March 20, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Cliff Lander!

160 years ago
1854

Politics and government
The Republican Party of the United States was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.

120 years ago
1894

Technology
In St. Stephen, New Brunswick, J. Roswell Sederquest patented the cycle runner, a bicycle attachment mounted in place of the front wheel, making it possible to pedal through snow.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Wendell Corey. U.S. actor. Mr. Corey appeared, usually as a supporting player, in movies such as Sorry, Wrong Number (1948); The File on Thelma Jordon (1950); Rear Window (1954); and The Rainmaker (1956). One of his few starring roles, and perhaps his best performance, was in The Killer is Loose (1956). Mr. Corey served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1961-1963. He was elected to the city council of Santa Monica, California in 1965, and was still in office when he drank himself to death at the age of 54 on November 8, 1968.

90 years ago
1924

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Vancouver Millionaires 1 @ Montreal Canadiens 2 (Montreal won 2-game, total goals series 5-3)

The Millionaires were champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The Canadiens, champions of the National Hockey League, still had to play a 2-game, total goals series against Calgary, champions of the Western Canada Hockey League.

80 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, 75. Queen Consort of the Netherlands and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1879-1890. Emma married King and Grand Duke William III in 1879. After his death in 1890, she continued as regent to her daughter Wilhelmina, who was still a minor. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg passed to her uncle Adolf, Duke of Nassau, as the position could not then be inherited by a woman.

75 years ago
1939

Diplomacy
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop delivered an oral ultimatum to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys, demanding that Lithuania give up the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory), which had been detached from Germany after World War I, or the Wehrmacht would invade Lithuania.

War
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King told the House of Commons that Canada would consider any attack on Great Britain as an attack on the Commonwealth.

70 years ago
1944

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Man Who Drowned in Paddington Station

Died on this date
Felix Woyrsch, 83. Bohemian-born German composer and choir director. Mr. Woyrsch directed several choirs in the Hamburg borough of Altona from the 1880s through the 1930s. His compositions included six symphonies, three operas, and numerous chamber, keyboard, vocal, and choral works.

War
Lieutenant General Henry D.C. Crerar was appointed to command of the 1st Canadian Army. It was the largest field formation ever formed by Canada, and included British, Dutch, Belgian, and Polish units. Soviet units in western Ukraine captured the industrial and railroad centre of Vinnitsa and the Dniester River city of Mogilev-Podolski. German troops completed their move into Hungary, as German dictator Adolf Hitler summoned Regent Admiral Nicholas Horthy and his aides to Nazi headquarters. Chinese and American forces smashed Japanese resistance in the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma. U.S. Marines landed on Emirau Island of the St. Matthias group and occupied it against light opposition.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a bill making it a criminal offense to publish or distribute anonymous statements regarding candidates for federal office.

Literature
The Boston Board of Retail Merchants banned the sale of the novel Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith, which dealt with love between a white man and a Negro woman.

60 years ago
1954

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett (4th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Secret Love--Doris Day (Best Seller--3rd week at #1; Disc Jockey--3rd week at #1); Make Love to Me--Jo Stafford (Jukebox--2nd week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Secret Love--Doris Day (3rd week at #1)
2 Make Love to Me--Jo Stafford
3 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett
--The Four Aces
--Tony Martin
4 From the Vine Came the Grape--The Gaylords
--The Hilltoppers
5 Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher
--Eddie Calvert
6 Wanted--Perry Como
7 Young at Heart--Frank Sinatra
8 I Get So Lonely (When I Dream About You)--The Four Knights
8 Changing Partners--Patti Page
9 Cross Over the Bridge--Patti Page
10 Darktown Strutters' Ball (Italian Style)--Lou Monte

Singles entering the chart were So Long by the Four Aces (#20); Here by Tony Martin (#22); Anema e Core (With All My Heart And Soul) by Eddie Fisher (#27); Maybe Next Time by Joni James (#33); and The Kid's Last Fight by Frankie Laine (#37). So Long was the B-side (or maybe the A-side) of Amor, which charted at #35.

Music
Sunny Dae and his Knights became the first artists to record the song Rock Around the Clock, for Arcade Records.

Basketball
In the most famous high school basketball game ever played, Bobby Plumb sank a last-second shot to give Milan High School (enrollment 161) a 32-30 victory over Muncie Central in the final game of the Indiana High School championships. The event loosely inspired the movie Hoosiers (1986).

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Anyone Who Had a Heart--Cilla Black

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 All My Loving--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)
2 Twist and Shout--The Beatles
3 She Loves You--The Beatles
4 Kissin' Cousins--Elvis Presley
5 I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles
6 Please Please Me--The Beatles
7 I Saw Her Standing There--The Beatles
8 White on White--Danny Williams
9 One Minute to One--Rick Nelson
10 Can't Buy Me Love--The Beatles
Pick hit of the week: All My Loving--The Beatles
New this week: Can't Buy Me Love--The Beatles
When Joanna Loved Me--Tony Bennett
That's the Way the Boys Are--Lesley Gore
Texas Lil--Murry Kellum
Naomi--Floyd Cramer
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby--The Everly Brothers

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Masks, starring Robert Keith, Milton Selzer, Virginia Gregg, Brooke Hayward, Alan Sues, and Willis Bouchey

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Beast in View, starring Joan Hackett, Kevin McCarthy, and Kathleen Nolan

Died on this date
Brendan Behan, 41. Irish author and playwright. Mr. Behan was best known for his play The Quare Fellow (1954) and his autobiographical novel Borstal Boy (1958). Heavy drinking contributed to diabetes, which brought about his death.

Space
The European Space Research Organization (ESRO), precursor to the European Space Agency, was established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Tchip Tchip--Cash & Carry

Died on this date
Chet Huntley, 62. U.S. journalist. Mr. Huntley was a radio newscaster with CBS from 1939-1951 and ABC from 1951-1955 before joining NBC in 1955. In 1956 he was teamed with David Brinkley to provide television coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions, and the combination proved so successful that they became the network's regular evening newscasters. The Huntley-Brinkley Report ran on NBC from 1956-1970, when Mr. Huntley retired. He died of lung cancer.

Crime
Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips escaped an attempted kidnapping in London in which four people were wounded.

Protest
Hydro Quebec workers on the James Bay project in La Grande, Quebec, rioted, destroying millions of dollars of equipment and causing the project to close down.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Radio Ga Ga--Queen (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Stan Coveleski, 94. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Coveleski, born Stanislaus Kowalewski, played with the Philadelphia Athletics (1912); Cleveland Indians (1916-1924); Washington Nationals (1925-1927); and New York Yankees (1928), compiling a record of 215-142 with an earned run average of 2.89 in 450 games. He had five seasons of 20 or more wins, and led the American League in earned run average in 1923 (2.76) and 1925 (2.84) and in winning percentage in 1925 (.800). Mr. Coveleski was 3-2 in 5 World Series games, with his wins all coming in 1920, as the Indians defeated the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2 for their first World Series championship. His brother Harry was also a major league pitcher, winning 81 games from 1907-1918. Stan Coveleski was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Lorne Anderson, 52. Canadian hockey goaltender. Mr. Anderson, a native of Renfrew, Ontario, played minor professional and senior amateur hockey from 1947-61. He played 3 games with the New York Rangers (1951-52), posting a 1-2 record with a goals against average of 6.00. Mr. Anderson's last National Hockey League game was on March 23, 1952, when he allowed 5 goals in the 3rd period as the Rangers blew a 6-2 lead and lost 7-6 to the Chicago Black Hawks. The first 3 of the 3rd-period goals were scored by Billy Mosienko in a span of 21 seconds, a record that still stands for one player.

World events
A Soviet oil tanker struck a mine outside a Nicaraguan port, injuring five crewmen.

Politics and government
Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale won the Illinois primary in the contest for the Democratic party nomination for President of the United States in the November 1984 election, taking 41%of the vote to 35% for U.S. Senator Gary Hart (Colorado) and 21% for Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose home state was Illinois.

Law
The United States Senate voted 56-44 in favour of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would permit organized prayer in public schools, but the result fell 8 votes of the two-thirds majority required for approval.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Tucker's Daughter--Ian Moss

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Like a Prayer--Madonna (2nd week at #1)

Politics and government
The governing Progressive Conservatives of Premier Don Getty won their sixth straight Alberta provincial election, but Mr. Getty lost his seat. The PCs won 59 of 83 seats, down from 61 in the most recent election in 1986. The New Democrats, led by Ray Martin, elected 16 Members of the Legislative Assembly and the Liberals, led by Laurence Decore, 8, including former Edmonton alderman Percy Wickman, who defeated Mr. Getty in the riding of Edmonton-Whitemud. Mr. Getty refused to resign as Premier, and subsequently won a by-election in the rural riding of Stettler.

Terrorism
Two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were assassinated by the Irish Republican Army in south Armagh.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Hip Hop Holiday--The Hard Way (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Move on Baby--Cappella (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Doop--Doop (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Lewis Grizzard, 47. U.S. author. Mr. Grizzard was a humourist whose columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution were collected into many books. He died after surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.

War
United Nations convoys carrying 90 tons of flour and beans arrived in Maglaj, a Muslim enclave in north-central Bosnia, the day after Serbs had lifted a five-month siege of the town.

Politics and government
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Armando Calderón Sol led after the first round of voting in the El Salvador presidential election, receiving 49.0% of the vote; Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate was second with 24.9%, and they were the only candidates who proceeded to the second round of voting on April 24. In elections for the Legislative Assembly, ARENA won 39 of 84 seats, followed by FMLN (21); Christian Democratic Party (18); Party of National Conciliation (4); Democratic Convergence (1); and Movement of Unity (1). They were the first elections contested by FMLN and Movement of Unity.

Basketball
CIAU
Men's Championship Final @ Halifax
Alberta 77 McMaster 66

In his 11th season as head coach of the Golden Bears, Don Horwood finally succeeded in leading his team to its first national championship.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Juliana, 94. Queen of the Netherlands, 1948-1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. As a princess, she lived in exile in Canada from 1940-1945 during the Nazi occupation of her homeland during World War II, and helped to forge bonds of friendship between the Netherlands and Canada that continue to this day. Princess Juliana returned to the Netherlands in 1945, and succeeded to the throne upon her mother's abdication. Queen Juliana herself abdicated on her 71st birthday in 1980 in favour of her daughter Beatrix, and became known once again as Princess Juliana. She died of Alzheimer's disease on the 70th anniversary of the death of her grandmother, Queen Emma.

Pierre Sévigny, 86. Canadian soldier, author, and politician. Mr. Sévigny, whose father Albert was Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons in 1916, represented the Quebec riding of Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher in the House of Commons from 1958-1963. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and served as Associate Minister of National Defence. Mr. Sévigny was defeated in the 1963 federal election, but became notorious in 1966 when it was revealed that several years earlier, then-Justice Minister Davie Fulton had been warned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that an East German call girl and suspected Soviet spy named Gerda Munsinger had been having an affair with a Canadian cabinet minister. The minister was revealed to be Mr. Sévigny.

War
The U.S. military charged six soldiers with abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Politics and government
Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected President and Vice President, respectively, of Taiwan, the day after both had been shot and wounded. Mr. Chen captured just 50.1% to 49.9% for Nationalist Party candidate Lien Chen.