March 31, 2014

240 years ago
1774

Politics and government
The Kingdom of Great Britain ordered the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

160 years ago
1854

Diplomacy
Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

Exploration
John Rae set out across Rae Isthmus for Pelly Bay in what is now Canada's Northwest Territories.

125 years ago
1889

Franciana
The Eiffel Tower was officially opened in Paris, as French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French flag from atop the tower to mark its completion.

120 years ago
1894

Soccer
English FA Cup
Final @ Goodison Park, Liverpool
Notts County 4 Bolton Wanderers 1

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Octavio Paz. Mexican poet and author. Mr. Paz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990. He died on April 19, 1998 at the age of 84.

Defense
Canada had 3,000 officers and men in the Permanent Force and 5,615 officers and 68,991 men in the militia.

Disasters
78 hunters died, many crippled by frostbite, in a two-day-long storm in Newfoundland when their sealing steamer, the Newfoundland, failed to pick them up due to mistaken orders.

75 years ago
1939

At the movies
The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Sidney Lanfield, and starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, opened in theatres. It was the first of 14 movies featuring the two actors in their respective roles.



70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): You'll Never Know--Vera Lynn and the Joe Loss Orchestra (2nd month at #1)

Died on this date
Maurice Blackburn, 63. Australian politician. Mr. Blackburn was a member of the Labour Party for most of his career, sitting in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1914-1917, 1925-1934) before entering federal politics, representing Bourke in the Australian House of Representatives (1934-1943). His anti-war and pro-Soviet views led to his expulsion from the Labour Party in 1935; he returned in 1937, but was expelled again in 1941, continuing to sit in Parliament as an independent. Mr. Blackburn was defeated in the 1943 federal election, and died of a brain tumour; his wife Doris won his seat as an Independent Labour candidate in 1946, representing Bourke until 1949.

Mineichi Koga, 58. Japanese military officer. Admiral Koga, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, was killed in a plane crash between Palau and Davao during a typhoon while overseeing the withdrawal of the Combined Fleet from its Palau headquarters.

War
The Royal Air Force's bomber command suffered its heaviest loss when 94 bombers of about 1,000 failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg. Nazi raids on the Anzio beachhead in Italy forced U.S. troops to retreat 1½ miles southwest of Aprilia. Allied troops advanced about one mile and seized Mount Marrone, 13 miles northeast of Cassino. Soviet forces captured the Black Sea port of Ochakov, 38 miles east of Odessa. British forces abandoned their forward Burmese base of Tiddim, 100 miles south of Imphal in the Indian state of Manipur, in the face of Japanese assaults.

World events
The government of Colombia announced that "concerted revolutionary activity" had been suppressed in the town of Purification with the arrest of 75 people.

Politics and government
The U.S. congressional bill to allow absentee votes from members of the armed services became law without the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who called the "states' rights" measure "inadequate," and asked its amendment to provide wider and freer use of the short federal ballot.

New York Governor Thomas Dewey telephoned his supporters in Oregon to withdraw his name from the May 19 Republican Party primary for the nomination for President of the United States in the November 1944 election.

Representative John Coffee (Democrat--Washington) accused Connecticut industrialist Vivien Kellems of treason and seditious conduct for urging businessmen not to pay income taxes.

Oil
The U.S.S.R. announced the cancellation of Japanese oil concessions in northern Sakhalin, 26 years in advance of treaty expiration, in view of "operations of our Allies in the Pacific."

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Wir Wir Wir Haben Ein Klavier--Die Zehn Whiskys (1st month at #1)

Boxing
Sonny Liston (5-0) won a 6-round decision over Stanley Howlett (4-1) in a heavyweight bout at St. Louis Arena.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Syracuse 68 @ Minneapolis 79 (Minneapolis led best-of-seven series 1-0)



50 years ago
1964

On television tonight
The Fugitive, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Never Stop Running, with guest stars Claude Akins, Joanna Moore, and Wright King

World events
A coup d'état in Brazil established a military government under the aegis of General Castello Branco.

Politics and government
Canada's federal and provincial governments began a four-day conference in Quebec City to discuss the Canada Pension Plan and tax equalization.

Literature
University of Toronto historian Donald Creighton and Quebec poet Alain Grandbois became the first recipients of the Canada Council's Molson Prize.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Montreal 3 @ Toronto 2 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Chicago 0 @ Detroit 3 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Henri Richard scored with 25 seconds remaining in regulation time to enable the Canadiens to edge the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens. The winning goal came 2 minutes 10 seconds after J.C. Tremblay scored for the Canadiens to tie the score.



Terry Sawchuk, who had been forced to leave the previous game with a pinched nerve in his shoulder, was granted a six-hour leave by the doctors, and responded with a 26-save shutout to win the goaltending duel over Glenn Hall, while Bruce MacGregor, Paul Henderson, and Alex Delvecchio scored as the Red Wings blanked the Black Hawks at Olympia Stadium.

Baseball
The Washington Senators traded minor league outfielder Lou Piniella to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Buster Narum.

40 years ago
1974

Football
WFL
The Toronto Northmen signed Miami Dolphins running backs Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, and receiver Paul Warfield for the 1975 season. The three had helped the Miami Dolphins win the two most recent Super Bowls.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Ci Sarà--Albano Carrisi; Romina Power (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT Top 30): Somebody's Watching Me--Rockwell

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Love Is a Battlefield--Pat Benatar (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Hello--Lionel Richie

#1 single in the U.K.: Hello--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Footloose--Kenny Loggins

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Footloose--Kenny Loggins
2 Somebody's Watching Me--Rockwell
3 Girls Just Want to Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper
4 Jump--Van Halen
5 I Want a New Drug--Huey Lewis and the News
6 Here Comes the Rain Again--Eurythmics
7 99 Luftballons--Nena
8 Automatic--Pointer Sisters
9 Eat It--"Weird Al" Yankovic
10 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)--Phil Collins

Singles entering the chart were Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions (#84); I'm Stepping Out by John Lennon (#86); Give Me Tonight by Shannon (#89); and Love Has Finally Come at Last by Bobby Womack and Patti LaBelle (#90).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Girls Just Want to Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper
2 Jump--Van Halen
3 99 Red Balloons--Nena
4 Somebody's Watching Me--Rockwell
5 Thriller--Michael Jackson
6 Footloose--Kenny Loggins
7 I Want a New Drug--Huey Lewis and the News
8 Here Comes the Rain Again--Eurythmics
9 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)--Phil Collins
10 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club

Singles entering the chart were Automatic by the Pointer Sisters (#44); Black Stations/White Stations by M + M (#45); and Rockit by Herbie Hancock (#50).

Died on this date
Joe L. Evins, 73. U.S. politician. Mr. Evins, a Democrat, represented Tennessee's 4th District in the United States House of Representatives from 1953-1977.

Canadiana
One-legged runner Steve Fonyo dipped his artificial leg in St. John's Harbour to start a run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, and to honour the memory of his friend Terry Fox, whose cross-Canada run in 1980 was cut short when his cancer returned and took his life.

Defense
General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, a key ally of the United States in Central America, resigned as commander of the Honduran armed forces, a move apparently related to corruption and his threat to the regime of President Roberto Suazo Cordova.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Looking for Freedom--David Hasselhoff

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Jos sulla on toinen--Taikapeili

World events
South African President F.W. de Klerk declared a state of emergency in the "homeland" of KwaZulu after almost two weeks of rioting had left 150 people dead.

Diplomacy
The Palestine Liberation Organization resumed talks with Israel after the latter agreed to permit the deployment of lightly-armed foreign observers in Hebron. The observers would have no power to settle disputes.

Science
The journal Nature reported the discovery in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported, in its final revision of gross domestic product for 1993, that the economy had grown at an annual rate of 7.0% during the last quarter of the year.

10 years ago
2004

War
In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA were killed after being ambushed. Frenzied crowds dragged their burned, mutilated bodies and strung two of them from a bridge.

Economics and finance
About 50 nations pledged more than $4.4 billion in grants and loans to Afghanistan, with more than half coming from the United States.