August 22, 2015

1,450 years ago
565

Britannica
The Irish abbot Columba reported seeing a monster in Loch Ness in Scotland.

530 years ago
1485

War
In the final battle of the Wars of the Roses, Lancastrian forces led by Henry Tudor defeated the Plantagenet forces in the Battle of Bosworth Field, resulting in the death of King Richard III, 32, and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty.

140 years ago
1875

Diplomacy
The Treaty of St. Petersburg was signed between the Japanese and Russian Empires, in which Japan gave up all claims to Sakhalin Island in exchange for undisputed sovereignty over all the Kuril islands up to the Kamchatka peninsula.

125 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Cecil Kellaway. South African-born U.S. actor. Mr. Kellaway grew up in South Africa and England and began his acting career in Australia before moving to the United States, where he became a popular character actor in movies and television programs. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his suporting performances in The Luck of the Irish (1948) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Mr. Kellaway died on February 28, 1973 at the age of 82.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
László Almásy. Hungarian explorer. Count Almásy, born into a noble family, served with the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops in World War I, and led several expeditions in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts in the 1930s. After Hungary joined the Axis during World War II, Count Almásy completed Operation Salam, the infiltration of two German spies through the Libyan Desert behind enemy lines. He returned to Hungary, but fled after the Communist takeover in Hungary, and eventually settled in Egypt. Count Almásy was on a visit to Austria when he died on March 22, 1951 at the age of 55 from the effects of amoebic dysentery which he had contracted in Africa.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
David Dellinger. U.S. activist. Mr. Dellinger was a pacifist who was best known for being one of the "Chicago Seven" anti-Vietnam War protesters who were charged with conspiracy and crsossing state lines with the intention of starting a riot as a result of activities at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Mr. Dellinger died on May 25, 2004 at the age of 88.

James Hillier. Canadian-born U.S. scientist. Dr. Hillier, a native of Brantford, Ontario, co-invented the electron microscope with Albert Prebus in 1938. Dr. Hillier died on January 15, 2007 at the age of 91.

80 years ago
1935

Politics and government
The Social Credit Party swept a tide of anger--the vote turnout was a record 81.8%--to power in the Alberta provincial election, taking 54% of the vote and 56 of 63 seats in the legislature. 5 Liberals and 2 Conservatives were elected, while the reigning United Farmers of Alberta government, including Premier Richard Reid, were shut out, and captured just 11% of the vote.

75 years ago
1940

Died on this date
Oliver Lodge, 89. U.K. scientist. Sir Oliver was one of the key figures in research into electromagnetism and the development of radio.

Gerald Strickland, 79. Prime Minister of Malta, 1927-1932. Baron Strickland was Governor of Tasmania (1904-1909), Western Australia (1909-1913), and New South Wales (1913-1917) before returning to Malta. He became the leader of what became the Constitutional Party, and served as Prime Minister until the constitution was suspended as a result of conflict between the government and Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authorities.

War
Egyptian Defense Minister Mahmoud Fahmy el Kiessy Pasha declared that Egyptian forces would fight with the British.

Diplomacy
In a purge of pro-U.S. and pro-U.K. personnel, the government of Japan recalled 40 of its diplomats, including Ambassador to the United States Kensuki Horinouchi.

World events
Greek Prime Ministe John Metaxas convened a special cabinet meeting to deal with Italian troop movements considered threatening to Greece.

1,300 British troops left Shanghai, ending nearly a century's influence there.

Defense
U.S. Army General Hap Arnold released the first information about the Lockheed P-38 Lightning interceptor, describing it as the world's fastest plane, capable of reaching 500 miles per hour.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Investment Company Act of 1940, providing for the regulation and registration of investment companies.

70 years ago
1945

War
Soviet airborne troops occupied Shimushu, northernmost island of the Kurils, while others occupied the Yellow Sea ports of Dairen and Port Arthur.

World events
The Iranian general staff reported the killing of seven rebellious officers and men who were planning to attack on the Soviet-garrisoned city of Meshed.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Harry Truman met in Washington with French leader General Charles de Gaulle, who pressed for creation of a separate Rhenish state in Germany and American support for French reoccupation of Indochina. Mr. Truman remained non-committal on the German question, but agreed to continued French possession of Indochina.

Defense
The U.S. Army Air Force announced that it would discharge 1.4 million-2.3 million men within the next year.

U.S. Office of Defense Transportation Director J. Monroe Johnson said that wartime curbs on wholesale and retail truck deliveries would be lifted on November 1, 1945.

Politics and government
King Michael I of Romania asked the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., and U.K. to assist in forming a new Romanian government that they could recognize.

U.S. President Truman proposed early congressional action to allow Puerto Rico to settle, by free elections, its future status.

Ceferino Alonso Irigoyen resigned as Argentina's Finance Minister.

Scandal
U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes reinstated "China hand" John S. Service, after a grand jury had refused to indict him for removing confidential government documents in the "Amerasia Affair."

Economics and finance
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Council in London approved aid to Italy and Austria.

The U.S. War Production Board dropped the priority system and set September 30, 1945 for cessation of the "controlled materials plan."

Radio
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission allowed amateur radio operators to go on the air again, after a wartime prohibition.

60 years ago
1955

Football
CRU
WIFU
The Toronto Argonauts of the IRFU released end Al Bruno in order to allow the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to sign him. Mr. Bruno had played with the Argonauts' Grey Cup championship team in 1952. He had played with the Argonauts in 1953 and with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1954, catching 2 passes for 23 yards.

Edmonton (2-0) 13 @ Winnipeg (0-2) 9
Calgary (0-2) 8 @ British Columbia (1-0) 14

Johnny Bright and Jim Quondamatteo scored touchdowns for the Eskimos as they defeated the Blue Bombers before 16,835 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. Mr. Quondamatteo scored when Winnipeg's George Elliott fumbled a Bob Heydenfeldt punt in his own end zone, and Mr. Quondamatteo recovered. Bob Dean converted one of the TDs, and Bob Heydenfeldt punted for 2 singles to complete the Edmonton scoring. Bud Grant scored the Winnipeg touchdown.

Sam Adams and Frank Williams scored touchdowns for the Lions as they defeated the Stampeders before 28,013 fans at Empire Stadium in Vancouver--the largest crowd to date to see a football game in Canada.

50 years ago
1965

Died on this date
Ellen Church, 60. U.S. flight attendant. Miss Church was the first female flight attendant in the United States, serving with Boeing Air Transport from May 1930 until injuries suffered in an automobile accident 18 months later ended her career. She then worked as a nurse for the rest of her life. Miss Church got married in 1964, but died as a result of a horse riding accident.

Music
The Beatles continued their North American tour with two shows at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

Baseball
San Francisco Giants' pitcher Juan Marichal clubbed Los Angeles Dodgers' catcher John Roseboro over the head with a bat in the 3rd inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers before 42,807 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mr. Roseboro was cut and left the game, but was not seriously injured. Mr. Marichal, who thought Mr. Roseboro's throws back to batterymate Sandy Koufax were coming too close to his (Mr. Marichal's) head, was ejected, and subsequently given a brief suspension. The Giants won the game 4-3, with Ron Herbel winning in relief of Mr. Marichal. Mr. Koufax lost despite pitching a 4-hit complete game, dropping his 1965 record to 21-5. The win moved the Giants to within 1/2 game of the Dodgers for the National League lead.



The New York Mets, the worst team in the major leagues, swept a doubleheader from the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 and 4-2 before 22,522 fans at Shea Stadium in New York. In the first game, Jim Hickman's 3-run home run climaxed a 5-run 8th inning to give the Mets their win; relief pitcher Gordie Richardson, a former Cardinal, got his first win in a New York uniform. In the second game, Tug McGraw pitched a 7-hit complete game for his first major league win.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning to offset 3 runs by the Cincinnati Reds in the top of the inning, but it was Dick Stuart's home run leading off the bottom of the 8th that gave the Phillies a 6-5 win before 8,431 fans at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadephia. Jim Bunning settled down after a rocky beginning to pitch 8 1/3 innings, allowing 11 hits and 5 earned runs, but getting the win to improve his record for the season to 16-7. Cincinnati starter John Tsitouris faced 4 batters and allowed a hit, 3 bases on balls, and 4 earned runs. Roger Craig took the loss, dropping to 0-4.

Dan Osinski walked Bill Virdon with the bases loaded and 2 out in the bottom of the 11th inning, forcing Del Crandall home with the winning run as the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Milwaukee Braves 5-4 before 14,112 fans at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

Don Demeter's 2-run home run in the top of the 2nd inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox before 7,272 fans at Fenway Park in Boston in a game that was called because of rain with 1 out and 2 runners on base for Detroit in the top of the 6th inning. Joe Sparma allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run in 5 innings to win the pitchers' duel over Dennis Bennett. The Red Sox scored their run in the bottom of the second when George Thomas walked with 1 out, went to third base on a double by Tony Conigliaro, and scored on a ground out by Russ Nixon.

The Cleveland Indians scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th inning to defeat the Washington Senators 8-5 before 5,026 fans at District of Columbia Stadium. Cleveland center fielder Vic Davalillo batted 5 for 5 with 3 doubles and 2 runs batted in. The teams combined to use 38 players, including 10 pitchers.

Floyd Robinson drove in 4 runs with a 3-run home run and a sacrifice fly, and Danny Cater had a single, double, and homer as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics 8-3 in the first game of a doubleheader before 9,310 fans at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. John Buzhardt pitched a 4-hit complete game to improve his record for the season to 10-4 as the White Sox completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in the second game.

Jimmy Piersall's 2-run home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 5th inning provided the winning margin as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-1 before 5,401 fans at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Dean Chance pitched a 6-hit complete game and scored the Angels' first run, winning the pitchers' duel over Jim Kaat.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Paloma Blanca--George Baker Selection (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Paloma Blanca--George Baker Selection (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Paloma Blanca--George Baker Selection (7th week at #1)

Politics and government
Canada's provincial premiers concluded their annual meeting in St. John's by urging more federal help in paying for programs such as hospital insurance.

Football
NFL
Pre-season
New England (1-2) 10 @ Philadelphia (2-1) 24
Cleveland (1-2) 14 @ Washington (2-2) 23
Pittsburgh (2-2) 31 @ Baltimore (1-2) 10

Baseball
Vancouver, British Columbia native Dave McKay hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance to help the Minnesota Twins defeat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 before 8,101 fans at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.

Roger Moret pitched a 4-hit complete game to improve his 1975 record to 10-2 as the Boston Red Sox edged the Chicago White Sox 2-1 before 32,458 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Claude Osteen allowed just 6 hits and 2 earned runs in pitching a complete game for Chicago.

Jose Cardenal's bunt single with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th scored Rick Monday with the winning run as the Chicago Cubs scored 2 unearned runs to offset a run in the top of the inning and defeat the Houston Astros 6-5 before 9,602 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Richie Zisk hit 2 home runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning as they beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-2 in the first game of a twi-night doubleheader before 46,576 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Dave Parker and Richie Hebner hit consecutive home runs as the Pirates scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to offset 2 runs in the top of the inning to win the second game 4-2 and complete the sweep. John Candelaria allowed 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 8 innings to improve his record for the season to 7-3.

Mike Jorgensen drew a base on balls with 1 out in the top of the 12th inning and Larry Parrish followed with a 2-run home run off Al Downing to give the Montreal Expos a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers before 22,046 fans at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers led 1-0 after 8 innings as the result of Ron Cey's homer in the 6th, but pinch hitter Nate Colbert homered to lead off the 9th and tie the game. Dan Warthen pitched the first 8 innings for Montreal and allowed just 3 hits and 1 earned run, and Dale Murray allowed just 1 hit in 4 scoreless innings of relief to get the win. Montreal left fielder Bob Bailey, who seldom batted leadoff, was 4 for 4 in that spot. 10 years earlier to the day, Mr. Bailey had batted 1 for 6 for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 5-4 11-inning win over the Milwaukee Braves.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored 5 runs in the last 3 innings to overcome a 5-1 deficit and defeat the San Diego Padres 6-5 before 13,426 fans at San Diego Stadium. Pinch hitter Tommy Hutton drove in 2 runs with a double in the 8th inning, and Mike Schmidt drove in 2 more in the 9th with his 29th home run of the season.

30 years ago
1985

On television tonight
Hometown, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Pilot

As the title indicates, this was the pilot and first episode of the short-lived series that was an adaptation of the movie The Big Chill (1983).

Disasters
55 people were killed when fire broke out upon British Airtours Flight 28M at Manchester Airport in England.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (4-3) 18 @ Toronto (3-5) 8

Lester Brown rushed 16 times for 137 yards while quarterback J.C. Watts added 70 yards and 8 carries and passed 8 yards to Mike Caterbone for a touchdown to lead the Rough Riders. Toronto quarterbacks Mark Casale and Mike Hohensee combined to complete just 13 of 37 passes; one of the completions was a 14-yard pass from Mr. Casale to Terry Greer with 2:05 remaining in the game for the lone Argonaut touchdown before an announced crowd of 29,637 at Exhibition Stadium. Ottawa offensive lineman Pieter Vanden Bos suffered a season-ending knee injury and a bloody nose when he was hit by Toronto defensive end James Curry, and accused Mr. Curry of deliberately attempting to injure him.

25 years ago
1990

Politics and government
Michel Belanger was appointed co-Chair, with Jean Campeau, of the special commission to shape Quebec's political future. The 35-member Belanger-Campeau Commission was to start on September 4, 1990.

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (5-2) 27 @ Toronto (3-4) 23
Ottawa (1-6) 31 @ Calgary (5-1-1) 34

Less Browne intercepted a pass from Tom Porras and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown at 5:43 of the 4th quarter to provide the winning margin for the Blue Bombers before 30,249 at SkyDome. Tom Burgess passed 26 yards to Perry Tuttle for the first Winnipeg touchdown, while Robert Mimbs rushed 1 yard for the other. John Congemi started at quarterback for the Argos, but left the game with an injury just 6 minutes into the game. Mr. Porras completed touchdown passes of 60 yards to Paul Masotti and 5 yards to Darrell K. Smith. This blogger was in attendance with lovely female company.

Mark McLoughlin’s 54-yard field goal on the last play gave the Stampeders the win in front of 20,311 fans at McMahon Stadium. Just 54 seconds earlier, Mr. McLoughlin had converted quarterback Danny Barrett’s 5-yard touchdown run to tie the score. The Rough Riders were unable to move the ball, giving the Stampeders the chance to win the game. Ottawa quarterback Ken Hobart completed just 9 of 23 passes for 85 yards, but rushed for 2 touchdowns, and 6 Calgary turnovers helped the Rough Riders to a 31-16 lead in the 4th quarter. Mr. Barrett completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Allen Pitts, and Andy McVey rushed for a 2-point convert to reduce the lead to 31-24. Scott Flagel scored the Rough Riders’ other touchdown on a 42-yard fumble return in the 2nd quarter, while Derrick Crawford scored the Stampeders’ first touchdown on a 47-yard pass from Mr. Barrett later in the 2nd quarter. Anthony Parker, playing his first--and last--game as a Stampeder after more than 3 seasons with the British Columbia Lions, rushed 6 times for 11 yards and caught 2 passes for 12. Stacey Dawsey was Ottawa’s biggest weapon, amassing 259 yards in kick returns.

20 years ago
1995

Scandal
U.S. Representative Mel Reynolds (Democrat--Illinois) was convicted in a Cook County courtroom of sexual assault, sexual abuse, soliciting child pornography, and obstructing justice, in relation to an affair he had had with 16-year-old campaign worker Beverly Heard. It was illegal in Illinois for an adult to have sex with a 16-year-old or for a person in a position of authority to have sex with a 17-year-old.

10 years ago
2005

World events
The last Jewish settlers left the Gaza Strip, ending decades of Israeli occupation.