July 10, 2015

1,370 years ago
645

Died on this date
Soga no Iruka. Japanese assassination victim. Soga no Iruka, a son of Minister of State Soga no Emishi, was assassinated by Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari during a coup d'état at the imperial palace in front of Empress Kōgyoku. Soga no Emishi committed suicide the next day.

725 years ago
1290

Died on this date
Ladislaus IV, 27. King of Hungary and Croatia, 1272-1290. Ladislaus IV, the son of King Stephen V, was kidnappd and imprisoned by rebellious lord Joachim Gutkeled in 1272, and was still a prisoner when King Stephen died. King Ladislaus was declared in 1277 to be of age, but was unable to restore royal power in Hungary. His mother Elizabeth was a Cuman, and King Ladislaus's support for the pagan Cumans helped to make him very unpopular. 26 days before his 28th birthday, King Ladislaus IV was assassinated by three Cuman assassins, and was succeeded on the throne by Andrew III.

370 years ago
1645

War
Parliamentarian forces commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax defeated Royalist forces of George, Lord Goring in the Battle of Langport in the First English Civil War.

130 years ago
1885

Business
The Canadian government of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald voted aid to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

125 years ago
1890

Americana
Wyoming entered the Union as the 44th state.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Carl Orff. German composer and teacher. Mr. Orff was best known for his cantata Carmina Burana (1937). He used an approach called Schulwerk, combining music, movement, drama, and speech to teach music to children. Mr. Orff died of cancer on March 29, 1982 at the age of 86.

110 years ago
1905

Born on this date
Thomas Gomez. U.S. actor. Mr. Gomez appeared in plays, movies, and television programs in a career spanning more than 40 years. He was a character actor, often playing villains, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in Ride the Pink Horse (1947). His other movies included Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942); Key Largo (1948); and Force of Evil (1948). Mr. Gomez died on June 18, 1971, 22 days before his 66th birthday, from injuries sustained in a car accident.

90 years ago
1925

Law
In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called Scopes "Monkey Trial" began of high school teaher John T. Scopes, who was accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

Religion
Indian mystic Meher Baba began his silence of 43 1/2 years, ending with his death on January 31, 1969 at the age of 74. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.

80 years ago
1935

Died on this date
Paul Hines, 83. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Hines was one of the National League's earliest stars, leading the NL in batting in 1878 and 1879 while with the Providence Grays. In 18 seasons with 7 major league teams, Mr. Hines played 1,481 games, batting .301. While playing for the Washington Senators in 1886 and 1887, Mr. Hines became a friend of William McKinley, and when Mr. McKinley became President of the United States, he appointed Mr. Hines to be the postmaster of the Department of Agriculture, a job he held for many years. Mr. Hines lost his hearing after a severe beaning in 1886, and his sight had also deteriorated by the time he was arrested on a pickpocketing charge in 1921.

Baseball
The Cincinnati Reds scored 8 runs in the third inning en route to a 15-2 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers before 12,000 fans at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Babe Herman of the Reds hit the first home run at night in major league history, connecting off Dutch Leonard.

The Washington Nationals scored 7 runs in the 1st inning and withstood a 5-run 9th-inning rally to edge the Detroit Tigers 12-11 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Earl Whitehill was the winning pitcher despite allowing 16 hits and 10 runs--8 earned--in 8+ innings.

75 years ago
1940

Died on this date
Donald Tovey, 64. U.K. musicologist and composer. Sir Donald was best known for his six-volume Essays in Musical Analysis (1935-1939). He was a pianist whose relatively few compositions included a symphony, chamber music, and works for piano. Sir Donald died a week before his 65th birthday.

War
The Battle of Britain began when Luftwaffe fighters attacked shipping convoys off the southeast coast of England.

Politics and government
The Vichy government was established in France, as the parliament passed a resolution giving total power to Marshal Philippe Petain.

The United States Senate approved Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy.

Diplomacy
Romania announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations.

Defense
Asking Congress for $4.8 billion in additional defense funds, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised, "We will not send our men to take part in European wars." The Senate passed and sent to conference a "$75-billion two-ocean navy bill.

70 years ago
1945

War
Acting U.S. Secretary of State Joseph Grew denied rumours that the U.S. had received peace feelers from Japan. In the greatest combined air assault on Japan to date, 600 U.S. Superfortresses, 1,000 carrier-based craft, and 300 planes from Okinawa attacked several cities on the Japanese island of Honshu. Australian and Dutch troops in Borneo occupied Teloktebang and Kariango peninsulas along Balik Papan Bay near the mouth of the Sumber River. Counterattacking Japanese troops forced the British from Nyaungkasho, an outpost on the lower Sittang River bend 70 miles northeast of the Burmese capital of Rangoon.

Diplomacy
El Salvador's Constitutional Assembly ratified the United Nations Charter.

The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee debated whether the U.S. representative to the United Nations Security Council shall have the right to vote on the use of U.S. forces against an aggressor.

The United States Army relinquished operation of the Irnian state railway to the Iranian government.

Crime
Five German soldiers were hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for the November 4, 1943 slaying of fellow prisoner Johannes Kunze in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Mr. Kunze had been beaten to death after being accused of writing a "traitorous" note. The five executed men had been sentenced to death on January 25, 1944 by a court martial and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had approved the death sentences on October 5, 1944.

Labour
The 16,000 striking employees of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio refused a National War Labor Board request to return to work.

Baseball
Bert Shepard, who had lost the lower part of his right leg while fighting in World War II in 1944 but had been hired by the Washington Nationals as a coach in 1945, was the starting pitcher for the Nationals in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers before more than 23,000 fans at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Mr. Shepard walked the first 2 batters to face him before settling down, allowing just 1 hit and no runs for the first 3 innings. He allowed 4 straight singles and 2 runs in the 4th inning, but left the game after that inning with the Nationals leading 3-2, and was declared the winning pitcher.

50 years ago
1965

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Crying in the Chapel--Elvis Presley (4th week at #1)

#1 single in France: La Danse de Zorba--Mikis Theodorakis (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Ciao, ciao--Petula Clark

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Il Silenzio--Nini Rosso

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Wooly Bully--Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I'm Alive--The Hollies (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction--The Rolling Stones

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction--The Rolling Stones
2 I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)--The Four Tops
3 I'm Henry VIII, I Am--Herman's Hermits
4 Mr. Tambourine Man--The Byrds
5 Yes, I'm Ready--Barbara Mason
6 Wonderful World--Herman's Hermits
7 Crying in the Chapel--Elvis Presley
8 Cara, Mia--Jay & the Americans
9 Seventh Son--Johnny Rivers
10 You Turn Me On (Turn On Song)--Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville

Singles entering the chart were (Say) You're My Girl by Roy Orbison (#66); To Know You is to Love You by Peter and Gordon (#67); One Dyin' and a Buryin' (#71)/It Happened Just That Way (#100) by Roger Miller; Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (#73); Here I Am by Dionne Warwick (#77); You'd Better Come Home by Petula Clark (#78); Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) by Tony Bennett (#80); Around the Corner by the Duprees (#85); Yakety Axe by Chet Atkins (#86); The Tracks of My Tears by the Miracles (#87); After Loving You by Della Reese (#88); You Better Go by Derek Martin (#89); Why Don't You Believe Me by Vic Damone (#95); The Loser by the Skyliners (#96); It's Too Late, Baby Too Late by Arthur Prysock (#97); Stop! Look What You're Doing by Carla Thomas (#98); and It's Gonna Be Fine by Glenn Yarbrough (also #100). Yakety Axe was a guitar-based cover of Yakety Sax, which had been a hit for Boots Randolph in 1963.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I'm Not in Love--10 C.C. (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Bruce Ohlinger, 52. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Ohlinger was an outfielder and catcher with nine minor league teams from 1941-1942 and 1946-1954. An incomplete statistical record lists his career average at .296 for the years 1946-1954.

Diplomacy
Two days of talks began in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The subjects included the Middle East and nuclear arms limitations.

Politics and government
The Gabon-based Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe unanimously named Manuel Pinta da Costa as head of state.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
British Columbia (2-0-1) 4 @ Toronto (1-2) 0

Eric Guthrie kicked a 26-yard field goal with 8:15 remaining in the 2nd quarter and a 27-yard single with 5:47 remaining in the game as the Lions blanked the Argonauts before 32,234 fans at CNE Stadium on a field made wet by a rainstorm before the game.

Baseball
Tony Oliva batted 4 for 4 with a home run as the Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees 6-3 before 12,556 fans at Shea Stadium in New York.

Cecil Cooper singled home Denny Doyle with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Boston Red Sox an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers before 17,365 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Fred Lynn batted 3 for 4 with a home run, double, 2 runs, and 4 runs batted in for the Red Sox, who led 7-3 after 7 innings.

John Montague pitched a 7-hit shutout and Ellis Valentine hit a 3-run home run as the Memphis Blues blanked the Pawtucket Red Sox 7-0 in an International League game at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.

Jack Heidemann, John Stearns, and John Milner hit home runs for the New York Mets as they beat the Tidewater Tides 9-7 in an exhibition game against their International League farm team at Metropolitan Memorial Park in Norfolk, Virginia. Mike Vail led the Tides with 2 triples and a double. Willie Mays came out of retirement to play for the Mets; he made 2 plate appearances, grounding out and drawing a base on balls.

Dick Allen and Jerry Martin hit home runs off Mr. Martin's brother Mike as the Philadelphia Phillies shut out the Toledo Mud Hens 3-0 in an exhibition game against their International League farm team at Lucas County Stadium in Toledo. Mike Martin had been called up from Rocky Mount in the Class A Carolina League to pitch for Toledo in this game.

30 years ago
1985

Died on this date
Kai Holm, 89. Danish actor. Mr. Holm appeared in more than 40 movies and more than a dozen television programs in a career spanning almost 60 years.

Terrorism
The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, 35.

Popular culture
Coca-Cola announced that it was bringing back the original Coke and calling it Coca-Cola Classic. The "new" Coke (Coca-Cola with a new, sweeter taste) had been introduced a couple of months earlier, apparently as a result of consumer taste tests. The new taste was quickly panned by many (including this blogger), who found it too sweet. One of the blunders that Coca-Cola made in this situation was in not telling consumers that a preference for the new taste meant that the old flavour would be done away with. A few weeks after the new Coke appeared, the Chicago Tribune’s Bob Greene, whose column was widely syndicated throughout North America, wrote a column blasting the new Coke as "a disaster," and suggested that they bring back the old flavour. Coca-Cola adopted Mr. Greene’s suggestion, and manufactured both flavours. Eventually (I’m not sure when), the new Coke quietly disappeared, and the word "classic" no longer appeared on bottles and cans of Coca-Cola. The company’s president, whose name I forget, kept his job despite being supervising one of the greatest marketing blunders in history.

Football
CFL
Calgary (0-1) 18 @ Montreal (2-0) 22

Rich Thomaselli rushed 2 yards for the winning touchdown at 7:25 of the 4th quarter as the Concordes rallied from a 15-0 deficit to defeat the Stampeders at Olympic Stadium.



25 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Whose Law (Is it Anyway?)--Guru Josh

Politics and government
At the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow, U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev was re-elected as the party’s general secretary by a 3-1 margin.

Baseball
Major League All-Star Game @ Wrigley Field, Chicago
American League 2 National League 0

6 pitchers combined to hold the NL to 2 hits in a rain-delayed game before 39,071 fans. Julio Franco of the Texas Rangers drove in both runs in the 7th inning and was named the game's most valuable player.



20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: The Colour Inside--Ti.Pi.Cal. (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Scatman's World--Scatman John (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): '74–'75--The Connells (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Wish You were Here--Rednex (2nd week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Leave Virginia Alone--Rod Stewart (2nd week at #1)
2 This Ain't a Love Song--Bon Jovi
3 Misery--Soul Asylum
4 Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?--Bryan Adams
5 December--Collective Soul
6 Water Runs Dry--Boyz II Men
7 I'll Be There for You--The Rembrandts
8 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me--U2
9 Genuine--Mae Moore
10 I Believe--Blessid Union of Souls

Singles entering the chart were Where Do I Go from Here? by Jon Secada (#71); Colors of the Wind by Vanessa Williams (#72); This is a Call by Foo Fighters (#77); Beneath My Hand by 13 Engines (#79); Down from Above by Moxy Fruvous (#82); Waterfalls by TLC (#89); Human Nature by Madonna (#90); and Kiss from a Rose by Seal (#91).

Died on this date
Mehmet Ali Aybar, 86. Turkish politician. Mr. Aybar was a Marxist who was president of the Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) (1962-1969), and sat in the Turkish Parliament (1965-1969). He didn't support the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and resigned from the TİP over the issue in 1971. Mr. Aybar founded the Socialist Party (later called the Socialist Revolution Party) in 1975, leading it until it was shut down by the military in 1980. He also served on the International War Crimes tribunal. Mr. Aybar died of heart failure.

World events
Pro-democracy activist Saw Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, was freed from house arrest by the government of Myanmar. In 1988 she had helped to found the National League for Democracy, which had won the national election in 1990, only to have the results nullified by the ruling junta. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi had been placed under house arrest in 1989 for "endangering the state."

10 years ago
2005

Disasters
Hurricane Dennis slammed into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions of dollars in damage.