June 14, 2011

850 years ago
1161

Died on this date
Qinzong, 61. Emperor of China, 1126-1127. Qinzong, born Zhao Huan, acceded to the throne upon the forced abdication of his father Huizong, but was unsuccessful in attempting to resist an invasion by Jin forces, and was thus the last emperor of the Song dynasty. Qinzong was deposed and taken prisoner, although some restrictions were eased in later years. Qinzong died 22 days after his 61st birthday.

630 years ago
1381

Died on this date
Simon Sudbury, 64-65 (?). English clergyman. Mr. Sudbury was a chaplain of Pope Innocent VI, and was Bishop of London (1361-1375) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1375-1381), as well as Lord Chancellor of England (1380-1381). In the latter position he was regarded by rebellious peasants as a major enemy, especially after introducing the third poll tax. The insurgents seized Mr. Sudbury from the Tower of London, dragged him to Tower Hill, and beheaded him after seven or eight blows to his neck. Mr. Sudbury's body was buried at Canterbury Cathedral, while his head is at the church of St Gregory at Sudbury, Suffolk. He was succeeded as Archbishop of Canterbury by William Courtenay, and as Lord Chancellor by Hugh Segrave.

Protest
King Richard II of England met leaders of the Peasants' Revolt at Mile End. The Tower of London was stormed by rebels who entered without resistance.

320 years ago
1691

Born on this date
Jan Francisci. Slovak musician and composer. Mr. Francisci was a church organist in Pressburg (now Bratislava) and Neusohl in what is now Slovakia. He wrote works for organ and harpsichord, most of which have been lost. Mr. Francisci died on April 27, 1758 at the age of 66.

210 years ago
1801

Born on this date
Heber C. Kimball. U.S. religious leader. Mr. Kimball was one of the early leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835-1847 and First Counselor in the First Presidency from 1847 until his death on June 22, 1868 from the results of a carriage accident, eight days after his 67th birthday. He embraced the Mormon practice of polygamy, and had 43 wives, although many were said to be strictly caretaking arrangements. Mr. Kimball fathered 66 children by 17 of his wives.

Died on this date
Benedict Arnold, 60. American-born military officer. Major General Arnold served with distinction in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War from 1775-1780, earning the admiration of George Washington. Maj. Gen. Arnold resented that he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress; he married Peggy Shippen, who had Loyalist sympathies, in 1779, and began secretly communicating with British representatives. Gen. Washington placed Maj. Gen. Arnold in command of West Point, New York on August 3, 1780, and began preparations to hand the fort over to British forces. The plot was foiled on September 23 when British spy Major John André was captured by American militiamen. Maj. Gen. Arnold found out the next day and managed to escape to the British side, where he was commissioned as a brigadier general, serving in the war until the British surrendered in 1781. He went to England after the war, but was unsuccessful in advancing his career, and moved to Saint John, New Brunswick in 1785. Brig. Gen. Arnold specualted in land and established a business trading with the West Indies, but was involved in legal disputes with his neighbours in New Brunswick, and returned to London in December 1791. He suffered from gout and the lingering effects of wounds suffered in the Revolutionary War, and died in London.

200 years ago
1811

Born on this date
Harriet Beecher Stowe. U.S. authoress. Mrs. Stowe, the daughter of Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher and brother of clergyman Henry Ward Beecher, wrote 30 books of fiction and non-fiction, and was best known for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-1852), which also became a play, and helped to energize the anti-slavery movement in the northern United States. She moved to Jacksonville, Florida after the American Civil War, and died of what may have been Alzheimer's disease on July 1, 1896, 17 days after her 85th birthday.

190 years ago
1821

War
Badi VII, King of Sennar, surrendered his throne and realm to the invading forces of Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of the Sudanese kingdom.

170 years ago
1841

Politics and government
Canadian Governor Lord Sydenham opened the first session of the first Parliament of the Province of Canada at Kingston. Robert Baldwin resigned from the Ministry over the lack of French Canadians and Reformers in the Councils of government; Reformers held the majority in the Assembly.

160 years ago
1851

Communications
The Canadian post office issued a 12-penny Queen Victoria stamp; it was part of a series with Sandford Fleming's 3-pence Beaver stamp and a 6-penny Prince Albert stamp as the first postage stamp issue of the Province of Canada.

100 years ago
1911

Politics and government
Premier George Murray led his governing Liberal Party to its fourth consecutive victory in the Nova Scotia provincial election. The Liberals took 32 of 38 seats in the House of Assembly; the leaderless Conservatives won 4 seats, and 2 independent candidates were elected.

75 years ago
1936

Died on this date
G. K. Chesterton, 62. U.K. author. Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a man of letters who wrote fiction and non-fiction on various subjects, including politics, religion, art, and literature. He converted from high church Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1922, and wrote short stories featuring the fictional detective Father Brown. Mr. Chesterton's best-known non-fiction book may have been Orthodoxy (1908), a defense of traditional Christian beliefs. He died of congestive heart failure.

Baseball
The New York Yankees traded outfielder Ben Chapman to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Jake Powell. Mr. Chapman had been the Yankees' regular center fielder since 1930, but manager Joe McCarthy felt that rookie Joe DiMaggio, who had been playing in left and right fields, was ready to move to center field. Mr. Chapman was batting .266 with 1 home run and 21 runs batted in in 36 games with New York in 1936. Mr. Powell, who had--apparently deliberately--broken the wrist of Detroit Tigers' first baseman Hank Greenberg in a collision at first base early in the season, was batting .290 with 1 homer and 30 RBIs in 53 games with Washington in 1936. He became the Yankees' regular left fielder.

70 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): María Elena--Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra with Bob Eberly

Movies
The City Council of Buenos Aires voted to permit the showing of Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator (1940), after it had been banned for six months at the request of the Italian Ambassador to Argentina.

War
The Soviet news agency Tass belittled rumours in the Western press of a war between the U.S.S.R. and Germany as an "obvious absurdity...a clumsy propaganda maneuver of the forces arrayed against the Soviet Union and Germany." German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, in a meeting in Berlin, outlined to his generals the final secret plan for the invasion of Russia, and ordered them to use "brutal means" against the Communists.

Abominations
The first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians began.

Defense
A Gallup Poll reported that 55% of Americans questioned after U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's May 27 speech said that they approved of naval convoys for ships carrying war materials to the United Kingdom.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Roosevelt issued an executive order freezing U.S. assets of Germany and Italy.

60 years ago
1951

At the movies
The Man with My Face, directed by Edward Montagne, and starring Barry Nelson, Carole Mathews, and Lynn Ainley, opened in theatres.



Ace in the Hole, produced, directed, and co-written by Billy Wilder, and starring Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, and Porter Hall, received its premiere screening in Albuquerque.



On television today
An American Medical Association meeting in Atlantic City witnessed the first televised human birth, presented on closed circuit.

War
Communist shore batteries hit the U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Thomson off the Korean east coast,killing three sailors.

Politics and government
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican--Wisconsin), in a Senate speech, denounced Secretary of State George Marshall and Mr. Marshall's predecessor, Dean Acheson, indirectly accusing both men of plotting to weaken the United States for eventual conquest by the U.S.S.R.

Technology
UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer, was dedicated, after being delivered to the United States Census Bureau on March 31. UNIVAC was short for UNIVersal Automatic Computer.

Crime
An all-white jury in Trenton, New Jersey convicted Negroes Collis English and Ralph Cooper of killing a shopkeeper in a 1948 robbery, ending a four-month trial that had attracted national attention. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Oil
Iranian government officials met with representatives of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company on implementation of Iran's oil nationalization program.

Economics and finance
Warning that "controls are absolutely necessary for the next two years no matter what happens in Korea," U.S. President Harry Truman told the nation in a broadcast that prices would "go through the roof" unless Congress passed new control laws.

40 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Too Young to Be Married--The Hollies

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Mata Au Hi Made--Kiyohiko Ozaki (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Qué Será (Che Sará)--José Feliciano (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Carlos P. Garcia, 74. 8th President of the Philippines, 1957-1961; Vice President of the Philippines, 1953-1957. Mr. Garcia, a member of the Nacionalista Party, represented Bohol's 3rd District in the Philippine House of Representatives (1925-1931) and served as Governor of Bohol (1933-1941); Senator of the Philipines (1945-1953); and Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1953-1957). He refused to cooperate with occupying Japanese forces during World War II, and participated in guerrilla activities. Mr. Garcia acceded to the presidency upon the death of President Ramon Magsaysay in March 1957, and was elected in his own right eight months later. He was known for his opposition to Communism and for his austerity program and Filipino First economic policy, favouring Filipino businessmen over foreign investors. Mr. Garcia was defeated in his bid for re-election in 1961, and retired from public life. On June 1, 1971, he was elected President of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, but died of a heart attack just 13 days later.

Politics and government
The governments of Canada and the provinces started a four-day federal-provincial conference in Victoria.

30 years ago
1981

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Morning Train (9 to 5)--Sheena Easton

#1 single in Switzerland: Stars on 45--Stars on 45 (4th week at #1)

25 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Live to Tell--Madonna (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): J'aimie Le Vie--Sandra Kim (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Wonderful World--Sam Cooke (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Spirit in the Sky--Doctor and the Medics

#1 single in the U.K.: Spirit in the Sky--Doctor and the Medics (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): On My Own--Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 On My Own--Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald
2 Live to Tell--Madonna
3 I Can’t Wait--Nu Shooz
4 Greatest Love of All--Whitney Houston
5 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)—Billy Ocean
6 Why Can’t This Be Love--Van Halen
7 West End Girls--Pet Shop Boys
8 Something About You—Level 42
9 A Different Corner—George Michael
10 No One is to Blame—Howard Jones

Singles entering the chart were Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald (#77); Higher Love by Steve Winwood (#78); Voice of America's Sons by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band (#80); Hanging on a Heart Attack by Device (#85); Rumors by Timex Social Club (#86); Jungle Boy by John Eddie (#87); Land of La La by Stevie Wonder (#88); In the Shape of a Heart by Jackson Browne (#89); and With You All the Way by New Edition (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 A Different Corner—George Michael
2 Live to Tell--Madonna
3 Greatest Love of All--Whitney Houston
4 On My Own—Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald
5 The Power of Love--Jennifer Rush
6 What Have You Done for Me Lately--Janet Jackson
7 Holding Back the Years—Simply Red
8 West End Girls--Pet Shop Boys
9 If You Leave--Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
10 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)—Billy Ocean

Singles entering the chart were Opportunities by Pet Shop Boys (#88); Modern Woman by Billy Joel (#89); Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell (#94); In the Shape of a Heart by Jackson Browne (#96); Secret Separation by the Fixx (#87); Right Beside You by Billy Newton-Davis (#98); and Is Your Love Strong Enough by Bryan Ferry (#99).

Died on this date
Jorge Luis Borges, 86. Argentine author and poet. Mr. Borges was best known for short stories and novels that influenced the genre of "magical realism." He became internationally famous after his works begam to be translated from Spanish into English in the early 1960s.

Alan Jay Lerner, 67. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Lerner was a lyricist and librettist who was best known for his partnership with Frederick Loewe on musical plays such as Brigadoon (1947); My Fair Lady (1956); and Camelot (1960). He won three Academy Awards and three Tony Awards. Mr. Lerner died of lung cancer.

Disasters
Three people were killed and a fourth seriously injured in an accident on the Mindbender roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton.

Boxing
Willie de Wit (12-0-1) won the Canadian heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over defending champion Ken Lakusta (16-9) at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

20 years ago
1991

World events
More than 1,000 Kurds besieged a U.S. military base near the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk, pleading with American troops not to withdraw, fearing retaliation from the Iraqi army.

Defense
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in Berlin that Canada would scale down her military forces in Europe. There were currently 8,000 troops at Lahr and Baden Baden, Germany; 1,400 were to be withdrawn by the end of 1991.

Economics and finance
Canadian Finance Minister Michael Wilson said that the free trade tribunal ruling in favour of Canadian pork exporters proved that the deal worked; the ruling called for the end of the U.S. countervail pork duty, and a $20-million refund to Canada.

Business
A limited partnership made up of several Quebec partners bought the Montreal Expos baseball club from the hands of the team's first owner, Charles Bronfman and his minority partners, Hugh Hallward and Lorne Webster. The cost of the transaction was estimated at $ 100 million.

10 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Gerry Melnyk, 66. Canadian hockey player and scout. Mr. Melnyk, a native of Edmonton, played centre with the Detroit Red Wings (1956, 1959-61); Chicago Black Hawks (1961-62, 1965); and St. Louis Blues (1967-68), scoring 116 points on 39 goals and 77 assists in 269 regular season games and 6 goals and 6 assists in 53 playoff games. He spent most of his career in the minor leagues, with the Edmonton Flyers (1953, 1954-59); Buffalo Bisons (1962-66); and St. Louis Braves (1964, 1966-67). Mr. Melnyk was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers after the 1967-68 season, but suffered a heart attack in training camp in 1968 and was forced to retire. He then began a long career as a scout with the Flyers, and became one of the best scouts in the business, with his recruits including Hall of Fame centre Bobby Clarke. Mr. Melnyk coached the Maine Mariners of the American Hockey League for the last part of the 1981-82 season. He died in Edmonton.