June 30, 2013

120 years ago
1893

Born on this date
Walter Ulbricht. German politician. Mr. Ulbricht was a Social Democrat before joining the Communist Party in the early 1920s. He was First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1950-1971), effectively the head of the Communist government of East Germany. He was also Chairman of the State Council (head of state) (1960-1973). Mr. Ulbricht was a loyal Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, and was in power when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. He was removed from power in 1971, but remained as head of state until his death on August 1, 1973 at the age of 80.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Alfonso López Michelsen. 32nd President of Colombia, 1974-1978. Mr. López, the son of former Colombian President Alfonso López Pumarejo, was the leader of the Liberal Party. He died on July 11, 2007 at the age of 94.

Harry Wismer. U.S. sportscaster and sports executive. Mr. Wismer was the radio voice of the National Football League's Detroit Lions in the late 1930s and Washington Redskins in the early 1940s, and was a sportscaster with the National Broadcasting Company "Blue" network, which became the American Broadcasting Company in 1943. Mr. Wismer had been a part-owner of the Lions and Redskins during his years as their broadcaster, and he was one of the charter owners in the American Football League in 1959, with the New York Titans. The Titans were a financial failure, and Mr. Wismer sold the team to Sonny Werblin in 1963, who renamed them the Jets. Mr. Wismer died in New York City on December 3, 1967 at the age of 54, the day after suffering a fractured skull from a fall down a flight of stairs at a restaurant, reportedly while drunk.

75 years ago
1938

Baseball
Hank Leiber batted 4 for 6 with a home run, 2 doubles, and 5 runs batted in, and Sam Leslie was 5 for 6 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 2 RBIs as the New York Giants routed the Philadelphia Phillies 14-1 before 1,500 fans in the last major league game ever played at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, which had been the Phillies' home since 1895. The Phillies subsequently shared Shibe Park with the Athletics.

Van Mungo pitched a 1-hitter and had a hit of his own to lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to a 5-0 win over the Boston Bees before 2,581 fans at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Rabbit Warstler doubled to lead off the 5th inning for the only Boston hit.

Cy Blanton pitched a 3-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 before 3,685 fans at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

The Boston Red Sox scored 4 runs in the 5th inning and 5 in the 6th as they routed the Washington Nationals 11-1 before 4,400 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Jim Bagby pitched a 6-hit complete game victory.

Joe DiMaggio, the fourth New York Yankee batter in the game, hit a 3-run home run to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead before a batter had been retired in the bottom of the 1st inning, and the Yankees coasted to a 7-1 win over the Philadelphia Athletics before 4,663 fans at Yankee Stadium. Red Ruffing pitched a 4-hit complete game victory.

Al Pytlak tripled with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning and Johnny Allen singled him home to give the Cleveland Indians a 10-9 win over the Detroit Tigers at League Park in Cleveland. Mr. Allen relieved starting pitcher Bob Feller and was credited with the win despite allowing 2 earned runs in 2 innings, improving his 1938 record to 11-1.

The Chicago White Sox scored 5 runs in the 4th inning of an 11-1 rout of the St. Louis Browns before 888 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Jack Knott pitched a 4-hit complete game victory.

70 years ago
1943

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): White Christmas--Bing Crosby (1st month at #1)

War
Soviet troops repulsed German attacks on the Leningrad, Smolensk, and Kursk fronts and captured a German position on the Velikie Luki front. U.S. Flying Fortresses bombed Palermo and the Bocca di Falco airfield in Sicily while other Allied planes attacked airfields at Sciacca, Borizzo, and Milo. At dawn, U.S. forces landed on Rendova Island in the central Solomons, 195 miles north of Guadalcanal. U.S. forces landed at Nassau Bay, 11 miles southwest of Salamaua, New Guinea, under an umbrella of fighter planes.

Defense
The New York area had its first test of barrage balloons "somewhere on Long Island" when 34 were sent aloft over an industrial area.

Economics and finance
Both houses of the United States Congress adopted the conference report banning subsidies to hole down retail food prices, ordering the meat and butter price rollback ended by August 1, and extending the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Favourable war news sent New York Stock Exchange prices to their highest levels in three years.

60 years ago
1953

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Fury of Señorita Gomez, starring Nina Foch and Harold Gordon

Popular culture
The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.

50 years ago
1963

Crime
A car bomb intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco killed seven police officers and military personnel in Ciaculli, Sicily who had gone to defuse the bomb after an anonymous telephone call.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): We were All Wounded at Wounded Knee--Redbone (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Skweeze Me Pleeze Me--Slade

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree--Dawn featuring Tony Orlando (5th week at #1)
2 The Twelfth of Never--Donny Osmond
3 Daisy a Day--Jud Strunk
4 Get Down--Gilbert O'Sullivan
5 Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)--Deodato
6 Daniel--Elton John
7 Part of the Union--The Strawbs
8 The Morning After--Maureen McGovern
9 Heaven is My Woman's Love--Col Joye
10 Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend--Lobo

There were no new singles entering the chart.

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Give Me Love--(Give Me Peace on Earth)--George Harrison

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Give Me Love--(Give Me Peace on Earth)--George Harrison
2 Playground in My Mind--Clint Holmes
3 My Love--Paul McCartney & Wings
4 Will it Go Round in Circles--Billy Preston
5 Kodachrome--Paul Simon
6 Shambala--Three Dog Night
7 Pillow Talk--Sylvia
8 One of a Kind (Love Affair)--The Spinners
9 Natural High--Bloodstone
10 Long Train Runnin'--The Doobie Brothers

Singles entering the chart were Here I Am (Come and Take Me) by Al Green (#82); Live and Let Die by Wings (#83); Roland the Roadie and Gertrude the Groupie by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (#84); Clouds by David Gates (#87); Angel by Aretha Franklin (#89); You were Always There by Donna Fargo (#95); You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart by the Detroit Emeralds (#96); Where There's Smoke There's Fire by the Grass Roots (#97); Lord, Mr. Ford by Jerry Reed (#98); Darling Come Back Home by Eddie Kendricks (#99); and Sweet Charlie Babe by Jackie Moore (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Playground in My Mind--Clint Holmes (2nd week at #1)
2 My Love--Paul McCartney & Wings
3 Pillow Talk--Sylvia
4 Frankenstein--The Edgar Winter Group
5 Kodachrome--Paul Simon
6 The Farmer's Song--Murray McLauchlan
7 Right Place Wrong Time--Dr. John
8 Long Train Running--The Doobie Brothers
9 I'm a Stranger Here--Five Man Electrical Band
10 Daisy a Day--Jud Strunk

Singles entering the chart were Delta Dawn by Helen Reddy (#70); He Did with Me by Vicki Lawrence (#74); Living Without You by Greencheese Goodtime Band (#77); Gypsy Davy by Arlo Guthrie (#80); Consider it Done by the Limeliters (#82); Maybe Baby by Gallery (#86); Master of Pantomime by Lorence Hud (#90); Gimme Your Money Please by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (#92); Jimmy Loves Mary Anne by Looking Glass (#93); Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin (#94); Sitting on a Poor Man's Throne by Copper Penny (#95); Live and Let Die by Wings (#96); Everyone's Agreed that Everything Will Turn Out Fine by Stealers Wheel (#97); The Hurt by Cat Stevens (#98); Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles (#99); and Clouds by David Gates (#100). Gimme Your Money Please was Bachman-Turner Overdrive's first hit. Live and Let Die was the title song of the movie.

Calgary’s Top 10
1 Kodachrome--Paul Simon
2 Daniel--Elton John
3 Shambala--Three Dog Night
4 Playground in My Mind--Clint Holmes
5 I'm a Stranger Here--Five Man Electrical Band
6 I'm Doin' Fine Now--New York City
7 My Love--Paul McCartney & Wings
8 Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy--Bette Midler
9 Pillow Talk--Sylvia
10 Daisy a Day--Jud Strunk
Pick hit of the week: Soul Makossa--Manu Dibango

Married on this date
Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament and future Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer, a researcher in the Progressive Conservative Party office in Ottawa, were married in the national capital.

World events
The day after using the armed forces to suppress a revolt in Santiago and declaring a state of emergency, Chilean President Salvador Allende Gossens called on the opposition-controlled Congress to grant a "state of siege" that would broaden his authority to suspend civil rights.

Protest
As a nationwide strike continued in protest against Uruguayan President Juan Maria Bordaberry's June 27 abolition of Congress, the government used armed troops to attempt to break up the strike, and ordered the National Workers Confederation disbanded and its leader arrested.

30 years ago
1983

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Lucia Rios!

World events
Timekeepers throughout the world added a leap second to the last minute of June in order to keep atomic time in tune with solar time.

Television
The Toronto-based C-Channel pay TV arts network, one of three such networks that had begun broadcasting on February 1, 1983, went off the air.

Oil
The governments of Canada and Alberta agreed to set the price of Canadian oil at $29.75 per barrel, or 75% of world price; producers would get world price for oil discovered from 1974-80.

Crime
The Simpsons-Sears retailing chain was fined $1 million for misleading advertising, the largest such fine in Canadian history.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Saskatchewan (2-2) 26 @ British Columbia (4-0) 37

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gimme Hope Jo’anna--Eddy Grant (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Afrikka, sarvikuonojen maa--Eppu Normaali (3rd week at #1)

Politics and government
One speaker at the 19th All-Union Conference of the Soviet Communist Party in Moscow called for a purge of President Andrei Gromyko and other members of the "old guard." Others complained about systemic shortcomings, including bureaucratic interference in the economy.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the U.S.A. was still the world's largest debtor nation at the end of 1987. The net debt burden stood at $269.24 billion, an increase of 37% in a year.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Hamilton (0-1) 12 @ Toronto (1-0) 16

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You--UB40

At the movies
The Firm, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, opened in theatres.



Football
CFL
Pre-season
Edmonton (1-1) 27 @ British Columbia (0-2) 20

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Buddy Hackett, 78. U.S. comedian and actor. Mr. Hackett, born Leonard Hacker, first attracted public notice in 1953 with a character of his creation called "The Original Chinese Waiter." He was a frequent guest on television talk shows and game shows for several decades.

World events
Israeli forces pulled out of most of the Gaza Strip, ending a blockade of the key highway that had been in place since 2000.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (0-2) 8 @ Toronto (1-1) 49