April 2, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Elena and Elya!

225 years ago
1789

Born on this date
Lucio Norberto Mansilla. Argentine military officer and politician. General Mansilla participated in several wars in a career spanning more than 40 years. A successful campaign against the Republic of Entre Ríos resulted in the abolition of the republic and Gen. Mansilla serving as Governor of the Province of Entre Ríos (1821-1824). He died of yellow fever during an epidemic in Buenos Aires on April 10, 1871, eight days after his 82nd birthday.

200 years ago
1814

Born on this date
Erastus Brigham Bigelow. U.S. inventor. Mr. Bigelow was best known for inventing weaving machines. He died on December 6, 1879 at the age of 65.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Alec Guinness. U.K. actor. Sir Alec, born Alec Guinness, de Cuffe, was a stage actor known for roles in plays by William Shakespeare, but made a successful transition to film acting, in comedies with Ealing Studios in the 1940s and '50s, and in more serious roles in movies directed by David Lean, including The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); Lawrence of Arabia (1962); and Doctor Zhivago (1965). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Bridge on the River Kwai, and was nominated for his starring performance in The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and for his supporting performances in Star Wars (1977) and Little Dorrit (1988). Sir Alec died on August 5, 2000 at the age of 86.

Died on this date
Paul Heyse, 84. German author. Mr. Heyse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1910 "as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories." He wrote novels, 177 short stories, and about 60 dramas. Mr. Heyse died 18 days after his 84th birthday.

75 years ago
1939

Golf
Ralph Guldahl shot a 3-under-par 69 in the final round to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia with a then-Masters record 9-under-par total score of 279, 1 stroke ahead of Sam Snead. First prize money was $1,500.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
New York Rangers 1 @ Boston 2 (3 OT) (Boston won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Mel Hill scored at 8:00 of the 3rd overtime period to give the Bruins their win over the Rangers at Boston Garden, preventing the Bruins from being the first team to lose a playoff series after winning the first three games. The winning goal was Mr. Hill's fourth of the series and his third in overtime, earning him the lasting nickname "Sudden Death" Hill.

70 years ago
1944

Music
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 was performed in the United States for the first time by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York.

War
Soviet troops entered Romania, the first time in the war that they had stepped on territory not claimed by the U.S.S.R. A U.S. Army spokesman claimed that 100,000 Japanese troops were trapped in the Marshall Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, northern Solomon Islands, and parts of New Guinea.

World events
An uprising in El Salvador aimed at overthrowing President Maximiliano Hernandez-Martinez was crushed.

Politics and government
Harry Woodring resigned as chairman and withdrew from the American Democratic National Committee, saying that many people opposed to the renomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the party's candidate in the November 1944 election were too timid "to stand up and be counted."

Economics and finance
The U.S. Federal Economic Administration reported that Lend-Lease munitions and supplies to the U.S.S.R. in January and February had exceeded 1 million tons and that total shipments since October 1941 were 9.5 million tons.

Labour
The U.S. National War Labor Board denied a 9.5% wage increase to Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) workers, saying they had received all increases allowed under the Little Steel formula.

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I See the Moon--The Stargazers (4th week at #1)

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Needles and Pins--The Searchers (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Can't Buy Me Love--The Beatles

At the movies
El revólver sangriento (The Bloody Revolver), directed by Miguel M. Delgado, and starring Luis Aguilar, Lola Beltrán, Flor Silvestre, and others, opened in theatres in Mexico.



Space
The U.S.S.R. launched Zond 1, a probe for developing a system for interplanetary flights. It was launched on a trans-Venus trajectory.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Montreal 3 @ Toronto 5 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)
Chicago 3 @ Detroit 2 (OT) (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

Frank Mahovlich scored 2 goals and 3 assists as the Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Murray Balfour, who had scored the winning goal in the first game of the series at 8:21 of the 3rd period, scored at exactly the same mark of the 1st overtime period to give the Black Hawks their win over the Red Wings at Olympia Stadium.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Quelque chose et moi--Gérard Lenorman

Died on this date
Douglass Dumbrille, 84. Mr. Dumbrille, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, moved to the United States in his early 20s, and appeared in plays before becoming a character actor in Hollywood. He appeared in over 200 movies and television programs through the 1960s, often playing a shifty businessman or politician.

Georges Pompidou, 62. Prime Minister of France, 1962-1968; President of France, 1969-1974. Mr. Pompidou served as Prime Minister under President Charles de Gaulle. After Mr. de Gaulle resigned in 1969, Mr. Pompidou defeated acting President Alain Poher in the presidential election. Mr. Pompidou attempted to modernize Paris and embarked on a plan of national industrialization. He was still in office when he died suddenly of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, a rare form of blood cancer.

War
An official Israeli commission report on the October 1973 Yom Kippur War blamed the country's lack of preparedness on the military command and not on the government of Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Business
The New Brunswick Supreme Court fined K. C. Irving Ltd. and three other companies $150,000 for having too much control of the province's English language newspapers.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): 99 Luftballons--Nena

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Thriller--Michael Jackson (7th week at #1)

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): She Drives Me Crazy--Fine Young Cannibals (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Like a Prayer--Madonna

Died on this date
Manolis Angelopoulos, 46. Greek singer. Mr. Angelopoulos, of Romani ancestry, achieved popularity in the 1960s with love songs as well as songs about Greek refugees and exotic places. He died of complications from triple bypass heart surgery, a week before his 47th birthday.

Diplomacy
U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in Ireland, where he conferred with Prime Minister Charles Haughey.

Hockey
NHL
Calgary 4 Edmonton 2

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): It's Alright--East 17 (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Serenata Rap--Jovanotti

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Dimension Divertida--Paco Pil

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): All For Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): Streets of Philadelphia--Bruce Springsteen

#1 single in France (SNEP): Je danse le Mia--IAM (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Without You--Mariah Carey (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Doop--Doop (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 The Sign--Ace of Base (4th week at #1)
2 Bump n' Grind--R. Kelly
3 Without You/Never Forget You--Mariah Carey
4 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
5 Whatta Man--Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue
6 So Much in Love--All-4-One
7 Now and Forever--Richard Marx
8 Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm--Crash Test Dummies
9 Gin and Juice--Snoop Doggy Dogg
10 Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)--Us3

Singles entering the chart were I'll Remember by Madonna (#35); Dreams by the Cranberries (#79); You Mean the World to Me by Toni Braxton (#86); No Doubt About It by Neal McCoy (#89); I've Been Thinking About You by Jocelyn Enriquez (#95); and Neon Moonlight by Rosco Martinez (#98). I'll Remember was from the movie With Honors (1994).

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Without You--Mariah Carey
2 The Sign--Ace of Base
3 Now and Forever--Richard Marx
4 So Much in Love--All-4-One
5 Bump n' Grind--R. Kelly
6 Whatta Man--Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue
7 Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)--Us3
8 Streets of Philadelphia--Bruce Springsteen
9 Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm--Crash Test Dummies
10 The Power of Love--Celine Dion

Singles entering the chart were I'll Remember by Madonna (#47); You Mean the World to Me by Toni Braxton (#58); Completely by Michael Bolton (#69); How Do You Like It? by Keith Sweat (#73); Laid by James (#75); Pumps and a Bump by Hammer (#77); Dream On Dreamer by Brand New Heavies (#78); I Want You by Juliet Roberts (#80); The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get by Morrissey (#85); and You by Candlebox (#89).

Died on this date
Betty Furness, 78. U.S. actress. Miss Furness had supporting roles in such movies as Magnificent Obsession (1935) and Swing Time (1936), but was best known for doing television commercials for Westinghouse refrigerators from the late 1940s through the 1950s. She later became a prominent consumer advocate.

Politics and government
The National Convention of New Sudan of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) opened in Chukudum, Eastern Equatorea, with over 500 delegates discussing Sudanese governance.

Hockey
NHL
Anaheim 3 @ Toronto 1

10 years ago
2004

Terrorism
Islamist terrorists involved in the March 11 attacks in Madrid attempted to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid, but the attack was thwarted.

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed former British Columbia Premier Ujjal Dosanjh, who had been a New Democrat in provincial politics, as a "star candidate" for the Liberal Party of Canada in the next federal election.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that 308,000 more jobs had been created in March.