June 28, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, James Remnant!

625 years ago
1389

Died on this date
Murad I, 62. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1362-1389. Murad I acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Orhan. He expanded the Ottoman Empire, but was killed leading his forces against a pan-Christian army commanded by Lazar Hrebeljanović in the Battle of Kosovo, two weeks short of his 63rd birthday. Sultan Murad I was succeeded on the throne by his son Bayezid I.

Lazar Hrebeljanović, 60 (?). Lord of Serbs, 1373-1389. Prince Lazar created a powerful state out of the ruins of the Serbian Empire, and was killed while leading a pan-Christian army against Ottoman Empire forces in the Battle of Kosovo. He was succeeded as "Autocrator of all Serbs" by his son Stefan Lazarević.

War
Ottoman forces recorded a decisive victory over pan-Christian forces in the Battle of Kosovo, but also suffered heavy losses.

570 years ago
1444

Born on this date
Charlotte. Queen of Cyprus, 1458-1464. Charlotte acceded to the throne upon the death of her father John II. Her illegitimate half-brother James forced her to flee Cyprus, and he took the throne as King James II. An attempt by Charlotte to regain the throne was unsuccessful, and she died childless in Rome on July 16, 1487 at the age of 43.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Frank Hunter. U.S. tennis player. Mr. Hunter won a gold medal in the men's doubles competition with Vincent Richards at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Mr. Hunter was the losing finalist in the men's singles event at Wimbledon (1923) and the U.S. Championships (1928, 1929), and reached the quarter-finals of the men's singles competition at the French Championships in 1929, the year in which he was ranked among the top five players in the world. In doubles competition, Mr. Hunter won the men's events at Wimbledon in 1924 (with Vincent Richards) and 1927 (with Bill Tilden), and at the U.S. Championships in 1927 (with Mr. Tilden). He won the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon in 1927 (with Elizabeth Ryan) and 1929 (with Helen Wills), and reached the finals at the French Championships in 1928 and 1929 (both with Miss Wills). Mr. Hunter turned professional in 1931, and was the losing finalist in the world championships in 1933. He died on December 2, 1981 at the age of 87.

Americana
Labor Day became a holiday for federal employees by an act of Congress.

Economics and finance
Delegates from the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand attended the Intercolonial Trade meeting to develop commercial ties and cut tariff barriers.

110 years ago
1904

Disasters
The Danish passenger liner SS Norge ran aground on Hasselwood Rock near Rockall in the north Atlantic Ocean and sank. Over 635 people, including 225 Norwegians, perished, while there were 160 survivors.

100 years ago
1914

Died on this date
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 50; Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, 46. The heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, were assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of six members of a group supporting Austria-Hungary's southern provinces breaking away to form Yugoslavia. The resulting international reaction and entangling military alliances led to the outbreak of World War I several weeks later.

75 years ago
1939

Boxing
Joe Louis (39-1) retained his world heavyweight title with a technical knockout of Tony Galento (76-24-5) at 2:29 of the 4th round at Yankee Stadium in New York. "Two-Ton" Tony provided some excitement in the 3rd round when he knocked the champion down.



Baseball
The New York Yankees set a major league record with 13 home runs in a doubleheader as they swept a pair from the Philadelphia Athletics, 23-2 and 10-0 before 21,612 fans at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. In the opener, the home runs came from Babe Dahlgren (2); Joe DiMaggio (2); Bill Dickey; Joe Gordon; Tommy Henrich; and George Selkirk. Homers in the second game were hit by Joe Gordon (2); Frank Crosetti; Mr. DiMaggio; and Mr. Dahlgren. The Athletics hit no home runs in the two games. Monty Pearson won the first game, Lefty Gomez the second. New York captain Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, took the lineup card to home plate before the second game and received a standing ovation from the fans. Philadelphia manager Connie Mack, who seldom left the dugout, walked to home plate to shake Mr. Gehrig's hand.

70 years ago
1944

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Hal Breeden!
This blogger's favourite baseball player of the mid-1970s, Mr. Breeden was a first baseman and pinch hitter with the Chicago Cubs (1971) and Montreal Expos (1972-1975). He was born in Albany, Georgia, 2 years and a day after his brother Danny, who was briefly his teammate with the Cubs.

War
Royal Canadian Air Force fighters downed 26 German planes over France, mostly in support of railway yard bombing. U.K. forces in France closed in on Caen from three sides. U.S. troops captured Castagneto, Italy. Soviet troops took Mogilev, 110 miles east of Minsk. Japanese forces in China launched a general offensive from Canton with the aim of joining forces with troops pushing southward from the province of Hunan.

Diplomacy
U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Norman Armour was recalled to Washington for immediate consultation.

Politics and government
At the Republican National Convention in Chicago, New York Governor Thomas Dewey and Ohio Governor John Bricker were nominated on the first ballot as the party's respective candidates for President and Vice President of the United States in the November 1944 election.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill giving preference in government employment to war veterans.

50 years ago
1964

Music
A week after arriving in New Zealand, the Beatles departed for Australia to continue their Far East tour. They had played 11 concerts in four cities in six days in New Zealand.

Society
Malcolm X formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The Streak--Ray Stevens (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Waterloo--ABBA (3rd week at #1)

On the radio
Peter Gzowski did his last show after three years as host of This Country in the Morning on CBC AM. He was succeeded as host by Michael Enright.

Died on this date
Vannevar Bush, 84. U.S. engineer. Dr. Bush was head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II, and thus oversaw almost all military research and development. He co-founded Raytheon Company and devised the memex, a forerunner of the World Wide Web.

Frank Sutton, 50. U.S. actor. Mr. Sutton was best known for playing Sergeant Carter in the television comedy series Gomer Pyle, USMC (1964-1969). Mr. Sutton died of a heart attack.

World events
The Ethiopian army's 4th Division took virtual control of Addis Ababa and began a new series of arrests of prominent officials.

Terrorism
The U.S. State Department reported that eight Arab terrorists who had killed two American diplomats and a Belgian in the March attack on the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum and had been turned over to the Palestine Liberation Organization on June 24 by Sudanese President Gafaar al-Nimeiry had been arrested upon their arrival in Egypt.

Crime
Chief prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and defense attorney David Shinn, both participants in the 1970 murder trial of Charles Manson, were indicted in Los Angeles on three counts each of perjury for denyin that they had violated a gag rule that prohibited participants in the trial from discussing the case with the press, specifically in saying that they were sources for Los Angeles reporter William Farr. Mr. Farr had written an exclusive article saying that the Manson "family" had planned a series of murders other than the ones for which they were being tried, and had already serve 46 days in jail for refusing to reveal his sources before a grand jury.

Disasters
At least 200 people were killed in a landslide in Colombia 95 miles east of Bogota.

30 years ago
1984

Diplomacy
Rev. Jesse Jackson, in Nicaragua, praised the Sandanista regime and predicted that it would win a "final victory" over insurgents supported by the United States. He then returned to Havana and then returned to the United States, accompanied by the 22 American prisoners who had been freed the previous day after negotiations with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Rev. Jackson repudiated the comments of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who four days earlier, had said that Judaism was a "gutter religion" and that Israel was an "outlaw" state.

In a prisoner exchange, Syria delivered to Israel 3 soldiers captured in Lebanon and 3 diplomats seized May 1 after they drove into Syrian-controlled territory in Lebanon. Israel returned 291 Syrian soldiers.

Crime
In London, Ontario, a number of archival documents were stolen from the regional history collection at D.B. Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario. The thief had asked to see certain documents, and while the staff weren't looking, had stuffed them into his briefcase and departed. Regional history curator Ed Phelps became aware of the theft when a local coin and stamp dealer called him to report that someone had attempted to sell the documents to him, and a foot chase then took place on the streets of downtown London at lunchtime. Police commandeered a truck, but the chase ended when the truck driver was reluctant to pursue the thief down the wrong way of a one-way street. The London Free Press reported, "Phelps regretted that he was not in better shape so that he could continue the chase. 'I stood there jumping up and down with my glasses flapping.'" The documents were recovered several months later when they were found in a locker at the downtown train station (or was it the bus depot?), and the thief was nabbed in the United States when he tried to pull a similar caper. In 1987 Mr. Phelps was kind enough to show this blogger the regional history collection's file on the case, and Mr. Phelps remarked that it may have been the first time that a police report form was used as an archival finding aid.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Minä olen muistanut--Kim Lönnholm (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Eternal Flame--Bangles (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Mike Sebastian, 79. U.S. football player and coach. Mr. Sebastian was a fullback with the University of Pittsburgh (1931-1933), helping the Panthers win a share of the national championship in 1931, and earning All-American honours in his last two seasons after moving to halfback. He played professionally for 10 teams from 1934-1938. Mr. Sebastian was forced to retire as a player because of knee and hip injuries, and went on to a long and successful career as a high school teacher and football coach. He died three weeks after his 79th birthday, from hepatitis contracted during hip replacement surgery.

Politics and government
On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle, in which he described the possibility of "armed battles" in the future of Serbia's national development.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Ottawa (0-1) 7 @ Hamilton (1-0) 41
Edmonton (0-1) 24 @ Saskatchewan (2-0) 28

The Roughriders' win over the Eskimos at Taylor Field in Regina was the last game for Edmonton receiver James Hood, who was playing for his fifth Canadian Football League team in as many years. He began his career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1985, then went to the Montreal Alouettes in 1986, where he was chosen the Eastern Division’s Most Outstanding Player. When the Alouettes folded in 1987, Mr. Hood was picked up by the Ottawa Rough Riders. In 1988 he played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and joined the Eskimos in the off-season.

20 years ago
1994

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Shreveport (0-2) 1 @ Toronto (2-0) 24
British Columbia (1-1) 37 @ Calgary (1-1) 24

10 years ago
2004

Politics and government
In the Canadian federal election, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin, which had a year and a half remaining with a majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons before the expiration of the life of Parliament, was reduced to a minority. The Liberals captured 135 seats to 99 for the Conservative Party; 54 for the Bloc Quebecois; 19 for the New Democratic Party; and 1 independent. At the dissolution of Parliament 36 days earlier, the standings had been: Liberal--168; Conservative--72; Bloc Quebecois--33; New Democratic Party--14; Independent--10. Voter turnout was 60.9%, the lowest in Canadian history.

Two days earlier than planned, sovereign power was handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending U.S.-led rule of that nation.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that enemy combatants could challenge their detention in U.S. courts.