June 26, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Beth Stover and Sidora!

475 years ago
1541

Died on this date
Francisco Pizarro, 62-70 (?). Spanish conquistador. Mr. Pizarro led three expeditions to Peru, the third of which was successful in toppling the Inca Empire in 1532. Mr. Pizarro claimed the land for Spain, and had Incan Emperor Atahualpa executed in 1533. Mr. Pizarro and his comrade-in-arms Diego Almagro eventually had a falling-out, and Mr. Pizarro had Mr. Almagro executed. Mr. Almagro's son sought revenge, and assassinated Mr. Pizarro.

130 years ago
1886

Science
Using low-temperature electrolysis, French chemist Henri Moissan isolated elemental fluorine.

Baseball
George Stovey, a lefthanded Negro pitcher, played his first game for Jersey City of the Eastern League after being purchased from the Cuban Giants, an all-Negro touring team. Mr. Stovey, considered to be the best Negro pitcher of the 19th century, posted a 16-15 record for Jersey City in 1886, with an outstanding earned run average of 1.13.

110 years ago
1906

Auto racing
The first Grand Prix began in Le Mans, France. The French Grand Prix lasted 12 hours, and ended the next day with Ferenc Szisz winning, Felice Nazzaro finishing second, and Albert Clément finishing third.

90 years ago
1926

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, losing Progressive Party support for his minority Liberal government, asked Governor General Lord Julius Byng to dissolve Parliament and permit an election. Lord Byng refused the request, reminding Mr. King of their agreement made the previous October, and argues that the Conservatives, as the biggest single party in Parliament, should have a chance to form a government before an election was called.

80 years ago
1936

Aviation
The first prototype of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter, made its first flight, with Ewald Rohlfs at the controls.

75 years ago
1941

War
Finland formally entered the Continuation War against the U.S.S.R., although fighting between the two nations had proceeded for several days. German motorized units were reported within 50 miles of Minsk. Spanish Falangists began recruiting volunteers for a legion to fight against the U.S.S.R. U.S. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, speaking in Hartford, Connecticut, declared that it was the right moment for the United States "to strike hard and harder, fast and faster" against German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler. He denounced famed aviator and America First supporter Charles Lindbergh as a "Hitler stooge."

Defense
U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles informed U.S.S.R. Ambassador Constantine Oumansky that any Soviet request for material assistance in her defense against Germany would receive favourable consideration. The U.S. Senate Defense Investigating Committee warned of an aluminum shortage, and placed responsibility on the Office of Production Management and the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa).

Transportation
U.S. airlines said that they would have to restrict service because of President Roosevelt's request that domestic airlines surrender 24 more transport planes for British use, bringing the total to 115 of the 358 planes available.

Politics and government
A Gallup Poll reported that 76% of Americans questioned said that they approved of the policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Religion
Pope Pius XII, speaking in English from the Vatican, declared in a radio address to the Eighth National Eucharistic Congress in St. Paul, Minnesota that a current of "black paganism" was sweeping the world.

Labour
Congress of Industrial Organizations machinists voted to end their strike and return to work at shipyards in San Francisco.

Disasters
A two-hour earthquake described as one of the most violent in years struck Morocco.

70 years ago
1946

Died on this date
Yōsuke Matsuoka, 66. Japanese diplomat and politician. Mr. Matsuoka spent some time in the United States as a youth, but returned to Japan, joining the Foreign Service in 1904, holding various positions through the early 1930s. He led the Japanese delegation to the League of Nations, delivering a speech condemning the League, announcing Japan's withdrawal, and leading the Japanese delegation out of the League's assembly hall. Mr. Matsuoka attempted to form a political party modelled on the National Fascist Party in Italy, but failed to attract much support. He was appointed Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe in 1940, and was one of the major architects of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. During 1941, Mr. Matsuoka advocated an invasion of the U.S.S.R., and believed the U.S.A. was trying to provoke war with Japan. Prime Minister Konoe wanted to avoid war with the United States, and maneuvered Mr. Matsuoka's resignation in July 1941. Mr. Matsuoka spent World War II in retirement, but was arrested by Allied authorities after the Japanese surrender in 1945 and charged with war crimes. He died of natural causes in prison before he could come to trial.

Max Kögel, 50. German war criminal. SS-Obersturmbannführer Kögel joined the Nazi Party in May 1932 and the Schutzstaffel (SS) a month later. He was deputy director of Lichtenburg concentration camp (1938-1939) and commandant of the concentration camps of Ravensbrück (1939-1942); Majdanek (August-November 1942); and Flossenbürg (1943-1945). SS-Obersturmbannführer Kögel escaped arrest by Allied authorities until June 1946; he committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell in Schwabach the day after his arrest.

War
At the Nuremberg trial of accused Nazi war criminals, former German Foreign Minister Constantin von Neurath said that he had opposed some of Fuehrer Adolf Hitler's policies and did not know why he had not been liquidated.

Defense
The Canadian Air Cadets officially became known as the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.

Politics and government
The three-man British negotiating team in India announced that it would suspend further negotiations on an interim government and return to England.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to cite National Council of American-Soviet Friendship chairman Corliss Lamont for contempt for refusing to produce records demanded by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Scandal
The Soviet State Control Ministry announced widespread dismissals and firing of factory directors, engineers, and accountants for falsifying production figures, distributing bonuses illegally, and misappropriating funds.

60 years ago
1956

Defense
The United States detonated a hydrogen bomb at an altitude of 32,000 feet in its Pacific testing area. The United States Senate voted to give the Air Force $960 million more than the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower had requested for fiscal 1957, and also approved the full $34.7 billion defense appropriation.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council rejected an African-Asian bloc petition to place the Algerian question on the Council's agenda.

World events
Cuban police arrested 17 suspects, including bullfighter Jose Sanchez, in Havana on charges of complicity in a plot to assassinate President Fulgencio Batista.

Protest
Peruvian President Manuel Odria suspended civil liberties for 30 days as a result of strike-related rioting in Lima and Calleo.

Academia
Czechoslovakian Education Minister Frantisek Kahuda rejected demands for academic freedom, and ordered restoration of "class selection" of university students.

Archaeology
Louis Rene Nougier and Roumain Robert discovered prehistoric etchings of animals, and paintings estimated to be 25,000 years old in a cave near Poitiers, France.

Science
Physicists Werner Heisenberg of West Germany and Hideki Yukawa of Japan told the International Nobel Physics Prize Winners Conference in Lindau, West Germany that relativity and quantum theories no longer sufficiently explained all phenomena discovered and questions developed through nuclear research.

50 years ago
1966

Protest
20 days after James Meredith was shot and wounded in Hernando, Mississippi while marching to Jackson in an effort to register Negro voters, others who had continued his march arrived in Jackson.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Ramaya--Afric Simone

#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Jungle Rock--Hank Mizell

#1 single in the U.K.: You to Me are Everything--Real Thing

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Silly Love Songs--Wings (4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Afternoon Delight--Starland Vocal Band
2 Silly Love Songs--Wings
3 Misty Blue--Dorothy Moore
4 More, More, More (Part 1)--Andrea True Connection
5 Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)--Silver Convention
6 Shop Around--Captain & Tennille
7 Kiss and Say Goodbye--The Manhattans
8 Love Hangover--Diana Ross
9 Never Gonna Fall in Love Again--Eric Carmen
10 Moonlight Feels Right--Starbuck

Singles entering the chart were Another Rainy Day in New York City by Chicago (#77); Let 'Em In by Wings (#78); Devil Woman by Cliff Richard (#88); In My Father's Footsteps by Terry Jacks (#91); Don't Touch Me There by the Tubes (#92); Rainbow in Your Eyes by Leon and Mary Russell (#94); BLT by Lee Oskar (#96); Hey Shirley (This is Squirrely) by Shirley and Squirrely (#98); Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang by Silver (#99); and Everything's Coming Up Love by David Ruffin (#100).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Roxy Roller--Sweeney Todd
2 More, More, More (Part 1)--Andrea True Connection
3 Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)--Silver Convention
4 Silly Love Songs--Wings
5 The Whole World's Goin' Crazy--April Wine
6 Shop Around--Captain & Tennille
7 Never Gonna Fall in Love Again--Eric Carmen
8 Rock and Roll Love Letter--Bay City Rollers
9 Misty Blue--Dorothy Moore
10 Takin' it to the Streets--The Doobie Brothers

Singles entering the chart were In My Father's Footsteps by Terry Jacks (#85); Summer Love by Craig Ruhnke (#88); I'm Easy by Keith Carradine (#90); I Need to Be in Love by the Carpenters (#91); A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band (#92); Good Vibrations by Todd Rundgren (#93); Framed by Cheech & Chong (#94); If You Know What I Mean by Neil Diamond (#95); This Masquerade by George Benson (#96); It Keeps You Runnin' by Carly Simon (#97); Better Place to Be by Harry Chapin (#98); A Little Bit More by Dr. Hook (#99); and Baby, I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton (#100).

Canadiana
The CN Tower in Toronto opened to the public; it was the world's tallest free-standing structure at 1,821 feet (550 metres), and cost $63 million to build.

30 years ago
1986

Adventure
Entrepreneur Richard Branson left New York aboard his powerboat Virgin Challenger II in an attempt to break the transatlantic speed record.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (0-1) 20 @ Toronto (1-0) 21
Winnipeg (0-1) 17 @ British Columbia (1-0) 28

Hank Ilesic punted for 2 singles in the 4th quarter, the second covering 67 yards with 1:15 remaining in regulation time, to give the Argonauts their win over the Tiger-Cats before 24,100 fans at Exhibition Stadium. The winning point came after Hamilton wide receiver Steve Stapler was ruled to have fumbled after catching a pass from quarterback Ken Hobart, and Toronto defensive back Marcellus Greene recovered on the Hamilton 44-yard line. Willie Pless played the first regular season game of his 14-year Hall of Fame career at linebacker for the Argonauts.

The Lions scored 10 points in the final 4 minutes 7 seconds of the game to clinch victory over the Blue Bombers before 41,704 fans at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver. B.C. receiver Merv Fernandez had a brilliant game catching passes and rushing the ball, and completed a pass to Ned Armour for an 86-yard gain to set up Roy Dewalt's 21-yard touchdown pass to Scott Lecky with 4:07 remaining in the game. Mr. Fernandez also served as the Lions' punter, substituting for injured Lui Passaglia, who missed the first game of his 11-year CFL career. Paul Osbaldiston played the first game of his 18-year CFL career, scoring 10 points on 3 converts, 2 field goals, and a single as he replaced Mr. Passaglia as B.C.'s kicker.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Senza una donna--Zucchero featuring Paul Young (2nd week at #1)

Society
Canadian Minister of Indian Affairs Tom Siddon started talks with native leaders on responding to long-term effects of residential schools.

Environment
Canadian Environment Minister Jean Corbeil proposed a $100-million project to protect waters from oil and chemical spills, with more aerial surveillance, ship inspections, and fines.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Winnipeg (1-0) 29 @ Toronto (0-1) 15
Calgary (1-0) 49 @ Saskatchewan (0-1) 14

20 years ago
1996

Died on this date
Veronica Guerin, 36. Irish journalist. Miss Guerin ran a public relations firm from 1983-1990 and then turned to journalism, working for the Sunday Business Post and Sunday Tribune. She became a crime reporter with the Sunday Independent in 1994; she received death threats while covering the activities of drug dealers, and was followed and shot to death by drug gang members while stopped at a traffic light on the outskirts of Dublin, nine days before her 37th birthday. Her murder helped to prompt the creation of Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau.

Academia
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute to admit women or forego state support.

10 years ago
2006

Politics and government
Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigned after weeks of political unrest. He had been in office since May 2002.