April 15, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Danielle Wessel!

275 years ago
1738

Opera
Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, premiered at King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.

230 years ago
1783

War
Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (aka American War of Independence) were ratified.

225 years ago
1788

Died on this date
Giuseppe Bonno, 77. Austrian composer. Mr. Bonno composed a number of operas and oratorios, largely forgotten today.

220 years ago
1793

Died on this date
Foster Powell, 59. U.K. pedestrian. Mr. Powell was a long-distance walker, and had been called "the first English athlete of whom we have any record." He began his career in pedestrianism in 1764 by walking 50 miles in 7 hours, becoming a national celebrity. Mr. Powell walked 400 miles from London to York and back in 1773, and walked 100 miles in 21 hours 35 minutes in 1788.

125 years ago
1888

Died on this date
Matthew Arnold, 65. U.K. poet and author. Mr. Arnold, for both his poetry and prose, is highly regarded for addressing the intellectual and spiritual climate of England in the mid-late 19th century, particularly the decline in traditional religious belief.

120 years ago
1893

Born on this date
Vern Hughes. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Hughes played with the Baltimore Terrapins (1914), posing a 0-0 record with an earned run average of 3.18 in 3 games, batting 0 for 1. He died on September 26, 1961 at the age of 68.

90 years ago
1923

Medicine
Insulin became generally available for use by people with diabetes.

80 years ago
1933

At the movies
The World Gone Mad aka The Public Be Hanged, directed by Christy Cabanne, and starring Pat O'Brien, Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian, and Louis Calhern, opened in theatres.



60 years ago
1953

On the radio
I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: Forged Faces

World events
Reis Leming, 22, a U.S. airman stationed in England, was presented with the George Medal for rescuing 27 people in East Anglia during winter floods.

50 years ago
1963

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Harold Riemer!

40 years ago
1973

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
New York Rangers 4 @ Chicago 5 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

WHA
Avco World Trophy
West Division Semi-Finals
Minnesota 5 @ Winnipeg 8 (Winnipeg won best-of-seven series 4-1)
Los Angeles 3 @ Houston 6 (Houston led best-of-seven series 3-2)

IIHF World Men's Championship @ Moscow
Sweden (7-2-1) 4 @ U.S.S.R. (10-0) 6
Czechoslovakia (6-3-1) 8 Finland (3-6-1) 0

This was the last day of competition; the Soviets had clinched the title two days earlier, ending Czechoslovakia's hopes of repeating as world champions.

Basketball
NBA
Western Division Semi-Finals
Chicago 92 @ Los Angeles 95 (Los Angeles won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Eastern Division Finals
Boston 134 New York 108 (Boston led best-of-seven series 1-0)

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Twisting by the Pool--Dire Straits (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Too Shy--Kajagoogoo (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Corrie ten Boom, 91. Dutch author and Holocaust survivor. Miss ten Boom grew up in a family of Bible-believing Christians who loved the Jewish people, and hid them from Nazi persecutors during World War II. She told her story in the book The Hiding Place (1971), which was made into a movie in 1975. Miss ten Boom died on her 91st birthday.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that prices paid by producers for finished goods had risen 0.1% in March. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board reported that industrial production had risen 1.1% in March.

Popular culture
A Disneyland theme park opened near Tokyo, Japan, drawing 25,000 visitors on its first day.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Calgary 1 @ Edmonton 5 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Baseball
Detroit Tigers' pitcher Milt Wilcox was one out away from a perfect game when pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston singled, and Mr. Wilcox settled for a 6-0 one-hitter over the Chicago White Sox. This was only the third time in major league history a perfect game bid had been stopped with one out to go.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): One Tree Hill--U2 (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue (2nd week at #1)

At the movies
Tales from the Gimli Hospital, written and directed by Guy Maddin, and starring Kyle McCulloch, Michael Gottli, and Angela Heck, received its premiere screening in Canada.



Died on this date
Kenneth Williams, 62. U.K. actor and comedian. Mr. Williams was a member of the cast of the BBC radio program Hancock's Half-Hour in the 1950s, and achieved greater popularity as one of the stars of the "Carry On" movies from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Youri Egorov, 33. U.S.S.R. musician. Mr. Egorov was a classical pianist who was a popular concert performer from 1978-1987. He made many recordings, especially of the compositions of Chopin, Scarlatti, and Schumann. Mr. Egorov was a sodomite who gave his last performance several months before his death from AIDS.

Defense
The U.S. Navy destroyed two mines in the Persian Gulf, near where the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts had been struck the day before during Operation Earnest Will, protecting Kuwaiti oil tankers from attacks by Iran. President Ronald Reagan, persuaded that the mines were the work of Iran, approved an attack on two Iranian offshore oil platforms.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the index of prices charged by producers for finished goods had risen 0.6% in March.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Fever--Madonna

Died on this date
Leslie Charteris, 86. Singapore-born U.K. writer. Mr. Charteris, born Leslie Bowyer-Yin, was best known for creating "The Saint" in a series of novels that served as the basis for a popular British television series in the 1960s. He also wrote scripts for the U.S. radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1943-1944.

J. Tuzo Wilson, 85. Canadian geologist. Dr. Wilson was best known for devising the theory of plate tectonics, the idea that Earth's rigid outer layers--the lithosphere--are broken up into numerous plates that slide independently over the viscous asthenosphere, the mantle just underneath.

Economics and finance
The Group of Seven nations, meeting in Tokyo, agreed to $28 billion in aid to Russia to bolster Russian President Boris Yeltsin, with much of the aid dependent on austerity measures.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Erin Fleming, 61. Canadian actress. Ms. Fleming, a native of New Liskeard, Ontario, appeared in bit parts in several movies before meeting aged comedian Groucho Marx and becoming his live-in companion in his last years. She was a major beneficiary in Mr. Marx's will, but lengthy court battles eventually were decided in favour of Mr. Marx's son Arthur. Ms. Fleming reportedly shot herself, after years of mental problems.

Terrorism
U.S. Marines in Iraq captured Abu Abbas, leader of the terrorist organization Palestine Liberation Front, who had hijacked the Italian cruise ship MS Achille Lauro in 1985.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that the U.S.A. was shutting down an Iraq-to-Syria oil pipeline that violated United Nations sanctions. The U.S. administration of President George W. Bush said that it had warned Iran not to interfere with efforts to form a government in Iraq; some Iranians were reportedly crossing into Iraq to agitate for an Islamic state. U.S. Lieutenant General Jay Garner (retired), head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, met with Iraqi leders.

Economics and finance
U.S. President George W. Bush said that a tax cut of at least $550 billion was needed to stimulate the U.S. economy.