November 8, 2014

370 years ago
1644

Chinatica
Emperor Shunzhi, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, was enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty, as the first Qing emperor to rule over China. He had acceded to the throne a year earlier, after his father Hong Taiji had died without naming a successor.

160 years ago
1854

Born on this date
Johannes Rydberg. Swedish physicist. Professor Rydberg was known for devising the Rydberg formula, in 1888, which is used to describe the wavelengths of photons (of light and other electromagnetic radiation) emitted by changes in the energy level of an electron in a hydrogen atom. He died on December 28, 1919 at the age of 65, after several years of declining health.

150 years ago
1864

Politics and government
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Vice-President Andrew Johnson, representing the National Union Party (a combination of Republicans and War Democrats), were re-elected, capturing 212 electoral votes to 21 for Democratic Party presidential candidate General George McClellan and vice-presidential running mate George Pendleton. Mr. Lincoln took 55% of the popular vote to 45% for Gen. McClellan.

125 years ago
1889

Americana
Montana entered the Union as the 41st state.

110 years ago
1904

Politics and government
Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the presidency of the United States upon the death by assassination of William McKinley on September 14, 1901, was elected in his own right. Mr. Roosevelt and vice-presidential running mate Charles W. Fairbanks captured 336 electoral votes to 140 for Democratic presidential candidate Alton B. Parker and running mate Henry G. Davis. Mr. Roosevelt took 56.4% of the popular vote to 37.6% for Mr. Parker; 3.0% for Eugene V. Debs (Socialist); 1.9% for Silas Swallow (Prohibition); 0.8% for Thomas Watson (Populist); and 0.25% for Charles Hunter Corregan (Socialist Labor).

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Norman Lloyd!
The U.S. actor, director and producer, who worked with both Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, is perhaps best known for his co-starring role in the television series St. Elsewhere (1982-1988).

90 years ago
1924

Died on this date
Sergei Lyapunov, 64. Russian musician and composer. Mr. Lyapunov had a successful career as a concert pianist in addition to composing two symphonies and numerous choral works, often incorporating Russian folk songs. He was best known for Douze études d'exécution transcendente, completing Franz Liszt's unfinished Transcendental Études. Mr. Lyapunov was a professor at the Petrograd Conservatory from 1910-1923, and then moved to Paris, where he directed a music school for Russian immigrants, and also acted as a conductor. He died in Paris of a heart attack, 22 days before his 65th birthday.

Football
CRU
IRFU
Toronto 8 @ Hamilton 11

Canadian university
Queen's 14 @ Toronto 13

WCRFU
Semi-Final
Regina 5 @ Winnipeg 22

Mr. Cheyne scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter and another in the 4th as the Victorias defeated the Roughriders at River Park. Mr. Van Vliet scored a touchdown and single for Winnipeg in the 4th quarter. The Victorias held the Roughriders without a touchdown.

75 years ago
1939

World events
Eight people were killed and 63 injured when a bomb exploded at the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall in Munich. The bomb, planted by Georg Elser, had been intended to kill German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, who was there to make a speech on the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the unsuccessful attempt by Nazis to take over the German government in 1923. However, Mr. Hitler arrived earlier than originally scheduled and delivered a shorter-than-usual speech, ending 13 minutes before the bomb went off.

Politics and government
Adélard Godbout took office as Premier of Quebec, two weeks after his Liberal Party had defeated the Union Nationale government of Premier Maurice Duplessis.

70 years ago
1944

Died on this date
Walter Nowotny, 23. Austrian-born military pilot. Major Nowotny was a flying ace in the German Luftwaffe, recording 258 victories--255 on the Eastern Front--in 442 combat missions. He was killed, 29 days before his 24th birthday, in an encounter with U.S. Army Air Forces Captain Ernest Fiebelkorn and 1st Lieutenant Edward "Buddy" Haydon near Hesepe, Germany, although it was unclear if he had been shot down or his plane had suffered engine failure.

War
In the Netherlands, the First Canadian Army was victorious in the Scheldt campaign, while British and Canadian troops overcame German forces in Beveland and Walcheren. U.S. Army troops in France opened a drive in the Metz-Nancy sector along a 27-mile line.

Terrorism
Police in Cairo announced the capture of Moshe Cohen and Itzchak Salzman, members of the Jewish organization the Stern Gang, for the November 6 assassination in Cairo of Lord Moyne, British Minister in the Middle East.

Economics and finance
The government of Argentina issued a decree establishing strict control of Axis-owned firms.

The United States Commerce Department reported that retail sales had increased 8% in September 1944 over the same month in 1943.

Religion
Most Reverend Richard Cushing, 49, became the world's youngest Roman Catholic archbishop when he was installed as Archbishop of Boston.

60 years ago
1954

On television tonight
Sherlock Holmes, starring Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford
Tonight's episode: The Case of the Texas Cowgirl



Studio One, on CBS
Tonight's episode: An Almanac of Liberty, starring P.J. Kelly, Archie Smith, and Ethel Remey

Business
American League owners voted 6-2 to approve the sale of the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City businessman Arnold Johnson, and approved the relocation of the major league baseball team to Kansas City. Mr. Johnson paid $3,375,000 to Connie Mack and his sons Roy and Earle for the franchise. The elder Mr. Mack had been involved with the team since it had joined the AL its first year as a major league, serving as the team's manager from 1901-1950 and owning or co-owning the team for much of that time.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Out on the Street--Space Waltz

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Kung Fu Fighting--Carl Douglas

Died on this date
Ivory Joe Hunter, 60. U.S. musician. Mr. Hunter was a prominent rhythm and blues singer, pianist, and songwriter in the 1940s and '50s. His hit singles included Pretty Mama Blues (1945); I Almost Lost My Mind (1950); I Need You So (1950); and Since I Met You Baby (1956), all of which reached #1 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart. Mr. Hunter died of lung cancer.

Crime
British police were searching for Richard John Bingham, the Seventh Earl of Lucan, after the previous night's murder of his nanny and an attack on his estranged wife.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
Edmonton's top 17 (CHED)
1 Wake Me Up Before You Go Go--Wham!
2 On the Dark Side--John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
3 Purple Rain--Prince and the Revolution
4 Better Be Good to Me--Tina Turner
5 Lucky Star--Madonna
6 All Through the Night--Cyndi Lauper
7 Out of Touch--Daryl Hall John Oates
8 Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy)--Roger Hodgson
9 Strut--Sheena Easton
10 Desert Moon--Dennis DeYoung
11 I Just Called to Say I Love You--Stevie Wonder
12 No More Lonely Nights--Paul McCartney
13 What About Me--Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and James Ingram
14 Blue Jean--David Bowie
15 The War Song--Culture Club
16 The Wild Boys--Duran Duran
17 Penny Lover--Lionel Richie

Space
A five-member crew led by Commander Frederick Hauck blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery to begin mission STS-51-A.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Lambada--Kaoma (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Lambada--Kaoma (4th week at #1)

Politics and government
The East German Communist Party’s Central Committee nominated reformist Hans Modrow for Premier as more members of the Politburo resigned.

Scandal
United States Air Force Major General (retired) Richard Secord pled guilty to making a false statement to Congress regarding the Iran-Contra scandal. Mr. Secord admitted that he had lied in June 1987 when he said he did not know that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North had benefited financially from the sale of arms to Iran or from the diversion of profits to Contra rebels in Nicaragua. 11 other charges against Mr. Secord were dropped as part of a plea bargain.

20 years ago
1994

Died on this date
Michael O'Donoghue, 54. U.S. writer and actor. Mr. O'Donoghue was a comedy writer with National Lampoon magazine in the 1970s before moving to television, where he was one of the original writers for the sketch comedy program Saturday Night (later Saturday Night Live). He spoke the first line ever heard on that program, and shared Emmy Awards for writing in 1976 and 1977. Mr. O'Donoghue left Saturday Night Live after three seasons, returning a couple of times during the 1980s. He appeared in small roles in several movies, and had some success as a country music songwriter. Mr. O'Donoghue suffered from migraine headaches for many years, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat, meeting at a border crossing, agreed to step up the timetable for transfer of administrative powers in Gaza to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Israel also agreed to issue 10,000 more permits for Palestinians to work in Israel, and to move up the discussion of Israeli military pullbacks in the West Bank.

Politics and government
In U.S. Congressional elections, the Republican Party gained 52 seats and won a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. They now held 230 seats to 204 for the Democratic Party, with 1 independent. In the Senate, Republicans gained 8 seats to take a 52-48 majority. Two Democrats who retained their seats were Senators Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts)--who held off a strong challenge from Republican Mitt Romney--and Charles Robb (Virginia), who defeated Republican challenger and former National Security Council member Oliver North, best known for his involvement in the mid-1980s Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal.

War
The Bosnian capital of Sarajevo came under heavy shelling as Serbs retaliated for the recent government offensive.

10 years ago
2004

War
More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participated in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.