July 18, 2016

625 years ago
1391

War
Timur defeated Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde in the Battle of the Kondurcha River in present-day southeastern Russia.

425 years ago
1591

Died on this date
Jacobus Gallus, 40-41. Slovenian composer. Mr. Gallus represented the Counter-Reformation, and wrote as many as 500 sacred and secular works, most notably the six-part Opus musicum (1587), a collection of 374 motets that would eventually cover the liturgical needs of the entire ecclesiastical year.

175 years ago
1841

Braziliana
Pedro II was acclaimed, crowned, and consecrated Emperor of Brazil.

80 years ago
1936

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Louis Hector and Harry West, on MBS
Tonight’s episode: The Giant Rat of Sumatra

War
The Spanish Civil War continued as General Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish Morocco.

Baseball
The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics 7-4 and 21-14 before 11,000 fans at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

The St. Louis Browns scored all their runs in the 5th inning as they defeated the New York Yankees 7-2 in the first game of a doubleheader before 25,000 fans at Yankee Stadium. Seven New York players, including winning pitcher Monte Pearson, each had 2 hits as the Yankees won the second game 15-4; the Browns once again scored all their runs in one inning--the 9th.

Hal Trosky drove in 5 runs with a pair of home runs as the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Nationals 10-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Winning pitcher Lloyd Brown pitched a complete game, allowing 13 hits, but just 2 earned runs, while losing pitcher Bobo Newsom also pitched a complete game despite allowing 16 hits and 10 earned runs. Each pitcher struck out just 1 batter.

The Brooklyn Dodgers scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning and held on for a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 8,000 fans at Forbes Field in Pitsburgh.

Tommy Thompson led off the top of the 11th inning with a double, advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on an outfield fly by Wally Berger to give the Boston Bees a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals before 3,500 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

75 years ago
1941

War
U.S.S.R. dictator Josef Stalin wrote U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, urging the establisment of a second front in France and Norway.

Defense
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the United States would keep the sea lanes open against attack or threat of attack not only to Iceland but to all other American bases in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Diplomacy
Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk and U.S.S.R. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia Ivan Maisky signed an agreement in London under which both governments exchanged ministers and gave mutual aid against Germany.

Five accused spies pled guilty in Brooklyn for conspiring to transmit defense information to Germany. 23 others pled not guilty.

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye ousted Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka and replaced him with Admiral Teijiro Toyoda. Prime Minister Konoye and Adm. Toyoda were pro-American and pro-Britain, and were trying to avoid war with those countries, while Mr. Matsuoka was very anti-American in his views.

Weather
Alberta's highest recorded termperature was reached at Fort Macleod: 110 F (43.3 C).

70 years ago
1946

Diplomacy
U.S. Senator Warren Austin (Republican--Vermont) was appointed to head the five-man U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.

Politics and government
Belgian Prime Minister Achille van Acker refused to form a new government when Socialists rejected a cabinet coalition.

The British Parliament approved the cabinet mission report on India, but Conservative Party and opposition leader Winston Churchill said that the mission went too far in offering India independence outside the Commonwealth.

Trailing in the popular vote, Eugene Talmadge won enough electoral votes to clinch the Georgia Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination for 1946 despite the oppositon of 100,000 newly-registered Negro voters.

U.S. President Harry Truman promised his aid to Democratic Party nominees in the November 1946 congressional elections, but opposed the renomination of Representative Roger Slaughter (Missouri), who had voted against all administration measures in the most recent session of Congress.

Protest
Palestinian Jews ended a 15-hour general strike protesting alleged police brutality in the Rafa and Latrun detention camps.

Energy
The New York State Board of Regents announced that a federally-financed nuclear physics laboratory would be set up in New York with the participation of nine universities under the supervision of Manhattan Project physicists.

Science
The University of Illinois announced the development of a 22-million volt betatronm, capable of producing an electron beam which could "penetrate the core of an atom."

Economics and finance
The U.K. House of Commons voted to uphold bread rationing, after Mr. Churchill accused the Labour government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee of being "panic stricken," and described the move as "futile."

Labour
The Congress of Industrial Organizations executive board named Jack Kroll to succeed Sidney Hillmand as head of the CIO's Political Action Committee.

60 years ago
1956

Diplomacy
Yugoslavian President Marshal Josip Tito met with Egyptian President Gamal Nasser and Indian Prime Ministe Jawaharlal Nehru on the Adriatic islands of Brioni and Vanga to discuss world non-aligned policy.

Politics and government
Hungarian First Deputy Premier Emo Gero succeeded Matyas Rakosi as First Secretary of the Communist Party.

Defense
The U.S. Defense Department announced plans to eliminate the U.S. Far Eastern Command in 1957.

Law
U.S. President Eisenhower signed a bill providing for heavier penalties against narcotics law violators.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the foreign aid authorization bill.

Business
American Telephone & Telegraph announced that it would offer 5,750,000 new common stock shares to raise $575 million in new capital, the largest common stock offering yet made by an American corporation.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Juanita Banana--Luis Aguilé (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Sunny Afternoon--The Kinks

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 The Pied Piper--Crispian St. Peters
2 Hanky Panky--Tommy James and the Shondells
3 Popsicle--Jan and Dean
4 Little Girl--Syndicate of Sound
5 Jug Band Music--The Lovin' Spoonful
6 Strangers in the Night--Frank Sinatra
7 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me--Dusty Springfield
8 Red Rubber Ball--The Cyrkle
9 Land of Milk and Honey--The Vogues
10 Don't Bring Me Down--The Animals

Singles entering the chart were Sweet Dreams by Tommy McLain (#69); Tar and Cement by Verdelle Smith (#73); Friday's Child by Nancy Sinatra (#74); Mother's Little Helper by the Rolling Stones (#76); This Door Swings Both Ways by Herman's Hermits (#81); Bring Back the Time by B.J. Thomas (#82); See You in September by the Happenings (#84); All of My Life by Don Norman (#88); Distant Shores by Chad and Jeremy (#92); Hideaway by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (#95); Look at Me Girl by Bobby Vee and the Strangers (#96); Look at Me Girl by the Playboys of Edinburgh (#97); Lonely Soldier by Mike Williams (#98); Ain't Gonna Cry No More by Brenda Lee (#99); and Warm and Tender Love by Percy Sledge (#100).

Died on this date
Bobby Fuller, 23. U.S. musician. Mr. Fuller was the leader of the rock group the Bobby Fuller Four, who had several hits in various regions of the United States in the mid-1960s, and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1966 with I Fought the Law. Mr. Fuller was found dead in his car, and his death was ruled a suicide, although conspiracy theories aboud as to the actual cause of death.

Space
The Gemini 10 mission, with a crew of John Young (Command Pilot) and Michael Collins (Pilot) lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida to begin a three-day mission.



They docked their spacecraft with an Atlas-Agena target vehicle that had been launched 100 minutes earlier.



Diplomacy
The International Court of Justice dismissed a complaint about South Africa's administration in South West Africa, ruling that plaintiffs Ethiopia and Liberia had not established sufficient legal interest in the subject.

Protest
Negroes began five days of rioting in the Hough area of Cleveland.

40 years ago
1976

Olympics
14-year-old Nadia Comăneci of Romania became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics, performing on the uneven parallel bars at the Summer Olympics in Montreal.



30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Lessons in Love--Level 42 (2nd week at #1)

Football
CFL
Hamilton (1-3) 21 @ Calgary (2-2) 23



Baseball
The Kansas City Royals announced that manager Dick Howser would take the rest of the season off for treatment of a brain tumour. Third base coach Mike Ferraro was named to manage the team in Mr. Howser's absence. The defending World Series champions were in fourth place in the American League West Division with a record of 40-48.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Everything I Do (I Do it for You)--Bryan Adams (3rd week at #1)

Edmontonia
This blogger attended the annual parade to open Klondike Days.

Politics and government
Rita Johnston won the British Columbia Social Credit Party leadership, edging Grace McCarthy 941-881 on the second ballot. Mrs. Johnston had been Minister of Transportation and Highways at the time she had succeeded Bill Vander Zalm as Premier on April 2, 1991, becoming British Columbia's first female Premier. A provincial election was due to be held in October 1991.

Scandal
Newfoundland Roman Catholic Archbishop Alphonsus Penny offered his resignation after the release of a report blaming church officials for covering up sexual abuse by Catholic priests at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's.

Economics and finance
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev in London that Canada would lift a freeze on $150 million in food credits imposed during the Baltic crackdown. He also offered a $10-million technical assistance package.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (0-2) 18 @ Toronto (2-0) 41



Saskatchewan (0-2) 28 @ Calgary (2-0) 48

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees

War
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam captured the Sri Lanka Army's base in the Battle of Mullaitivu, killing over 1,200 soldiers.

Disasters
Storms provoked severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec's costliest natural disasters ever.