April 25, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Suzie Martin!

190 years ago
1823

Born on this date
Abdülmecid. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1839-1861. Abdülmecid acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Mahmud II. His reign was characterized by the rise of nationalist movements within the empire; Sultan Abdülmecid attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks into Ottoman society, but he was unsuccessful. He died of tuberculosis on June 25, 1861 at the age of 38, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Abdülaziz.

80 years ago
1933

Baseball
New York Yankees' rookie Russ Van Atta (1-0) made a successful major league debut when he pitched a five-hit shutout against the Washington Nationals and collected 4 singles in 4 at bats. Earle Combs added 5 hits as the Yankees won 16-0.

75 years ago
1938

Law
The United States Supreme Court ruled 6-2 in Erie Railroad Company v. Harry J. Tompkins that under the Rules of Decision Act, federal district courts in diversity jurisdiction cases had to apply the law of the states in which they sat, including the judicial doctrine of the state's highest court, where it did not conflict with federal law. There was no general federal common law. The decision overturned almost a century of U.S. federal civil procedure case law.

60 years ago
1953

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Takes Two to Tango--Louis Armstrong; Pearl Bailey

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Doggie in the Window--Patti Page (Best seller--6th week at #1; Disc Jockey--5th week at #1; Jukebox--4th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Doggie in the Window--Patti Page (6th week at #1)
2 I Believe--Frankie Laine
--[Jane Froman]
3 Pretend--Nat "King" Cole
4 Tell Me a Story--Jimmy Boyd and Frankie Laine
5 April in Portugal--Les Baxter and his Orchestra
6 The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where is Your Heart)--Percy Faith and his Orchestra
7 Ruby--Richard Hayman and his Orchestra
8 Till I Waltz Again with You--Teresa Brewer
9 Your Cheatin' Heart--Joni James
10 Caravan--Ralph Marterie and his "Down Beat" Orchestra

Singles entering the chart were Say You're Mine Again by Perry Como (#22); Less than Tomorrow by Hamish Menzies (#25); and Sleep by Les Paul (#31).

Science
The article Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by Francis Crick and James Watson describing the double helix of DNA was published in the journal Nature.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): How Do You Do It--Gerry and the Pacemakers (3rd week at #1)

Politics and government
17 days after the Canadian federal election, the result in the Quebec riding of Pontiac-Temiscamingue was decided in Campbell's Bay when returning officer J. Denzil Moodie flipped a new quarter and voted for Progressive Conservative candidate and former cabinet minister Paul Martineau to break a tie with Liberal candidate Paul Goulet. On April 8, the count of the vote showed Mr. Goulet with a 16-vote lead over Mr. Goulet, 6,612-6,596, with 3,397 for Social Credit candidate Yvan Beaule and 369 for New Democratic Party candidate Lorne Catherwood. A judicial recount resulted in 6,448 votes for Mr. Martineau, 6,448 for Mr. Goulet, 3,339 for Mr. Beaule, 351 for Mr. Catherwood, and 421 spoiled ballots. Mr. Moodie was given the choice of flipping a coin or turning a card to decide the outcome, and chose the coin flip. He said he couldn't remember which side of the quarter favoured Mr. Martineau or how the coin flip turned out, but he and Mr. Martineau were friends and planned to go out and celebrate Mr. Martineau's victory. The result left the Liberals with 129 seats in the House of Commons with 95 Progressive Conservative, 24 Social Credit, and 17 NDP members.

40 years ago
1973

Disasters
Flooding in the Mississippi-Missouri River Valley reached its peak when the Mississippi River crested at 43.3 feet in St. Louis, the highest level in 30 years. Thousands of people fled their homes as 1,700 National Guardsmen were called in to fight the flood waters in eastern Missouri.

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Conference Finals
New York 97 @ Boston 98 (New York led best-of-seven series 3-2)

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Billie Jean--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Bronislau Kaper, 81. Polish-born U.S. composer. Mr. Kaper grew up in Poland, but moved to Berlin as a student, and fled to France when the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933. When Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer was on vacation in 1935, he heard one of Mr. Kaper’s songs, and brought the composer to America, signing him for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Mr. Kaper wrote the music for over 100 movies, including San Francisco (1936); Gaslight (1944); The Stranger (1946); Green Dolphin Street (1947); Act of Violence (1949); Them! (1954); The Brothers Karamazov (1958); Home From the Hill (1960); and Lord Jim (1965). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) for The Chocolate Soldier (1941), and won the Oscar for Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) for Lili (1953). Mr. Kaper received two Oscar nominations for the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty: Music (Original Song) for Love Song From Mutiny on the Bounty (Follow Me); and Music (Score--Substantially Original). For many moviegoers and critics, Mr. Kaper’s score for Mutiny on the Bounty was the best part of the film. He also wrote the theme music for the CBS television series The F.B.I., which ran from 1965-1974.

Carlos Paula, 55. Cuban-born U.S. baseball player. Mr. Paula, the Washington Nationals' first Negro player, played 157 games for them from 1954-1956, batting .271. 117 of those games were played in 1955, when he hit .299 with 6 home runs and 45 runs batted in. However, Mr. Paula, the Nationals' regular right fielder that year, made 10 errors, and had a fielding percentage of just .941, which may explain why he didn't have a longer career in the major leagues.

Space
The U.S. probe Pioneer 10, launched March 2, 1972, travelled beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Journalism
Three days after announcing that it had obtained 60 volumes of diaries by German dictator Adolf Hitler written between 1932 and 1945, the West German magazine Stern published the first installment.

Politics and government
Partido Socialista, under the leadership of Mario Soares, won the national election in Portugal, but fell short of a majority.

Presidential elections in Sudan concluded with Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri re-elected to a third six-year term.

Diplomacy
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov invited 10-year-old American schoolgirl Samantha Smith to visit the U.S.S.R. as part of her effort to promote world peace.

Defense
France carried out a nuclear test at Muruora Island.

The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced that it would pay $630 million for new Coast Guard ships, and $147 million for fire-fighting aircraft.

Television
The American Broadcasting Company news program Nightline expanded from a half-hour to a full hour every weeknight.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean

Died on this date
Clifford D. Simak, 83. U.S. writer. Mr. Simak worked with the Minneapolis Star and Tribune from 1939-1976, but was better known as the author of numerous science fiction novels and short stories from the 1930s to the 1980s. His best-known book may have been the novel City (1952).

Lanny Ross, 82. U.S. musician. Mr. Ross, a singer, pianist, and songwriter whose career included radio, vaudeville, recordings, movies, and night clubs, became a major in the U.S. Army in World War II. He introduced the popular song Stay As Sweet As You Are in the 1934 movie College Rhythm, and had a hit when the song was subsequently released as a single. His composition Listen to My Heart was sung by Patricia Gilmore in the 1939 short film Tempo of Tomorrow. Mr. Ross also had a five-year run on the radio program Show Boat.

Carolyn Franklin, 43. U.S. singer and songwriter. Miss Franklin, the younger sister of Aretha Franklin, attempted a recording career of her own in the 1960s, but didn't have any hits. She did, however, achieve success writing songs for her sister, most notably Ain't No Way (1968) and Angel (1973), both of which reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 20. Carolyn Franklin sang occasionally with Aretha in the 1970s and '80s, but died of breast cancer, 18 days before her 44th birthday.

World events
A three-judge panel sentenced John Demjanjuk to death, a week after an Israeli court had found him guilty of war crimes against Jews at the Treblinka death camp in Poland during World War II. Mr. Demjanjuk, a United States citizen, had been extradited to Israel in 1986.

Politics and government
Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis won the Utah caucus in the contest for the 1988 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

Labour
In Poland, workers struck at Bydgoszcz, and were awarded a big pay hike.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Finals
Detroit 3 @ St. Louis 1 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Calgary 4 @ Edmonton 6 (Edmonton won best-of-seven series 4-0)

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Give in to Me--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): All that She Wants--Ace of Base (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: All that She Wants--Ace of Base

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Informer--Snow

Politics and government
Russian President Boris Yeltsin won a major victory over the Congress of People's Deputies in a national referendum that attracted a voter turnout of 65.7%. Mr. Yeltsin's presidency received the support of 58% of the voters, with 53% voting in favour of his economic reforms. Opposition leaders dismissed the result as not representing a clear majority of registered voters.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Pittsburgh 1 @ New Jersey 4 (Pittsburgh led best-of-seven series 3-1)

Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Chicago 3 @ St. Louis 4 (OT) (St. Louis won best-of-seven series 4-0)
Detroit 2 @ Toronto 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)
Vancouver 3 @ Winnipeg 1 (Vancouver led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Calgary 1 @ Los Angeles 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

Craig Janney scored at 10:43 of the 1st overtime period to give the Blues their win over the Blackhawks at St. Louis Arena and the series sweep. Chicago goalie Ed Belfour complained that Brett Hull of the Blues had interfered with him on the play, and Mr. Belfour went on a rampage of vandalism in the visitors' dressing room after the game. The Blackhawks had tied the game on a goal by Jeremy Roenick with 2:58 remaining in regulation time.

IIHF World Men's Championship @ Munich
Canada 3 Russia 1

10 years ago
2003

Diplomacy
Talks in Beijing between North Korean officials and officials from China and the United States over the status of North Korea's nuclear weapons program broke off after two days.

Science
The Human Genome Project came to an end, 2 1/2 years earlier than expected.

Politics and government
The Georgia legislature voted to scrap the Confederate flag design from its state flag.