April 24, 2012

90 years ago
1922

Communications
The first portion of the Imperial Wireless Chain, a strategic international wireless telegraphy communications network created to link the countries of the British Empire, opened.

New Zealandiana
The first annual poppy day was held to raise money for veterans' organizations. 245,059 small poppies and 15,157 larger versions were sold, earning £13,166 (equivalent to $1.34 million in 2020). Of that amount, £3695 ($376,000) was sent to help war-ravaged areas of northern France; the remainder went to unemployed New Zealand returned soldiers and their families.

80 years ago
1932

Protest
400 ramblers and members of the Young Communist League undertook the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District to highlight the denial of access to areas of open country in England.

70 years ago
1942

Died on this date
Lucy Maud Montgomery, 67. Canadian authoress. Miss Montgomery, who was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island on the same day as Winston Churchill was born in England, wrote 20 novels, 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays, but was best known for eight novels featuring the character Anne Shirley, beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). Miss Montgomery had an unhappy home life and died of coronary thrombosis, but left a note that may or may not have indicated suicide.

Jack "Chappie" Blackburn, 58. U.S. boxer and trainer. Mr. Blackburn was a lightweight and welterweight who compiled a record of 115-25-22-5 in a professional career spanning 1900-1923. In January 1909 he shot and killed a husband and wife and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter, but was freed for good behaviour after five years. Mr. Blackburn trained world lightweight champion Sammy Mandell and light heavyweight champion John Henry Lewis, but was best known for training Joe Louis, who won the world heavyweight title in 1937. Mr. Blackburn was still working in this capacity when he suffered a fatal heart attack while undergoing a routine physical examination. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.

War
U.K. Royal Air Force bombers attacked the German Baltic port of Rostock and Heinkel aircraft factories nearby. The Chinese command in Chungking announced that Japanese mechanized units in Burma, aided by aircraft, had reached Hopong near Taunggi, 100 miles southeast of Mandalay, indicating an 80-mile advance northward from Loikaw.

World events
Mexican officials arrested reported Nazi Party chief Ewald Bork and three other party officials in Mexico City.

Politics and government
The Madras section of the All-India Congress Party recommended in a resolution to the national party that "it has become necessary to acknowledge the Moslem League's" claim for a separate Muslim state.

Economics and finance
U.S. Budget Director Harold Smith told the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee that war costs would be $70 billion for fiscal 1943, $14.214 billion more than originally estimated.

60 years ago
1952

At the movies
La noche avanza (Night Falls), directed by Roberto Gavaldón, and starring Pedro Armendáriz, Anita Blanch, Rebeca Iturbide, and Eva Martino, opened in theatres in Mexico.



50 years ago
1962

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Matched Pearl, starring John Ireland, Ernest Truex, and Émile Genest

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 3.

40 years ago
1972

War
The South Vietnamese city of Dak To fell to North Vietnamese forces.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K.: Ebony and Ivory--Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

#1 single in the U.S.A.: (Billboard): I Love Rock 'N' Roll--Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (6th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Love Rock 'N' Roll--Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (5th week at #1)
2 We Got the Beat--Go-Go's
3 Titles--Vangelis
4 Freeze Frame/Flamethrower--J. Geils Band
5 Don't Talk to Strangers--Rick Springfield
6 Make a Move on Me--Olivia Newton-John
7 Key Largo--Bertie Higgins
8 That Girl--Stevie Wonder
9 Ebony and Ivory--Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
10 Pretty Woman--Van Halen

Singles entering the chart were Hurts So Good by John Couger (#80); Teach Me Tonight by Al Jarreau (#84); How Long by Rod Stewart (#85); Stone Cold by Rainbow (#87); Old Fashioned Love by Smokey Robinson (#89); and Baby, Come to Me by Patti Austin with James Ingram (#96).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 I Love Rock 'N' Roll--Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (6th week at #1)
2 Freeze Frame--J. Geils Band
3 Don't You Want Me--The Human League
4 Key Largo--Bertie Higgins
5 We Got the Beat--Go-Go's
6 Open Arms--Journey
7 Don't Talk to Strangers--Rick Springfield
8 Make a Move on Me--Olivia Newton-John
9 Tainted Love--Soft Cell
10 Pretty Woman--Van Halen

Singles entering the chart were Fits Ya Good by Bryan Adams (#46); Tribute to Stevie Wonder by Stars on 45 (#47); and There are No Secrets by Straight Lines (#49).

Died on this date
Kevin Stuart Casey. U.K. military aviator. Petty Officer Casey was missing and presumed drowned when his Sea King helicopter ditched into the sea while on its way to South Georgia as part of the British campaign in the Falklands War. He thus became the first British casualty of the war.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): You're the Voice--John Farnham

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Prince of Wales Conference
Montreal 7 @ Quebec 2 (Quebec led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Philadelphia 4 @ New York Islanders 1 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 2-1)

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): To Be with You--Mr. Big

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Chicago 5 @ St. Louis 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)
Detroit 4 @ Minnesota 5 (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Vancouver 1 @ Winnipeg 3 (Winnipeg led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Los Angeles 4 @ Edmonton 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

10 years ago
2002

Scandal
U.S. Roman Catholic cardinals who had been summoned to Rome nine days earlier by Pope John Paul II issued proposals for handling the issue of priests accused of sexual abuse, suggesting dismissal for serial offenders, but discretion in cases that were not, in their words, “notorious.”