June 19, 2012

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Michael Martin!

150 years ago
1862

Law
The United States Congress abolished slavery in U.S. territories.

110 years go
1902

Born on this date Harriette Moore. U.S. civil rights leader. Mrs. Moore was the wife of Harry T. Moore, who founded, in 1934, the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Brevard County, Florida, and was president of the state chapter of the NAACP. Mrs. Moore, 49, and Harry, 46, were at their home in Mims, Florida on Christmas night, December 25, 1951, when a bomb planted under the bedroom floor exploded. The local hospital in Titusville refused to treat Negroes, and Mr. Moore died while being transported by ambulance to the closest one where he could receive treatment. Mrs. Moore was seriously injured, and died nine days later, on January 3, 1952. The murders were investigated in 1951-1952, but no one was prosecuted then or in later decades when subsequent investigations took place. A state investigation in 2005-2006 named four Ku Klux Klan members, by then long dead, as the likely murderers. 60 years ago
1952

Baseball
Carl Erskine pitched a no-hitter to lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to a 5-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

50 years ago
1962

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Big Kick, starring Wayne Rogers, Anne Helm, and Rees Vaughn

Space
The U.S.A. launched the weather satellite TIROS 5, whose mission was to study cloud cover.

40 years ago
1972

Labour
Airline pilots in 64 nations staged a one-day strike to underscore their demands for tougher action against hijackers. Most pilots in the United States obeyed court orders preventing them from joining the walkout.

Disasters
After killing 7 people in Cuba, Hurricane Agnes struck Florida, beginning a 10-day rampage up the Eastern seaboard of the United States that resulted in 118 deaths and more than $3 billion in property damage.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K.: Goody Two Shoes--Adam Ant (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A.: (Billboard): Ebony and Ivory--Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (6th week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Ebony and Ivory--Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (5th week at #1)
2 Don't You Want Me--The Human League
3 The Other Woman--Ray Parker, Jr.
4 Rosanna--Toto
5 Always on My Mind--Willie Nelson
6 Heat of the Moment--Asia
7 Crimson and Clover--Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
8 Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me--Juice Newton
9 I've Never Been to Me--Charlene
10 Don't Talk to Strangers--Rick Springfield

Singles entering the chart were Hold Me by Fleetwood Mac (#35); Your Imagination by Daryl Hall & John Oates (#73); (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay by the Reddings (#87); and To Dream the Dream by Frank Miller (#88).
The Reddings were the sons of Otis Redding, who had had the original hit version of (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay in 1968.

Canada’s top 10 (RPM)
1 Ebony and Ivory--Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (5th week at #1)
2 I've Never Been to Me--Charlene
3 867-5309/Jenny--Tommy Tutone
4 Body Language--Queen
5 Crimson and Clover--Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
6 Rosanna--Toto
7 Six Months in a Leaky Boat--Split Enz
8 Don't You Want Me--The Human League
9 The Other Woman--Ray Parker, Jr.
10 Homosapien--Pete Shelly

Singles entering the chart were Paperlate by Genesis (#40); Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (#45); Eyes of a Stranger by the Payola$ (#47); Let it Whip by Dazz Band (#48); It's Gonna Take a Miracle by Deniece Williams (#49); and Out of Work by Gary U.S. Bonds (#50).

Died on this date
John Cheever, 70. U.S. writer. Mr. Cheever was best known for his short stories, many of which were set in suburbs in the northeastern United States. His stories included The Enormous Radio (1947--adapted into an episode of CBS Radio Workshop on May 11, 1956--and The Swimmer (1964)--adapted into a successful movie in 1968.

Roberto Calvi, 62. Italian banker. Mr. Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano in Milan, was known as "God's Banker" because of his ties with the Vatican. He was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London with 5 bricks and $14,000 in three different currencies in his pockets.

War
British troops landed on the South Sandwich Islands, a dependency of the Falkland Islands.

25 years ago
1987

Disasters
Japanese investigators issued their final report on the 1985 crash in Japan of a Boeing jet that had killed 520 people. The investigators said that faulty repairs by Boeing employees were responsible for the crash. The report said that the repair crew had placed a single line of rivets, rather than a double line as required, in a rear bulkhead when repairing a broken tail section. In flight, the bulkhead, which separated the pressurized and unpressurized sections of the cabin, ruptured, destroying the jet’s vertical tail fin and its four hydraulic control systems and causing the plane to careen for more than half an hour before hitting the side of a mountain. The report cited Japan Air Lines and the Japanese Ministry of Transport for not detecting cracks in the bulkhead during routine inspections. Boeing said it accepted the report’s findings.

20 years ago
1992

Personal
This blogger continued his Quebec vacation, arriving in Montreal.

Economics and finance
Russian President Boris Yeltsin concluded a visit to Ottawa by signing a deal to buy one million more tonnes of Canadian wheat, worth an estimated $200 million.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Edmonton (0-1) 33 @ Toronto (1-0) 48

Baseball
NL
Montreal 2 @ Pittsburgh 1

10 years ago
2002

World events
In retaliation for the previous day’s suicide bomb that had killed at least 19 people on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel announced that it would begin seizing land held by the Palestinian Authority.

Labour
Nearly 8,000 flights were cancelled when air traffic controllers in Europe, led by the French, went on a brief strike to protest European Union plans to bring air traffic control under a single framework by 2005.