June 21, 2013

225 years ago
1788

Americana
New Hampshire entered the union as the 9th state, and thus put the United States Constitution into effect.

200 years ago
1813

War
a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan in the Battle of Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to victory in the Peninsular War.

U.S. Colonel Charles Boerstler, moving to make a surprise attack on Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon's British outpost at Beaver Dams, halted at Queenston, Upper Canada for the night, billeting soldiers at the farm of Loyalist James Secord and his wife Laura.

125 years ago
1888

Baseball
George Van Haltren pitched a no-hitter as the Pittsburg Alleghenys edged the Chicago White Stockings 1-0 at West Side Park in Chicago in a game that was called after 6 innings.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Welcome to My World--Jim Reeves (2nd week at #1)

At the movies
La huella macabra, directed by Alfredo B. Crevenna and Alberto Mariscal, and starring Guillermo Murray, Rosa Carmina, Jaime Fernandez, Elsa Cardenas, and Ramon Bugarini, opened in theatres in Mexico.



Religion
The Roman Catholic Church elected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini as Pope, taking the name Paul VI.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Daisy a Day--Danny Doyle (3rd week at #1)

Society
The United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in five obscenity cases that states would be able to ban books, magazines, plays, and motion pictures that were offensive to local standards, even though they may be acceptable elsewhere. Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, said the printing or sales of works "which appeal to prurient interest in sex, which portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and which, taken as a whole, do not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value" could be punished by individual states. The definition of "prurient" would be based on the views of "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" rather than a national, hypothetical definition of obscenity. Mr. Burger also stated that each state would have to write explicit laws defining what would be considered obscene and open to punishment. Dissenting Justices William O. Douglas, William Brennan, Potter Stewart, and Thurgood Marshall criticized the guidelines as an impingement on free speech and press, and scored the vagueness of definitions based on local community standards.

30 years ago
1983

Died on this date
Doris Sands Johnson, 62. Bahamian politician. Dame Doris achieved many firsts for female politicians in the Bahamas: she was the first to contest an election (1961); the first appointed to the Senate (1967); the first to serve in the cabinet (1968-1973, as Minister of Transportation); the first to be elected President of the Senate (1974); and the first to serve as acting Governor General (1979). Dame Doris died two days after her 62nd birthday.

World events
Palestinian rebels, apparently aided by Syria, surrounded Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's main supply base in Lebanon's Bekka Valley.

Two American journalists died in Honduras near the border with Nicaragua.

25 years ago
1988

Diplomacy
The summit of the leaders of the world's seven leading industrialized nations concluded in Toronto with an agreement to set up a ministerial-level task force to fight international trafficking in drugs. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, as host, and the other leaders paid tribute to U.S. President Ronald Reagan on the occasion of his last scheduled trip outside the United States as president.

The Canadian government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced the expulsion of eight Soviet diplomats for industrial espionage.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Detroit 105 @ Los Angeles Lakers 108 (Los Angeles won best-of-seven series 4-3)

James Worthy scored 36 points and added 16 rebounds and 10 assists before 17,505 fans at The Forum in Inglewood, California to lead the Lakers to their second straight NBA championship. It was the only triple-double in Mr. Worthy's career, and he was named the finals' Most Valuable Player.



20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Mr. Vain--Culture Beat

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favour of the policies of the administrations of former President George Bush and current President Bill Clinton of halting Haitian fugitives at sea and returning them without hearings on asylum status.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Toronto (0-1) 25 @ Ottawa (1-0) 30

The Rough Riders' win over the Argonauts was the first game in Ottawa since Lansdowne Park had been renamed Frank Clair Stadium.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Leon Uris, 78. U.S. author. Mr. Uris was known for historical novels, resulting from extensive research. His novels included Battle Cry (1953); Exodus (1958); Mila 18 (1961); Topaz (1967); QB VII (1970); and Trinity (1976).

Roger Neilson, 69. Canadian hockey coach. Mr. Neilson coached the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1966-1976 before entering the professional ranks with the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central Hockey League in 1976-77. He was head coach for 8 National Hockey League teams and exactly 1,000 regular season games from 1977-2002, compiling a record of 460 wins, 381 losses, and 159 ties. Mr. Neilson pioneered the use of videotape as a coaching aid, and acquired the nickname "Captain Video." During the 1984 playoffs he assisted the Edmonton Oilers as a video analyst; it was the only Stanley Cup championship team he was associated with. Mr. Neilson was known, especially in his days as a junior coach, for his knowledge of the rule book and his ability to exploit loopholes. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. Mr. Neilson died after a long battle with cancer.

Jason Moran, 35. Australian gangster. Mr. Moran was a leader in the Moran crime family in Melbourne, and was one of the city's leading drug dealers in the 1990s. After serving time in prison, being paroled, leaving the country and then returning, Mr. Moran and Pasquale Barbaro were shot to death by a lone gunman while returning to their car after watching Mr. Moran's children at a football clinic.

Literature
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, fifth in a series of novels by J.K. Rowling, appeared in bookstores for the first time.

Football
CFL
Montreal (2-0) 34 @ Edmonton (0-1) 16