June 12, 2013

220 years ago
1793

Exploration
Alexander Mackenzie reached the Continental Divide at Portage Lake, British Columbia; his party were the first Europeans to cross the Divide north of Spanish territories.

110 years ago
1903

Canadiana
Niagara Falls, Ontario was incorporated as a city.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Jean Victor Allard. Canadian military officer. General Allard commanded forces in World War II and the Korean War, and signed the truce in the latter war on Canada's behalf in Panmunjon on July 27, 1953. He served as Chief of Defence Staff from 1966-1969, becoming the first francophone to hold the position. General Allard died on April 23, 1996 at the age of 82.

70 years ago
1943

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Taking a Chance on Love--Benny Goodman and his Orchestra with Helen Forrest

War
The Italian island of Lampedusa, 85 miles southeast of Pantelleria, surrendered after being attacked by Allied planes and warships for 24 straight hours. A record number of U.K. Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Polish bombers dropped more than 2,000 tons of bombs on Dusseldorf, Muenster, and other western German cities.

Abominations
Germany liquidated the Jewish ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). 1,180 Jews were led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot.

Track and field
NCAA Championships
The University of California at Los Angeles won the national championship at Evanston, Illinois, for the ninth straight year.

60 years ago
1953

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Believe--Frankie Laine (8th week at #1)

On television tonight
Tales of Tomorrow, on ABC
Tonight's episode: What Dreams May Come, starring Arnold Moss

This was the 85th and last last episode of the series.

At the movies
City that Never Sleeps, directed by John H. Auer, and starring Gig Young, Mala Powers, William Talman, and Edward Arnold, opened in theatres.



Golf
Ben Hogan shot a final round of 71 to finish 6 strokes ahead of Sam Snead and win the U.S. Open for the fourth time, tying a record shared by Willie Anderson and Bobby Jones. The tournament was held at the Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.

50 years ago
1963

Died on this date
Medgar Evers, 37. U.S. civil rights activist. Mr. Evers, a field secretary with the National Association for the Advancement of Coored People who was attempting to end the University of Mississippi's policy of racial segregation, died 50 minutes after being shot outside in home in Jackson, Mississippi by Byron De La Beckwith, a membr of the White Citizens' Council. The assassination took place just hours after U.S. President John F. Kennedy had made a nationally-televised speech about his proposal for a civil rights act. Mr. De La Beckwith was arrested on June 21, but two jury trials resulted in deadlocked all-white, all-male juries, and Mr. De La Beckwith was freed. After new evidence came to light, Mr. De La Beckwith was tried again in 1994 and convicted, and he died in prison on January 21, 2001 at the age of 80.

Music
At Western Studios in Los Angeles, the Beach Boys recorded the songs Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe. Surfer Girl, the first song ever written by Brian Wilson, had been recorded by the group in 1961 before signing with Capitol Records, and hadn't yet been released. The 1963 version was a completely new recording. The two songs were released as a single on July 22.

Edmontonia
Details for a proposed downtown coliseum complex were revealed at a special meeting of city council. The total cost would be $10, 250,000: $4.4 million for an arena--an oval below ground level--with 9,000 permanent seats and 3,000-4,000 portable seats; $1.9 million for an exhibition and convention centre with 70,000 square feet of space; $1.7 million for a little theatre with room for 700 spectators; and $2.25 million for a three-level underground parking facility with spaces for 700-800 cars. There was also to be a 24-storey office building whose cost was yet to be determined. The complex was to be built between 97-99 Sts. and Jasper-102 Aves. It would be linked with an underground rapid transit system that had yet to be built, with the entire project to be completed by 1967. Also at the meeting, a report was presented from the Stanford Research Institute that condemned the Edmonton Gardens as a fire hazard because of how much of the building was made of wood. The report also criticized the Gardens on the basis of comforts, cleanliness, and looks.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye--Demis Roussos

Scandal
Maurice Stans, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), testified before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities and denied all involvement in the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. He denied knowledge of a 1971 memo referring to his "discretionary fund" of about $1 million to be used to promote President Richard Nixon's re-election. Nor did Mr. Stans recall a request from Herbert Kalmbach, Mr. Nixon's personal attorney, to raise cash after the arrests of those involved in the break-in. He was also unaware of large amounts of campaign cash drawn by G. Gordon Liddy during the first five months of 1972.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Bruttosozialprodukt--Geier Sturzflug (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Norma Shearer, 80. Canadian-born U.S. actress. Miss Shearer, a native of Montreal, won the Academy Award for best Actress of 1929-1930 for her performance in The Divorcee (1930). Her other movies included A Free Soul (1931); Private Lives (1931); Strange Interlude (1932); The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934); Romeo and Juliet (1936); Marie Antoinette (1938); The Women (1939); and Escape (1940). Miss Shearer was married to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio boss Irving Thalberg from 1927 until his death 10 years later.

Politics and government
Michael Foot announced that he would resign as leader of the British Labour Party. In the June 9 general election, Labour had won just 209 seats in the House of Commons and 28% of the vote to 397 seats and 42% of the vote for the governing Conservatives of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Football
USFL
Michigan 42 Los Angeles 17

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Don't Turn Around--Aswad (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Theme from S-Express--S-Express (2nd week at #1)

Politics and government
In the second round of French parliamentary elections, the Socialists and their allies won 276 seats in the National Assembly, 13 short of a majority. The conservative alliance won 271 seats, the Communists 27, and the National Front 1. President Francois Mitterand said he would ask Prime Minister Michel Rocard to form a new minority cabinet.

World events
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that he had authorized Jewish settlers in the occupied territories to shoot Palestinians seen holding firebombs. Arab arsonists were suspected in the destruction of thousands of acres of Israel's scarce forests.

Health
On the first day of the 4th International Conference on AIDS in Stockholm, Dr. Jonathan Mann of the World Health Organization said that 5 million people in 130 countries carried HIV--the virus that caused AIDS--and that 150,000 people had developed AIDS, with the U.S.A. still leading the world with 61,580 cases. It was reported that an undetermined number of cases of infection would go undetected because the virus "hid" within the immune system.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Los Angeles Lakers 99 @ Detroit 86 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 2-1)



20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Informer--Snow (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: All that She Wants--Ace of Base (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Encores--Dire Straits (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): What is Love?--Haddaway (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Your Latest Trick--Dire Straits (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): What is Love?--Haddaway (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You--UB40

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): That's the Way Love Goes--Janet Jackson (5th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 That's the Way Love Goes--Janet Jackson (4th week at #1)
2 Weak--SWV
3 Livin' on the Edge--Aerosmith
4 Freak Me--Silk
5 Knockin' Da Boots--H-Town
6 Have I Told You Lately--Rod Stewart
7 I'm So Into You--SWV
8 Come Undone--Duran Duran
9 Love Is--Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight
10 Bad Boys--Inner Circle

Singles entering the chart were Dre Day by Dr. Dre (#28); Whoomp! (There it Is) by Tag Team (#38); Can't Get Enough of Your Love by Taylor Dayne (#41); Slam by Onyx (#45); Sister of Pain by Vince Neil (#63); I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers (#65); Even a Fool Can See by Peter Cetera (#67); Good Times with Bad Boys by Boy Krazy (#76); Don't Take Away My Heaven by Aaron Neville (#78); Voice of Freedom by Freedom Williams (#81); Walking in My Shoes by Depeche Mode (#82); ABC-123 by Levert (#84); I Love the Way You Love Me by John Michael Montgomery (#88); Baby I'm Yours by Shai (#91); and Cry No More by II D Extreme (#92). Even a Fool Can See, although listed on the singles chart, was only an album track.

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 That's the Way Love Goes--Janet Jackson (2nd week at #1)
2 Come Undone--Duran Duran
3 Have I Told You Lately--Rod Stewart
4 Can't Do a Thing (To Stop Me)--Chris Isaak
5 Hero--David Crosby and Phil Collins
6 Sleeping Satellite--Tasmin Archer
7 Looking Through Patient Eyes--PM Dawn
8 The Crying Game--Boy George
9 Are You Gonna Go My Way--Lenny Kravitz
10 Livin' on the Edge--Aerosmith

Singles entering the chart were Tomorrow's Girls by Donald Fagen (#60); Bad Boys by Inner Circle (#69); Blood of Eden by Peter Gabriel (#87); Tailspin by Bachman (#90); What a Good Boy by Barenaked Ladies (#92); What's Up by 4 Non Blondes (#95); Heterosexual Man by the Odds (#98); and Your Latest Trick by Dire Straits (#99).

Politics and government
Social Democratic Party candidate Moshood Abiola was elected President of Nigeria, handily defeating National Republican Convention candidate Bashir Tofa. The result was soon annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida, the country's military ruler whom Mr. Abiola was to replace. The situation led to a coup later in 1993 in which Gen. Sani Abacha seized power.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Gregory Peck, 87. U.S. actor. Mr. Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). His other movies included The Keys of the Kingdom (1944); Spellbound (1945); The Yearling (1946); Duel in the Sun (1946); Gentleman's Agreement (1947); Twelve O'Clock High (1949); The Gunfighter (1950); Roman Holiday (1953); Designing Woman (1957); The Big Country (1958); On the Beach (1959); The Guns of Navarone (1961); Cape Fear (1962); Mirage (1965); Arabesque (1966); Mackenna's Gold (1969); The Omen (1976); MacArthur (1977); and The Boys from Brazil (1978).

Abominations
The Convention on the Future of Europe ended with a draft European Union constitution that included more than 400 articles. The constitution called for the establishment of two permanent presidents, a parliament, and a foreign minister. If approved, the constitution would give EU laws precedence over those of the individual nations.

Economics and finance
The Quebec government of Premier Jean Charest issued its first budget since taking power in April. Business subsidies were slashed by nearly $800 million, government expenditures were cut, and spending was increased on health care and education.

Health
The World Health Organization lifted its travel advisory for mainland China, as only seven new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had been reported between June 1-12.