July 5, 2016

700 years ago
1316

War
Burgundian and Byzantine forces commanded by Louis of Burgundy defeated Majorcan forces commanded by Ferdinand of Majorca in the Battle of Manolada in Greece. The forces represented rival claimants to the Principality of Achaea. Ferdinand was killed in the battle.

175 years ago
1841

Britannica
Thomas Cook organized the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough, England.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
John Howard Northrop. U.S. biochemist. Dr. Northrop shared the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with James Sumner and Wendell Stanley "for their preparation of enzymes and virus proteins in a pure form." Dr. Northrop died on May 27, 1987 at the age of 95.

100 years ago
1916

War
The Canadian military authorized the creation of the all-Negro No. 2 Construction Battalion, on the recommendation of Rev. C.W. Washington of Edmonton. The battalion would serve in France with the Canadian Forestry Corps. Canadian Army Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously, for valour during the Battle of the Somme; he killed while bringing in wounded soldiers from no man’s land at La Boisselle, France.

75 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): María Elena--Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Bob Eberly (2nd week at #1)

Music
Without using a score, 11-year-old Loren Maazell conducted the NBC Summer Symphony Orchestra in a program of Mendelssohn and Wagner.

War
U.K. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden said that he anticipated a peace offer from German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, but that Britain was "not, in any circumstances, prepared to negotiate with him at any time on any subject." German troops reached the Dnieper River in Ukraine. U.S.S.R. forces claimed successful counterattacks in the Ostrov sector east of Estonia.

The Japanese government announced that 109,250 Japanese soldiers had been killed in the war with China, as against 2,015,000 Chinese killed.

Defense
The American Youth Congress passed a resolution pledging cooperation "with the people of Britain and the Soviet Union" in their fight against Adolf Hitler, thus reversing the AYC's isolationist stand of the previous year.

Politics and government
Dr. F.A. Hermens of the University of Notre Dame stated in a study of proportional representation voting in the United States and abroad that it had failed in practice, and actually retarded reform in municipal administration.

70 years ago
1946

Popular culture
The bikini first went on sale after debuting during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.

Education
The U.S. Senate passed and sent to the House of Representatives a bill providing $30.35 million for vocational training and education.

Economics and finance
Canadian Finance Minister J. L. Ilsley introduced a new decontrol program in Parliament; the value of the Canadian dollar was raised from 90c to parity with the American dollar, after U.S. abandonment of price controls. Mr. Ilsley's program included a list of goods to remain under wartime price ceilings.

Golf
Sam Snead won the British Open at the Old Course of St. Andrew's, Scotland, with a 2-over-par score of 290, 4 strokes ahead of Johnny Bulla and Bobby Locke. First prize money was £150.





60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): Je vais revoir ma blonde--Darío Moreno

Died on this date
Francis Myers, 54. U.S. politician. Mr. Myers, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives from 1939-1945 and in the Senate from 1945-1951. He served as Senate Majority Whip from 1949-1951, but was defeated by Republican candidate and Pennsylvania Governor Jim Duff in the 1950 Senate election. Mr. Myers died of leukemia.

Literature
Billie Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings the Blues was published.

Diplomacy
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani Prime Minister Chaudri Mohammed Ali met in London to discuss the Kashmir dispute and increased Hindu migration to India from East Pakistan.

Politics and government
Former Defense Minister Abdulla Khalil, leader of the Nationalist Party, took office as Prime Minister of Sudan.

Economics and finance
Five days after a workers' revolt in the Polish city of Poznan was brutally crushed, the Polish government distributed 1.2 million zlotys to workers in Poznan in partial repayment of excessive taxes collected during the past three years.

Education
The U.S. House of Representatives defeated a controversial bill to provide $1.6 billion in federal aid for school construction.

Labour
U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service director Joseph Finnegan met with United Steel Workers and industry representatives in an effort to end the steel strike.

Disasters
The Independence Day weekend in the United States ended with 253 accident deaths, including 137 traffic fatalities.

50 years ago
1966

Died on this date
George de Hevesy, 80. Austro-Hungarian-born German chemist. Dr. Hevesy was awarded the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes." He died 27 days before his 81st birthday.

Space
The United States launched AS-203, an unmanned flight of the Saturn 1B rocket. The mission's purpose was to verify the design of the S-IVB rocket stage restart capability that would later be used in the Apollo program to boost astronauts from Earth orbit to a trajectory towards the Moon. It achieved its objectives, but the S-IVB stage was accidentally destroyed after 4 orbits, ending the mission.



Politics and government
The Indonesian government led by Lieutenant General Suharto stripped Sukarno of his title of President for Life and his power to issue decrees.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Fernando--ABBA (14th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Yokosuka Story--Momoe Yamaguchi

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Échame A Mí La Culpa--Albert Hammond (2nd week at #1)

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Montreal (2-0) 26 @ Ottawa (1-1) 22

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Run to Me--Tracy Spencer

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): J'aimie le Vie--Sandra Kim

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): What Have You Done for Me Lately--Janet Jackson (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Papa Don't Preach--Madonna (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: The Edge of Heaven--Wham!

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)-—Billy Ocean

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)-—Billy Ocean
2 On My Own--Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald
3 No One is to Blame—Howard Jones
4 Holding Back the Years—Simply Red
5 Crush on You—The Jets
6 Invisible Touch--Genesis
7 Who's Johnny--El DeBarge
8 Sledgehammer--Peter Gabriel
9 Live to Tell--Madonna
10 Nasty--Janet Jackson

Singles entering the chart were The Edge of Heaven by Wham! (#47); Yankee Rose by David Lee Roth (#74); Man Size Love by Klymaxx (#80); That was Then, This is Now by Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork (of the Monkees) (#86); No Promises by Icehouse (#88); Point of No Return by Nu Shooz (#89); and This is the Time by Dennis DeYoung (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)-—Billy Ocean
2 On My Own—Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald
3 Live to Tell--Madonna
4 I Can't Wait--Nu Shooz
5 Who's Johnny--El DeBarge
6 A Different Corner—George Michael
7 No One is to Blame—Howard Jones
8 Holding Back the Years—Simply Red
9 Sledgehammer--Peter Gabriel
10 All I Need is a Miracle--Mike & the Mechanics

Singles entering the chart were Papa Don't Preach by Madonna (#53); Nasty by Janet Jackson (#70); Words Get in the Way by Miami Sound Machine (#89); Oh People by Patti LaBelle (#90); Gusto Blusto by Culture Club (#92); Rock 'n' Roll to the Rescue by the Beach Boys (#95); Fire on the Water by Chris de Burgh (#96); and Hanging on a Heart Attack by Device (#98).

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (1-1) 0 @ Winnipeg (1-1) 56

The Blue Bombers led the Roughriders 38-0 at halftime at Winnipeg Stadium, and coasted to the most lopsided shutout in CFL history.

25 years ago
1991

Died on this date
Mildred Dunnock, 90. U.S. actress. Miss Dunnock was a character actress who appeared in plays, movies, and television programs in a career spanning more than 50 years. She was nominated for Academy Awards for her supporting performances in Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956), reprising in the former the role that she had played on Broadway in 1949.

Scandal
Regulators in eight countries, including Canada, shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The BCCI was charged with fraud, drug money laundering, and illegal infiltration into the U.S. banking system.

Politics and government
Joe Clark, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, accepted a parallel constitutional reform process run by First Nations, to provide input to the parliamentary unity committee.

Oil
Canadian Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Jake Epp concluded that closing the Sarnia-Montréal pipeline would not threaten the oil supply. The pipeline had been built during the energy crisis 15 years earlier.

Baseball
Denver and Miami were approved by major league owners as cities to receive franchises to begin play in 1993.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Fred Davis, 74. Canadian broadcaster. Mr. Davis, a native of Toronto, was a jazz trumpeter in his youth, but was best known for hosting the television news quiz show Front Page Challenge, replacing Alex Barris a few weeks after its debut in 1957, and hosting it until its cancellation in 1995. Mr. Davis died after a series of strokes.

Science
Dolly the sheep became the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

Football
CFL
Montreal (0-2) 13 @ Edmonton (2-0) 16

Danny McManus's 22-yard touchdown pass to Shalon Baker in the 4th quarter gave the Eskimos their win over the Alouettes before 26,211 fans at Commonwealth Stadium. Tony Burse rushed 2 yards for the other Edmonton touchdown.



10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Kenneth Lay, 64. U.S. criminal. Mr. Lay was Chief Executive Officer of Enron Corporation, the energy deal-making company whose collapse in 2001 was the biggest bankruptcy in the United States to date. Mr. Lay, who was well-connected to high-ranking members of the Republican Party, including U.S. President George W. Bush, was convicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in Houston of six counts of conspiracy and fraud, while a judge convicted him of four additional counts of fraud and making false statements. He died of a heart attack while on vacation and awaiting sentencing.

Defense
North Korea tested four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly failed in mid-air over the Sea of Japan.

Tennis
Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles lost their men's doubles semi-final match at Wimbledon. It was the longest match in Wimbledon history, lasting 6 hours 9 minutes.