November 20, 2009

1,140 years ago
869

Died on this date
Edmund the Martyr, 28 (?). King of East Anglia, 855-869. Edmund succeeded Æthelweard on the throne. He was killed by the Great Heathen Army, a Danish invading force; he may have been killed in battle, but tradition holds that he was killed for refusing to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. Edmund the Martyr was succeeded as King by Oswald.

1,070 years ago
939

Born on this date
Taizong. Emperor of China, 976-997. Taizong, born Zhao Kuangyi, succeeded his brother Taizu as Emperor of the Song dynasty; there were accusations that he had murdered Taizu. He conducted a successful military campaign against Northern Han, but was unsuccessful in two campaigns against the Liao dynasty. Taizong died on May 8, 997 at the age of 57, and was succeeded by his son Zhenzong.

270 years ago
1739

War
In the War of Jenkins' Ear, British Royal Navy forces commanded by Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon arrived at Porto Bello, Panama to begin the Battle of Porto Bello against Spanish forces.

220 years ago
1789

Law
New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution).

120 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Edwin Hubble. U.S. astronomer. Dr. Hubble showed that the velocity of a galaxy increases as it gets further away from earth, implying that the universe is expanding. He also provided evidence that many bodies previously believed to be nebulae were in fact galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Dr. Hubble died on September 28, 1953 at the age of 64. The Hubble Space Telescope was named after him.

100 years ago
1909

Football
CRU
ORFU
Final
(Toronto) Parkdale Canoe Club 8 Toronto Amateur Athletic Club 3

70 years ago
1939

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Dying Detective

60 years ago
1949

Diplomacy
Albania recognized the Chinese Communist government.

Politics and government
Panamanian President Daniel Chanis resigned in order to avert an open revolt of forces loyal to National Police Chief Jose Remon, whom Mr. Chanis had dismissed two days earlier. Vice President Roberto Chiari took office as President, with Mr. Remon's approval.

World events
Nationalist Chinese President Li Tsung-jen arrived in Hong Kong to undergo medical treatment for a stomach ailment.

Disasters
An Aero Holland DC-3 crashed near Oslo, killing 27 Jewish refugee children from North Africa who were travelling from Belgium to a rehabilitation camp in Norway.

Football
NFL
New York Bulldogs (1-7-1) 0 @ Philadelphia (8-1) 42
Pittsburgh (5-3-1) 30 @ Green Bay (2-7) 7
Detroit (2-7) 45 @ New York Giants (5-4) 21
Chicago Bears (6-3) 31 @ Washington (3-5-1) 21
Los Angeles (6-1-2) 28 @ Chicago Cardinals (4-4-1) 28

AAFC
Chicago (4-7) 0 @ Buffalo (4-5-2) 10
Cleveland (8-1-2) 31 @ New York (7-3) 0
Los Angeles (4-7) 21 @ Baltimore (1-10) 10

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Travellin' Light--Cliff Richard and the Shadows (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: Time Enough at Last, starring Burgess Meredith

Died on this date
Alfonso López Pumarejo, 73. 14th President of Colombia, 1934-1938; 16th President of Colombia, 1942-1945. Mr. López, a member of the Liberal Party, implemented social and economic reforms in his first term as President, supporting the creation of labour unions and the expropriation of private property in order to promote "social interest." He faced more opposition during his second term, and resigned a year after withstanding a failed military coup attempt. Mr. López served as Colombia's Ambassador to the United Nations (1946-1948), and was Colombia's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, but had occupied that position for only 5½ months before he died in London.

Sylvia Lopez, 26. French model and actress. Mrs. Lopez, born Tatjana Bernt, was a successful model before appearing in movies such as Hercules Unchained (1959). She began work on Voulez-vous danser avec moi? (Come Dance with Me!) (1959), but withdrew after a few days of filming because she was suffering from terminal leukemia.

Space
The United States launched the satellite Discoverer 8 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California into a polar orbit.

War
India proposed mutual withdrawal of Indian and Communist Chinese forces from disputed border areas.

Diplomacy
The United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved a Draft Declaration of the Rights of the Child, written by the UN Commission on Human Rights to supersede the 1924 Geneva declaration on the rights of children.

Politics and government
The Belgian Parliament approved eventual independence for the Ruanda-Urundi trust territory.

Alabama Governor John Patterson signed legislation designed to curb Negro voter registration in the state.

Religion
Francis Cardinal Spellman dedicated the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, the largest Roman Catholic church in the United States.

Economics and finance
Representatives of Austria, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland initialled a convention in Stockholm establishing the European Free Trade Association.

40 years ago
1969

On television tonight
Dragnet 1970, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Burglary Auto: Courtroom



Space
Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean left the moon in the lunar module Intrepid to rejoin the command module Yankee Clipper after a 31½-hour stay which included 8 hours of moonwalks. The astronauts left behind a nuclear-powered remote-control scientific observatory that began radioing data to Earth immediately, and was expected to do so for the next year. They took with them almost 150 pounds of lunar rocks and soil, and parts of Surveyor 3, an unmanned U.S. probe that had landed on the moon in 1967.



Law
The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 6-3 vote, upheld the judgement of Justice William G. Morrow of the Northwest Territories Territorial Court in the case of R. v. Drybones that section 94(b) of the Indian Act (which prohibited "Indians" from being intoxicated off a reserve) was inoperative because it violated section 1(b) of the Canadian Bill of Rights. It was the first--and only--time that the Bill of Rights was ruled to take precedence over another piece of federal legislation, and "empowered the courts to strike down federal legislation that offended its dictates."

War
Henry Cabot Lodge, said to be increasingly pessimistic that the Paris peace talks would produce a settlement of the Vietnam War, resigned as chief United States negotiator at the talks. President Richard Nixon’s personal representative at the talks, Lawrence Walsh, also resigned.

100 guerrillas stormed the Nabatiyeh army camp south of Beirut, leaving 3 dead and wounding 6 soldiers.

Protest
A group of 89 American Indians began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz in a pre-dawn "invasion," claiming the former prison island as their own "by right of discovery."

Journalism
U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew delivered a speech to the Montgomery (Alabama) Chamber of Commerce in which he particularly criticized The New York Times and The Washington Post. Attacking the "trend toward the monopolization of the great public information vehicles and the concentration of more and more power in fewer and fewer hands," Mr. Agnew said that "many strong, independent voices have been stilled in this country in recent years." Mr. Agnew’s targets immediately issued rebuttals. It was around this time that Time magazine featured Mr. Agnew on its cover, and there were complaints that many of the copies sent to subscribers arrived with the subscription label placed over Mr. Agnew’s mouth (that wasn’t the case with the copy that arrived in our mailbox).



Environment
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Clifford Hardin ordered an end to the use of the pesticide DDT in residential areas within 30 days and decreed a virtual halt to its use elsewhere by 1971.

Health
U.S. Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Robert Finch announced that the recently banned artificial sweetener cyclamate would be allowed in foods if the amount of the chemical was specified; however, the ban on its use in beverages continued.

Disasters
All 14 aboard a Nigerian jet died in a crash northeast of Iju.

Football
CFL
British Columbia Lions' defensive back Dave Easley was announced as the winner of the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy as the Western Football Conference's outstanding Canadian rookie for 1969. He played all 16 games, and returned 50 punts for 359 yards, 3 kickoffs for 89 yards, and 4 interceptions for 70 yards, while recovering 1 opposition fumble and 1 of his own team's fumbles.

CIAU
Dave Fleiszer of the McGill Redmen won the Hec Crighton Trophy as the outstanding player in Canadian university football for 1969. Mr. Fleiszer amassed 703 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns in 6 games during the regular season.

30 years ago
1979

On television tonight
Family, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Thanksgiving

This was the first episode of the season.

Literature
Acadian authoress Antonine Maillet was named the winner of the Prix Goncourt for her novel Pelagie-la-charrette.

World events
10 female and Negro hostages were released from the American embassy in Tehran, joining the 3 freed the previous day. The United States warned that it might take military action if the remaining American hostages were not released. A 6-ship U.S. task force was ordered to join another 8-ship group in the Indian Ocean to reinforce the American presence in the region.

In an apparent attempt to overthrow the Saudi Arabian government, several hundred members of an ultraconservative Islamic tribe seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. It was dawn when they attacked, and 50,000 worshippers had assembled for prayers on the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic new year, and the start of the Islamic 15th century. The worshippers managed to scramble to freedom before the fanatics barricaded themselves inside the mosque. The insurgents demanded the abolition of television (not a bad idea, if they got the same programs in Saudi Arabia as in North America); an end to women working in public; and a ban on soccer. All of these were recent developments in Saudi Arabia.

Scandal
Sir Anthony Blunt, exposed five days earlier by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the "fourth man" in the Burgess-Maclean spy scandal of the 1950s and '60s, emerged from hiding and admitted that he had made "an appalling mistake" in agreeing to spy for the U.S.S.R. 40 years earlier.

25 years ago
1984

Died on this date
Kristian Djurhuus, 89. Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, 1950-1959; 1968-1970. Mr. Djurhuus was a member of the Union Party when he led the government of the Faroe Islands, a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Trygve Bratteli, 74. Prime Minister of Norway, 1971-1972, 1973-1976. Mr. Bratteli, a member of the Labour Party, served with the Norwegian resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II, and was interned in concentration camps from 1943-1945. He represented Oslo in the Storting (Parliament) from 1950-1981, and was Minister of Finance (1951-1955, 1956-1960) and Minister of Transport and Communications (1960-1963, 1963-1964). Mr. Bratteli took office as Prime Minister after Per Borten's government collapsed, and his first cabinet resigned in 1972 after Norwegian membership in the European Economic Community was narrowly rejected in a referendum. The Labour Party was restored to power in the 1973 general election, and Mr. Bratteli resumed the office of Prime Minister, resigning because of ill health.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): If I Could Turn Back Time--Cher (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Swing the Mood--Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers

Died on this date
Lynn Bari, 75. U.S. actress. Miss Bari, born Margaret Fisher, appeared in more than 150 movies, mainly in the 1930s and '40s, and was known for playing villainesses in films such as Shock (1946) and Nocturne (1946). She also appeared in three Charlie Chan movies. Miss Bari died of an apparent heart attack, four weeks before her 76th birthday.

Protest
More than 200,000 people marched in Prague, calling for free elections.

Politics and government
Seemingly oblivious to events going on elsewhere in eastern Europe, the Romanian Communist Party opened its 14th Congress in Bucharest. In a five-hour keynote address, President Nicolae Ceausescu proclaimed the party to be the "vital centre" of life in Romania.

Economics and finance
The United States Senate and House of Representatives approved a foreign aid bill that contained $532.8 million for Poland and Hungary.

10 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Amintore Fanfani, 91. Prime Minister of Italy, 1954, 1958-1959, 1960-1963, 1982-1983, 1987. Mr. Fanfani was a Fascist until 1943, and wrote several books of economic history and philosophy, including Catholicism, Capitalism and Protestantism (1935). He joined the new Christian Democratic Party after World War II, and held various cabinet posts from 1947-1988, in addition to his five terms as Prime Minister, and was regarded as one of the founders of the centre-left in Italy. Mr. Fanfani served three terms as President of the Senate (1968-1973, 1976-1982, 1985-1987), and was made a Senator for life in 1972.

Football
CIAU
Atlantic Bowl
Waterloo 14 @ St. Mary’s 21

Churchill Bowl
Saskatchewan 21 @ Laval 27

Ryan Jones threw a touchdown pass to Travis Tyler in the 1st half and Luis Perez ran 65 yards for a touchdown early in the 3rd quarter for St. Mary’s as the Huskies beat the Warriors at Huskies Stadium in Halifax.



A standing-room crowd of more than 12,000 at PEPS Stadium in Ste.-Foy, Quebec saw Rouge et Or quarterback Mathieu Bertrand rush for 2 touchdowns within a span of 2 minutes and 31 seconds in the 2nd quarter; he also completed 18 of 28 passes for 303 yards in the win over the Huskies.