lake constitutional accord.

Crime
U.S. attorney Rudolph Giuliani filed a suit in New York under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, asking a federal court to remove the leaders of the Teamsters Union and appoint a trustee to run it. Mr. Giuliani said that his goal was "to take back the Teamsters from the Mafia," and said that organized crime had deprived union members of their rights through 20 murders as well as through shootings, bombings, beatings, extortion, and theft. Mr. Giuliani noted that four of the last five teamsters presidents had been indicted while in office and three had been imprisoned.

Law
The Canadian Parliament passed a law banning tobacco advertising, with some exceptions.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Calgary (1-0) 39 @ British Columbia (0-1) 27