December 11, 2012

730 years ago
1282

Died on this date
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn the Last), 59. Prince of Wales, 1247-1282. Llywelyn was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England in 1277. He was killed in the Battle of Orewin Bridge, and his head was chopped off.

410 years ago
1602

War
The citizens of Geneva repelled a surprise attack by forces under the command of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain.

220 years ago
1792

World events
King Louis XVI of France was put on trial for treason by the National Convention.

150 years ago
1862

War
In the U.S. Civil War, the Union Army of the Potomac under General Ambrose Burnside occupied Fredericksburg, Virginia.

140 years ago
1872

Theatre
Buffalo Bill Cody made his first stage appearance, playing himself in a Chicago-based production of The Scouts of the Prairie.

90 years ago
1922

Politics and government
Gabriel Narutowicz, who had no party affiliation but was widely believed to represent left-wing views, took office as President of Poland, two days after being elected to the position by the country's National Assembly.

75 years ago
1937

Diplomacy
Italy left the League of Nations.

Football
CRU
Grey Cup @ Varsity Stadium, Toronto
Toronto 4 Winnipeg 3

A field goal by Earl Selkirk and a punt single by Bob Isbister provided the scoring for the Argonauts as they edged the Blue Bombers before 11,522 fans on a cold day in the latest Grey Cup ever played, as far as the calendar is concerned. The Blue Bombers had the first scoring opportunity of the game when Bob Fritz recovered Art West's fumble on the Winnipeg 40-yard line and appeared to be gone for a touchdown, only to be tackled by Mr. Isbister at the Toronto 7-yard line. The play set up a punt single by Steve Olander, which gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Winnipeg's Fritz Hanson fumbled a punt by Mr. Isbister, and Bill Bryers recovered for the Argonauts at the Winnipeg 20-yard line, leading to Mr. Selkirk's 31-yard field goal and a 3-1 Toronto lead. The Blue Bombers thought they'd scored a touchdown when Toronto's Bill Stukus fumbled a punt and Bill Ceretti of the Blue Bombers returned it for a touchdown, but Winnipeg was penalized for no yards, although newspaper reports said the infraction was far from flagrant. The umpire who made the call, Eddie Grant, was from Winnipeg, and had scored the only point for the Winnipeg Tammany Tigers in the ir 24-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in the 1925 Grey Cup. Mr. Olander punted for another single in the 2nd quarter and Mr. Isbister did the same for the Argonauts, and Toronto led 4-2 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, Greg Kabat of the Blue Bombers missed a 40-yard field goal but scored a single to reduce the deficit to 4-3, but that was the end of the scoring. It was the last Grey Cup without a touchdown until 1975.

50 years ago
1962

On television tonight
The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Floyd Gibbons Story

Died on this date
Arthur Lucas, 54. U.S. criminal. Ronald Turpin, 29. Canadian criminal.
Mr. Turpin was hanged at the Don Jail in Toronto for the murder of Toronto policeman Frederick Nash. Mr. Lucas, originally from the state of Georgia, was hanged at the Don Jail for the murder in Toronto of a police informant from Detroit. The executions, which took place simultaneously back-to-back, were, unfortunately, the last to take place in Canada.

World events
The U.S.S.R. announced that O.V. Penkovsky, head of the foreign department of the State Committee on Co-ordination of Scientific Research, had been arrested on a charge of giving state secrets to U.K. businessman Greville Wynne and Richard Carl Jacob, secretary-archivist of the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Mr. Wynne had been arrested in Budapest on November 2 and was awaiting trial on espionage charges, while Mr. Jacob had been expelled from the Soviet Union on a charge of spying.

Protest
1,500 placard-waving students threw debris at police as part of a demonstration against a lack of French-Canadian employees in executive positions at Canadian National Railways. Canadian Finance Minister Walter Gordon had recently stated that the lack of French-Canadian executives was not the result of discrimination, but a lack of qualified applicants.

Academia
Chrysler Corporation of Canada President Ron Todgham told the Montreal Rotary Club that most of Canada's college campuses had Communist or pink cells, and that there was a danger that some of the students would become "permanent converts to alien ideologies...For some reason which I have never heard satisfactorily explained, a great many of our young people in the Western world begin to sneer at the principles of democracy somewhere around the age of 16 and they keep it up for the next five or six years. It's a stage they seem to go through--like adolescent mental measles. And it's not a very flattering commentary on our educational system." Mr. Todgham suggested that businessmen create junior achievement clubs, miniature companies with shares: "Everything they learn, observe and absorb in the course of junior achievement activity is calculated to expose the fallacies of Communism and to emphasize the virtues of the free enterprise theory." (The Globe and Mail, Toronto, December 12, 2962, p. 2).

40 years ago
1972

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Ben--Michael Jackson

Died on this date
Harvey Swados, 52. U.S. author. Mr. Swados was an essayist, novelist and short story writer whose books included Out Went the Candle (1955); False Coin (1959); Nights in the Gardens of Brooklyn (1960); A Radical's America (1962); Standing Fast (1970); and Celebration (1975). He died of a cerebral aneurysm.

Space
Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley of the moon in the lunar module Challenger. They unloaded the Lunar Roving Vehicle and embarked on their first moonwalk, which lasted 7 hours and 12 minutes.

Football
NFL
New York Jets (7-6) 16 @ Oakland (9-3-1) 24

Daryle Lamonica completed touchdown passes of 39 yards to Fred Biletnikoff and 68 yards to Raymond Chester, and handed off to Charlie Smith for a 1-yard touchdown rush to lead the Raiders over the Jets before 54,843 fan at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. New York quarterback Joe Namath, playing with a sore throat, completed 25 of 46 passes for 403 yards and a 49-yard touchdown pass to Rich Caster.



30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K.: Beat Surrender--The Jam (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Mickey--Toni Basil

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Truly--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)
2 Maneater--Daryl Hall & John Oates
3 Mickey--Toni Basil
4 The Girl is Mine--Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
5 Steppin' Out--Joe Jackson
6 Dirty Laundry--Don Henley
7 Gloria--Laura Branigan
8 Muscles--Diana Ross
9 It's Raining Again--Supertramp
10 Sexual Healing--Marvin Gaye

Singles entering the chart were All Those Lies by Glenn Frey (#83); I Knew You When by Linda Ronstadt (#85); Painted Picture by the Commodores (#87); Give it Up by Steve Miller Band (#88); and Cross My Heart by Lee Ritenour (#89).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 Dirty Laundry--Don Henley
2 Gloria--Laura Branigan
3 Da Da Da--Trio
4 Truly--Lionel Richie
5 It's Raining Again--Supertramp
6 Up Where We Belong--Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
7 Maneater--Daryl Hall & John Oates
8 The Look of Love--ABC
9 Down Under--Men at Work
10 Rock This Town--Stray Cats

Singles entering the chart were Africa by Toto (#42); Der Kommissar by Falco (#43); I Do by J. Geils Band (#46); Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club (#47); The Other Guy by Little River Band (#49); and Be Good Johnny by Men at Work (#50).

Basketball
NCAA
The University of Virginia Cavaliers, led by Ralph Sampson, defeated the Georgetown University Hoyas 68-63 before 19,035 fans at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland in a made-for-television game broadcast on WTBS.

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Whenever You Need Somebody--Rick Astley (2nd week at #1)

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Sweat (A La La La La Long)--Inner Circle (12th week at #1)