May 4, 2009

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, John Dea!

210 years ago
1799

Died on this date
Tipu, 48. Sultan of Mysore, 1782-1799. Tipu succeeded his father Hyder Ali and ruled the Kingdom of Mysore until his death at the hands of British East India Company forces while defending Seringapatam. He was succeeded on the throne by Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.

War
The month-long siege of Seringapatam ended when the city was invaded by besieging British East India Company forces under the command of General George Harris, with help from Hyderabad forces.

150 years ago
1859

Transportation
The Cornwall Railway opened across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking Devon and Cornwall in England.

Economics and finance
The Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Western Canada, and La Banque nationale were incorporated.

140 years ago
1869

War
Imperial Japanese Navy forces defeated those of the rebel Republic of Ezo in the Naval Battle of Hakodate.

120 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Francis Spellman. U.S. clergyman. Cardinal Spellman was Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York from 1939-1967 and was named a Cardinal in 1946. He was a strong opponent of Communism and supported the U.S. war in Vietnam. Cardinal Spellman died on December 2, 1967 at the age of 78.

110 years ago
1899

Horse racing
Manuel, with Fred Taral up, won the 25th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:12; Carsini placed second and Mazo finished third in the five-horse field.

90 years ago
1919

Protest
The May Fourth Movement of student demonstrations began in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

70 years ago
1939

Baseball
Ted Williams hit 2 home runs in a game for the first time in his major league career, as the Boston Red Sox edged the Detroit Tigers 7-6 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The second of Mr. Williams' homers, off Bob Harris in the 5th inning, went over the right field roof, the first ball hit out over the double deck at the stadium, which had opened as Navin Field in 1912. The homers were the Splendid Splinter's 2nd and 3rd in the major leagues. Rudy York hit his first home run of the season for the Tigers.

60 years ago
1949

At the movies
The Barkleys of Broadway, a musical comedy directed by Charles Walters, and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, opened in theatres. It was the tenth and final film to star Mr. Astaire and Miss Rogers, and their only film together in colour.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R., U.S.A., U.K., and France formally agreed to convene a foreign ministers conference on Germany in return for the lifting of the Berlin blockade on May 12.

Defense
The Belgian Chamber of Deputies ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Senate-approved measure authorizing $75 million for construction of a 3,000-mile guided missile test range based in Florida.

Politics and government
Leslie Frost was sworn in as Premier of Ontario, succeeding Thomas Kennedy as head of the province's Progressive Conservative government. Mr. Kennedy had served as interim Premier since October 19, 1948, after George Drew had resigned upon winning the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party.

Disasters
An Avio Linee Italiane Fiat G.212 crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga, on a hill on the outskirts of Turin, killing all 31 people aboard, including the entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury, and Renato Gandolfi, because of the coach's request). Torino was declared the winner of the 1948-49 Serie A season.

Swimming
In New Haven, Connecticut, Allen Stack set two American records: 2:18.5 in the men's 200-metre backstroke, and 2:19.4 in the 220-yard backstroke.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Mariquilla--José Luís y su Guitarra (12th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Come Softly to Me--The Fleetwoods (4th week at #1)
2 The Happy Organ--Dave "Baby" Cortez
3 Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)--The Impalas
4 Pink Shoe Laces--Dodie Stevens
5 Guitar Boogie Shuffle--The Virtues
6 (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I--Elvis Presley
7 I Need Your Love Tonight--Elvis Presley
8 Tell Him No--Travis and Bob
9 Venus--Frankie Avalon
10 Turn Me Loose--Fabian

Singles entering the chart were Kansas City by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (#73); Lonesome Old House by Don Gibson (#77); Just Keep it Up by Dee Clark (#81); Peace by the McGuire Sisters (#85); You Made Me Love You by Nat "King" Cole (#87); Young Ideas by Chico Holiday (#89); White Lightning by George Jones (#90); The Fountain of Youth by the Four Lads (#92); Old Spanish Town by the Bell Notes (#95); Separate Ways by Sarah Vaughan (#96); Kansas City by Rocky Olson (#98); Three Stars by Ruby Wright (#99); and Talk of the School by Sonny James (#100).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKWX)
1 Three Stars--Tommy Dee with Carol Kay and the Teen-Aires
2 (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I/I Need Your Love Tonight--Elvis Presley
3 Guitar Boogie Shuffle--The Virtues
4 The Tijuana Jail--The Kingston Trio
5 Tell Him No--Travis and Bob
6 The Happy Organ--Dave "Baby" Cortez
7 It's Late/Never Be Anyone Else But You--Ricky Nelson
8 Kansas City--Wilbert Harrison
9 Come Softly to Me--The Fleetwoods
10 Goodbye, Jimmy, Goodbye--Kathy Linden

Singles entering the chart were So Close by Brook Benton (#27, charting with its other side, Endlessly); The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton (#40); String of Trumpets by the Trumpeteers (#53); You Made Me Love You/I Must Be Dreaming by Nat "King" Cole (#54); Crossfire by Johnny and the Hurricanes (#56); You're So Fine by the Falcons (#58); and Castin' My Spell by the Johnny Otis Show (#60).

Music
The first Grammy Awards ceremony, honouring outstanding achievements in the recording industry for 1958, took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare) by Domenico Modugno was named Record of the Year, as well as Song of the Year. The Music from Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini was named Album of the Year.

Literature
Columbia University awarded Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (Archibald MacLeish--J.B.); Fiction (Robert Lewis Taylor--The Travels of Jamie McPheeters); History (Leonard White and Jean Schneider--The Republican Era: 1869-1901); Biography (Arthur Walworth--Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet); and Poetry (Stanley Kunitz--Selected Poems 1928-1958).

Defense
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru rejected proposals that India and Pakistan resolve their differences and set up a defensive alliance against Communist China.

Politics and government
Former U.S. President Harry Truman said that he considered the two-term presidential limit a "bad amendment" which had been adopted on the urging of "the Roosevelt haters" and had made "a lame duck out of every second-term President."

40 years ago
1969

Died on this date
Osbert Sitwell, 76. U.K. writer. Sir Osbert, the sibling of writers Edith and Sacheverell Sitwell, wrote fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with his works including art criticism, several novels, and a four-volume autobiography (1943-1949). He died in the family castle in Italy after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

Troy Ruttman, Jr., 18. U.S. auto racing driver. Mr. Ruttman, the son of 1952 Indianapolis 500 winner Troy Ruttman, Sr., was competing in his first race--a supermodified race--at Pocono International Speedway in Pennsylvania, driving a modified car that his father had driven in the 1963 Indianapolis 500, when a throttle stuck on the 65th lap of the 100-mile race, sending the car through a guardrail, a chain-link fence, another guardrail, and under the grandstand. Mr. Ruttman suffered a fatal skull fracture.

Protest
More than 10,000 men and women of all ages jammed the main square of Estella, Spain in a demonstration of hostility toward the regime of dictator Francisco Franco. The demonstration violated all the usual rules of Spanish politics, but police didn't interfere for hours.

Abominations
James Foreman, director of the National Black Economic Development Council, disrupted a communion service at Riverside Church in New York as part of his campaign to extort $500 million in reparations from American churches and synagogues for alleged past injustices to Negroes. Mr. Foreman read his demands from the Riverside pulpit, explaining that the church had been singled out because it was in the heart of Harlem and because of its connection with the late John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Translation: That's where the money was, accompanied by likely feelings of white liberal guilt). Mr. Foreman demanded, among other things, 60% of the church's income.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal 2 @ St. Louis 1 (Montreal won best-of-seven series 4-0)

Ted Harris scored 42 seconds into the 3rd period to tie the score and John Ferguson scored at 3:02 to break the tie as the Canadiens edged the Blues at St. Louis Arena to win their second straight Stanley Cup championship. Terry Gray scored at 10:50 of the 2nd period to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead, but that was the only one of 33 shots to beat Montreal goalie Rogie Vachon. Montreal defenceman Serge Savard was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player. Claude Ruel, who had replaced Toe Blake after the Canadiens' 1968 Stanley Cup win, was the winning coach. It was the second straight defeat in the finals for the Blues under coach Scotty Bowman. The playoffs haven't ended as early in the calendar year since.





30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Hallelujah--Milk & Honey

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Dschinghis Khan--Dschinghis Khan (4th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Born to Be Alive--Patrick Hernandez (10th week at #1)

Terrorism
Leftists (i.e., Communists) seized the French and Costa Rican embassies in San Salvador and held the ambassadors hostage, demanding the release of five comrades who had been jailed on May 1.

25 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Girls Just Wanna Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): People are People--Depeche Mode (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Diana Dors, 52. U.K. actress. Miss Dors, born Diana Fluck, was the leading British female sex symbol of the 1950s. Her films included Yield to the Night (1956); The Unholy Wife (1957); and I Married a Woman (1958). Miss Dors died of ovarian cancer.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate had held steady in April at 7.7%.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Finnish Singles Chart): Like a Prayer--Madonna (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Far from Home--Daniel O'Donnell

Space
The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, with a five-member crew commanded by David Walker, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida to begin mission STS-30. 6 hours and 14 minutes later, the crew deployed the probe Magellan on a 15-month, 800-million-mile trip to Venus. Magellan's mission was to use radar to map 90% of the surface of Venus.

Protest
100,000 students and workers staged a march in Beijing to demand democratic reforms in China.

Scandal
Former U.S. National Security Council member Oliver North became the first person convicted in a jury trial in connection with the mid-1980s Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. He was convicted of aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress by preparing a false chronology of arms sales to Iran by the U.S. administration of President Ronald Reagan; altering, destroying, removing, or concealing NSC documents related to Mr. North's efforts to assist the Nicaraguan Contra opposition forces when it was forbidden by law; and receiving as an illegal gratuity a $13,800 security system for his home to protect him and his family from Arab terrorist Abu Nidal. Meanwhile, U.S. President George Bush denied that he had offered increased aid to Honduras in 1985 (while he was Vice President) in return for that country's support for the Contras.

Law
The Supreme Court of Canada overturned a Manitoba Court of Appeal ruling and restored the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench that an employer was responsible for sexual harassment committed by an employee. The appellants, Dianna Janzen and Tracy Govereau, originally filed a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission against their employer, Platy Enterprises Ltd., as a result of the same harassment by the same employee, a cook, whose behaviour toward them caused one of the women to quit and the other to be fired.

Hockey
NHL
One day after defecting from the Soviet Union, the 20-year-old Alexander Mogilny signed with the Buffalo Sabres. Mr. Mogilny had slipped away from a banquet in Stockholm during a celebration for the U.S.S.R.'s 21st world championship.

Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference Finals
Chicago 4 @ Calgary 2 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Baseball
Toronto Blue Jays' designated hitter Junior Felix became the 53rd player to hit a home run in his first major league at bat, hitting the first pitch he faced from Kirk McCaskill of the California Angels in the bottom of the 3rd inning before 21,188 fans at Exhibition Stadium. He was the 27th player in American League history to accomplish the feat, and the 10th AL player to hit the first pitch he faced for a home run. The Angels edged the Blue Jays 3-2 in 10 innings.

10 years ago
1999

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Pittsburgh 4 New Jersey 2
St. Louis 1 Phoenix 0 (OT)