May 17, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Katya Semenova!

340 years ago
1673

Exploration
Roman Catholic Fathers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet left Sault Ste. Marie in what is now Ontario and paddled south across Lake Michigan to rediscover and claim the Mississippi River for King Louis XlV of France.

280 years ago
1733

Law
England passed the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions.

220 years ago
1793

Exploration
In what is now Alberta, Alexander Mackenzie 1764-1820 sighted the Rocky Mountains.

175 years ago
1838

Died on this date
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 84. French Diplomat. Mr. Talleyrand served as France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs under Napoleon Bonaparte from 1797-1807 (although he disagreed with Napoleon’s policies) and under Louis XVIII from 1814-1815. One of his notable achievements was signing the Treaty of Paris in 1814 with remarkably lenient terms for France. During the French Revolution he participated in writing the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

René Caillié, 38. French explorer. Mr. Caillié explored such African countries as Senegal, Mali, Morocco, and Sierra Leone, and was the first European to return alive from Timbuktu. He died from an illness contracted in Africa.

140 years ago
1873

Canadiana
In the House of Commons, Samuel Leonard Tilley moved a resolution to bring Prince Edward Island into Confederation.

130 years ago
1883

Popular culture
Buffalo Bill Cody's first wild west show premiered in Omaha, Nebraska.

80 years ago
1933

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Richard Gordon and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Poison Keg

Politics and government
Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort formed the Nasjonal Samling, the national socialist party of Norway.

70 years ago
1943

War
British and Canadian Lancaster pilots of the Dambusters Squadron succeeded in breaching the Mohne and the Eder dams in Germany's industrial Ruhr basin using a bouncing bomb dropped at low level. Only 8 of the 17 planes returned; 13 of the 53 dead were Canadians.

Technology
The United States Army contracted with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the world's first general-purpose computer.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): From Me to You--The Beatles

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Bachelor Boy--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
2 Summer Holiday--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
3 Dancing Shoes--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
4 Sukiyaki--Kyu Sakamoto
5 Surfin' U.S.A.--Beach Boys
6 Let's Go Steady Again--Neil Sedaka
7 I Will Follow Him--Little Peggy March
8 Two Faces Have I--Lou Christie
9 Reverend Mr. Black--The Kingston Trio
10 It's My Party--Lesley Gore

On television tonight
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Run for Doom, starring John Gavin, Diana Dors, Scott Brady, and Tom Skerritt

Died on this date
Jack Wilce, 75. U.S. football coach and physician. Dr. Wilce was the head coach at Ohio State University from 1913-1928, compiling a record of 78-33-9, and winning Big Ten championships in 1916, 1917, and 1920. He retired from coaching to pursue a career as a physician and professor of preventive medicine at Ohio State. Dr. Wilce died five days after his 75th birthday.

Canadiana
Construction began on the National Library and Public Archives Building on Wellington Street in Ottawa.

Terrorism
Canadian Army engineer Sergeant-Major Walter Leja was seriously injured when the bomb he was trying to dismantle blew up in his hands. It was one of a series of six Front de liberation Quebecois bombs that exploded in mailboxes in the Westmount area of Montrreal starting at 3 A.M. (five more were disarmed, another 5 were carried away and blown up safely). Three days later, police arrested 20 members of the FLQ.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree--Dawn featuring Tony Orlando (5th week at #1)

Scandal
The United States Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities regarding the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. opened hearings in Washington. The committee was chaired by Sam Ervin (Democrat--North Carolina), with Howard Baker (Republican--Tennessee) as vice-chairman. Other members of the committee were Herman Talmadge (Democrat--Georgia); Daniel Inouye (Democrat--Hawaii); Joseph Montoya (Democrat--New Mexico); Edward Gurney (Republican--Florida); and Lowell Weicker (Republican--Connecticut). Sam Dash and Fred Thompson served as majority and minority counsels, respectively.

30 years ago
1983

Diplomacy
Israel and Lebanon formally signed an agreeement for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. The text also provided for gradual normalization of relations between the two countries based on "sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity." Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia gave their support to the agreement.

Defense
The full United States House of Representatives Appropriations Committee voted 30-26 to support the recommendations of the Scowcroft commission on development of the MX missile.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Ronald Reagan warned that he would veto any tax increase at a time when the country was emerging from a recession.

Politics and government
Philadelphia Democrats nominated former city managing director Wilson Goode as their candidate for mayor. Mr. Goode defeated former mayor Frank Rizzo in the primary, getting 53% of the vote to Mr. Rizzo's 46% in a heavy turnout. Mr. Goode thus had a chance to become Philadelphia's first Negro mayor.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Edmonton 2 @ New York Islanders 4 (New York won best-of-seven series 4-0)

The Islanders, backed by first-period goals from Bryan Trottier, John Tonelli and Mike Bossy, held on to defeat the Oilers at Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, New York to win their fourth straight Stanley Cup, and last to date. Jari Kurri and Mark Messier scored for the Oilers in the second period, but Billy Smith stopped all seven Oilers’ shots in the third period and stopped 24 of 26 shots in the game. He finished the playoffs with a 13-3 record, recording all but two of the Islanders' postseason victories, and finished with a 2.68 goals-against average for the playoffs against the Washington Capitals, the Rangers, the Bruins and the Oilers.

25 years ago
1988

Diplomacy
The United States Senate began formal consideration of the intermediate nuclear forces (INF) treaty with the U.S.S.R.

Politics and government
In the contest for the 1988 U.S. presidential nomination, Michael Dukakis won the Oregon Democratic primary with 56% of the vote to 38% for Jesse Jackson.

An editorial in the Washington Times called for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, saying that he had "destroyed the [justice] department."

Basketball
NBA
Western Conference
Semi-Finals
Dallas 110 @ Denver 106 (Dallas led best-of-seven series 3-2)
Utah 109 @ Los Angeles Lakers 111 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 3-2)

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Informer--Snow (3rd week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Finals
Los Angeles 1 @ Toronto 4 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Conference
Semi-Finals
Chicago 103 @ Cleveland 101 (Chicago won best-of-seven series 4-0)

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Frank "Pop" Ivy, 87. U.S. football player and coach. Mr. Ivy, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, played end with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1940) and the Chicago Cardinals (1940-1942, 1945-1947), finishing his career by playing with a championship team. After six seasons as an assistant coach with the University of Oklahoma, Mr. Ivy became head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, and led them to their first three Grey Cup championships in his first three seasons, losing in the WIFU finals in 1957. His .772 winning percentage (61 wins and 18 losses, including post-season) remains second in Canadian Football League history to Hugh Campbell's .773 (also with the Eskimos). Mr. Ivy was head coach of the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals from 1958-1961, with a record of 15-31-2, and he wuit with 2 games remaining in the 1961 season. He was named head coach of the Houston Oilers of the American Football League in 1962, and led them to the Eastern Division title with an 11-3 record before losing the AFL championship game 20-17 in double overtime to the Dallas Texans. The Oilers dropped to 6-8 in 1963, and Mr. Ivy was fired the following spring. He joined the New York Giants in 1965 and spent 20 years with the organization, either as an assistant coach or as a scout. Mr. Ivy was the first of two men (John Rauch was the other) to have been a head coach in the CFL (or what became the CFL), the NFL, and the AFL.

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met for three hours to discuss the U.S.-proposed "road map" to peace in the Middle East. They made no progress.

Horse racing
Funny Cide, with Jose Santos aboard, won his second straight Triple Crown race, taking the 128th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore by 9 3/4 lengths over Midway Road, the widest margin in Preakness history.