August 26, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Viktoriya!

570 years ago
1444

War
A vastly outnumbered force of Swiss Confederates was defeated by the Dauphin Louis (future King Louis XI of France) and his army of "Armagnacs" in the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs near Basel, Switzerland.

225 years ago
1789

Law
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France.

200 years ago
1814

War
In the Chilean War of Independence, rebel forces led by José Miguel Carrera defeated forces led by Bernardo O'Higgins in the Battle of Las Tres Acequias near San Bernardo.

130 years ago
1884

Baseball
Dick Burns pitched the Union Association's first 9-inning no-hitter as he led the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Unions at Athletic Park in Kansas City. Charlie Gagus of the Washington Nationals had pitched a no-hitter against the Wilmington Quicksteps 5 days earlier in a game that was called after 8 innings.

125 years ago
1889

Baseball
King Kelly saved a 5-4 win for the Boston Beaneaters over the Philadelphia Phillies at Huntington Grounds in Philadelphia when he crossed the plate with the winning run in the 12th inning, then grabbed the ball away from Phillies’ catcher Sid Farrar to prevent a throw to first base to retire the batter Dick Johnston, who had neglected to run the play out after hitting the ball. Mr. Kelly was attacked by a mob of fans and had to hide under the grandstand, protected by players from both teams, until extra police arrived.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Sparky Adams. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Adams was an infielder with the Chicago Cubs (1922-1927); Pittsburgh Pirates (1928-1929); St. Louis Cardinals (1930-1933); and Cincinnati Reds (1933-1934), batting .286 with 9 home runs and 394 runs batted in in 1,424 games. He hit .314 with the Cardinals when they won the National League pennant in 1930, and .293 with a league-leading 46 doubles as the Cardinals won the World Series in 1931. Mr. Adams was, at 5' 4 1/2", the shortest player in the major leagues during his career, and was the last surviving member of the Cardinals' 1931 World Series championship team. He died on February 24, 1989 at the age of 94.

110 years ago
1904

Boxing
In his last fight before his retirement, Jim Jeffries (19-0-2) retained is world heavyweight championship with a knockout of Jack Munroe (8-4-2) at 45 seconds of the 2nd round at Mechanic's Pavilion in San Francisco.

100 years ago
1914

War
The German protectorate of Togoland was invaded by French and British forces, who captured it after five days.

Soccer
Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras was founded in Sao Paulo.

75 years ago
1939

On television today
The Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds split a doubleheader before 33,535 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in the first major league baseball games ever televised. National Broadcasting Company station W2XBS, based in the Empire State Building, broadcast a 5-2 Reds’ win in the opener, followed by a 6-1 Dodgers’ win. Viewers from as far as 50 miles away could see the broadcast. The man calling the action and conducting pre-game interviews was Dodgers’ broadcaster Red Barber.

Diplomacy
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King sent personal peace appeals to German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and Polish President Ignacy Mościcki.

70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Swinging on a Star--Bing Crosby (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Adam von Trott zu Solz, 35. German lawyer and diplomat. Mr. Trott zu Solz was involved in the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, and would have been appointed Secretary of Stae if the plot had succeeded. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.

War
French Charles de Gaulle entered Paris, the day after the city had been liberated by Allied troops. In southern France, Allied troops captured Aries, Tarascon, and Avignon, and advanced closer to Lyon and the Italian frontier in the vicinity of Nice. The U.S.S.R. reported that Bulgaria had agreed to proclaim neutrality and disarm German troops within its borders, and another source said that Bulgaria was asking the Allies for peace terms. Soviet troops completed the reconquest of Bessarabia.

Defense
Icelandic Foreign Minister Vilhjalmur Thor said that he expected American armed forces to withdraw from Iceland at the end of World War II and that he saw no necessity for granting the U.S. peacetime military bases.

Medicine
The New York State Hospital Commission reported that insulin shock treatment for dementia praecox patients had enabled 55% of those treated to become useful members of society.

50 years ago
1964

Politics and government
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had succeeded to the office upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was nominated for a term as President of the United States in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota) was chosen as the party's vice-presidential nominee.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Evie--Stevie Wright (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Acalorado--Los Diablos

Died on this date
Charles Lindbergh, 72. U.S. aviator. "The Lone Eagle" became one of the most famous people in the world when he became the first person to fly a non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Garden City, New York to Paris in his single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis on May 20-21, 1927. He was a prominent opponent of American involvement in World War II before the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and was regarded with suspicion by the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Andy Tanaka. Mexican baseball manager. Mr. Tanaka managed the Mexico City Reds, Mexico City Blues, Villahermosa, and Tampico of the Mexican League before taking over as manager of the Saltillo Saraperos in 1970. In 1974 the Saraperos won the Northwestern Division pennant with a record of 83-53 and defeated the Monterrey Sultans 4 games to 1 in the quarter-finals before being eliminated 4-3 by the Gomez Palacio Cottongrowers in the semi-finals. Mr. Tanaka and his wife Irma were killed in a car accident on a rain-slickened highway in the state of Coahuila, 15 miles from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 15, with cosmonauts Gennadi Sarafanov and Lev Dyomin aboard, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft was supposed to dock with the Salyut 3 space station, but there was a fault in the automatic docking system, and a lack of fuel for prolonged attempts at manual docking, so the mission, which may have been intendd to last 19-29 days, was abandoned.

Personal
This blogger began high school by registering for Grade 9 at Sir John Franklin Territorial High School in beautiful downtown Yellowknife.

World events
Ending more than 11 years of fighting, Portugal signed an agreement in Algiers with representatives of the African Party for the independence of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, granting independence to Portuguese Guinea effective September 10. In the agreement, Portugal promised to remove all troops by October 31 from the territory to be called Guinea-Bissau. The accord also provided for a referendum to be held at a future unspecified date on the future of the Cape Verde Islands, administered as part of Portuguese Guinea.

Diplomacy
United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, in separate meetings, brought together Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides (Greek) and Vice President Rauf Denktash (Turkish) for their first meeting since the breakdown of talks in Geneva. Mr. Waldheim arranged for the two to hod future weekly meetings to discuss humanitarian problems.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Susanna--The Art Company (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Such a Shame--Talk Talk

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister John Turner, Progressive Conservative Party leader Brian Mulroney, and New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent participated in a nationally-televised debate in Ottawa. Mr. Mulroney scored a virtual knockout when Mr. Turner said that he "had no option" but to make a series of patronage appointments handed to him by outgoing Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who had resigned effective June 30. Mr. Mulroney said, "You had an option. You could have said, 'No, I won't do this, this is bad for Canada,' but you chose to say yes...that...is an admission of failure."

U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Walter Mondale claimed that President Ronald Reagan regarded arms control as "weakness."

Football
CFL
Montreal (3-5) 23 @ Toronto (6-2) 29
Saskatchewan (1-6-1) 28 @ Winnipeg (7-1) 48

Toronto running back Lester Brown rushed 12 times for 73 yards and a touchdown, and caught 2 passes for 70 more yards as the Argonauts held off a late Montreal charge to beat the Concordes before 35,319 fans at Exhibition Stadium.

Willard Reaves rushed 18 times for 124 yards and a touchdown and caught 2 passes for 39 yards and another touchdown to lead the Blue Bombers’ attack against the Roughriders at Winnipeg Stadium. Craig Ellis led the Roughriders with 13 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown, and 6 receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. James Murphy returned a punt 64 yards for a Winnipeg touchdown, and Aaron Brown scored another Blue Bomber major on a 14-yard interception return. 27,213 fans were at Winnipeg Stadium.



Baseball
Greg Pryor’s home run in the bottom of the 16th inning gave the Kansas City Royals a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox before 22,971 fans at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. The blow came one out after Frank White had been picked off second base after leading off the inning with a single.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Viva la mamma--Edoardo Bennato (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Lambada--Kaoma (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): We are Growing (Shaka Zulu)--Margaret Singana (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Lambada--Kaoma (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Swing the Mood--Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx (3rd week at #1)
2 Cold Hearted--Paula Abdul
3 Hangin' Tough--New Kids on the Block
4 Don't Wanna Lose You--Gloria Estefan
5 On Our Own--Bobby Brown
6 Secret Rendezvous--Karyn White
7 Once Bitten Twice Shy--Great White
8 The End of the Innocence--Don Henley
9 Friends--Jody Watley with Eric B. & Rakim
10 Angel Eyes--The Jeff Healey Band

Singles entering the chart were Partyman by Prince (#46); Listen to Your Heart by Roxette (#64); Healing Hands by Elton John (#78); Rock Wit'cha by Bobby Brown (#92); Still Cruisin' by the Beach Boys (#93); Call it Love by Poco (#94); Stand Up by Underworld (#95); Glamour Boys by Living Colour (#98); and That's When I Think of You by 1927 (#100). Partyman was from the movie Batman (1989). Still Cruisin' was included in the movie Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx (2nd week at #1)
2 Cold Hearted--Paula Abdul
3 Don't Wanna Lose You--Gloria Estefan
4 Hangin' Tough--New Kids on the Block
5 Once Bitten Twice Shy--Great White
6 The End of the Innocence--Don Henley
7 Angel Eyes--The Jeff Healey Band
8 Secret Rendezvous--Karyn White
9 On Our Own--Bobby Brown
10 Sacred Emotion--Donny Osmond

Singles entering the chart were Partyman by Prince (#51); Listen to Your Heart by Roxette (#56); Call it Love by Poco (#64); Love Shack by the B-52's (#70); Healing Hands by Elton John (#80); Lay Down Your Arms by Graces (#85); Glamour Boys by Living Colour; Don't Shut Me Out by Kevin Paige (#90); and Rock Wit'cha by Bobby Brown (#93).

Died on this date
Irving Stone, 86. U.S. author. Mr. Stone, born Irving Tannenbaum, was best known for his biographical novels Lust for Life (1934); The President's Lady (1950); and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961), all of which were made into movies.

Politics and government
Mayumi Moriyama was appointed chief cabinet secretary in the government of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, becoming Japan's first female cabinet secretary.

Football
CIAU
Pre-season
Saskatchewan (0-1) 27 Alberta (1-0) 30 @ Camrose, Alberta

Baseball
Robin Yount’s 6th-inning single was the only hit against Dave Stieb as the Toronto ace pitched his fifth career 1-hitter, leading the Blue Jays to a 7-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers before 49,507 fans at SkyDome in Toronto.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Love is All Around--Wet Wet Wet (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Riverdance--Bill Whelan (17th week at #1)

Medicine
Arthur Cornhill, 62, received the world's first battery-operated heart in an operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, England.

Politics and government
The Algonquin Indians of Golden Lake, Ontario and the Canadian government of Prime Minister Jean Chretien signed an agreement to begin negotiating a land claim to 8.5 million acres in southern Canada, including Parliament Hill, Algonquin Park, and a large part of the Ottawa region.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (2-6) 19 @ Saskatchewan (4-4) 35

Warren Jones threw 3 touchdown passes to Mike Saunders and another to Ray Elgaard as the Roughriders beat the Rough Riders before 21,738 fans at Taylor Field in Regina. Joe Campbell rushed 14 yards for the only Ottawa touchdown in the last minute of the 1st half.



10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Laura Branigan, 47. U.S. singer. Miss Branigan was best known for her hit singles Gloria (1982); Solitaire (1983); and Self Control (1984). She died of a brain aneurysm.

War
Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army had begun an uprising against American and allied troops on August 5, agreed to a deal brokered by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to end the siege of the Iraqi cities Najaf and Kufa.

Law
A U.S. federal judge ruled that a law prohibiting the dilation and extraction method of abortion was unconstitutional because it did not contain an exemption for women whose health could be in danger without the procedure.

Economics and finance
The United States Census Bureau reported that the poverty rate had increased to 12.5% in 2003, up from 12.1% in 2002. The rate of uninsured rose to nearly 16% in 2003, up from 14.2% in 2000.

Football
CFL
Montreal (9-1) 29 @ Winnipeg (3-7) 13