May 23, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Chrisie Bell!

Married on this date
Happy Anniversary, Polly and Maurice Pratt!

480 years ago
1533

World events
The marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.

380 years ago
1633

Politics and government
Samuel de Champlain was appointed Governor of New France.

230 years ago
1783

Died on this date
James Otis, Jr., 58. U.S. lawyer and patriot. Mr. Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who was an early advocate of the political views that led to the American Revolution. The phrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny" is usually attributed to him.

225 years ago
1788

Americana
South Carolina ratified the Constitution and entered the Union as the 8th state.

220 years ago
1793

War
An allied Austrian, Hanoverian, and British army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeated the French Army of the North led by General François Joseph Drouet Lamarche in the Battle of Famars during the Flanders campaign of the War of the First Coalition, an effort of European monarchies to contain revolutionary France.

200 years ago
1813

Died on this date
Géraud Duroc, 40. French military officer. Mr. Duroc, a general in the Grande Armée under Napoleon Bonaparte, was killed at Reichenbach the day after the successful conclusion of the Battle of Bautzen when a cannonball deflected off a tree and ripped open his abdomen.

World events
South American independence leader Simón Bolívar, leading the invasion of Venezuela, entered Mérida and was proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").

160 years ago
1853

Transportation
The Canadian Steam Navigation Company was founded in Montreal, offering transatlantic service to Britain.

140 years ago
1873

Canadiana
The Canadian Parliament passed a bill creating the North-West Mounted Police; a military police like Royal Irish Constabulary, to patrol the border and keep peace between Indians and traders. The name was later changed to Royal Northwest Mounted Police before the force merged with the Dominion Police in 1920 to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police..

125 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Zack Wheat. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Wheat played left field for the Brooklyn Superbas, Robins, and Dodgers from 1909-1926 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1927, batting .317 with 132 home runs and 1,248 runs batted in in 2,410 games. He led the National League in 1918 with a .335 batting average and led the NL in slugging average (.461) and total bases (262) in 1916. One of the most popular players in Brooklyn history, Mr. Wheat was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1959. He died on May 11, 1972 at the age of 83.

Politics and government
Charles Tupper resigned from the Canadian House of Commons to return to the Canadian High Commission in London. He served as High Commissioner until January 14, 1896.

80 years ago
1933

Business
The Canadian Parliament passed the Canadian National-Canadian Pacific Act, directing the two railway companies to cooperate during the Depression.

75 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Philip Kleintjes, 70. Dutch politician. Mr. Kleintjes, a republican, was known as the "people’s rights" leader in the Netherlands.

Frederick Ruple, 66. Swiss-born U.S. artist. Mr. Ruple, born Frederick Rupli, moved to the United States in 1891, and lived in Ohio, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, with the latter two states providing the inspiration for his portraits and murals. His most famous work was The Spirit of '89, a depiction of the beginning of the Oklahoma land rush.

70 years ago
1943

Died on this date
William Aberhart, 64. Canadian politician. "Bible Bill" Aberhart, an evangelist and educator who had founded the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute in 1927, led the Social Credit party to victory in the Alberta provincial election in 1935, and served as Premier and Minister of Education from 1935 (and as Attorney General from 1937) until his death, which occurred during a visit to Vancouver. Mr. Aberhart was the first politician to lead any Social Credit party to victory. He attempted to legislate Social Credit economic policies only after pressure from backbench legislators, and many of the laws passed by his government were struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada as ultra vires (beyond the powers of his government). Mr. Aberhart was succeeded as Premier of Alberta by Ernest Manning, a former student of his at Prophetic Bible Institute.

60 years ago
1953

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Till I Waltz Again with You--Teresa Brewer

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where is Your Heart)--Percy Faith and his Orchestra (Best seller--2nd week at #1; Disc Jockey--2nd week at #1; Jukebox--1st week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where is Your Heart)--Percy Faith and his Orchestra (3rd week at #1)
2 April in Portugal--Les Baxter and his Orchestra
--[Ralph Marterie and his "Down Beat" Orchestra]
3 I Believe--Frankie Laine
--[Jane Froman]
4 Ruby--Richard Hayman and his Orchestra
5 Pretend--Nat "King" Cole
6 The Doggie in the Window--Patti Page
7 Anna--Silvana Mangano
8 The Ho Ho Song--Red Buttons
9 Say You're Mine Again--Perry Como
10 I'm Walking Behind You--Eddie Fisher

Singles entering the chart were Crazy, Man, Crazy by Bill Haley and Haley's Comets (#19); Organ Grinder's Swing by the Four Aces (#28); and Dot's Nice--Donna Fight by Rosemary Clooney and Marlene Dietrich (#33). Crazy, Man, Crazy was the first rock and roll single to chart.

Literature
The May 23 issue of Collier's magazine contained The Adventure of the Black Baronet by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr. It was the second short story by the two authors in the collection known as The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes. The Adventure of the Seven Clocks had been published in the December 29, 1952 issue of Life, and the subsequent 11 stories appeared in Collier's. This was the only story of the Exploits to be adapted for another medium (so far); on May 26, 1953, as that issue of Collier's was still on the newsstands, The Black Baronet aired as that week's episode of the CBS television series Suspense. Basil Rathbone, who had famously portrayed Sherlock Holmes in movies and on radio from 1939-1946, made his only television appearance as Sherlock Holmes. Nigel Bruce, who had played Dr. Watson alongside Mr. Rathbone, was too ill to play the role again, so Martyn Greene played Dr. Watson in The Black Baronet.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): From Me to You--The Beatles (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Bard, starring Jack Weston, John Williams, Burt Reynolds, John McGiver, and Howard McNear

This was the last episode of the season and the last to air in a one-hour time slot. For the 1963-64 season, Twilight Zone returned to a half-hour time slot.

40 years ago
1973

Terrorism
Ford Motor Company announced that it would meet the demands of members of the People's Revolutionary Army, a Trotskyite group in Argentina, who had shot two Ford employees the previous day at a Ford subsidiary in Bueons Aires and had demanded $1 million worth of ambulances to be distributed to each state in Argentina, and direct donations to area hospitals in exchange for an end to attacks on the company and its employees.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green)--Redgun (2nd week at #1)

World events
Members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who were opposed to the leadership of Yasser Arafat vowed to "step up the armed struggle against the Zionist enemy." The rebels had organized themselves in Damascus after their leader, Col. Abu Masa, and four other officers, had been dismissed from their positions two days earlier. Mr. Arafat blamed the rebellion on Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Terrorism
The African National Congress claimed responsibility for the car bomb in Pretoria three days earlier that killed 18 and injured 200 outside the headquarters of the South African air force. In retaliation, South African fighter planes bombed alleged "terrorist camps" in Matola, a suburb of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Mozambique reported that 2 women and 2 children were among 6 people killed.

Disasters
Six days of tornadoes, storms, floods, and hail finished hitting the southern United States, especially the Gulf Coast. 32 people died and 11,000 were forced from their homes. One million acres of farmland were covered by water. 59 tornadoes were counted from May 18-23. Houston was one of the hardest hit areas.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean (5th week at #1)

Law
The White House announced that boats would no longer be seized outside United States territorial waters just because small quantities of drugs were found on board.

Basketball
NBA
Western Conference
Finals
Dallas 98 @ Los Angeles Lakers 113 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Baseball
Atlanta Braves’ manager Chuck Tanner was fired and replaced by Russ Nixon. The Braves were 12-27 under Mr. Tanner‚ last in the National League West Division.

Danny Tartabull of the Kansas City Royals, who had hit an inside-the-park home run against Bert Blyleven the previous October‚ did it again at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. However, the Minnesota Twins defeated the Royals 7-5.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Informer--Snow (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): What is Love?--Haddaway (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Informer--Snow (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): In Your Eyes--Niamh Kavanagh

Politics and government
The royalist FUNCINPEC party headed by Prince Norodim Ranariddh won the Cambodian general election, which attracted a voter turnout of 90% despite attempts by Khmer Rouge guerrillas to disrupt the voting. Prince Ranariddh's father, Prince Norodim Sihanouk, announced that he would form a government with the defeated Cambodian People's Party, but Prince Ranariddh vetoed the idea. Members of the People's Party called for a new vote in five provinces, claiming there were irregularities in the election.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Finals
Toronto 4 @ Los Angeles 2 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Conference
Finals
Chicago 90 @ New York 98 (New York led best-of-seven series 1-0)

10 years ago
2003

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he was "prepared to accept the steps" in the U.S.-proposed "road map" to peace in the Middle East, following reassurances by the United States that it would "fully and seriously" address Israeli security concerns.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Sergio Vieira de Mello of Portugal as his special representative to Iraq, responsible for coordinating aid from the UN and non-governmental organizations, overseeing the return of refugees, and ensuring that human rights were upheld.

Economics and finance
The United States House of Representatives voted 231-200 and the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice-President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote, to approve the $318 billion in tax cuts over 10 years that had been approved by a Senate confrence committee on May 21. President George Bush had called for $726 billion in tax cuts.