July 25, 2014

1,150 years ago
864

Defense
The Edict of Pistres was issued by Charles the Bald, King of West Francia, in an attempt to protect the cities and countryside from Viking raids.

875 years ago
1139

War
The Almoravid Moors, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, were defeated by Portuguese Prince Afonso Henriques in the Battle of Ourique in southern Portugal.

620 years ago
1394

Born on this date
James I. King of Scotland, 1406-1437. James I, the son of King Robert III, was sent to France in March 1406 in order to be safe from a possible plot by his uncle Robert, Duke of Albany. However, the ship was seized by English pirates on its way to France, and James was delivered to King Henry IV of England, and was in captivity when King Robert died on April 4, 1406. James I was educated at the English court and aided Henry IV's successor Henry V in his military campaign in France in 1420-1421. King James married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, in February 1424, and was released two months later. He returned to Scotland and launched pre-emptive attacks against some of his nobles in order to solidify his position. King James I was assassinated on February 21, 1437 at the age of 42 by his uncle Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl in an unsuccessful coup attempt. Queen Joan was seriously wounded, but escaped with their 6-year-old son, who succeeded his father as King James II.

200 years ago
1814

War
In the War of 1812, Gordon Drummond arrived with reinforcements for a retreating General Phineas Riall at Lundy's Lane, 2 kilometres below Niagara Falls, and takes the battle to Jacob Brown's American forces at 6 P.M. The Americans stalemated and retreated to Fort Erie, Upper Canada in a bitter all-night battle, one of the bloodiest of the war. British and Canadians had 878 casualties, 84 killed, out of 3000 men.

190 years ago
1824

Central Americana
Costa Rica annexed the province of Guanacaste from Nicaragua.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Gavrilo Princip. Bosnian Serb assassin. Mr. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, an organization seeking an end to Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. On June 28, 1914, he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, thus setting in motion the events leading to World War I. Mr. Princip, 19 when he committed the crime, was too young to receive the death penalty, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was put in solitary confinement in the fortress at Terezin in North Bohemia; he suffered from harsh conditions and developed tuberculosis, which killed him on April 28, 1918 at the age of 23.

Walter Brennan. U.S. actor. Mr. Brennan won Academy Awards for his supporting performances in Come and Get It (1936); Kentucky (1938); and The Westerner (1940). His character roles were too numerous to be mentioned here. Mr. Brennan starred in the television comedy series The Real McCoys from 1957-1963. He died on September 21, 1974 at the age of 80.

War
The First Sino-Japanese War began when the Japanese fired upon a Chinese warship.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Woody Strode. U.S. football player, wrestler, and actor. Mr. Strode played with the University of California at Los Angeles Bruins in the late 1930s, and was a backfield mate of Kenny Washington and Jackie Robinson. Mr. Strode was an end with the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League in the early 1940s, a time when Negroes were denied employment in the National Football League. He played with the Calgary Stampeders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union from 1948-1950, playing a major role in the Stampeders' first Grey Cup championship in 1948. Mr. Strode was named to the WIFU All-Star team in 1948 and to the first All-Star team in 1949. He wrestled professionally in the 1950s and early 1960s, fighting the likes of Gorgeous George, with whom he became friends. As an actor, Mr. Strode was known for supporting performances in such movies as Spartacus (1960) and The Professionals (1966), and for roles in moves directed by John Ford, such as Sergeant Rutledge (1960) and The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Mr. Strode died on December 31, 1994 at the age of 80.

90 years ago
1924

At the movies
Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City Without Jews), directed by Hans Karl Breslauer, and starring Johannes Riemann, Eugen Neufeld, Hans Moser, and Anny Milety, received its premiere screening in Vienna.

80 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Engelbert Dollfuss, 41. Chancellor of Austria, 1932-1934. Mr. Dollfuss became Chancellor as head of a coalition government, but assumed dictatorial powers in 1933, modelling his government on Italian fascism. He was shot to death by eight Austrian Nazis in the Chancellery building.

75 years ago
1939

Baseball
New York Yankees’ rookie pitcher Atley Donald improved his record to 12-0 with a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Browns before 6,076 fans at Yankee Stadium. Joe DiMaggio hit a home run 450 feet into the left field bleachers, and Red Rolfe also homered for the Yankees.

In a record-setting 9th inning, the Cleveland Indians broke a 3-3 tie with 9 runs in the top half, and gave up 5 in the bottom of the inning to beat the Philadelphia Athletics 12-8 before 2,500 fans at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

70 years ago
1944

War
Canadian forces in France suffered heavy casualties, losing 450-500 dead and over 1,500 wounded in the beginning of Operation Spring, attempting to push the entrenched German army off the Verrières ridge, take the heat off the Americans at St.-Lô, and clear the main road through Falaise to Paris. U.S. troops began a strong offensive from St.-Lô west to the sea. Soviet troops encircled Lvov, Poland and fought their way into the southern suburbs; of the 160,000 Jews who lived in the city before Nazi occupation, only 300 survived. 10,000 Japanese troops were reported killed making a strong counterattack on Guam's Orote Peninsula. British forces captured seven hill positions east of Palel on the Impahl-Tamu road in the Indian state of Manipur. U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, after returning from the French and Italian battle fronts, said that the "end of the war is not yet apparent."

Labour
American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo ordered 16 musicians with radio station KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota to strike despite a court injunction.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): A Hard Day's Night/Things We Said Today--The Beatles

#1 single in France: J'y Pense et Puis J'oublie--Claude François (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): In ginocchio da te--Gianni Morandi (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht--Siw Malmkvist (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): A Hard Day's Night--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Rag Doll--The 4 Seasons (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 A Hard Day's Night--The Beatles
2 Rag Doll--The 4 Seasons
3 I Get Around--The Beach Boys
4 Memphis--Johnny Rivers
5 The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)--Jan & Dean
6 The Girl from Ipanema--Getz/Gilberto
7 Dang Me--Roger Miller
8 Wishin' and Hopin'--Dusty Springfield
9 Can't You See that She's Mine--The Dave Clark Five
10 Everybody Loves Somebody--Dean Martin

Singles entering the chart were I'll Cry Instead by the Beatles (#74); Such a Night by Elvis Presley (#76); A House is Not a Home by Brook Benton (#79); And I Love Her by George Martin and his Orchestra (#82); No One to Cry To by Ray Charles (#83); Maybe I Know by Lesley Gore (#84); Darling It's Wonderful by Dale & Grace (#93); I'll Keep You Satisfied by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (#94); You're Gonna Miss Me by B.B. King (#95); It's All Over Now by the Rolling Stones (#96); Sole Sole Sole by Siw Malmkvist and Umberto Marcato (#97); Shout by Lulu and the Luvers (#98); Invisible Tears by the Ray Conniff Singers (#99); Selfish One by Jackie Ross (#100); and Say You by Ronnie Dove (also #100). And I Love Her was the A-side (or maybe the B-side) of Ringo's Theme (This Boy); both were from the movie A Hard Day's Night.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Edmonton (0-1) 20 @ Ottawa (3-0) 32

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): If Ma Could See Me Now--The Times

Diplomacy
The Greek, Turkish, and British foreign ministers began talks in Geneva on a solution of the crisis in Cyprus, 10 days after Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios had been deposed in a coup led by the 650-member Greek-dominated Cypriot National Guard.

Defense
At the request of the United Nations, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau increased the Canadian contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping force on Cyprus from 486 to 950.

Society
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a plan to desegregate the predominantly black Detroit school system by merging it with predominantly white neighbouring districts. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger argued that illegal segregation in a city school system could not be eased by combining it with predominantly white suburbs, it was the only apparent way to achieve social balance. Justice Thurgood Marshall, in the dissenting opinion, charged the majority with "emasculation of our constitutional guarantee of equal protection" and termed the decision "a giant step backward in school desegregation.

Scandal
A U.S. federal jury in Washington, D.C. convicted California Lieutenant Governor Ed Reinecke of lying to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee about an International Telephone & Telegraph pledge to help finance the 1972 Republican National Convention. Mr. Reinecke said that the conviction was a "gross miscarriage of justice," and his attorney, James E. Cox, said he would file post-trial motions for mistrial and dismissal of the indictment.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (0-1) 3 @ Toronto (1-0) 19
Calgary (0-1) 20 @ British Columbia (1-0) 23

Mike Rae threw touchdown passes to Doyle Orange and Mike Eben, and Ed Shuttlesworth and Mr. Orange, each playing his first CFL game, rushed for 78 and 75 yards respectively as the Argonauts beat the defending Grey Cup champion Rough Riders before 32,485 fans at CNE Stadium. Toronto defensive back Dave Raimey made 2 interceptions.

Monroe Eley rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown and returned a kickoff 110 yards for another touchdown as the Lions edged the Stampeders at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.

WFL
New York (1-2) 17 @ Philadelphia (1-2) 15



30 years ago
1984

Died on this date
Bryan Hextall, 80. Canadian hockey player. Mr. Hextall played left wing and right wing with the New York Rangers from 1937-1944; 1945; and 1946-1948. He led the NHL in goals in 1939-40 with 24 and again the following season with 26, and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime in the sixth game of the 1940 finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving the Rangers their last Stanley Cup until 1994. Mr. Hextall won the Art Ross Trophy in 1941-42, leading the NHL with 56 points. In 449 NHL regular season games he scored 362 points on 187 goals and 175 assists, and added 8 goals and 9 assists in 37 playoff games. Mr. Hextall was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969. His sons Bryan, Jr. and Dennis and grandson Ron Hextall all had respectable careers as NHL players, while great-grandson Brett Hextall is currently playing in the American Hockey League. Mr. Hextall died 6 days before his 71st birthday.

Big Mama Thornton, 57. U.S. musician. Willie Mae Thornton was a rhythm and blues pioneer who played drums and harmonica, but was best known as a singer. Her best known recording was Hound Dog, which she performed with the Johnny Otis Orchestra; it reached #1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart in 1952, four years before Elvis Presley's version reached #1 on the pop chart.

Space
Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a space walk.

Politics and government
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, at a campaign rally in Austin, Texas, charged that the Democrats were planning billions of dollars in new spending and taxes, and said that the Democratic ticket was "so far left they’ve left America."

25 years ago
1989

Died on this date
Steve Rubell, 45. U.S. entrepreneur. Mr. Rubell and partner Ian Schrager operated several nightclubs in New York City, most notably Studio 54, which attracted many celebrity patrons during its peak period from April 1977-February 1980. The good times for Messrs. Rubell and Schrager were interrupted when they both served a year in prison from 1980-1981 for income tax evasion. Mr. Rubell, a heavy-drinking, drug-using sodomite, died after a long battle with AIDS.

Canadiana
The Canadian War Museum, assisted by public donations, paid $79,000 at an auction in London to acquire the Victoria Cross awarded posthumously to Private William Milne of Saskatchewan. The Victoria Cross was one of the five awarded to Canadians for the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.

Health
The Princess of Wales opened the Landmark AIDS Centre in southeast London.

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (2-1) 43 @ Ottawa (0-3) 32



20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): I Swear--All-4-One

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Wild Night--John Mellencamp with Me’shell Ndegeocello (2nd week at #1)
2 Can You Feel the Love Tonight--Elton John
3 Crazy--Aerosmith
4 Don't Turn Around--Ace of Base
5 If You Go--Jon Secada
6 I Swear--All-4-One
7 Stay (I Missed You)--Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
8 Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind--Stevie Nicks
9 Shine--Collective Soul
10 Night in My Veins--The Pretenders

Singles entering the chart were The Way She Loves Me by Richard Marx (#92); Right Beside You by Sophie B. Hawkins (#93); Hard Luck Woman by Garth Brooks (#94); Labour of Love by Frente! (#95); and Summer Summer by Loft (#99).

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, formally ending the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, and starting negotiations to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and Jordan. U.S. President Bill Clinton also signed the Declaration in a ceremony on the White House lawn.

World events
Canada sent a 200-member field hospital unit to the Rwanda-Zaire border area.