June 21, 2016

225 years ago
1791

World events
King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family began their flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

160 years ago
1856

Communications
Montréal Telegraph Company installed a submarine telegraph from Prescott, Ontario to Ogdensburg, New York, with a link to New York City.

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Charles Momsen. U.S. military officer. Vice Admiral Momsen served with the U.S. Navy from 1916-1955; he was a pioneer in submarine rescue, and invented the Momsen lung, an escape device that was used from the late 1920s through the early '60s, and for which Vice Admiral Momsen received Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1929. He died of cancer on May 25, 1967, 27 days before his 71st birthday.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Buddy O'Connor. Canadian hockey player. Herbert William O'Connor was a centre with the Montreal Canadiens (1941-47) and New York Rangers (1947-50), scoring 397 points on 140 goals and 257 assists in 509 regular season games and 36 points on 15 goals and 21 assists in 53 playoff games. He was a member of Stanley Cup championship teams in 1944 and 1946, and in 1947-48 won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the National Hockey League's Most Valuable Player and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player, while finishing second behind former teammate Elmer Lach in scoring. Mr. O'Connor was named Canada's outstanding athlete of 1948. He died on August 24, 1977 at the age of 61, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.

Baseball
Rube Foster pitched a no-hitter, walking 3 batters and striking out 3, as the Boston Red Sox blanked the New York Yankees 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mr. Foster's feat occurred five days after Tom Hughes of the Boston Braves had pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Losing pitcher Bob Shawkey pitched a complete game, allowing 8 hits and 2 earned runs in 8 innings.

90 years ago
1926

Died on this date
Lorne Currie, 55. French-born yachtsman. Mr. Currie was born in Le Havre, but was representing the United Kingdom when he helmed his boat to gold medals in the open class and ½–1 ton events at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Mr. Currie died in Le Havre.

75 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Daddy--Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye (vocal refrain by the Kaye Choir)

War
General Henri Dentz ordered French forces to withdraw from Damascus to avoid street fighting; British forces immediately occupied the city. The Soviet Red Army completed the removal of civilians from the border zone 60 miles deep along the Polish demarcation line, and withdrew its main forces from 12-30 miles behind their original line, leaving small garrisons facing the German armies.

Labour
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt named William H. Davis to succeed Clarence Dykstra as chairman of the National Defense Mediation Board; Mr. Dykstra had resigned two days earlier.

70 years ago
1946

Diplomacy
The U.S. State Department disclosed the draft text of a proposal by Secretary of State James Byrnes at the recent Paris conference of foreign ministers, under which the United States would share control of Japan with the U.S.S.R., U.K., and China for 25 years.

Politics and government
Gordon Macdonald was appointed the last Newfoundland colonial Governor-General; he served until Confederation in 1949.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a bill giving the U.S. Army $7.091 billion for fiscal 1947, the largest peacetime military appropriation in American history to date.

Law
The United States Senate completed action on the Hobbs anti-racketeering bill, which provided for up to 20 years imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines for interference by "robbery or extortion" or threats of violence with the movement of interstate goods.

Education
The American Library Association elected Mary Rothrock as its president after hearing U.S. Representative Emily Douglas (Democrat--Illinois) assert that 35 million Americans lacked adequate library service.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Senate raised the price of silver from 71.1c to 90.3c per ounce effective July 1, 1946 as part of an appropriations bill for the U.S. Treasury and Post Office.

The U.S. Office of Price Administration granted soft-coal operators a price increase of 40.5c per ton to offset wage increases.

60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): Amour, Castagnettes et Tango--Lucienne Delyle (8th week at #1)

Television
National Telefilm Associates, Inc. announced plans to launch the "fourth" U.S. television network in September 1956. The DuMont network had ceased non-sports programming in September 1955, and was now broadcasting only occasional sporting events.

World events
The East German government announced the release of 19,064 political prisoners (including 691 amnestied Social Democrats) as "a contribution to alleviation of the German situation.

Defense
North Vietnam announced plans to demobilize 30,000 more men, bringing its total force reduction since 1954 to 80,000.

U.S. Defense Secretary Charles Wilson claimed that the U.S. B-52 bomber had a greater range and altitude than the Soviet Bison, adding that the U.S.S.R. could attack American targets only by one-way suicide flights due to lack of refuelling planes.

Politics and government
Playwright Arthur Miller, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, that he had "erred" in signing appeals by Communist-front groups in the 1940s, and agreed to sign an affidavit certifying that he was not a Communist.

Science
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission reported the discovery in its Los Alamos, New Mexico laboratory of the neutrino, a "vanishing small" particle of the atom having no electrical charge.

Energy
The United States signed a pact with Switzerland for the sale of nuclear fuel.

50 years ago
1966

At the movies
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis, received its premiere screening at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California.



Diplomacy
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia arrived in Washington, D.C. to begin a 10-day visit to the United States.

Canadiana
The renovated birthplace in Guelph, Ontario of Dr. John McCrae, author of the World War I poem In Flanders Fields, was designated a national historic site; it opened to public on September 8, 1968.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Fernando--ABBA (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Beautiful Sunday--Daniel Boone (14th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Save Your Kisses for Me--The Brotherhood of Man (5th week at #1)

25 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Live to Tell--Madonna (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): J'aimie Le Vie--Sandra Kim (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): What Have You Done for Me Lately--Janet Jackson

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): The Edge of Heaven--Wham!

#1 single in the U.K.: Spirit in the Sky--Doctor and the Medics (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): On My Own--Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 On My Own--Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald (2nd week at #1)
2 Live to Tell--Madonna
3 I Can’t Wait--Nu Shooz
4 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)—Billy Ocean
5 Greatest Love of All--Whitney Houston
6 No One is to Blame—Howard Jones
7 Crush on You—The Jets
8 A Different Corner—George Michael
9 Holding Back the Years—Simply Red
10 Something About You—Level 42

Singles entering the chart were Suzanne by Journey (#57); A Kind of Magic by Queen (#79); Words Get in the Way by Miami Sound Machine (#84); You Don't Have to Cry by Rene and Angela (#86); Baby Love by Regina (#87); Touch and Go by Emerson, Lake & Powell (#88); Take My Breath Away by Berlin (#89); and If Anybody Had a Heart by John Waite (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 On My Own—Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald
2 Live to Tell--Madonna
3 A Different Corner—George Michael
4 Greatest Love of All--Whitney Houston
5 The Power of Love--Jennifer Rush
6 Holding Back the Years—Simply Red
7 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)—Billy Ocean
8 What Have You Done for Me Lately--Janet Jackson
9 No One is to Blame—Howard Jones
10 West End Girls--Pet Shop Boys

Singles entering the chart were Higher Love by Steve Winwood (#87); Glory of Love by Peter Cetera (#89); Boy Inside the Man by Tom Cochrane and Red Rider (#91); Mountains by Prince (#95); Dreams by Van Halen (#98); and Take it Easy by Andy Taylor (#99).

Baseball
Bo Jackson, winner of the 1985 Heisman Trophy as the outstanding college football player in the United States, signed with the Kansas City Royals. The National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers had selected him as the first choice in the 1986 NFL draft.

25 years ago
1991

Politics and government
Victor Goldbloom was appointed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to replace D'Iberville Fortier as Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages; Mr. Goldbloom was the provincial Liberal cabinet minister when Québec introduced its language laws.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees (2nd week at #1)

Canadiana
The first National Aboriginal Day was celebrated across Canada. June 21 was chosen because of the summer solstice, the first day of summer and longest day of the year.

Health
The European Union agreed to phase out the ban on British beef in return for a more extensive slaughter program that included up to 147,000 head of cattle.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Winnipeg (1-1) 34 @ Edmonton (0-2) 31

Troy Westwood's field goal on the last play of the game gave the Blue Bombers their win over the Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium.

10 years ago
2006

Space
Pluto's newly discovered moons were officially named Nix and Hydra.