June 14, 2014

420 years ago
1594

Died on this date
Orlande de Lassus, 62-64. Flemish composer. Mr. Lassus was the chief representative of the mature polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school, composing both sacred and secular vocal works.

225 years ago
1789

World events
HMS Bounty mutiny survivors, including Captain William Bligh and 18 others, reached Timor after a journey of nearly 4,600 miles in an open boat, 47 days after the mutiny near Tahiti.

175 years ago
1839

Sport
The village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, staged the first Henley Royal Regatta.

140 years ago
1874

Born on this date
Edward "Major" Bowes. U.S. radio host. Mr. Bowes hosted The Original Amateur Hour--later known as Major Bowes' Amateur Hour--from 1934 until his death on June 13, 1946, the day before his 72nd birthday. The program, which began on New York station WHN in 1934, moved to NBC in 1935, and then to CBS in 1936, showcased amateur performers who were attempting to break into show business.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Marie-Adélaïde. Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1912-1919. Marie-Adélaïde succeeded her father Grand Duke William IV on the throne. She was perceived as a supporter of Germany during World War I, which made her unpopular not only in her own country, but in neighbouring France and Belgium. Marie-Adélaïde abdicated on January 14, 1919 in favour of her younger sister Charlotte, and retired to a monasery in Italy. She left the monastery because of ill health, and died in Germany of influenza on January 24, 1924 at the age of 29.

José Carlos Mariátegui. Peruvian political philosopher. Mr. Mariátegui was a Marxist who insisted that a socialist revolution should evolve organically in Latin America on the basis of local conditions and practices, rather than mechanically applying a European formula. His best-known book was Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928). Mr. Mariátegui suffered a serious leg injury at the age of 2; the leg was amputated in 1924, but complications eventually caused his death at the age of 35 on April 16, 1930.

W.W.E. Ross. Canadian geophysicist and poet. William Wrighton Eustace Ross was a geophysicist at the Dominion Magnetic Observatory in Agincourt, Ontario. He's been called the "first modern Canadian poet" because he was the first published poet in Canada to write Imagist poetry, and the first to write surrealist verse. Mr. Ross died on August 26, 1966 at the age of 72.

Jack Adams. Canadian-born U.S. hockey player, coach, and executive. Mr. Adams, a native of Fort William, Ontario, was a centre and right wing with the Toronto Arenas/St. Patricks (1917-19, 1922-26); Vancouver Millionaires (1919-22); and Ottawa Senators (1926-27), scoring 189 points on 135 goals and 54 assists in 243 regular season games, and 12 goals and 1 assist in 21 playoff games, while playing on Stanley Cup championship teams in 1918 and 1927. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959 as a player, although he's best remembered for his achievements as a coach and executive. Mr. Adams was coach of the Detroit Cougars/Falcons/Red Wings from 1927-47 and general manager from 1927-63, leading them to Stanley Cup championships in 1936, 1937, and 1943 as coach and general manager, and championships in 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1955 as general manager only. He was fired in 1963, but promptly became the first president of the Central Professional Hockey League, and was serving in that capacity when he died of a heart attack at his desk on May 1, 1968 at the age of 73. In 1966, Mr. Adams became the first recipient of the Lester Patrick Trophy for service to hockey in the United States. The Adams Cup, for the championship of the CPHL (later CHL), was named in his honour, as is the Jack Adams Award, annually awarded to the Coach of the Year in the National Hockey League since 1974.

Music
Massey Hall opened in Toronto with a performance of Handel's Messiah as part of a three-day festival. Massey Hall was built at a cost of $152,000 by Hart Massey, head of the Massey farm machinery business, as a memorial to his eldest son Charles, who had died of typhoid at age 36. The top ticket price was $1.

110 years ago
1904

Born on this date
Margaret Bourke-White. U.S. photojournalist. Miss Bourke-White worked for Fortune (1929-1935) and Life (1936-1940, 1941-1942, 1945-1957) magazines, and provided the cover photograph for Life's first issue in 1936. She was the first known female war photojournalist, accompanying the U.S. Army in North Africa, Italy, and Germany in World War II, and also in the Korean War. Miss Bourke-White photographed the violence that took place during the partition of India in 1947, and was the first professional photographer from the West allowed into the Soviet Union. She died on August 27, 1971 at the age of 67, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

100 years ago
1914

Died on this date
Adlai Stevenson, 78. 23rd Vice President of the United States of America, 1893-1897. Mr. Stevenson, a Democrat, represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives (1875-1877; 1879-1881) and served as Assistant Postmaster General in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) before serving as Vice President in Mr. Cleveland's second term. He ran as the Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate in 1900, but went down to defeat as the running mate of William Jennings Bryan. Mr. Stevenson was the grandfather of Adlai Stevenson, who was the Democratic Party's unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956.

80 years ago
1934

Boxing
Max Baer scored a technical knockout of Primo Carnera at 2:16 of the 11th round at Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City, New York to win the world heavyweight title. Despite being much smaller than the "Ambling Alp," Mr. Baer was much the better fighter; he knocked the defending champion down 11 times before finally putting him away. On the undercard, Jim Braddock (48-25-7), signed as a last-minute opponent for rising heavyweight contender John "Corn" Griffin (44-12-4), pulled off a huge upset when he recovered from a knockdown in the 2nd round to score a technical knockout of Mr. Griffin at 2:37 of the 3rd round.



70 years ago
1944

War
All units of the exhausted 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were put on reserve after taking le Mesnil-Patry in Normandy, where German forces concentrated 7.5 of their 8 armoured divisions, and half of their 12 other divisions against Canadian and British forces. The largest armoured battle of World War II was fought in an area of France bounded by Caumont, Villers-Bocage, Tilly-aux-Seulles, and Ballroy. After several failed attempts, the British Army abandoned Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied French town of Caen. French General Charles de Gaulle spent part of the day in Normandy, receiving enthusiastic welcomes in several liberated towns. Allied troops broke through a makeshift German defense line above Rome, arching from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the top of Lake Bolsena. Soviet units drove on the Karelian Isthmus in Finland, engulfing Kuuterselkae as four columns advanced along a 28-mile front. U.S. troops landed on Saipan in the Mariana Islands, and beachheads were quickly secured. U.S. officials ended talks with Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, who announced that Poland could count on U.S. support. The U.S. House of Representatives Military Affairs Committee filed a report charging that Colonel Theodore Wyman, the Army's engineer in Hawaii, had been negligent in permitting a work lag contributing to Japan's successful raid on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Crime
Hans Max Haupt was fined $10,000 and sentenced in Chicago by U.S. Federal Court Judge John Barnes to life imprisonment for treason.

60 years ago
1954

Americana
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the order inserting the words "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The Streak--Ray Stevens

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Seasons in the Sun--Terry Jacks (8th week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. President Richard Nixon concluded three days of talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The two countries announced, as part of a sweeping declaration of friendship and cooperation, that the U.S. had agreed to provide Egypt with nuclear technology to be used for peaceful purposes. Mr. Nixon then stopped in Saudi Arabia, where King Faisal warned him that there could not be real peace in the Middle East until all occupied Arab territories had been liberated and the people of Palestine regained their rights and were free to return to their homes.

30 years ago
1984

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau delivered his farewell speech to the Liberal Party of Canada in a gala tribute at the opening night of the Liberal party leadership convention in Ottawa.

Diplomacy
A spokesman for the U.S.S.R. said that the Soviet Union favoured a summit conference on important issues dividing the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. Addressing a news conference, U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that he was "willing to meet and talk any time" with the Soviets, and said that he would no longer insist that a summit must be preceded by careful preparation and deal with specific issues. He denied that he had softened his approach because he was running for re-election in November.

Law
U.S. President Ronald Reagan endorsed a bill before Congress that would seek to control the flow of immigrants, especially Hispanics, across the U.S.A.'s southern border, saying, "We've lost control of our own borders, and no nation can do that and survive."

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Calgary (1-2) 31 @ Saskatchewan (1-2) 29

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Minä olen muistanut--Kim Lönnholm (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Eternal Flame--Bangles (3rd week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle concluded his tour of Central America with a visit to Costa Rica, where he met with President Oscar Arias. Mr. Arias supported Mr. Quayle's view that open elections in Nicaragua were not possible at the present time.

Politics and government
Democrats in the United States House of Representatives selected Dick Gephardt of Missouri as their new majority leader and William Gray III of Pennsylvania as majority whip. Mr. Gray became the first Negro to hold a top leadership position in Congress.

Economics and finance
The United States House of Representatives voted 247-178 in opposition to President George Bush's veto of a raise in the minimum wage from $3.35-$4.55 per hour, but the total fell short of the two-thirds majority required to override the veto.

20 years ago
1994

Died on this date
Henry Mancini, 70. U.S. musician and composer. Mr. Mancini was a pianist whose achievements as a performer, composer, and songwriter--especially in film and television--are too great to be catalogued by this blogger. He was nominated for a record 72 Grammy Awards--winning 10--and won four Academy Awards.

Music
Gordon Lightfoot, Blue Rodeo, and Ontario Premier Bob Rae (who played a tin drum in Mozart's Toy Symphony) performed at the 100th anniversary concert of Massey Hall, in Toronto; top ticket price was around $70.

Environment
Canada joined 25 other nations in signing a United Nations protocol in Oslo on reducing sulphur emissions that are a major cause of acid rain.

Abominations
Large numbers of yahoos, using the Canucks' loss to the New York Rangers in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals as an excuse, went berserk in the streets of downtown Vancouver, rioting and vandalizing. Damages were estimated at $1.1 million, and 200 people were arrested and/or injured.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the consumer price index had edged upward 0.2% in May.

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

Mark Messier's powerplay goal at 13:29 of the 2nd period held up as the winner as the Rangers edged the Canucks at Madison Square Garden to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years. Brian Leetch and Adam Graves, on a powerplay, scored to give New York a 2-0 lead after the 1st period, but Trevor Linden scored a shorthanded goal at 5:21 of the 2nd period to draw Vancouver to within 2-1. Mr. Linden scored on a powerplay at 4:50 of the 3rd period to reduce the Canucks' deficit to 3-2, but they were unable to score the tying goal.



10 years ago
2004

Politics and government
The French-language debate of Canadian major political party leaders took place, two weeks before the federal election. Participants were Prime Minister Paul Martin, representing the Liberal Party; Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper; New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton; and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.