July 7, 2012

100 years ago
1912

Olympics
In Stockholm, Jim Thorpe of the United States won the pentathlon with fellow American J.J. Donoghue winning the bronze medal, and Americans took the top three positions in the men's 100-metre sprint.

75 years ago
1937

War
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident began near Peking, providing the Imperial Japanese Army with a pretext for starting the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Politics and government
The Palestine Royal Commission Report--aka the Peel Commission Report--stated that the League of Nations mandate had become unworkable, and recommended the partition of Palestine--the first formal recommendation for partition in the history of Palestine.

Baseball
Major League All-Star Game @ Griffith Stadium, Washington
National League 3 American League 8

Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees hit a 2-run home run in the 3rd inning and drove in 2 more runs with a double to lead the American League to victory over the National League before 31,391 fans. Mr. Gehrig’s home run came off NL starting pitcher Dizzy Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals. The next batter, Earl Averill of the Cleveland Indians, hit a line drive off the big toe of Mr. Dean’s left foot; Mr. Dean picked up the ball and threw to first base to retire Mr. Averill, but Mr. Dean’s toe was broken. He later came back to pitch before the injury had fully healed, and favoured the injury when he pitched. He injured his arm, and never fully recovered. Joe Medwick of the Cardinals was the NL’s best player, hitting 2 doubles and 2 singles in 5 at bats. Lefty Gomez of the Yankees pitched the first 3 innings and was credited with the win, while Mr. Dean took the loss. Mr. Gehrig won the Arch Ward Trophy as the game’s most valuable player.





60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Corpse in Room Thirteen, starring Harold Gary, Charles Jordan, Eleanor Lynn, and Everett Sloane

50 years ago
1962

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Stai lontana da me--Adriano Celentano (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): A Picture of You--Joe Brown and the Bruvvers

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Stripper--David Rose and his Orchestra

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Stripper--David Rose and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)
2 Roses Are Red (My Love)--Bobby Vinton
3 I Can't Stop Loving You--Ray Charles
4 Palisades Park--Freddy Cannon
5 It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin'--Johnny Tillotson
6 Al Di La'--Emilio Pericoli
7 The Wah Watusi--The Orlons
8 Wolverton Mountain--Claude King
9 Sealed with a Kiss--Brian Hyland
10 Stranger on the Shore--Mr. Acker Bilk
--Andy Williams

Singles entering the chart were Things by Bobby Darin (#78); Mary's Little Lamb by James Darren (#79); Party Lights by Claudine Clark (#80); If I Should Lose You by the Dreamlovers (#90); Hot Pepper by Floyd Cramer (#91); Theme from "Hatari!" by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra (#94); Sweet and Lovely by April Stevens and Nino Tempo (#95); La Bamba by the Tokens (#97); Make it Easy on Yourself by Jerry Butler (#98); and Call Me Mr. In-Between by Burl Ives (#100).

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Calgary Stampeders intrasquad game
Red 33 White 18

40 years ago
1972

Died on this date
Athenagoras I, 86. Turkish religious leader. Athenagoras, born Aristocles Spyrou, was the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1948-1972. As the leader of Greek Orthodoxy, he met with Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964; the meeting led to the rescinding of the excommmunications of 1054, marking the Great Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The furthering of ecumenical relations culminated in the Catholic-Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965.

John M. Dalton, 71. Governor of Missouri, 1961-1965. Mr. Dalton, a Democrat, was a lawyer who spent eight years as Missouri's Attorney General before becoming Governor. While in office as Governor he signed legislation aimed at improving traffic safety, and furthered desegregation of Missouri schools.

Religion
Harold B. Lee, 73, was named president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, succeeding the recently-deceased Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. The new “prophet, seer and revelator” of the world’s 3,090,953 Mormons became the church’s youngest president in 49 years.

30 years ago
1982

Music
This blogger and his brother finally got to see the Beach Boys live for the first time, as they performed at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, and enjoyed the concert immensely. The Terry Crawford Band was the opening act. Tickets for row 25 on the floor were $13 each.

War
Salvadoran Defense Minister Jose Guillermo Garcia announced that government soldiers had killed 400 rebel guerrillas in the province of Morazan. 13 Salvadoran soldiers had been killed, with 26 wounded or missing in the biggest campaign in El Salvador’s civil war.

25 years ago
1987

Terrorism
Two days of attacks on buses in India by Sikh separatists concluded with the deaths of 71 Hindus and 1 gunman, with 50 people wounded.

Protest
Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle banned mass demonstrations.

20 years ago
1992

Diplomacy
A declaration at the summit in Munich of the world’s leading industrialized nations—Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, and U.S.A.—warned that they might support the use of force to get relief supplies into Bosnia, which was under assault by Serbian forces.

Politics and government
Joe Clark, Canada’s Minister responsible for Constitutional Affairs, and nine of the ten provincial premiers met for talks, and made a breakthrough on Senate discussions by coming up with a modified triple-E (equal, elected, effective) Senate proposal that would give 8 seats to each province and 2 to each territory, with provisions to enlarge the House of Commons representation to compensate the provinces for loss of Senate seats.