March 5, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Olivia Mananquil!

475 years ago
1539

Died on this date
Nuno da Cunha, 52 (?). Portuguese politician. Nuno was Governor of Portuguese possessions in India from 1528-1538. Forced to return to Portugal as a result of court intrigues, he drowned in a shipwreck at the Cape of Good Hope.

190 years ago
1824

War
The British officially declare war on Burma, beginning the First Anglo-Burmese War.

125 years ago
1889

Music
Edward MacDowell's Piano Concerto No. 2 received its premiere performance at Chickering Hall in New York City. The concert also featured the American premiere of Pyotr Tchiakovsky's Symphony No. 5.

90 years ago
1924

Bowling
Frank Caruana of Buffalo, New York bowled two perfect 300 games in a row in official competition. Perfect games were uncommon in those days because of uneven lanes and equipment. Only 11 perfect games were rolled in 1924, making Mr. Caruana's double 300 the bowling equivalent of Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive baseball no-hitters in 1938.

75 years ago
1939

Hockey
IIHF World Championships
Bronze medal playoff @ Basel, Switzerland
Switzerland 2 Czechoslovakia 0

Switzerland and Czechoslovakia had finished the final round of competition with identical records of 0-2-1, and had played to a 0-0 tie after 3 periods of extra time in the final game on February 12. They agreed to a playoff to decide not only the bronze medal, but the European championship. The Swiss scored in each of the 2nd and 3rd periods to win the game and the medal.

70 years ago
1944

War
The Soviet Red Army began the Uman–Botoşani Offensive in southwestern Ukraine, routing 12 German divisions and gaining 15-31 miles on a 112-mile front in two days. A small U.S. amphibious force leapfrogged along the coast of New Guinea and landed behind Japanese lines at Yaula Point.

Diplomacy
Sergei Orloff, the Soviet Ambassador to Uruguay, arrived in Montevideo following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S.S.R. and Uruguay.

Society
U.S. Representative Andrew May (Democrat--Kentucky) said that the United States Army had abandoned plans to distribute the pamphlet The Races of Mankind following a House Military Affairs Committee threat "to expose the motives behind this book." He said that it described the northern Negroes as equal in intelligence to southern white people.

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Calvert (9th week at #1)

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Glad All Over--The Dave Clark Five (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Anyone Who Had a Heart--Cilla Black (2nd week at #1)

Music
The single Komm, gib mir deine hand/Sie liebt dich by the Beatles was released in West Germany on Odeon Records. The songs were German-language versions of their hits I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You, respectively.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Titi à la neige--Tweety & Sylvester (5th week at #1)

Music
The Oak Ridge Boys, with opening act The Master's Touch, performed at Harold Panabaker School in Calgary. Advance tickets had been sold at Gospel Supplies for $3.

Politics and government
Under pressure from mutinous army troops and the threat of a workers' strike, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie agreed to a constitutional convention to create a new system of elected democratic government.

The day after replacing Edward Heath as British Prime Minister, returning to the office he had occupied from 1964-1970, Harold Wilson named his Labour Party cabinet.

Democratic Party candidate Thomas Luken narrowly defeated Republican candidate Willis Gradison in a by-election for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio's 1st District . It was only the fourth time in the 20th century to date that the district had elected a Democrat.

Labour
Britain's new Labour Party government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson immediately tackled the three-week-old dispute with the nation's striking coal miners. The British Pay Board, anticipating the support of the government, proposed raises of 35% for the miners, more than twice what the previous Conservative government of Prime Minister Edward Heath had offered.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Love Is a Battlefield--Pat Benatar (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Thriller--Michael Jackson (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
William Powell, 91. U.S. actor. Mr. Powell was one of the most popular leading men in movies in the 1930s. He was romantically teamed with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the six movies in the Thin Man series (1934-1947). Mr. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Thin Man (1934); My Man Godfrey (1936); and Life with Father (1947). He also played fictional detective Philo Vance in five films, including The Canary Murder Case (1929) and The Kennel Murder Case (1933). Mr. Powell retired from acting after Mr. Roberts (1955). In addition to his movies, Mr. Powell put his fine speaking voice to good use in radio dramas, including several episodes of Suspense. When Don Adams starred in the television comedy series Get Smart (1965-1970), he used an exaggerated imitation of Mr. Powell's voice for the voice of Maxwell Smart.

Canadiana
Miss Swift Current, 14-year-old Karen MacBean, was chosen Miss Teen Canada 1984. Runner-ups, in order, were Tracey Clements, 17, Richmond Hill; Lisa Iuga, 17, Burlington; and Barbara Kimmitt, 16, Calgary. Miss Teen Edmonton, Carla Betton, a student at Paul Kane High School in St. Albert, made the semi-finals in the pageant, which was telecast on CTV.

Diplomacy
The Lebanese cabinet formally abrogated the May 17, 1983 troop withdrawal agreement with Israel. The agreement for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon had been worked out with the help of U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, but Syria had never agreed to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, and Israeli forces remained in southern Lebanon. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir called the abrogation the "death sentence for Lebanese independence and sovereignty."

War
The U.S. State Department said that "available evidence" indicated that Iraq was using "lethal chemical weapons" in her war against Iran. The New York Times reported that a U.S. administration official believed that Iraq was using mustard gas, which blisters any tissue exposed to it. Both Iraq and Iran had signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol barring the use of such weapons.

Labour
6,000 miners in the United Kingdom began their strike at Cortonwood Colliery in Yorkshire. National Coal Board chairman Ian MacGregor had announced that 20 mines, including Cortonwood, would be closed, putting 20,000 miners out of work.

Business
Standard Oil Company of California (Socal) and Gulf Corporation reached an agreement by which Socal would purchase Gulf for $80 per share. The merger would be the largest in U.S. history at $13.3 billion, topping the $10.1-billion purchase of Getty Oil by Texaco, Inc. earlier in 1984. The agreement was subject to the approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): She Drives Me Crazy--Fine Young Cannibals

#1 single in Switzerland: Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart--Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney

Protest
13 Buddhist monks and nuns led 2,000 Tibetans in a march in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in support of Tibetan independence from China. Police checked the demonstration with gunfire, and Chinese authorities reported that a policeman and 10 protesters and onloookers had been killed. The march began three days of violent protest.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): It's Alright--East 17

#1 single in Italy: The Rhythm of the Night--Corona (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Right in the Night--Jam & Spoon (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): La solitudine--Laura Pausini (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Happy Nation--Ace of Base (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Ik wil niet dat je liegt/Waarheen waarvoor--Paul de Leeuw (8th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Without You--Mariah Carey (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 The Power of Love--Celine Dion (4th week at #1)
2 The Sign--Ace of Base
3 Whatta Man--Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue
4 Without You/Never Forget You--Mariah Carey
5 Breathe Again--Toni Braxton
6 All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting
7 So Much in Love--All-4-One
8 Now and Forever--Richard Marx
9 Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)--Us3
10 Hero--Mariah Carey

Singles entering the chart were The Most Beautiful Girl in the World by The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Love Symbol) (#60); And Our Feelings by Babyface (#71); Indian Outlaw by Tim McGraw (#75); Heaven Help/Spinning Around Over You by Lenny Kravitz (#80); Since I Don't Have You by Guns n' Roses (#82); Mass Appeal by Gang Starr (#83); Return to Innocence by Enigma (#87); On and On by Shyheim (#96); and Rock My World (Little Country Girl) by Brooks and Dunn (#97).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box): The Power of Love--Celine Dion (2nd week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Quebec 4 Toronto 1

10 years ago
2004

World events
About 500 Canadian troops and six Canadian Armed Forces helicopters were deployed to Haiit as part of international efforts to stabilize the security of the country and deliver humanitarian aid.

Law
The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a lower court judgment and ruled that Sikh students had no right to wear a kirpan--a ceremonial dagger--to school. The court ruled that security concerns took precedence over religious demands.

Scandal
Interior decoration magnate Martha Stewart was convicted of four counts of obstruction of justice, stemming from her sale of shares of the biotechnology stock ImClone in December 2001.