March 24, 2013

410 years ago
1603

Died on this date
Elizabeth I, 69. Queen of England and Ireland, 1558-1603. Queen Elizabeth, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. She succeeded to the throne upon the death of her half-sister Mary I. The "Virgin Queen," the last of Henry VIII's descendants, had no children, and never named a successor.

Britannica
King James VI of Scotland, the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, oldest sister of King Henry VIII, was proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland. The smoothness of the succession resulted in large part from secret correspondence between James and Sir Robert Cecil, England's Secretary of State.

Japanica
Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and established the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo.

350 years ago
1663

Americana
The Province of Carolina was granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring King Charles II to the English throne.

75 years ago
1938

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Boston 0 @ Toronto 1 (2OT)

George Parsons scored at 1:31 of the 2nd overtime period to give the Maple Leafs the win over the Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens.

60 years ago
1953

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Portrait of Constance, starring Ann Rutherford, Hugh Reilly, and Murvyn Vye



Died on this date
Mary of Teck, Queen Consort to George V of the United Kingdom, 85. Queen Mary was the mother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and the grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

50 years ago
1963

Disasters
Ralph Flores, 41, and Helen Klaben, 21, were found alive in northeastern British Columbia, 49 days after the small plane, piloted by Mr. Flores with Miss Klaben as a passenger, had crashed while on a flight from Fairbanks, Alaska to Fort St. John, B.C.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K.: Cum on Feel the Noize--Slade (4th week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 You're So Vain--Carly Simon (3rd week at #1)
2 I'd Love You to Want Me--Lobo
3 Crocodile Rock--Elton John
4 Separate Ways--Elvis Presley
5 I Am Woman--Helen Reddy
6 Dueling Banjos--Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
7 Dreams are Ten a Penny--Kincade
8 Your Mama Don't Dance--The Bootleg Family
9 I've Got to Have You--Carly Simon
10 Nights in White Satin--The Moody Blues

Singles entering the chart were Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack (#14); Jambalaya (On the Bayou) by the Blue Ridge Rangers (#26); Wedding Song by Petula Clark (#30); Ventura Highway by America (#31); The Cover of "Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (#32); Do You Want to Dance by Bette Midler (#34); I Wanna Be with You by Raspberries (#38) and Space Oddity by David Bowie (#40).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Love Train--O'Jays

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Killing Me Softly with His Song--Roberta Flack (3rd week at #1)
2 Love Train--O'Jays
3 Last Song--Edward Bear
4 Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)--Deodato
5 The Cover of "Rolling Stone"--Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
6 Dueling Banjos--Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
7 Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)--Gladys Knight and the Pips
8 I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)--The Moody Blues
9 Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)--Four Tops
10 Danny's Song--Anne Murray

Singles entering the chart were Thinking of You by Loggins and Messina (#82); I Knew Jesus (Before He was a Star) by Glen Campbell (#85); The Right Thing to Do by Carly Simon (#89); Always by Luther Ingram (#93); Delta Queen by Don Fardon (#97); Nobody Wins by Brenda Lee (#99); and Leaving Me by the Independents (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Danny's Song--Anne Murray (2nd week at #1)
2 Dueling Banjos--Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
3 Killing Me Softly with His Song--Roberta Flack
4 The Cover of "Rolling Stone"--Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
5 Dancing in the Moonlight--King Harvest
6 Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)--Deodato
7 Do it Again--Steely Dan
8 Crocodile Rock--Elton John
9 Oh Babe, What Would You Say--Hurricane Smith
10 I Just Want to Make Music--Tobias

Singles entering the chart were Let's Pretend by Raspberries (#78); Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel (#86); Blue Suede Shoes by Johnny Rivers (#97); Cherry Cherry (Live) by Neil Diamond (#99); and I'm a Stranger Here by Five Man Electrical Band (#100).

Calgary’s Top 10
1 Killing Me Softly with His Song--Roberta Flack (4th week at #1)
2 Dueling Banjos--Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
3 Do You Want to Dance--Bette Midler
4 Little Willy--The Sweet
5 You Don't Know What Love Is--Susan Jacks
6 Daddy's Home--Jermaine Jackson
7 The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia--Vicki Lawrence
8 Big City Miss Ruth Ann--Gallery
9 Dancing in the Moonlight--King Harvest
10 Oh My Lady--Stampeders
Pick hit of the week: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree--Dawn featuring Tony Orlando

Track and field
Kip Keino of Kenya defeated Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.

Curling
Sweden, skipped by Kjell Oscarius, defeated Harvey Mazinke's Canadian rink 6-5 to win the Air Canada Silver Broom, the world men's championship at Regina Exhibition Stadium. The loss was particularly painful for the fans, since Mr. Mazinke's rink hailed from the Regina Curling Club, had gone undefeated through the round-robin and semi-final, and he had a chance to win the game with his final stone. Mr. Oscarius' rink was the first to win the world championship using push brooms, and the Swedish win helped to popularize that kind of broom, which eventually replaced the corn broom. For Canada, which went into the game having won five straight Silver Brooms, it was the beginning of a seven-year drought, which didn't end until Rick Folk of Saskatchewan won in 1980. France, skipped by Pierre Boan, won the bronze medal, the only medal France has ever won in the competition.

30 years ago
1983

Died on this date
Carry Back, 25. U.S. race horse. Carry Back won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1961 (with John Sellers aboard), and was the leading money-winning horse that year ($565,349 U.S.). In 61 races he recorded 21 wins, 11 places, and 11 shows, with lifetime winnings of $1,241,165.

World events
Speaking to the United Nations Security Council, Victor Hugo Tinoco, deputy foreign minister of Nicaragua, charged that rebel troops invading Nicaragua from Honduras had been created by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., denied the allegation, and claimed that the fighting was the result of a spontaneous revolt against the Nicaraguan government.

Defense
The Soviet press agency TASS charged that the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, announced by President Ronald Reagan the night before, announced that the antiballistic missile system would violate the terms of the 1972 SALT treaty. The Democrats, responding to the President’s address, rejected his claim that the United States was weaker than Russia.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue

Personal
This blogger found out that he was a winner of one of the second prizes in the Canadian Football League's contest to guess who would be chosen on the 1987 All-Canadian All-Star team. My prize was a copy of Canadian artist Ken Danby's print The Grey Cup, which Mr. Danby had done for the 75th Grey Cup observance in 1987. 495 copies of the print were made. The first prize was a trip to the 1988 Grey Cup in Ottawa.

World events
After a 7-month secret trial, Mordechai Vanunu, an employee at a bomb-making factory in Israel, was convicted of espionage, transmission of information, and aiding the nation’s enemies. For an undisclosed 6-figure sum, Mr. Vanunu had disclosed secrets of Israel’s atomic weapons program to the Sunday Times of London. Independent observers said that Mr. Vanunu’s revelations showed that Israel had a greater nuclear capability than western observers had assumed, and that Israel could build up to 200 bombs, as well as neutron and hydrogen weapons.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): No Limit--2 Unlimited (5th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Poker

Died on this date
Albert Arlen, 88. Australian composer. Mr. Arlen was best known for his musical The Sentimental Bloke (1961) and Alamein Concerto (1944).

John Hersey, 78. U.S. author. Mr. Hersey won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel A Bell for Adano (1944) and was widely praised for his lengthy essay Hiroshima, which first appeared in the August 31, 1946 issue of The New Yorker.

Space
Astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy, working at the Palomar Observatory in California, discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which was captured by, and orbiting Jupiter.

Defense
South African President F.W. de Klerk revealed that South Africa had built six crude atomic bombs and was working on a seventh when the decision was made to scrap the program in 1989 and destroy the arsenal.

10 years ago
2003

Diplomacy
The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.

War
U.S. Army 3rd Infantry troops in Iraq reached within 50 miles of Baghdad. Iraqi forces shot down an Apache helicopter and captured two U.S. pilots, who were shown on Iraqi television. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appeared on television--whether live or on tape was uncertain--and appealed to his countrymen to hold firm against the invading coalition.

An American bomb hit a bus heading out of Iraq, killing 5 and wounding 10. Most of the casualties were Syrian civilians.