April 18, 2012

150 years ago
1862

Born on this date
Pyotr Stolypin. Prime Minister of Russia, 1906-1911. Mr. Stolypin, born in Dresden, Germany as the son of a Russian envoy, was a member of an aristocratic family and a career civil servant who was named Minister of the Interior in April 1906, succeeding Ivan Goremykin as Prime Minister three months later. Mr. Stolypin initiated major agrarian reforms that granted the right of private land ownership to the peasantry. His tenure was also marked by increased revolutionary unrest, to which he responded with a new system of martial law that allowed for the arrest, speedy trial and execution of accused offenders. Mr. Stolypin was 49 when he was shot by anarchist Dmitry Bogrov on September 18, 1911, while attending a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Czar Saltan at the Kiev Opera House, in the presence of Czar Nikolai II. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Vladimir Kokovtsov and as Interior Minister by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Makarov.

100 years ago
1912

Disasters
The British ship Carpathia, with 705 survivors of the sunken White Star liner RMS Titanic aboard, arrived at New York at 9:30 P.M.

70 years ago
1942

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Moonlight Cocktail--Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (8th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Detroit 1 @ Toronto 3 (Toronto won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Sweeney Schriner scored 2 goals and Pete Langelle scored the winning goal at 9:48 of the 3rd period before a record crowd of more than 16,000 at Maple Leaf Gardens as the Maple Leafs became the first team to win a Stanley Cup series after losing the first three games. Syd Howe scored the game’s first goal for Detroit.

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Tales of Tomorrow, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Time to Go, starring Sylvia Sidney, Robert H. Harris, and Ed Peck



50 years ago
1962

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Boston 110 Los Angeles 107 (Boston won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Bill Russell scored 30 points and collected 44 rebounds to lead the Celtics to their then-record fourth straight league championship. Red Auerbach was the winning coach.

40 years ago
1972

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
St. Louis 1 @ Boston 6 (Boston led best-of-seven series 1-0)
New York 5 @ Chicago 3 (New York led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Fred Stanfield scored 3 goals and added an assist as the Bruins beat the Blues at Boston Garden.

The Rangers scored 4 goals in the 3rd period to defeat the Black Hawks at Chicago Stadium. Rod Gilbert scored twice for the Rangers, including the winning goal with 7:24 remaining in regulation time. Gilles Villemure, playing his first game of the playoffs in relief of injured Ed Giacomin, won the goaltending duel over Tony Esposito.

30 years ago
1982

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Boston 2 @ Quebec 3 (OT) (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Vancouver 4 @ Los Angeles 3 (OT) (Vancouver led best-of-seven series 2-1)

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Electrica Salsa--OFF (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Let it Be--Ferry Aid (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now--Starship (3rd week at #1)
2 I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael
3 Lean on Me--Club Nouveau
4 Sign 'o' the Times--Prince
5 Don't Dream it's Over--Crowded House
6 Come Go with Me--Expose
7 Tonight, Tonight, Tonight--Genesis
8 Midnight Blue--Lou Gramm
9 The Finer Things--Steve Winwood
10 Walking Down Your Street--Bangles

Singles entering the chart included Young Blood by Bruce Willis (#88) and Baby Grand by Billy Joel featuring Ray Charles (#89).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 Lean on Me--Club Nouveau (2nd week at #1)
2 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now--Starship
3 Somewhere Out There--Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
4 Don't Dream it's Over--Crowded House
5 Touch Me (I Want Your Body)--Samantha Fox
6 I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael
7 The Final Countdown--Europe
8 Wild Horses--Gino Vannelli
9 Let's Go!--Wang Chung
10 Montego Bay--Amazulu

Singles entering the chart included You Keep Me Hangin' On by Kim Wilde (#91) and If She Would Have Been Faithful by Chicago (#95).

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals
New York Islanders 3 @ Washington 2 (4 OT) (New York won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Pat Lafontaine’s goal at 8:47 of the 4th overtime period gave the Islanders the game and the series at Capital Center in Landover, Maryland. Kelly Hrudey won a brilliant goaltending duel over Bob Mason. One of the reasons the game went so long was because referee Andy Van Hellemond didn’t have the guts to call any penalties in overtime.

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Under the Bridge--Red Hot Chili Peppers

#1 single in Italy: Why--Annie Lennox

#1 single in France: You--Ten Sharp (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Save the Best for Last--Vanessa Williams (5th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Save the Best for Last--Vanessa Williams (3rd week at #1)
2 Tears in Heaven--Eric Clapton
3 Masterpiece--Atlantic Starr
4 Make it Happen--Mariah Carey
5 Remember the Time--Michael Jackson
6 I Can't Dance--Genesis
7 Thinkin' Back--Color Me Badd
8 Too Much Passion--Smithereens
9 Everything Changes--Kathy Troccoli
10 To Be with You--Mr. Big

Singles entering the chart included Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg by TLC (#48) and Goodbye by Tevin Campbell (#89).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Tears in Heaven--Eric Clapton (2nd week at #1)
2 Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven--Bryan Adams
3 Hazard--Richard Marx
4 Human Touch--Bruce Springsteen
5 Save the Best for Last--Vanessa Williams
6 One--U2
7 To Be with You--Mr. Big
8 Make it Happen--Mariah Carey
9 Ain't it Heavy--Melissa Etheridge
10 Justified & Ancient--The KLF (featuring Tammy Wynette)

Singles entering the chart included If You Asked Me To by Celine Dion (#53); Just Take My Heart by Mr. Big (#78); Feels Like Forever by Joe Cocker (#89); and Now More Than Ever by John Mellencamp (#97).

10 years ago
2002

Died on this date
Thor Heyerdahl, 87. Norwegian anthropologist and explorer. Mr. Heyerdahl was best known for sailing 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 1947 on his self-made raft Kon-Tiki from South America to the Tuamoto islands in Polynesia to demonstrate his theory that people from South America had reached Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. In 1970 he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Barbados in the totora boat Ra II to demonstrate that mariners inn earlier times could have accomplished the feat using the Canary Current.

War
Four Canadian soldiers conducting a training exercise in Afghanistan were killed when an American pilot, mistakenly believing he had been fired upon, dropped a 500-pound bomb on them.

World events
Former Afghan King Muhammad Zahir Shah returned to Kabul after 29 years in exile.

Environment
The United States Senate voted not to allow drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Society
The clothing store chain Abercrombie and Fitch removed from its shelves a line of T-shirts depicting what it thought were humourous caricatures of Asian Americans; the line, introduced on April 12, had offended Asian Americans and others.