November 28, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Chris Milner!

890 years ago
1118

Born on this date
Manuel I. Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 1143-1180. Manuel I succeeded his father John II on the throne. He engaged in various military campaigns and was highly regarded in his time, but some modern historians attribute his good reputation to the Komnenos dynasty that he was a member of, and connect him with the subsequent decline of that dynasty. Manuel died of a slow fever on September 24, 1180 at the age of 61, and was succeeded on the throne by his son Alexios II.

140 years ago
1868

Born on this date
František Drdla. Czech musician and composer. Mr. Drdla had a successful career as a concert violinist, and wrote three operettas, a violin concerto, and several orchestral and chamber works, but was primarily known for composing light works for violin and piano. He died on September 3, 1944 at the age of 75.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Michael Adekunle Ajasin. Nigerian politician. Mr. Ajasin was involved in Nigerian politics before and after the country gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1960. He sat in the Federal House of Representatives from 1954-1966, and was Governor of Ondo from 1979-1983, winning re-election shortly before a military coup took over Nigeria. Mr. Ajasin died on October 3, 1997 at the age of 88.

Claude Lévi-Strauss. Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist. Professor Lévi-Strauss has been called one of the "fathers of modern anthropology." He was a major figure in the field of structural anthropology, arguing that human characteristics are the same everywhere and that cultures are determined by their interrelationships. Professor Lévi-Strauss's best-known book was Tristes Tropiques (1955); he died on October 30, 2009, 29 days before his 101st birthday.

Disasters
A coal mine explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania killed 154 men, leaving only one survivor.

Football
CRU
Dominion Final
McGill University 17 @ Hamilton Tigers 21

This was the last dominion final prior to the donation of the Grey Cup in 1909.

U.S. college
Army 6 Navy 4 @ Franklin Field, Philadelphia

80 years ago
1928

Diplomacy
U.S. President-elect Herbert Hoover continued his goodwill tour of Latin America with a visit to San Jose, Costa Rica.

Crime
A 37-year-old bootlegger, whose name wasn't mentioned, was sentenced in Flint, Michigan by Circuit Court Judge Brennan to life in prison for a fourth offense against the state's liquor laws. He was said to be the first "simon pure" bootlegger to be sentenced to life imprisonment under Michigan's habitual criminal law. Other "lifers" in the state had had other felonies interspersed with their bootlegging activities, according to official records.

Protest
The 300-member student body of Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois began a five-day strike in protest against the college's efforts to cut its budget by "streamlining" the academic program by dropping some majors and courses. While the students boycotted classes, they conducted tutorials in residence halls and fraternity houses in order to keep up in their course work. One of the leaders of the strike was freshman Ronald Reagan, 17.

Bowling
O. Stein and R. Nelson set a two-man record, pinning 1,393 in games in the Mid-West tournament in St. Louis.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
William McDougall, 67. U.K.-born psychologist. Dr. McDougall taught at University College London and Oxford before moving to the United States, serving as a professor of psychology at Harvard University (1920-1927) and then at Duke University, where he established the Parapsychology Laboratory under J.B. Rhine. Dr. McDougall was important in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology, and wrote a number of influential textbooks. He was an opponent of behaviourism, and used an approach he called hormic psychology, arguing that behaviour was generally goal-oriented and purposive. Dr. McDougall was a eugenicist who believed in a form of Lamarckism (the inheritance of acquired characteristics), and believed that there was an animating principle in matter. He was critical of spiritualism, but researched psychic phenomena.

60 years ago
1948

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring John Stanley and George Spelvin (Wendell Holmes), on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Well Advertised Murder

Politics and government
Former Japanese Prime Minister Hitoshi Ashida resigned as president of the Democratic Party, following the discovery of his involvement in a bribery scandal.

Academia
The U.S. National Executive Council of Phi Kappi Psi upheld the suspension of the fraternity's Amherst College chapter for admitting a Negro.

Labour
A strike by 2,000 workers at Johns-Manville plant in Asbestos, Quebec began; the strike lasted until 1950.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Hoots Mon--Lord Rockingham's XI

Politics and government
The territorial assemblies of Gabon, Chad, Congo, and Mauritania chose to become autonomous republics within the French Community.

World events
The Yugoslavian government issued amnesty decrees freeing 838 prisoners and shortening the terms of 1,178 others.

Defense
The U.S. Air Force fired a three-stage Atlas missile "the full intercontinental range" of 6,325 miles for the first time.

Labour
Refusing to meet the wage demands of striking railway workers, Argentine President Arturo Frondizi issued a mobilization decree outlawing the strike and drafting all rail workers into the army.

Sport
A three-judge U.S. federal court in New Orleans ruled that a 1956 Louisiana law banning sports meets between whites and Negroes was unconstitutional.

Boxing
Mike DeJohn (36-5-1) won a 10-round unanimous decision over Willi Besmanoff (39-14-7) in a heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.



Hockey
NHL
Punch Imlach, who had recently moved up from assistant general manager to general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, fired coach Billy Reay and replaced him with himself. The Maple Leafs were in sixth and last place in the standings at the time.

40 years ago
1968

On television tonight
Dragnet 1969, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Public Affairs: DR-14



30 years ago
1978

On television tonight
The Paper Chase, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Kingsfield's Daughter



Law
A court in Quebec declared the provincial government's Bill 101, making French the only working language in Quebec, to be ultra vires, i.e., beyond the province's jurisdiction.

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 3 Philadelphia 0

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Reckless (Don't Be So)--Australian Crawl

Space
The U.S. space shuttle Columbia was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission carried Spacelab 1--the first laboratory module--into orbit. The crew were: John Young Commander; Brewster Shaw, Pilot; Owen Garriott and Robert Parker, Mission Specialists; and Ulf Merbold and Byron Lichtenberg, Payload Specialists. For Mr. Young, who had first gone into space aboard Gemini 3 in 1965, it was his recoed sixth--and last--spaceflight. It was the second and last spaceflight for Mr. Garriott, whose previous mission had been Skylab 2 in 1973.

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and U.S. President Ronald Reagan began two days of talks in Washington.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau continued his "peace initiative" by visiting Beijing for two days of talks with Chinese Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang and Chairman Deng Xiaoping.

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone dissolved the House of Representatives and called an election after a brief boycott of the parliamentary proceedings by opposition parties. The opposition had been protesting the refusal of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka to give up his seat after being convicted of accepting a bribe from Lockheed Corporation. Although a compromised had been worked out in which the governing Liberal Democratic Party agreed to form an ethics committee to guard against future corruption, Mr. Tanaka became an issue in the election.

Defense
The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the Cabinet decision to allow U.S. cruise missile testing in Canada did not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Disasters
A Nigerian Airways Fokker-28 airliner crashed 300 miles east of Lagos, killing 65 people.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You--Glenn Medeiros (2nd week at #1)

Economics and finance
The prime lending rate charged by major U.S. banks rose from 10% to 10.5%, its highest level since May 1985.

Business
The Québec Nordiques of the National Hockey League were sold to local interests.

10 years ago
1998

Football
Vanier Cup @ SkyDome, Toronto
Saskatchewan 24 Concordia 17

Linebacker Trevor Ludtke recovered an opposition fumble in the Concordia end zone with 2:08 remaining in regulation time to break a 17-17 tie as the heavily-favoured Huskies narrowly defeated the Stingers before 15,157 fans. Concordia had the ball on its own 18-yard lne when quarterback Jon Kronemeyer faded back to pass and was grabbed by Saskatchewan linebacker Michael Milo. Mr. Kronemeyer pitched the ball backward to running back Evan Davis, but the ball sailed over Mr. Davis's head and bounced along the goal line; Mr. Davis ran along the goal line in stead of forward, and fumbled into the end zone when he was hit by defensive lineman Brent Dancey, and Mr. Ludtke recovered. Todd Lynden scored the other Saskatchewan touchdown on a 9-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Reid with 1:56 remaining in the 2nd quarter to break a 3-3 tie. Matt Kellett converted both TDs and added 3 field goals and a single. The Stingers scored both their touchdowns in the 3rd quarter, on a 55-yard rush by Mr. Davis and a 56-yard interception return by Greg Casey. David Miller-Johnston converted both Concordia TDs and added a field goal. Doug Rozon led the Huskies' offense with 23 carries for 140 yards and 2 pass receptions for 28 yards. Saskatchewan defensive back Kurtis Albers set a Vanier Cup record with 3 interceptions, with the last coming on the last play of the game.