June 5, 2008

210 years ago
1798

War
The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster was defeated in the Battle of New Ross.

125 years ago
1883

Born on this date
John Maynard Keynes. U.K. economist. Mr. Keynes has probably been the most influential economist in western society in the last century. His view that governments should increase spending in a recession in order to spur the economy continues to wreak havoc today. Mr. Keynes was profiled by Dave Breese in Mr. Breese's book 7 Men who Rule the World from the Grave.

120 years ago
1888

Disasters
The Rio de la Plata earthquake took place, resulting in little damage in Brazil and Uruguay.

60 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Nature Boy--King Cole (4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Nature Boy--King Cole (2nd week at #1)
--Frank Sinatra
--Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners
--The Sportsmen
2 Little White Lies--Dick Haymes
--Dinah Shore
3 Toolie Oolie Doolie (The Yodel Polka)--The Andrews Sisters
--Vaughn Horton and the Polka Debs
--The Sportsmen
4 Sabre Dance--Woody Herman and his Orchestra
--Freddy Martin and his Orchestra
5 The Dickey-Bird Song--Freddy Martin and his Orchestra
6 Now is the Hour (Maori Farewell Song)--Bing Crosby
--Gracie Fields
--Margaret Whiting
--Eddy Howard and his Orchestra
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
7 St. Louis Blues March--Tex Beneke and his Orchestra
8 Because--Perry Como
9 Baby Face--Art Mooney and his Orchestra
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Jack Smith and the Clark Sisters
10 You Can't Be True, Dear--Ken Griffin
--Vera Lynn
--Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners
--The Sportsmen

Singles entering the chart were the versions of Nature Boy by Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners, and The Sportsmen; A Fella with an Umbrella by Frank Sinatra (#26); A Fella with an Umbrella (also #26, charting with the version by Frank Sinatra)/Blue Shadows on the Trail (#39) by Bing Crosby (#26); Confess, with versions by Doris Day and Buddy Clark; and Patti Page (#27); Fool that I Am by the Ravens (#32); What Do I Have to Do (To Make You Love Me), with versions by Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra; and Dick Haymes (#33); and Blue Shadows on the Trail by Buddy Clark (#39, charting with the version by Bing Crosby). The version of Nature Boy by the Sportsmen was the other side of Toolie Oolie Doolie (The Yodel Polka).

Politics and government
French Indochina High Commissioner Emile Bollaert and conservative Vietnamese political leader Nguyen Van Xuan signed the Bay of Along agreement, establishing a provisional Vietnamese government in Tonkin, Annam and Cochin, China. France retained control over the new state's foreign and military affairs.

The Massachusetts Democratic Party convention gave 36 delegate votes at the party's national convention to U.S. President Harry Truman.

Labour
The United Packinghouse Workers ended their 82-day strike against Wilson and Co., where a standard meatpacking contract went into effect.

Horse racing
My Love, with William Johnstone up, won the 169th running of the English Derby at Epsom Downs.

50 years ago
1958

Theatre
Ulysses in Nighttown, starring Zero Mostel, Carroll O'Connor, John Astin, and Anne Meara, opened at the Rooftop Theatre off-Broadway in New York City.

Space
Walter Dornberger, Bell Aircraft Corporation technical aide and former head of Germany's V-2 rocket program, denounced moon shots and other space exploration projects as "stunts" that should be subordinated to weapons development.

War
Rejecting French Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle's appeal for an end to the four-year Algerian revolt, the FLN Committee of Coordination and Execution in Cairo said that his proposals were a "perpetuation of the colonial policies of France."

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Young Girl--The Union Gap (3rd week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Honey--Bobby Goldsboro (4th week at #1)
2 The Unicorn--The Irish Rovers
3 Young Girl--The Union Gap
4 Congratulations--Cliff Richard
5 If I Only Had Time--John Rowles
6 Delilah--Tom Jones
7 Lady Madonna/The Inner Light--The Beatles
8 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly--Hugo Montenegro, his Orchestra and Chorus
9 The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp--O.C. Smith
10 Valleri/Tapioca Tundra--The Monkees

Singles entering the chart were Do You Know the Way to San Jose by Dionne Warwick (#27); Love Machine by Pastoral Symphony (#31); Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel (#33); and Cuddly Toy (EP) by the Monkees (#38).

At the movies
For Singles Only, co-written and directed by Arthur Dreifuss, and starring John Saxon, Mary Ann Mobley, Lana Wood, Mark Richman, and Milton Berle, opened in theatres.



Crime
U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (Democrat--New York) concluded his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, after winning the California Democratic Party U.S. Presidential primary. He then took a shortcut through the kitchen, where he was shot in the head at 12:16 A.M. by Sirhan B. Sirhan, 24, a Jordanian Arab who had been living in the Los Angeles area for 11 years. Sen. Kennedy was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where surgeons removed bullet fragments from his brain; he remained in critical condition throughout the day.



War
At the Paris peace talks, North Vietnam demanded an end to U.S. bombing, while U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Averell Harriman charged that 40,000 North Vietnamese troops were fighting in Laos in violation of the 1962 Geneva neutralization accord.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Wuthering Heights--Kate Bush (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Darling--Kenji Sawada

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (4th week at #1)

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review, and so let stand, a decision that a New Hampshire statutory rape law was unconstitutional. The law, since replaced, had made it a crime for an adult to have sexual relations with an underage consenting female, but ignored relations with underage males.

Economics and finance
As the result of failure to negotiate a fishing treaty, Canada and the United States began excluding one another's commercial fishing vessels from their respective waters and the U.S.A. banned Canadian recreational fishing in American waters, while both sides were careful to avoid arrests or other confrontations.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Bruttosozialprodukt--Geier Sturzflug (3rd week at #1)

Disasters
A Soviet passenger ship on the Volga River crashed into a bridge over the river, tearing the ship's upper deck off, and killing over 100 people.

Football
CFL
The Edmonton Eskimos played their Green and Gold intrasquad game for the first time in 10 years. The Green team consisted entirely of defensive players while Gold was composed entirely of offensive players. Gold won 19-0, with Warren Moon throwing touchdown passes to Tom Scott and Waddell Smith. The game marked the team's first appearance on the field under new head coach Pete Kettela. Among the new players was a rookie quarterback named Matt Dunigan. It was also the first game for the new $2.9-million scoreboard--already a monochrome lemon--at Commonwealth Stadium. Fans booed the repeated Diet Pepsi commercials featuring Michael Jackson. Another unwelcome innovation was a new fight song, replacing the traditional Eskimo fight song, which had been around since the mid-1950s. "Go, Go, Go with the Eskimos" sounded like something dreamed up by a marketing agency, and it proved to be so unpopular that by the end of the 1983 season the old fight song was back, and the new one permanently disappeared.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Don't Turn Around--Aswad

#1 single in Switzerland: Theme from S-Express--S-Express

Theatre
The Tony Awards for 1987-88 were presented at the Minkoff Theatre in New York. The Phantom of the Opera won seven awards, including Best Musical.

Politics and government
Candidates with the conservative coalition outpolled socialists in the first round of voting for Deputies in the French National Assembly.

10 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Sam Yorty, 88. U.S. politician. Mr. Yorty, a Democrat unitl 1980, sat in the California State Assembly from 1937-1941 and 1949-1950, and represented California's 14th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1951-1953. He was Mayor of Los Angeles from 1961-1973, during which time Los Angeles grew as a major city, but Mayor Yorty's popularity gradually declined. He was defeated by Tom Bradley in 1973, and failed in later attempts to win office.

Jeanette Nolan, 86. U.S. actress. Miss Nolan appeared in numerous radio and television programs and in movies such as Macbeth (1948) and The Big Heat (1953). She was nominated for four Emmy Awards.

Labour
A strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spread to five other assembly plants. The strike lasted seven weeks.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Western Conference
Finals
Dallas 0 @ Detroit 2 (Detroit won best-of-seven series 4-2)

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Chicago 93 @ Utah 88 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)