November 29, 2013

370 years ago
1643

Died on this date
Claudio Monteverdi, 76. Italian composer. Mr. Monteverdi was a pioneer composer of operas, and was crucial transitional figure between Renaissance and Baroque music. Much of his output has been lost, but three operas survive, along with nine books of madrigals, and large-scale sacred works.

120 years ago
1893

Politics and government
Elizabeth Yates was elected Mayor of Onehunga in New Zealand, becoming the first female mayor in the British Empire.

100 years ago
1913

Football
CRU
Grey Cup @ Cricket Grounds, Hamilton
Hamilton Tigers 44 (Toronto) Parkdale Canoe Club 2

Art Wilson set a Grey Cup record with 4 touchdowns and Ross Craig added 2 more as the Tigers routed the Paddlers before just 2,100 fans. Harry Glassford scored the other touchdown for the Tigers. Sam Manson kicked 3 converts and 3 singles, and B. Mallett added 3 singles. Hugh Gall punted for 2 singles to account for the Parkdale scoring.

75 years ago
1938

Society
Mary Buksa became one of the first people in Edmonton to prepay and plan her own funeral, including the purchase of a tombstone with the death date yet to be filled in.

70 years ago
1943

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Mrs. Farintosh's Opal Tiara

War
U.K. forces in Italy merged their two bridgeheads on the west bank of the Sangro River at the Adriatic end of the front to form a 14-mile line. U.S.S.R. forces drove northwest from Gomel, White Russia, reaching a point 11 miles south of Zhlobin. Australian troops occupied Bonga, seaward anchor of the principal Japanese supply line on the northeast New Guinea coast. Japanese forces in China broke into Changteh in northern Hunan Province after 10 days of fighting.

Diplomacy
U.S. State Secretary Cordell Hull denied reports that Germany had made peace moves "through the Vatican or other channels" when asked about Swiss government dispatches that former German Chancellor and current German Ambassador to Turkey Franz von Papen was in Rome to seek an audience with Pope Pius XII.

World events
Police in Buenos Aires announced that all anti-government propagandists would be sent to concentration camps in Patagonia.

Politics and government
The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), held to determine the post-war ordering of the country, concluded in Jajce (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): You'll Never Walk Alone--Gerry and the Pacemakers (4th week at #1)

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 Johnny Liar--Molly Bee (2nd week at #1)
2 It's All in the Game--Cliff Richard
3 Be True to Your School--The Beach Boys
4 Bossa Nova Baby--Elvis Presley
5 Move Over--Bobby Curtola
6 Four Strong Winds--The Brothers Four
7 Midnight Mary--Joey Powers
8 I'm Leaving it Up to You--Dale & Grace
9 There! I've Said it Again--Bobby Vinton
10 She's a Fool--Lesley Gore
Pick hit of the week: Pretty Paper--Roy Orbison
New this week: Last Day in the Mines--Dave Dudley
For Your Sweet Love--The Cascades
Drag City--Jan & Dean
Silver Bells--Bobby Vinton
Please--Frank Ifield
Come Dance with Me--Jay and the Americans

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Probe 7, Over and Out, starring Richard Basehart, Antoinette Bower, and Harold Gould

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Cadaver, starring Michael Parks and Joby Baker

Music
I Want to Hold Your Hand/This Boy by the Beatles was released as a single in the United Kingdom on Parlophone Records.

Crime
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson named a commission headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the November 22 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission included future president Gerald Ford, then a Congressman (Republican--Michigan).

Disasters
All 118 people--111 passengers and 7 crew--aboard a Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8 bound for Toronto were killed when the plane crashed in a field 20 miles from Montreal's Dorval Airport four minutes after takeoff.

Boxing
Lee Batts (9-0) won a 10-round split decision over Sonny Banks (16-5) in a heavyweight bout in Battle Creek, Michigan.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): The Helicopter Song--Wolfe Tones (2nd week at #1)

War
Israeli-Egyptian talks on disengagement broke down, with both sides claiming they had no new proposals to make and could not accept existing proposals. No new dates for talks was set. According to Israeli sources, the talks had broken down over Egyptian demands that Israeli troops return to positions held on October 22 on the west bank of the Suez Canal and pull back 20-23 miles from the eastern side of the Suez Canal. Egyptians said that the breakdown in talks had been precipitated by stalling and backtracking on th part of Israeli negotiators. Israeli and Egyptian forces exchanged heavy machine gun and mortar fire less than two miles from the negotiation site at Kilometre 101 on the Suez-Cairo Road.

Scandal
Dwight Chapin, former appointments secretary for U.S. President Richard Nixon, was indicted on four charges of perjury in connection with his statements before a federal grand jury dealing with his association with Donald Segretti, who had recently been convicted and sentenced for "dirty tricks" on behalf of the campaign to re-elect President Nixon in 1972.

Disasters
107 people died and at least 100 more injured in a fire that raged for eight hours in a department store in Kumamoto, Japan.

30 years ago
1983

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and U.S. President Ronald Reagan concluded two days of talks in Washington by announcing that a joint military command would be established to coordinate planning and maneuvers. Israel would be allowed to use $550 million in U.S. military aid to develop a new combat aircraft. Mr. Reagan endorsed exempting Israel from repaying military aid for fiscal 1984.

Society
The government of Canada suspended enforcement of metric measurement after an adverse court ruling, resulting in a need to rewrite and clarify the law.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit had set another one-month record of $8.97 billion in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average hit an all-time high of 1,287.20.

Track and field
Kanchan Stott, 37, reached Halifax 207 days after leaving Victoria, completing the first cross-Canada run by a woman and the longest recorded run (6,688 kilometres) by a woman.

25 years ago
1988

Politics and government
Democrats who would be serving in the United States Senate in the 101st Congress elected George Mitchell of Maine to be their leader, succeeding Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who did not seek re-election to the post.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy, as measured by the gross national product, had grown at an annual rate of 2.6% in the third quarter of 1988, a figure higher than the earlier 2.2% estimate.

Disasters
At least 700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless when a cyclone struck Bangladesh.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (2nd week at #1)

Abominations
"Dr." Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan mad scientist, was imprisoned in Pontiac, Michigan a day after being charged in Oakland County with assisting in the suicide of Merian Frederick in October.

War
The U.K. government of Prime Minister John Major came under attack in the House of Commons over revelations that it has had secret contacts with the Irish Republican Army.

Scandal
The Democratic Party dropped a civil lawsuit challenging Republican party candidate Christine Todd Whitman's 26,000-vote victory over Democratic incumbent Jim Florio in the November 2 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Ed Rollins, Ms. Whitman's campaign manager, had claimed on November 9 that he had paid out $500,000 to Negro clergymen and Democratic party workers to suppress Negro voter turnout, but 10 days later he had stated in a deposition that his claim had been a fabrication aimed at getting a dig in at rival campaign manager James Carville. A criminal investigation had revealed no significant evidence in support of Mr. Rollins' original claim.