September 12, 2009

700 years ago
1309

War
Castilian forces captured Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada.

400 years ago
1609

Exploration
Henry Hudson began his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen.

220 years ago
1789

Died on this date
Franz Xaver Richter, 79. Moravian-born Austrian composer and conductor. Mr. Richter was a violinist who wrote symphonies, concertos for woodwinds and trumpet, chamber music, and church music. He is regarded as a transitional composer between the Baroque and Classical eras.

140 years ago
1869

Born on this date
Paweł Owerłło. Polish actor. Mr. Owerłło was a stage and screen actor who appeared in more than 45 films from 1912-1939. He died on April 27, 1957 at the age of 87.

120 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Ugo Pasquale Mifsud. Prime Minister of Malta, 1924-1927, 1932-1933. Sir Ugo was a member of the Nationalist Party. He died on February 11, 1942 at the age of 52, several days after speaking against the deportation of 49 Maltese Italians who had been accused of pro-Italian political activities during World War II.

100 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Donald MacDonald. Canadian labour leader and politician. Mr. MacDonald, a native of Halifax, was elected the first leader of the Nova Scotia Co-opeative Commonwealth Federation in 1941, and represented Cape Breton South in the House of Assembly from 1941-1945. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Congress of Labour from 1951-1956; Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956-1967; and President of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1967-1974. He died on September 25, 1986, 13 days after his 77th birthday.

60 years ago
1949

On the radio
Murder By Experts, hosted and narrated by John Dickson Carr, on MBS
Today's episode: I Dreamt I Died

Died on this date
Harry Burleigh, 82. U.S. composer and singer. Mr. Burleigh was known for composing spirituals and arranging them in a form that made them available for classical artists to perform. He had a melodious baritone voice, and was not only a successful soloist in churches and elsewhere, but paved the way for Negro soloists whom he coached, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Mr. Burleigh died of heart failure after several years of ill health.

Erik Adolf von Willebrand, 79. Finnish physician. Dr. von Willebrand, head of medicine at Deaconess Hospital in Helsinki from 1908-1933, made major contributions to hematology. He identified a bleeding disorder that was distinct from hemophilia, which became known as von Willebrand disease. The disease was caused by a a deficiency of a protein, now known as von Willebrand factor.

Journalism
The New Brunswick newspaper L'Évangéline changed from a weekly to a daily newspaper.

Politics and government
The West German Bundestag elected Free Democratic Party leader Theodor Heuss as President of the Federal Republic.

Crime
New York U.S. Federal Judge Harold Medina sentenced Michigan Communist Party leader Carl Winter to jail for contempt of court when Mr. Winter refused to answer questions regarding his father-in-law's presence at the Party's 1945 convention.

Economics and finance
The U.S.A., U.K., and Canada ended talks in Washington on the British dollar crisis after the United States agreed to consider increasing its raw materials purchases from sterling-area countries and reducing tariffs and customs restrictions.

Labour
At the request of U.S. President Harry Truman, the United Steel Workers of America postponed a strike scheduled for the next day in order to continue wage and pension talks with U.S. Steel.

Football
CRU
WIFU
Winnipeg (1-3) 7 @ Calgary (3-0) 32
Saskatchewan (2-2) 12 @ Edmonton (1-2) 0

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Mona Lisa--Conway Twitty

#1 single in Italy: Arrivederci--Don Marino Barreto Jr. (8th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Am Tag, als der Regen kam--Dalida (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): Only Sixteen--Craig Douglas (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Three Bells--The Browns (3rd week at #1)
2 Sea of Love--Phil Phillips with the Twilights
3 Sleep Walk--Santo & Johnny
4 I'm Gonna Get Married--Lloyd Price
5 Red River Rock--Johnny and the Hurricanes
6 Broken-Hearted Melody--Sarah Vaughan
7 ('Til) I Kissed You--The Everly Brothers
8 Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin
9 I Want to Walk You Home--Fats Domino
10 Baby Talk--Jan & Dean

Singles entering the chart were Plenty Good Lovin' (#63)/You're Gonna Miss Me (#70) by Connie Francis; Battle Hymn of the Republic by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Philadelphia Orchestra (#65); You Better Know It by Jackie Wilson (#73); Fools Hall of Fame by Pat Boone (#78); Lonely Street by Andy Williams (#80); Say Man by Bo Diddley (#82); Come on and Get Me by Fabian (#86); Mr. Blue by the Fleetwoods (#88); I Cried by Joe Damiano (#90); Living Doll, with versions by Cliff Richard and the Drifters; and David Hill (#93); Joey's Song by Bill Haley and his Comets (#96); Deck of Cards by Wink Martindale (#98); Come and Get It by Ray Peterson (#100); and A Worried Man by the Kingston Trio (also #100).

Calgary’s Top 10
1 The Three Bells--The Browns
2 Sleep Walk--Santo & Johnny
3 Sea of Love--Phil Phillips with the Twilights
4 I’m Gonna Get Married--Lloyd Price
5 Broken-Hearted Melody--Sarah Vaughan
6 Red River Rock--Johnny and the Hurricanes
7 Lavender-Blue--Sammy Turner
8 (‘Til) I Kissed You--The Everly Brothers
9 What’d I Say--Ray Charles and his Orchestra
10 There Goes My Baby--The Drifters

On television tonight
Bonanza, on NBC
Tonight's episode: A Rose for Lotta

This was the first episode of the series.



Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the probe Lunik 2 toward the Moon.

Americana
Linda Lee Mead, 20, representing Mississippi, was named Miss America 1960 at the annual pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.





Economics and finance
The French government introduced price and profit ceilings on a number of foods, drugs, and other consumer goods.

Both houses of the United States Congress passed a compromise bill authorizing the Treasury to raise interest rates on long-term government bonds from the current top rate of 3.26% to 4.25%.

Tennis
Maria Bueno of Brazil defeated Christine Truman of the United Kingdom 6-1, 6-4 in the women's singles final at the U.S. National Championships at West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York.

Football
CFL
IRFU
Hamilton (4-1) 21 @ Montreal (4-1) 27

WIFU
Saskatchewan (0-7) 14 @ Winnipeg (6-2) 41
Calgary (4-3) 20 @ Edmonton (4-3) 27

ORFU
Detroit (0-5) 0 @ Kitchener-Waterloo (2-3) 56
Sarnia (4-1) 14 @ London (4-1) 28

A Molson Stadium record crowd of 25,769 saw Sam Etcheverry complete 20 of 28 passes in leading the Alouettes to victory. Two of Mr. Etcheverry’s completions went for touchdowns to Bill Glosson. Mr. Etcheverry rushed for a touchdown, and Bill Hudson scored the other Montreal major when he recovered a blocked punt. Bill Bewley converted 3 of the touchdowns. Bernie Faloney passed to Ron Howell for one Tiger-Cat touchdown, and Tom Dublinksi threw to Paul Dekker for another. Billy Reynolds rushed 2 yards for the other Hamilton touchdown, all of which were converted by Steve Oneschuk.

Charlie Shepard scored 3 touchdowns, Ernie Pitts 2, and Leo Lewis 1 in the Blue Bombers’ win before 15,964 at Taylor Field in Regina. Jim Van Pelt converted 4 of the touchdowns, and Mr. Shepard added a punt single. Ken Carpenter and Ron Dundas scored touchdowns for the Roughriders, both of which were converted by Bob Mulgado.

The Eskimos thrilled 19,734 fans at Clarke Stadium with 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter to defeat the Stampeders. Calgary led 17-5 after three quarters, but Normie Kwong rushed 1 yard for an unconverted touchdown to reduce the deficit to 6 points. The Eskimos tied the game when Don Getty hit Homer Floyd with an 8-yard touchdown pass at 8:20 of the 4th quarter. Tommy-Joe Coffey missed his second straight convert, leaving the score tied. Joe Kapp piloted the Stampeders to the Eskimos’ 1-yard line, but Calgary head coach Otis Douglas elected to try the field goal, and Doug Brown’s kick gave the Stampeders a 20-17 lead with exactly 2:30 remaining. Mr. Getty marched the Eskimos downfield again, and Mr. Coffey kicked a 21-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining to tie the game at 20. It appeared the game would end that way, but Calgary quarterback Joe Kapp made a rookie mistake that proved fatal. He elected to try to make a spectacular play, and an apparent attempt at a lateral ended up in the midsection of Edmonton defensive end Ed Gray, who lumbered 35 yards to the end zone with just 7 seconds remaining. Tommy-Joe Coffey’s convert made the final score 27-20.



Milt Campbell scored 2 touchdowns and seven other Dutchmen each scored a TD in their rout of the Raiders at Waterloo Stadium.

Don Beattie, Larry Aldrich, Mr. King, and Gerry Thompkins scored touchdowns for the Lords, all converted by Earl Kaiser, as they beat the Golden Bears at Labatt Park. Tom Dwinnell and Mr. Smith scored Sarnia touchdowns.

Baseball
International League
Semi-Finals
Buffalo 3 @ Richmond 2 (Richmond led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Columbus 0 @ Havana 6 (Havana won best-of-seven series 4-0)

American Association
Semi-Finals
Fort Worth 1 @ Louisville 0 (Fort Worth led best-of-seven series 2-0)
Minneapolis 2 @ Omaha 1 (Minneapolis led best-of-seven series 2-0)

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)--Zager & Evans (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Saved by the Bell--Robin Gibb (2nd week at #1)

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Sugar, Sugar--The Archies (2nd week at #1)
2 Which Way You Goin' Billy?--The Poppy Family
3 Commotion/Green River--Creedence Clearwater Revival
4 Little Woman--Bobby Sherman
5 Everybody Knows Matilda--Duke Baxter
6 Easy to Be Hard--Three Dog Night
7 Honky Tonk Women--The Rolling Stones
8 Jean--Oliver
9 Simple Song of Freedom--Tim Hardin
10 Move Over--Steppenwolf

Singles entering the chart were The Colour of My Love by Jefferson (#28); Daddy's Little Man by O.C. Smith (#29); and Everybody's Talkin' by Nilsson (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Sugar, Sugar--The Archies (3rd week at #1)
2 Honky Tonk Women--The Rolling Stones
3 That's the Way God Planned It--Billy Preston
4 A Boy Named Sue--Johnny Cash
5 True Grit--Glen Campbell
6 Give Peace a Chance--Plastic Ono Band
7 Which Way You Goin' Billy?--The Poppy Family
8 Lay Lady Lay--Bob Dylan
9 Get Together--The Youngbloods
10 Little Woman--Bobby Sherman

War
U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the resumption of B-52 bombing raids over South Vietnam after a 36-hour suspension designed to see whether the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong would de-escalate the war following the end of the three-day cease-fire after the death of North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh. There was no de-escalation, so the raids resumed.

Society
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, chaired by University of Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, accused the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon of choosing the wrong school desegregation policy and had made that policy an apparent "major retreat." The commission further charged that the administration had covered its actions with overly optimistic statistics and had not opposed enactment of a House of Representatives-passed amendment restricting federal desegregation enforcement.

Crime
Robert F. Williams, an American Negro militant who had spent an eight-year self-imposed exile largely in Cuba, China, and Africa, landed in Detroit after a specially-arranged flight from London, where TWA and other transatlantic airlines had refused him passage, despite valid ticket and papers. He was immediately arrested on the North Carolina kidnapping charges that had prompted his exile, and released on bond.

Disasters
A Philippines Air Line jet crashed into a hillside during its approach to the Manila airport, killing 45 of 47 aboard.

Football
NFL
The New York Giants fired head coach Allie Sherman, the day after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers to drop their 1969 pre-season record to 0-5. Mr. Sherman, who had been head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 1954-1956, had joined the Giants as offensive coordinator in 1959 and succeeded Jim Lee Howell as head coach of the Giants in 1961. He led them to Eastern Conference championships of his first three seasons, but failed to achieve similar success in the following years. Mr. Sherman left the Giants after compiling a 57-54-4 record, including post-season. He was replaced by assistant coach Alex Webster.

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard (2nd week at #1)

Diplomacy
At a conference to attempt a solution to the conflict in Zimbabwe Rhodesia, Patriotic Front leaders accepted as the first order of business a British proposal for a new constitution for increased Negro power.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 259-155 to reject a bill reinstituting draft registration for 18-year-old males, and instead asked for a presidential study of military manpower options.

Terrorism
The four Puerto Rican terrorists who had been freed from prison by U.S. President Jimmy Carter on September 6 after were greeted as heroes on their return to Puerto Rico by a crowd estimated at 5,000 people.

Labour
According to an Associated Press survey, more than 45,000 public school teachers had gone on strike at the beginning of the 1979-1980 school year, affecting 865,000 students.

Disasters
Hurricane Frederic hit the central Gulf Coast of the United States, with 130-mile-per-hour winds. The most extensive damage occurred at Mobile, Alabama and Pascagoula, Mississippi and surrounding areas. 20-foot-high storm waves in Mobile Bay sent flood waters swirling through the city’s downtown streets, and winds smashed downtown storefronts. About 400,000 people had fled the coastal area ahead of the storm, with the result that there were less than a dozen fatalities. However, the broad path of the storm produced $1.5 billion in property damage, making Frederic one of the three most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the United States.

Baseball
Carl Yastrzemski's single off Jim Beattie in the bottom of the 8th inning for the 3,000th hit of his major league career was the highlight for the 34,336 fans at Fenway Park in Boston as the Red Sox easily beat the New York Yankees 9-2. Mr. Yastrzemski became the first American League player to accumulate 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. Chuck Rainey pitched a 6-hit complete game victory to improve his 1979 record to 6-5, while New York starter Catfish Hunter allowed 9 hits and 7 runs--6 earned--in 4+ innings to drop to 2-9 in the last decision and second-last game of his career.





25 years ago
1984

Religion
Pope John Paul II continued his Canadian tour with a visit to Newfoundland.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee voted unanimously to investigate charges that Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States, had violated congressional standards by improperly claiming an exemption from the requirement that she disclose her spouse’s finances.

President Ronald Reagan said that Democratic Party U.S. presidential candidate Walter Mondale’s plan to cut the budget deficits would increase taxes for "working families all across America," and added that whereas "we see an America where every day is the Fourth of July, they see an America where every day is April 15." Mr. Reagan, touring a Buffalo, New York housing project, proclaimed it a "great thing," even though he had cut funds for the programs that had helped to build it.

20 years ago
1989

Diplomacy
The East German government filed a diplomatic protest over Hungary’s suspension of an agreement not to permit East Germans to go to the West through Hungary, but the Soviet foreign ministry declined to criticize Hungary.

Politics and government
The Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, approved the 23-member coalition cabinet assembled by Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. The cabinet included 11 members of the Solidarity trade union movement; 4 from the United Workers (Communist) Party; 7 from minor parties; and 1 independent. Solidarity held most of the economic portfolios, but the Communists continued to control the army and police. Mr. Mazowiecki, in a speech to the Sejm, reaffirmed a commitment to keep Poland in the Warsaw Pact, and he announced new economic austerity measures.

New York Mayor Ed Koch was defeated in his bid for a fourth term by Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins in the Democratic primary. Mr. Dinkins, the first Negro to be nominated by a major party for mayor of New York, would face former U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani as his Republican opponent.

10 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Bill Quackenbush, 77. Canadian-born hockey player and coach. Mr. Quackenbush, a native of Toronto, was a defenceman with the Detroit Red Wings (1942-49) and Boston Bruins (1949-56), scoring 284 points on 62 goals and 222 assists in 774 regular season games and 2 goals and 19 assists in 80 playoff games. He made the NHL's First All-Star Team three times and the Second Team twice. Mr. Quackenbush's most remarkable achievement was playing 131 consecutive games without receiving a penalty; he became the only defenceman to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player after playing the entire 1948-49 season without being penalized. Mr. Quackenbush was the head coach of the Princeton University men's hockey team from 1967-73, compiling a record of 34-102-2. He then coached the Princeton women's hockey team from 1979-85, leading them to three consecutive Ivy League championships from 1982-84. Mr. Quackenbush had more success coaching the Princeton men's golf team from 1969-85, leading them to eight Ivy League titles. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976, and died of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Diplomacy
Indonesian President B.J. Habibie agreed to allow foreign peacekeeping troops to enter East Timor. His cooperation was apparently the result of threats of economic sanctions.

Defense
North Korea agreed to stop tests of its long-range ballistic missiles.

Tennis
Andre Agassi defeated Todd Martin 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 to win the men’s final at the U.S. Open at New York.



Football
CFL
Hamilton (5-5) 19 @ Montreal (7-3) 52
British Columbia (8-2) 20 @ Winnipeg (2-8) 16