September 12, 2013

800 years ago
1213

Died on this date
Peter II, 35. King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, 1196-1213. Peter the Catholic succeeded his father Alfonso II on the throne. Peter was killed in the Battle of Muret and was succeeded by his son James the Conqueror.

War
Crusaders led by Simon de Montfort defeated Catharist, Aragonese, and Catalan forces led by Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Muret near Toulouse, France.

330 years ago
1683

Died on this date
Afonso VI, 40. King of Portugal and the Algarves, 1656-1683. Afonso VI succeded his father João IV as king. His brother Pedro forced him into exile in 1667, and became prince regent in 1668. Afonso died in Sintra, and his brother succeeded him as King Pedro II.

War
Several European armies joined forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Vienna, helping to keep Europe "Christian" instead of Muslim.

125 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Maurice Chevalier. French actor and singer. Mr. Chevalier was known for singing songs such as Louise and Thank Heaven for Little Girls, and for his appearances in movies such as The Love Parade (1929); The Big Pond (1930); Love in the Afternoon (1957); and Gigi (1958). He died on January 1, 1972 at the age of 83.

110 years ago
1903

Died on this date
Duncan Gillies, 69. Australian politician. Mr. Gillies was Premier of Victoria from 1886-1890.

100 years ago
1913

Happy Birthday, Eiji Toyoda!
Mr. Toyoda was president of Toyota Motor Corporation from 1967-1981 and chairman from 1981-1994.

Born on this date
Jesse Owens. U.S. athlete. Mr. Owens is best remembered for winning four gold medals at the Summer Olympic games in Berlin in 1936, dealing a blow to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's ideas of Aryan racial superiority. While at Ohio State University, Mr. Owens attended a track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1935, where he set world records in the men's long jump, 220-yard sprint, and 220-yard low hurdles,and tied the world record in the 100-yard dash--all in a span of 45 minutes. At the Olympics, he won gold medals in the men's 100-metre and 200-metre runs, the long jump, and as a member of the 4 x 100-metre relay team. Mr. Owens died on March 31, 1980 at the age of 66.

80 years ago
1933

Science
Atomic scientist Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, London, conceived the idea of the nuclear chain reaction, leading one to wonder how history may have turned out differently if he hadn't had to wait for that red light.

75 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Prince Arthur of Connaught, 55. Governor General of South Africa, 1920-1924. Prince Arthur of Connaught and Strathearn was a grandson of Queen Victoria and the third son of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Queen Victoria's third son. The younger Prince Arthur died of stomach cancer.

Politics and government
In a speech in Nuremberg, German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

Football
CRU
WIFU
Regina (3-0) 7 @ Winnipeg (2-1) 0

Howard Cleveland's punt single in the 4th quarter was the only scoring in the game until the last play, when a desperation pass by Blue Bomber quarterback Russ Rebholz was intercepted by Leo Danaher and returned 40 yards for a touchdown, converted by Bert Nelson. The Roughriders' win, before a capacity crowd of 6,300 at Osborne Stadium, was their third straight shutout. A white ball was used in the game because Regina objected to the yellow ball with black stripes usually used for night games in Winnipeg.

Baseball
Hank Greenberg's 50th home run of the season was the deciding blow as the Detroit Tigers edged the Chicago White Sox 4-3 before 3,500 fans at Briggs Stadium in Detroit in a game that was played in 1 hour 40 minutes. Mr. Greenberg's homer was hit off losing pitcher Jack Knott. Al Benton was the winning pitcher.

70 years ago
1943

War
Deposed Italian Duce Benito Mussolini was rescued from house arrest on the Gran Sasso in Abruzzi by German commando forces led by Otto Skorzeny, and was taken to Vienna.



Allied forces in southeastern Italy advanced from Taranto to capture the important Adriatic port of Brindisi. The Soviet Red Army advanced to within artillery range of Bryansk by capturing Belye Berega, 12 miles to the east. Australian and American troops captured the Salamaua, New Guinea air naval base, sending Japanese forces northward toward Lae, 22 miles away.

Religion
Patriarch Sergius, 78, was installed in Moscow as primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Journalism
U.S. syndicated columnist Drew Pearson charged that "government Gestapo agents" had tapped his telephone and that Naval intelligence officers were shadowing him.

60 years ago
1953

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart?)--Percy Faith and his Orchestra (4th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)--Les Paul and Mary Ford (Best seller--6th week at #1; Disc Jockey--2nd week at #1; Jukebox--4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)--Les Paul and Mary Ford (3rd week at #1)
2 Crying in the Chapel--June Valli
--Darrell Glenn
--Rex Allen
--The Orioles
3 No Other Love--Perry Como
4 You, You, You--The Ames Brothers
5 P.S. I Love You--The Hilltoppers
6 I'm Walking Behind You--Eddie Fisher
7 Oh!--Pee Wee Hunt and his Orchestra
8 Ebb Tide--Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra
9 Dragnet--Ray Anthony and his Orchestra
10 With These Hands--Eddie Fisher

Singles entering the chart were Too Young to Tango by Teresa Brewer (#41) and Forty Cups of Coffee by Ella Mae Morse (#44).

Married on this date
U.S. Representative John Fitzgerald Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island.

Died on this date
Lewis Stone, 73. U.S. actor. Mr. Stone was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the Hardy Family radio and movie series (1939-1946).

Hugo Schmeisser, 68. German weapons designer. Mr. Schmeisser designed and manufactured automatic infantry weapons which were sold to foreign countries and then were used by the Germans in World War II.

Football
CRU
IRFU
Ottawa (2-1) 20 @ Toronto (1-3) 16

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): She Loves You--The Beatles

Protest
Police forcibly ejected 15 screaming demonstrators from U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities hearings on visits of U.S. students to Cuba. The protests were sparked by the testimony of Levi Laub, who had organized a visit of 59 U.S. students to Cuba in the summer of 1963 in defiance of a U.S. State Department ban on visits to Cuba by American citizens. Mr. Laub, addressing committee chairman Edwin Willis (Democrat--Louisiana), said his protest was aimed "at the same kind of racists who are sitting here in front of me."

Society
A Canadian Press article reported that the city council of Granby, Quebec had ruled that women's shorts could be worn no higher than 3 inches above the knee, and that police were authorized to measure the gap between hem and knee if there was any doubt.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Can the Can--Suzi Quatro

Scandal
The United States Senate Select Committee on Campaign Activities decided to curtail its inquiry into the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washiington, D.C. and the subsequent cover-up. Committee Chairman Sam Ervin and colleague Howard Baker explained that the committee felt that it would expedite the hearings by focusing on "key witnesses" and "salient points." The administration of President Richard Nixon was upset with the direction of the hearings, regarding Sen. Ervin as a partisan Democrat who was singling out the Republican administration for misdeeds, while the administration wanted the committee to also investigate similar behaviour by Democrats.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (3-4) 24 @ Winnipeg (1-7) 13

Rick Cassata threw 2 touchdown passes to Hugh Oldham and Dick Adams recovered his own punt and ran 80 yards for a touchdown as the Rough Riders defeated the Blue Bombers at Winnipeg Stadium. Mr. Adams' play was the first such TD in the CFL since 1961, when Dave Mann of the Toronto Argonauts did it. Don Jonas completed a pass to Bob Kraemer for the only Winnipeg touchdown. It was the only CFL game for Rufus "the Roadrunner" Ferguson, a running back of small stature who was being compared to Mack Herron, who had starred with the Blue Bombers in 1971-1972. Mr. Ferguson rushed 6 times for just 7 yards, caught 4 passes for 32 yards, and returned 1 kickoff for 23 yards, while losing a fumble. It was also the only CFL game for Ottawa defensive back Willie McKelton, who made an interception and returned it 40 yards.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Australiana--Austen Tayshus (3rd week at #1)

Diplomacy
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau expelled two Soviet diplomats for trying to obtain prohibited high technology equipment.

11 days after Korean Air Lines Flight 007 had been shot down over Soviet air space with the loss of all 269 people aboard, the U.S.S.R. vetoed a United Nations Security Council Resolution proposed by the United States that "deeply deplored the destruction of the Korean airliner and the tragic loss of civilian life therein." The vote in favour was 9-2 with 5 abstentions.

War
The number of U.S. ships off Beirut stood at 12, with the battleship New Jersey on its way.

Politics and government
All members of Israel's ruling coalition agreed to support the new Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir.

Crime
A Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut was robbed of approximately $7 million by the Puerto Rican terrorist organization Boricua Popular Army, better known as Los Macheteros.

After five days of activity, the commission named by Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos to investigate the August 21 assassination of political opposition leader Benigno Aquino was suspended until the Supreme Court decided cases challenging its legality.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Perfect--Fairground Attraction (4th week at #1)

Crime
One man was slightly injured when Medina Perez, Cuba's commercial attaché, opened fire with a gun on a London street. The Cuban government blamed the incident on an attempt to get Mr. Perez to defect. Mr. Perez and Cuban Ambassador Oscar Fernandez-Mell were expelled from Great Britain.

Disasters
Hurricane Gilbert reached Jamaica with winds of 115 miles per hour, leaving 500,000 people homeless and destroying the banana and poultry industries.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The River of Dreams--Billy Joel

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): What's Up?--4 Non Blondes (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: What's Up?--4 Non Blondes (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Mr. Vain--Culture Beat (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, and starring Anthony Higgins, Debrah Farentino, and Ken Pogue, on CBS

This made-for-television movie was apparently intended to be the pilot for a series, which never ensued. It resembled the made-for-television movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987), which was also a failed pilot.



Died on this date
Willie Mosconi, 80. U.S. pool player. "Mr. Pocket Billiards" won the World Straight Pool Championship 15 times between 1941 and 1957. He still holds the record of sinking 526 straight balls in Springfield, Ohio on March 19-20, 1954. Mr. Mosconi was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1968.

Raymond Burr, 76. Canadian-born U.S. actor. A native of New Westminster, British Columbia, Mr. Burr was known for his starring roles in the television drama series Perry Mason (1957-1966) (winning two Emmy Awards) and Ironside (1967-1975). His most famous movie performances were as the district attorney in A Place in the Sun (1951) and as the murderer in Rear Window (1954). Mr. Burr's distinctive voice can be heard occasionally in old radio shows, most notably as Inspector Hellman in Pat Novak for Hire (1949).

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (6-5) 23 @ Winnipeg (8-3) 41

Matt Dunigan rushed for 3 touchdowns and passed to Nathaniel Bolton for 2 more as the Blue Bombers beat the Roughriders before 35,959 fans at Winnipeg Stadium, the largest crowd ever for a regular season game in Winnipeg. Kent Austin passed to Jeff Fairhom for 1 Saskatchewan touchdown and handed off to Mike Saunders for the other Roughrider TD.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Johnny Cash, 71. U.S. musician. Mr. Cash, the "Man in Black," was one of the major figures in the history of country music and influenced the development of rock and roll. He recorded for Sun Records in the mid-1950s along with other rock and roll pioneers such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison. Songs such as I Walk the Line (1956) and Ballad of a Teenage Queen (1958) crossed over into the pop singles charts as well as being hits on the country charts. Mr. Cash then moved to Columbia Records, racking up too many hits to name here. He pioneered the recording of concerts at prisons, and the albums Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969) were bestsellers. The latter album included his biggest hit single, A Boy Named Sue, which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1969. While performing at the London Gardens in London Ontario in 1968, he proposed to June Carter, a singer and songwriter who was a member of country music's legendary Carter Family. She accepted, and the two were married and continued to perform together. He came to faith in Jesus Christ, and produced and narrated the film The Gospel Road (1973). In 1985, Mr. Cash joined with Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson to form the Highwaymen, and teamed up with Messrs. Perkins, Lewis, and Orbison to record the album Class of '55 (1986). Mr. Cash suffered from various illnesses in his later years, but continued to record to the end, winning accolades from new generations of musicians and listeners. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

War
U.S. forces mistakenly shot and killed eight Iraqi police officers in Fallujah.

Diplomacy
The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Israel against expelling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from Palestinian territory, warning that such an action might make him more of a hero to his people.

Journalism
The Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent newspaper, was shut down by the government of dictator Robert Mugabe. The government accused the paper of operating illegally, but the incident was widely seen an another attack on freedom of the press by the regime.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (7-6) 24 @ Hamilton (1-12) 27 (OT)

Paul Osbaldiston's field goal in overtime gave the Tiger-Cats the win over the Roughriders at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

CIS
Alberta 37 British Columbia 22