March 26, 2009

840 years ago
1169

Politics and government
Saladin was appointed Vizier of Egypt by Caliph al-Adid.

525 years ago
1484

Literature
William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop's Fables.

360 years ago
1649

Died on this date
John Winthrop, 61 or 62. English-born American politician. Mr. Winthrop was a Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, writing of his vision of the colony as a "city upon a hill." He served as Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630-1634; 1637-1640; 1642-1644; and 1646-1649. Mr. Winthrop died in office of natural causes, and was succeeded as Governor by John Endecott.

170 years ago
1839

Sport
The Henley Regatta was established by a proposal from Captain Edmund Gardiner at a public meeting in the town hall of Henley, England.

150 years ago
1859

Born on this date
A. E. Housman. U.K. poet and classicist. Mr. Housman was best known for his 63-poem cycle A Shropshire Lad (1896). Mr. Housman also produced authoritative editions of classical authors such as Juvenal, Manilius, and Lucan. He died on April 30, 1936 at the age of 77.

100 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Chips Rafferty. Australian actor. Mr. Rafferty, born John Goffage, worked at various jobs before becoming an actor, embodying the typical Australian in movies such as Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940) and The Overlanders (1946). He died of a heart attack on May 27, 1971 at the age of 62.

90 years ago
1919

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal 0 @ Seattle 0 (2 OT) (Seattle led best-of-five series 2-1-1)

Georges Vezina of the Canadiens and Hap Holmes of the Metropolitans each earned shutouts as neither team was able to score at Seattle Ice Arena in a game played under National Hockey League rules.

80 years ago
1929

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
New York Rangers 2 @ Toronto 1 (OT) (New York won best-of-three series 2-0)

Frank Boucher scored at 2:05 of the 1st overtime period to give the Rangers their win over the Maple Leafs at Mutual Street Arena.

75 years ago
1934

Britannica
The driving test was introduced in the United Kingdom.

70 years ago
1939

War
Nationalist forces began their final offensive of the Spanish Civil War.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Montreal 0 @ Detroit 1 (OT) (Detroit won best-of-three series 2-1)

Marty Barry scored at 7:47 of the 1st overtime period to give the Red Wings their win over the Canadiens at Olympia Stadium.

Semi-Finals
New York Rangers 1 @ Boston 4 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-0)

60 years ago
1949

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Buttons and Bows--Dinah Shore and the Happy Valley Boys; Gene Autry (12th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Cruising Down the River--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Cruising Down the River--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Blue Barron and his Orchestra
--Jack Smith and the Clark Sisters
2 Far Away Places--Bing Crosby
--Perry Como
--Margaret Whiting and the Crew Chiefs
3 Powder Your Face with Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)--Evelyn Knight and the Stardusters
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
4 I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm--Les Brown and his Orchestra
--The Mills Brothers
5 A Little Bird Told Me--Evelyn Knight and the Stardusters
6 Galway Bay--Bing Crosby
7 Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Dinah Shore
8 Down by the Station--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
--Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
9 So Tired--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
10 So in Love--Gordon MacRae
--Dinah Shore

Singles entering the chart were Blue Room by Perry Como (#23); A Rosewood Spinet by Gordon MacRae (#30); Doo Dee Doo on an Old Kazoo by Art Mooney and his Orchestra (#31); and "A" You're Adorable (The Alphabet Song), with versions by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae; and Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters (#36).

On the radio
Tales of Fatima, starring Basil Rathbone, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Murder on Stage

War
Iran accused U.S.S.R. troops of raiding Iranian territory on the disputed Soviet-Iranian frontier east of the Caspian Sea.

The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee announced its willingness to begin peace negotiations with the Nationalist government, and named a five-member delegation headed by Chou En-lai to conduct talks.

Politics and government
Former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace, novelist Norman Mailer, and journalist I.F. Stone were among the participants in discussions at Carnegie Hall in New York sponsored by the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace.

Protest
Americans for Intellectual Freedom, organized by New York University Professor Sidney Hook, held a rally to protest the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace.

Crime
A U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. sentenced Mildred Gillars, popularly known as "Axis Sally," to 10-30 years in prison and fined her $10,000 for making Nazi radio propaganda broadcasts from Germany during World War II.

Economics and finance
France and Italy agreed to eliminate tariff duties on mutual trade within one year and to establish economic unity by 1955.

Disasters
Three days of tornadoes and gales in the South and Southwestern United States ended with 26 deaths.

Tennis
Pancho Gonzales and Gussie Moran won the men's and women's singles titles, respectively, at the U.S. indoor championships in New York.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Detroit 2 @ Montreal 3 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Boston 5 @ Toronto 4 (OT) (Toronto led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Woody Dumart's second goal of the game, at 16:14 of the 1st overtime period, gave the Bruins their win over the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Basketball
NCAA
Men's Championship
Final @ Seattle
Kentucky 46 Oklahoma 36

50 years ago
1959

Died on this date
Raymond Chandler, 70. U.S. author. Mr. Chandler was one of the major figures in the genre of "hard-boiled" detective fiction. He created the private investigator Philip Marlowe, who was the main character in novels such as The Big Sleep (1939); Farewell, My Lovely (1940); and The Long Goodbye (1953), all of which were made into movies. Mr. Chandler also wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Double Indemnity (1944); The Blue Dahlia (1946); and Strangers on a Train (1951), the first two of which earned him Academy Award nominations. He drank himself to death.

Defense
Nationalist Chinese President Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek said that his government was "making every possible effort" to give Tibet military aid, and would soon "join force" with Tibetan rebels on the mainland to fight Communist rule.

Academia
The York University Act received royal assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, becoming Ontario's tenth university. The non-denominational institution held its first classes in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus, with a total of 76 students.

Journalism
Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery President James McCook said in Ottawa that radio and television broadcasters could now apply for membership.

Health
The U.S. National Advisory Committee on Radiation, arguing that it would be "unwise to continue the assignment of...the public health aspects of atomic energy to the same agency that has a prime interest in the promotional aspects of the field," recommended that the U.S. radiation protection program be shifted to the Public Health Service.

Economics and finance
King Hussein of Jordan ended aid talks with U.S. officials in Washington.

Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood denounced the Canadian government's pledge of $36.5 million in economic aid over three years as inadequate.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Toronto 2 @ Boston 4 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-0)
Chicago 1 @ Montreal 5 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 2-0)

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): I Heard It Through the Grapevine--Marvin Gaye

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)
2 Edge of Reality/If I Can Dream--Elvis Presley
3 Build Me Up Buttercup--The Foundations
4 Crimson and Clover--Tommy James and the Shondells
5 Star Crossed Lovers--Neil Sedaka
6 I Started a Joke/Kilburn Towers--The Bee Gees
7 Lily the Pink--The Scaffold
8 Adios Amor--Jose Feliciano
9 Fox on the Run--Manfred Mann
10 Touch Me--The Doors

Singles entering the chart were First of May/Lamplight by the Bee Gees (#28); Surround Yourself with Sorrow by Cilla Black (#32); I'm Livin' in Shame by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#33); Hayride by the Flying Circus (#36); and Relax Me by the Groove (#38).

Died on this date
John Kennedy Toole, 31. U.S. author. Mr. Toole was best known for his comic novel A Confederacy of Dunces, which wasn't published during his lifetime. He committed suicide in obscurity (by carbon monoxide poisoning), but his mother took the manuscript of his novel to author Walker Percy, who was enthusiastic about it. A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Neon Bible, a short novel written by Mr. Toole when he was 16, was published in 1989.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched Meteor, part of the Soviet Union's weather satellite system.

War
Jordan reported that 18 civilians had been killed and 25 wounded when four Israeli bomber jets attacked roadside rest houses on the outskirts of a town 16 miles from Amman. Israel described the target as an Arab guerrilla base. At Jordan's request, the United Nations Security Council looked into the incident.

No casualties were reported in a clash between North Korean and American forces in the DMZ.

Politics and government
The Somali Youth League won 73 of 123 seats in the Somali parliamentary election. The Somali National Congress was second with 11 seats, followed by the Somali Independent Constitutional Party (8) and Somali African National Union (6).

Wearing a scarlet robe with ermine trimmings, Lord Constantine, the son of a Trinidadian cocoa farmer, and once one of the world's great cricket players, was installed as the first Negro member of the House of Lords, "with all the rights, privileges, preeminences, immunities, and advantages to the degree of baron."

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Le Freak-Chic (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Young Man (Y.M.C.A.)--Hideki Saijo (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?--Rod Stewart (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Jean Stafford, 63. U.S. authoress. Miss Stafford wrote three novels, but was best known for her short stories. She was awarded the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford. Miss Stafford's husbands included poet Robert Lowell and journalist A.J. Liebling. She drank heavily and suffered from depression, hastening her death from cardiac arrest.

Diplomacy
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David peace treaty in Washington, ending nearly 31 years of hostilities between the two countries. President Jimmy Carter signed as a witness for the United States.

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau obtained a dissolution of Parliament and called a federal election for May 22.

Law
A United States federal judge in Milwaukee granted a government motion to bar The Progressive's publication of an article describing how a hydrogen bomb works. It was the first such injunction to impose prior restraint in the name of national security.

25 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Girls Just Want to Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Thriller--Michael Jackson (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Bora Laskin, 71. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, 1974-1984. Mr. Laskin, a professor from Toronto, was a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1970-1973 and Chief Justice from 1973 until his death. Despite being the junior member of the Supreme Court, he was appointed Chief Justice by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, violating the tradition of the Chief Justice being the senior member of the Court. The senior Justice at the time was an Albertan, Ronald Martland. Indicative of Mr. Trudeau's meanness was the fact that he forced Justice Martland to swear Mr. Laskin into the position that he should have held. Perhaps the Supreme Court's most notable decision under Chief Justice Laskin came in 1981, when the Court ruled that Mr. Trudeau's attempt to unilaterally patriate the Constitution without the input of the provinces was technically legal, but would violate a tradition that had developed. Mr. Trudeau then began a new round of negotiations with provincial governments, which proved successful in realizing his aims.

Ahmed Sékou Touré, 62. 1st President of Guinea, 1958-1984. Mr. Touré, who became leader of the Democratic Party of Guinea in 1952, was one of the leaders of Guinea's move from French colony to independent nation. As President, he pursued an economic policy based on Marxism, and was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1961. Mr. Touré's administration was an example of Winston Churchill's description of black African politics as "One man, one vote, one time." He died in Cleveland, Ohio where he had been rushed after being struck by a heart problem the previous day while in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Touré was succeeded as acting President by Prime Minister Louis Lansana Béavogui, pending elections that were to be held within 45 days.

Crime
Four male Portuguese immigrants were handed prison sentences of 6-8 years and 9-12 years by Judge William Young in Fall River, Massachusetts after being convicted in two separate trials of aggravated rape for the 1983 gang rape of a woman in a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): She Drives Me Crazy--Fine Young Cannibals (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart--Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney (4th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Calgary 7 Chicago 5

10 years ago
1999

War
NATO planes downed two MiGs over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Crime
"Dr." Jack Kevorkian, who claimed that he had helped 130 people to take their own lives, was found guilty in Oakland County (Michigan) Circuit Court of second-degree murder in the death (by injection of a lethal drug) of Thomas Youk, who was fatally ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A tape of Mr. Youk's death was played on national television.
In four previous trials, "Dr." Kevorkian had never been convicted of a death, as the patients in those cases had self-administered lethal drugs. "Dr." Kevorkian acted as his own attorney.

Labour
Ex-miners suffering from lung diseases won the biggest industrial injuries case in British legal history, a compensation deal worth £2 billion.