June 9, 2009

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Sandie Topechka!

475 years ago
1534

Exploration
French navigator Jacques Cartier sailed into the St. Lawrence River for the first time. Commissioned by King Francis I of France to explore the northern lands in search of gold, spices, and a northern passage to Asia, Mr. Cartier's voyages underlay France's claims to what is now Canada.

120 years ago
1889

Died on this date
Mike Burke, 35. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Burke was a utility player with the Cincinnati Reds in 1879, batting .222 with no home runs and 8 runs batted in in 28 games. He played with the Columbus Buckeyes (1877) and London Tecumsehs (1877-1878) in the International Association.

110 years ago
1899

Boxing
James J. Jeffries (11-0-2-1) knocked out defending champion Bob Fitzsimmons (55-8-13-5) at 1:32 of the 11th round at Coney Island Athletic Club in Brooklyn, New York to win the world heavyweight title. The following film is Thomas Edison's studio re-enactment:



100 years ago
1909

Baseball
Benjamin Shibe received a patent for a cork-centre baseball.

90 years ago
1919

Labour
Winnipeg City Council dismisses the city's police force, during the Winnipeg General Strike.

80 years ago
1929

Died on this date
Louis Bennison, 44; Margaret Lawrence, 39. U.S. actors. Mr. Bennison appeared in plays and silent films, especially Westerns. Miss Lawrence was a stage actress who began her career in Chicago before moving to New York and appearing on Broadway. The two were performing together in a vaudeville sketch in New York, and he was visiting her home when they got into an argument. Mr. Bennison fatally shot Miss Lawrence and then fatally shot himself.

75 years ago
1934

At the movies
Donald Duck made his screen debut in The Wise Little Hen.

60 years ago
1949

War
The U.S.A. attempted to break a six-week deadlock in United Nations-sponsored Palestine peace talks in Lausanne, Switzerland by demanding that Israel abandon her opposition to a general return of Palestinian Arab refugees and concede some land to the Arabs.

Politics and government
Newfoundland’s first provincial government, led by Premier Joey Smallwood, was sworn in in St. John's.

50 years ago
1959

On television tonight
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Front Runner, starring Ben Cooper, Walter Burke, and Sandy Kenyon



Died on this date
Adolf Windaus, 82. German chemist. Dr. Windaus was awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "[for] his research into the constitution of the sterols and their connection with the vitamins." He refused to work on poison gas during World War I, and opposed the Nazi regime.

Lynne Harper, 12. Canadian murder victim. Miss Harper was raped and strangled near RCAF Station Clinton, near Clinton, Ontario. 14-year-old Steven Truscott was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted and he was paroled in 1969. In 2007 the Ontario Court of Appeal acquitted Mr. Truscott, and in 2008 the Ontario government, showing typical government gutlessness, awarded him $6.5 million in compensation. Those who think that Steven Truscott was innocent should read he chapter titled "The Trials of Steven Truscott in Canada" in Professor Keith Simpson’s autobiography Forty Years of Murder (1978). Professor Simpson was Home Office Pathologist in Britain for many years, and was invited by the Government of Canada to give expert testimony at Mr. Truscott’s retrial before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1966. To put it mildly, the medical evidence against Steven Truscott was overwhelming.

Diplomacy
At the foreign ministers conference in Geneva, U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko rejected Western conditions for a Berlin settlement, demanding that the West dismantle its Berlin occupation government.

Defense
The Atlantic Congress overwhelmingly rejected French demands that the NATO regional defense system be broadened into a global military and political alliance.

USS George Washington was launched at Groton, Connecticut; it was the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

Politics and government
Ceylonese Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike dissolved his coalition cabinet and formed a new government drawn solely from the Sri Lanka (Freedom) Party.

Labour
A settlement was reached in the 54-day strike against B.F. Goodrich Company by 14,000 United Rubber Workers union members, ending the biggest strike ever called in the rubber industry.

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Minatomachi Blues--Shinichi Mori

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Mama--Jean Jacques (4th week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Get Back--The Beatles with Billy Preston (4th week at #1)
2 Oh Happy Day--The Edwin Hawkins Singers
3 Love (Can Make You Happy)--Mercy
4 The River is Wide--The Grassroots
5 Grazing in the Grass--The Friends of Distinction
6 More Today than Yesterday--The Spiral Starecase
7 Morning Girl--Neon Philharmonic
8 In the Ghetto--Elvis Presley
9 Bad Moon Rising--Creedence Clearwater Revival
10 Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet--Henry Mancini, his Orchestra and Chorus

Singles entering the chart were Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondells (#79); The Girl I'll Never Know (Angels Never Fly this Low) by Frankie Valli (#85); Pinch Me (Baby, Convince Me) by Ohio Express (#87); When I Die by Motherlode (#90); New Day by Jackie Lomax (#92); Mrs. Robinson by Booker T. & the M.G.'s (#93); So I Can Love You by the Emotions (#94); You Don't Have to Walk in the Rain by the Turtles (#96); It's Getting Better by Mama Cass (#97); Ram Jam by Byron Lee (#98); Son of a Travelin' Man by Ed Ames (#99); and Hands of the Clock by Life (#100).

On the radio
The Challenge of Space, on Springbok Radio
Tonight's episode: A Wake for Johnny

War
In Saigon, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu made it clear that he was still adamantly opposed to a coalition government with the Viet Cong. The United States-South Vietnam communique from the Midway Island summit came under heavy criticism in Paris from spokesmen of the North Vietnamese government and the National Liberation Front. They expressed dissatisfaction with the plan for a withdrawal of 25,000 American soldiers and with the refusal of the allies to accept a coalition government in South Vietnam. U.S. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, back in Washington after attending the summit, said he hoped that more American troops could be withdrawn in August and at "regular intervals thereafter" as South Vietnamese troops replaced them. Some troops would be redeployed to Okinawa or Hawaii, but most were to be returned to the continental United States.

Energy
British Columbia Premier W. A. C. Bennett dedicated the Keenleyside Dam on the Columbia River.

Economics and finance
The minimum interest charge for prime-rate bank loans in the United States jumped to 8 ½%, the highest ever, and the biggest single increase ever recorded.

Disasters
A joint Naval board of inquiry convened at Subic Bay, Philippines into the June 2 collision between the Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne and the United States destroyer USS Frank E. Evans, which had resulted in the deaths of 74 Americans. Australian Rear Admiral G.J.B. Crabb, commander of the SEATO maneuvers, testified that, since the Melbourne had narrowly missed a collision with another U.S. destroyer on May 31, he had ordered destroyers to turn away from the carrier when changing course, and to keep a distance of at least 3,000 yards.

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Zimbabwe Rhodesia (Lyons Maid): Heart of Glass--Blondie

#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Knock on Wood--Amii Stewart

#1 single in Ireland: Sunday Girl--Blondie (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Sunday Girl--Blondie (3rd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Bright Eyes--Art Garfunkel (2nd week at #1)
2 When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman--Dr. Hook
3 I Want You to Want Me--Cheap Trick
4 Does Your Mother Know--ABBA
5 Pop Muzik--M
6 Happiness--Pointer Sisters
7 Love's What I Want--Cashmere
8 Reunited--Peaches & Herb
9 Some Girls--Racey
10 Sing for the Day--George Baker

Singles entering the chart were Goin' Back to China by Diesel (#28); Dance Away by Roxy Music (#32); Come to My Island by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (#34); Oh Luister Toch by Ben Cramer (#37); We Gotta Get Out of this Place by Gilla (#38); and Dancing Barefoot by the Patti Smith Group (#40).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Love You Inside Out--Bee Gees
2 Hot Stuff--Donna Summer
3 We are Family--Sister Sledge
4 Reunited--Peaches & Herb
5 Just When I Needed You Most--Randy Vanwarmer
6 Ring My Bell--Anita Ward
7 The Logical Song--Supertramp
8 Chuck E.'s in Love--Rickie Lee Jones
9 Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)--The Jacksons
10 She Believes in Me--Kenny Rogers

Singles entering the chart were Mama Can't Buy You Love by Elton John (#69); Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Joe Jackson (#76); Vengeance by Carly Simon (#82); Suspicions by Eddie Rabbitt (#85); Since I Don't Have You by Art Garfunkel (#88); and Amanda by Waylon (#90).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Hot Stuff--Donna Summer (2nd week at #1)
2 Love You Inside Out--Bee Gees
3 We are Family--Sister Sledge
4 Reunited--Peaches & Herb
5 Just When I Needed You Most--Randy Vanwarmer
6 The Logical Song--Supertramp
7 Heart of Glass--Blondie
8 Chuck E.'s in Love--Rickie Lee Jones
9 You Take My Breath Away--Rex Smith
10 Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)--The Jacksons

Singles entering the chart were Mama Can't Buy You Love by Elton John (#65); Vengeance by Carly Simon (#85); Suspicions by Eddie Rabbitt (#87); Kiss in the Dark by Pink Lady (#88); You Angel You by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (#90); Amanda by Waylon (#95); Baby Fat by Robert Byrne (#96); and Born to Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez (#98).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Hot Stuff--Donna Summer
2 Reunited--Peaches & Herb
3 Goodnight Tonight--Wings
4 Love You Inside Out--Bee Gees
5 Heart of Glass--Blondie
6 The Logical Song--Supertramp
7 Knock on Wood--Amii Stewart
8 Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)--G.Q.
9 In the Navy--Village People
10 Renegade--Styx

Singles entering the chart were Bad Girls by Donna Summer (#83); Go West by Village People (#86); Say Maybe by Neil Diamond (#92); I Can't Stand it No More by Peter Frampton (#93); The River Must Flow by Gino Vannelli (#94); In the Still of the Night by Bruce Murray (#97); I was Made for Lovin' You by Kiss (#98); Make Love to Me by Helen Reddy (#99); and If You Can't Give Me Love by Suzi Quatro (#100).

Died on this date
Cyclone Taylor, 94. Canadian hockey player. Frederick Wellington Taylor, a native of Tara, Ontario, was a rover and cover-point (defenceman) with the Portage Lakes (1905-07); Ottawa Senators (1907-09); Pittsburgh Athletic Club (1908-09); Renfrew Creamery Kings (1909-11); and Vancouver Millionaires/Maroons (1912-22), scoring 22 goals in 29 National Hockey Association games and 159 goals and 104 assists in 130 Pacific Coast Hockey Association games. He played on Stanley Cup championship teams in 1909 and 1915, and scored 17 goals and 3 assists in 11 Stanley Cup games. Mr. Taylor earned his nickname with his fast skating, and reportedly once scored a goal while skating backwards. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947, and was named a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for his performance over many years of service as an immigration official with the government of Canada.

Scott Garland, 27. Canadian hockey player. Mr. Garland, a native of Regina, was a fourth-line forward with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1975-78 and briefly with the Los Angeles Kings in 1978-79. In 91 regular season games he scored 13 goals and 24 assists, with 1 goal and 2 assists in 7 playoff games. After playing 69 games in 1976-77, Mr. Garland suffered a knee injury, and his only appearance as a Maple Leaf in the 1977-78 season came on January 1, 1978, when he scored one of the Maple Leafs' goals in an 8-5 loss in an exhibition game against the Czechoslovakian club Kladno. After the season he was traded to the Kings with Brian Glennie and Kurt Walker for Dave Hutchison and Lorne Stamler, but spent most of the season in the minors. Mr. Garland died of injuries suffered when his car blew a tire while driving in Montreal, and hit a wall.

Space
Astronomers announced the discovery of the hottest spot yet measured in the solar system. Temperatures of between 300- and 400 million degrees C. were measured three months earlier by Voyager I in a layer of charged particles between Jupiter and Mars. Scientists hypothesized that the high energy levels might be due to the interaction between Jupiter’s rapidly rotating magnetic field and the solar wind, which is a second belt of charged particles coming off the surface of the sun. The temperature of the interior of the sun was estimated to be less than 20 million C.

War
The Sandanista uprising in Nicaragua spread to the capital of Managua, where rebels seized several outskirts areas, inflicting heavy losses on the National Guard.

Politics and government
Joey Smallwood, who as Premier had taken Newfoundland from a British colony to a province of Canada in 1949, resigned his seat in the House of Assembly. Mr. Smallwood had been Newfoundland's only Premier from 1949 until the defeat of his governing Liberal Party in the 1972 provincial election.

A New York Times-CBS News poll showed U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s popularity at a low ebb: overall public approval of his performance dropped from 42% in March to 30% in June.

Disasters
Six children and an adult were killed in a fire at Luna Park Sydney, Australia, which destroyed the amusement park's Ghost Train ride.

Horse racing
Coastal, with Ruben Hernandez aboard, won the 111th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, New York in a time of 2:28 3/5; Golden Act placed second, and Spectacular Bid finished third. Spectacular Bid was attempting to become the third horse to win the Triple Crown in as many years, but he had reportedly stepped on a safety pin in his stall, unnoticed by jockey Ronnie Franklin. It was a rainy day, and the track was muddy.



25 years ago
1984

Horse racing
Swale, with Lafitt Pincay, Jr. aboard, won the 116th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, New York in a time of 2:27 1/5. Swale had also won the Kentucky Derby.

World events
The G7 summit of the world’s leading industrial nations concluded in London, producing little of substance, and some discord over interest rates. Leaders of other nations indicated their belief that high U.S. interest rates could abort the international economic recovery, but the final communique did not fix any blame on the United States. The leaders pledged to help poor countries pay their debts. During the meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau reportedly clashed with U.S. President Ronald Reagan over whether the United States was doing enouhg to promote detente with the U.S.S.R. Fortunately, this was Mr. Trudeau’s last act on the world stage as Prime Minister.

Baseball
A bonehead play by Oakland Athletics' left fielder Garry Hancock gave the Texas Rangers a 4-3 win over the Athletics in 12 innings at Arlington Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th inning, Pete O'Brien hit a fly ball to left field, which Mr. Hancock caught and then deliberately dropped when he realized that the ball was in foul territory. The umpires ruled that the ball had been caught, and Wayne Tolleson came in from third base with the winning run.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): The Look--Roxette (3rd week at #1)

At the movies
The Unspoken, directed by Bill Sorochan and starring Larry Musser, received its premiere screening at the Provincial Museum of Alberta in Edmonton. The movie was filmed in Edmonton in black and white.

Died on this date
George Wells Beadle, 85. U.S. geneticist. Dr. Beadle was awarded a share of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Edward Lawrie Tatum "for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events."

Defense
Jane Foster and Deanna Brasseur passed the course at Cold Lake, Alberta to become Canada's--and possibly the world's--first two female fighter pilots available for combat roles.

Scandal
Testifying before a United States House of Representatives subcommittee investigating mismanagement and corruption in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Interior Secretary James Watt said that he had earned more than $400,000 as a private consultant for developers of housing projects, although he had no background in housing issues. He made a few phone calls and personally lobbied HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce, Jr.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that producer prices for finished goods had risen 0.9% in May.

10 years ago
1999

War
Yugoslavia signed an agreement pledging that Serbian forces would complete a withdrawal from the province of Kosovo within 11 days. Enforcement was to be overseen by an international authority. The NATO force in Kosovo (the Kosovo Force, or KFOR) was to be commanded by Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson of Britain. KFOR, operating under the United Nations flag, would seek to keep the peace, assist returning refugees, and disarm the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Some 30 countries were expected to contribute a total of 50,000 troops to KFOR.

Baseball
The Montreal Expos scored 8 runs in the 8th inning to put away the Boston Red Sox 13-1 before 19,012 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, dropping former Expo Pedro Martinez's record for the season to 11-2. Mike Thurman was the winning pitcher; Guillermo Mota, who relieved him, hit a 3-run home run in the 8th inning in his first major league at bat.

Rey Ordonez singled home Luis Lopez with 1 out in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the New York Mets a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays before 18,254 fans at Shea Stadium in New York. Toronto starting pitcher David Wells was 1 out away from a shutout, but the Mets rallied for 3 runs with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th to tie the score. New York manager Bobby Valentine was ejected in the top of the 12th inning by home plate umpire Randy Marsh for protesting a call of catcher's interference against Mike Piazza; Mr. Valentine subsequently returned to the dugout wearing sunglasses, a Mets t-shirt, and a fake moustache, earning a three-game suspension and a $5,000 fine.



The Colorado Rockies defeated the Seattle Mariners 16-11 before 40,671 fans at Coors Field in Denver; the teams combined to hit 10 home runs, and Brian Bohanon was the winning pitcher despite allowing 8 hits--4 of them homers--and 8 runs--all earned--in 6 1/3 innings.

The Kansas City Royals scored 8 runs in the 8th inning in defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 17-13 before 37,484 fans at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Matt Whisenant, the fourth of five Kansas City pitchers, was credited with the win despite allowing 4 hits, a base on balls, and 4 runs--all earned--in just 2/3 inning.