April 7, 2011

1,560 years ago
451

War
Attila the Hun sacked the town of Metz and attacked other cities in Gaul.

1,400 years ago
611

War
Maya King Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacked rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.

510 years ago
1501

Died on this date
Minkhaung II, 54. King of Ava, 1480-1501. Minkhaung II acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Thihathura, and in 1485 made his 12-year-old son Thihathura II joint king. Minkhaung II's reign was the beginning of the decline of Ava's hold on Upper Burma. Thihathura II died a month before his father, and Minkhaung II was succeeded by his younger son Narapati II.

320 years ago
1691

Politics and government
Joseph Robineau de Villebon became Commandant--the de facto French commander--of Acadia.

180 years ago
1831

Politics and government
Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicated in favour of his son Dom Pedro II in order to return to his native Portugal and press his daughter Maria's claim to the Portuguese throne.

160 years ago
1851

Politics and government
Nova Scotia women were disenfranchised with the passage in the Assembly of the Franchise Act, which added the word "male" to voting requirements.

Communications
The Province of Canada Post Office printed a proof three-penny black, intended to be the first British North America postage stamp; one example survives and it was never issued.

125 years ago
1886

Born on this date
Ed Lafitte. U.S. baseball pitcher. Dr. Lafitte played with the Detroit Tigers (1909, 1911-1912); Brooklyn Tip-Tops (1914-1915); and Buffalo Blues (1915), compiling a record of 37-35 with an earned run average of 3.33 in 106 games, batting .220 with 2 home runs and 23 runs batted in in 108 games. He was 95-89 in 6 seasons in the minor leagues (1908-1916). Dr. Lafitte became a dentist during his playing career, and practiced in Philadelphia, retiring in 1961. He pitched a no-hitter for the Tip-Tops in the Federal League, but was also noted for serving with the U.S. Army in World War I, and pitching a 2-1 complete game loss to the Herb Pennock and the Navy in London on July 4, 1918 in front of the British royal family, including King George V. Dr. Lafitte reconstructed teeth and jaws of wounded soldiers during his time overseas. He died on April 12, 1971, five days after his 85th birthday.

120 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Ole Kirk Christiansen. Danish businessman. Mr. Christiansen founded the Lego Group toy company in 1932; he died of a heart attack on March 11, 1958 at the age of 66.

Died on this date
P. T. Barnum, 80. U.S. showman. Phineas Taylor Barnum promoted various attractions over several decades, but was best known for co-founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1881, which eventually merged with Ringling Brothers in 1919 to form Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

80 years ago
1931

Baseball
The San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League opened 18,500-seat Seals Stadium with an 8-0 win over the Portland Beavers.

75 years ago
1936

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Toronto 4 @ Detroit 9 (Detroit led best-of-five series 2-0)

Bucko McDonald, John Sorrell, and Gord Pettinger each scored 2 goals for the Red Wings as they beat the Maple Leafs at Olympia Stadium.

70 years ago
1941

War
German troops driving from Bulgaria reached the Aegean Sea through eastern Thrace after Greek forces abandoned part of the area. German bombers raided Belgrade for the fifth time.

Diplomacy
The United Kingdom severed relations with Hungary, charging that it had become a base of operations for German forces.

Politics and government
The New Jersey Assembly voted 52-2 in favour of a bill probiting Communists or people advocating the violent overthrow of the government from the election ballot.

Medicine
Dr. George C. Andrews of New York Presbyterian Hospital said that so-called "smoker's cancer" of the lower lip was not due to smoking, but was the result of a chronic inflammation of the lower lip from habitual sunburn.

Labour
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ordered collective bargaining elections at Ford Motor Company's River Rouge and Lincoln plants near Detroit, as well as the Bethlehem Steel Company plant near Lackawanna, New York.

60 years ago
1951

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): All My Love--Bing Crosby; Patti Page

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): If--Perry Como (Best Seller--5th week at #1; Disc Jockey--6th week at #1; Jukebox--2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 If--Perry Como
2 Be My Love--Mario Lanza
3 Mockin’ Bird Hill--Les Paul and Mary Ford
--Patti Page
4 My Heart Cries for You--Guy Mitchell
--Dinah Shore
--Vic Damone
--Jimmy Wakely
5 Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)--Patti Page
6 Aba Daba Honeymoon--Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter
7 You’re Just in Love--Perry Como
8 Beautiful Brown Eyes--Rosemary Clooney
9 Bring Back the Thrill--Eddie Fisher
10 The Tennessee Waltz--Patti Page
--Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
--Les Paul and Mary Ford
--Jo Stafford

Singles entering the chart were Let Me In by Bobby Wayne (#31); Lullaby of Broadway by Harry James and his Orchestra with Doris Day (#32); The Shot Gun Boogie by Tennessee Ernie (#34); and Christopher Columbus by Guy Mitchell (#37). Christopher Columbus was the B-side of Mr. Mitchell’s version of Sparrow in the Tree Top, charting at #11 with Bing Crosby’s version.

War
Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh directed his forces to abandon conventional attacks on French positions and resumed guerrilla raids. French sources viewed the changes as a result of the Viet Minh failure to capture Hanoi.

Israel filed a counter-complaint with the United Nations Security Council, charging Syrian armistice violations.

The first United Nations military cemetery in Korea was dedicated at Pusan.

Diplomacy
Foreign ministers of 21 American republics ended their two-week conference in Washington by signing resolutions on collective security and economic cooperation.

The Standing Committee of the Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg recommended full and equal membership for West Germany in the Council.

Opera
The Metropolitan Opera in New York fired baritone Robert Merrill, accusing him of failing to finish the season and refusing to tour with the company. The conflict apparently arose from Mr. Merrill's acting and singing in the movie Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952). Mr. Merrill was soon rehired.

Medicine
The American Cancer Society reported that more than 50 hopeless cancer victims at George Washington University's cancer clinic had been relieved of pain and other symptoms following injections of poisonous mustard gases developed during World War II.

Labour
U.S. President Harry Truman's Commission on Migratory Labor issued a report urging a minimum wage and unemployment insurance coverage for the nation's one million migrant farm workers; a Taft-Hartley Act amendment authorizing some farm workers to organize and bargain collectively; a curb on the importation of cheap foreign farm labour; and the creation of a permanent Federal Commission on Migratory Farm Labor.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
New York 65 @ Rochester 92 (Rochester led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Arnie Risen scored 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and added 5 assists to lead the Royals over the Knickerbockers before 4,200 fans at Edgerton Park Arena.

50 years ago
1961

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Are You Sure--The Allisons

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: A Hundred Yards Over the Rim, starring Cliff Robertson and Miranda Jones

40 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Hot Love--T. Rex (3rd week at #1)

War
U.S. President Richard Nixon announced a plan to increase the rate of U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam, quickening the pace of Vietnamization.

Labour
A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld the dismissal of the suit of Washington Senators’ outfielder Curt Flood against organized baseball. Mr. Flood, who had refused to report to the Philadelphia Phillies after being traded by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969, was challenging the reserve clause of the standard baseball contract that allowed the team to renew a player’s contract year after year and to trade him without his consent.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Montreal 1 @ Boston 3 (Boston led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Toronto 4 @ New York 5 (New York led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Philadelphia 2 @ Chicago 5 (Chicago led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Minnesota 3 @ St. Louis 2 (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Montreal coach Al MacNeil elected to play Ken Dryden in goal at Boston Garden. Mr. Dryden had played in 6 regular season games with the Canadiens and had won them all. This was his first Stanley Cup game.

Bob Nevin’s goal with 3 seconds remaining in the 2nd period sparked the Rangers to a comeback win over the Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden.

Cesare Maniago made 42 saves in goal for the North Stars as they defeated the Blues at St. Louis Arena.

30 years ago
1981

Died on this date
Norman Taurog, 82. U.S. movie director. Mr. Taurog directed 180 movies from 1920-1968, including six films starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 1950s, and nine starring Elvis Presley in the 1960s. Mr. Taurog won an Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931), and was nominated for an Oscar for Boys Town (1938). He retired when he began to go blind.

Kit Lambert, 45. U.K. record producer and manager. Mr. Lambert, the son of composer Constant Lambert, was an assistant director for several movies in the early 1960s before discovering the rock group The Who and deciding to act as their manager. He influenced Pete Townshend to create the rock opera Tommy (1969), but drug use and allegations of missing funds led to Mr. Lambert's dismissal by the band in 1974. Mr. Lambert's increasing drug use resulted in him being made a ward of the Court of Protection. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage, reportedly after drinking heavily and being beaten up by a drug dealer over a debt and pushed down the stairs of a sodomite nightclub.

20 years ago
1991
Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Unchained Melody--The Righteous Brothers (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Joyride--Roxette

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Joyride--Roxette (2nd week at #1)
2 Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)--C & C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams
3 Secret Love--Bee Gees
4 No Coke--Dr. Alban
5 Crazy--Seal
6 Kränk di net--Jazz Gitti & her Disco Killers
7 Hello Afrika--Dr. Alban featuring Leila K.
8 Blue Hotel--Chris Isaak
9 Sister Soul & Mr. Beat--Beat 4 Feet featuring Kim Cooper
10 Sucker DJ (A Witch for Love)--Dimples D

Singles entering the chart were Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash (#14); I Wanna Give You Devotion by Nomad featuring MC Mikee Freedom (#18); and Rhythm of My Heart by Rod Stewart (#20).

On television tonight
Separate But Equal: Part I, on ABC

This made-for-television movie about the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court starred Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall, Burt Lancaster as John W. Davis, and Richard Kiley as Chief Justice Earl Warren. It was Mr. Lancaster's last performance.



Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals
Montreal 4 @ Buffalo 5 (Buffalo led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Boston 6 @ Hartford 3 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Pittsburgh 4 @ New Jersey 3 (Pittsburgh led best-of-seven series 2-1)
New York Rangers 6 @ Washington 0 (New York led best-of-seven series 2-1)

10 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Beatrice Straight, 86. U.S. actress. Miss Straight won a Tony Award for her starring performance in The Crucible (1953) and an Academy Award for her brief supporting performance in Network (1976).

David Graf, 50. U.S. actor. Mr. Graf appeared in several television programs and movies in a 20-year career. He was best known for playing Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry in the seven-film Police Academy series (1984-1994). Mr. Graf died of a heart attack at his brother-in-law's wedding, nine days before his 51st birthday.

Space
The robotic spacecraft Mars Odyssey was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.