August 25, 2016

1,250 years ago
766

Died on this date
Constantine Podopagouros. Roman politician. Strategios_Podopagouros. Roman military officer. Constantine and Strategius Podopagouros were brothers who were among 19 high-ranking officials accused of plotting against Emperor Constantine V. The emperor had the brothers beheaded, and exiled and/or blinded the others.

240 years ago
1776

Died on this date
David Hume, 65. U.K. philosopher. Mr. Hume, a native of Edinburgh, argued that all human knowledge derives solely from experience, and that passions rather than reason govern human behaviour. He wrote on economics, religion, and other subjects in books such as A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740) and The History of England (6 volumes, 1754-1762). Mr. Hume died of abdominal cancer.

175 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Emil Theodor Kocher. Swiss physician. Dr. Kocher was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland." He was the first Swiss and first surgeon to win a Nobel Prize. Dr. Kocher died on July 27, 1917 at the age of 75.

130 years ago
1886

Died on this date
Zinovios Valvis, 86 (?). Prime Minister of Greece, February-April 1863, April-August 1864. Mr. Valvis was the older brother of Dimitrios Valvis, who was Prime Minister for 12 days in 1886.

120 years ago
1896

Died on this date
Hamad bin Thuwaini, 39. Sultan of Zanzibar, 1893-1896. Sheikh Hamad bin Thuwaini succeeded his uncle Sheikh Ali bin Said Al-Busaid on the throne, and pursued a pro-British foreign policy. He died suddenly, likely by poison at the hands of his cousin Sheikh Khalid bin Barghash, who proclaimed himself Sultan, precipitating the Anglo-Zanzibar War two days later.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Frederick Robbins. U.S. pediatrician and virologist. Dr. Robbins shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John Enders and Thomas Weller "for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue," paving the way for polio vaccines. Dr. Robbins died on August 4, 2003, three weeks before his 87th birthday.

Van Johnson. U.S. actor. Mr. Johnson was one of the most popular actors of the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in movies such as The Human Comedy (1943); A Guy Named Joe (1943); Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944); Battleground (1949); and The Caine Mutiny (1954). He suffered serious injuries in a car accident in 1943; his scalp was almost sheared off, and he was left with a visible scar. Mr. Johnson died on December 12, 2008 at the age of 92.

Died on this date
Mary Tappan Wright, 64. U.S. authoress. Mrs. Wright, the wife of classical scholar John Henry Wright and the mother of legal scholar Austin Tappan Wright and geographer John Kirtland Wright, wrote novels and short stories about academic life.

Environment
The United States Department of the Interior created the National Park Service to manage and preserve national parks and monuments for future generations.

75 years ago
1941

War
The U.S.S.R. government announced that Novgorod, 100 miles from Leningrad, had been abandoned. A small British-Canadian commando force destroyed radio and weather stations and coal supplies on Spitsbergen Island, Norway to destroy anything of use to the Germans. U.K. and U.S.S.R. troops invaded Iran at five points "for purposes of self-defense" to thwart "attempts by the Axis powers to establish control" over the country.

Defense
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the $7.55-billion supplemental defense appropriations bill. U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles said that the United States would increase supplies of defense materials urgently needed by Latin American countries.

Politics and government
The U.S. Senate, in a close vote, confirmed the nomination of Rexford Tugwell as Governor of Puerto Rico.

Academia
The New York City Board of Higher Education dismissed Arthur Braunlich, Dr. Walter Scott Neff, and Seymour Copstein, City College of New York instructors who had been found guilty of Communist activities.

Economics and finance
Argentine Foreign Minister Enrique de Ruiz-Guinazu announced an agreement with Italy for the purchase of 16 Italian ships interned in Argentine ports.

U.S. President Roosevelt vetoed a bill to freeze the government's stock of cotton and wheat.

Labour
The American Federation of Teachers voted to bar membership to anyone "whose actions are subject to totalitarian control," such as Communists, Nazis, or Fascists.

70 years ago
1946

Diplomacy
The government of Yugoslavia charged that U.K. and U.S. military planes had violated Yugoslavian air space 110 times between August 10-20, 1946.

World events
The London Sunday Observer reported that U.S.S.R. authorities had confiscated over 200 industrial works in their zone of Germany, employing over 300,000 workers, as "Soviet state property."

Muslim extremists in India attempted to assassinate Shafaat Ahmad Khan, a Muslim official who had violated Muslim League policy by accepting a post in the country's interim government.

Defense
U.S. Army Ground Forces Commander General Jacob Devers authorized the creation of 315 Negro reserve units.

Golf
Ben Hogan won the PGA Championship at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, defeating Ed Oliver 6 and 4 in the final round of the match play tournament. It was the first major championship for Mr. Hogan. First prize money was $3,500.



60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Portuguese Washerwomen--Joe "Fingers" Carr

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Heimweh--Freddy Quinn (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)--Doris Day (3rd week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel--Elvis Presley (Best Seller--2nd week at #1); My Prayer--The Platters (Disc Jockey--2nd week at #1; Jukebox--1st week at #1; Top 100--2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Hound Dog--Elvis Presley (2nd week at #1)
2 My Prayer--The Platters
3 The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 and 2)--Buchanan and Goodman
4 Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)--Doris Day
5 Don't Be Cruel--Elvis Presley
6 Canadian Sunset--Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra with Eddie Heywood
--Andy Williams
7 Allegheny Moon--Patti Page
8 I Almost Lost My Mind--Pat Boone
9 Theme Song from Song for a Summer Night (Parts 1 and 2)--Mitch Miller and his Orchestra
10 The Fool--Sanford Clark
--The Gallahads

Singles entering the chart were The Bus Stop (A Paper of Pins) by the Four Lads (#32); When the White Lilacs Bloom Again, with versions by Hemlut Zacharias and his Magic Violins, Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra, Florian Zambach, LeRoy Holmes and his Orchestra, and Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra (#37); Let the Good Times Roll by Shirley and Lee (#39); In the Middle of the House, with versions by Vaughn Monroe and Rusty Draper (#40); and In the Still of the Nite by the Five Satins (#46). The Bus Stop (A Paper of Pins) was from the movie Bus Stop (1956).

Died on this date
Alfred Kinsey, 62. U.S. sexologist. Dr. Kinsey, a biologist by training, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1947. He published the reports Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), which created the impression that the American people were far more liberal in their sexual behaviour than they actually were, or were willing to admit. Dr. Kinsey was reported to be bisexual, and he devised a scale of sexuality in which bisexuality rather than heterosexuality was the norm. It wasn't until many years after the publication of his reports that it was revealed that a disproportionate number of Dr. Kinsey's subjects in his research on male sexuality were convicted sex offenders, and a disproportionate number of his female subjects were prostitutes--not exactly representative of the majority of the American people. Dr. Kinsey has been credited with creating the modern sexual revolution, and gets this blogger's vote as the most influential person in Western culture in the last half of the 20th century. He died of a reported heart ailment and pneumonia.

Defense
Afghan Prime Minister Prince Mohamed Daud Khan signed pacts with Czechoslovakia and the U.S.S.R. for the supply of arms, ammuniton, and aircraft to Afghanistan.

Politics and government
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower named former Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director William Jackson as his special assistant for national security affairs.

Business
The Suez Canal Company said in Paris that it could no longer be responsible for the safety of its employees remaining in Egypt.

Labour
The United Steel Workers of America ended a 25-day strike against Reynolds Aluminum Company after signing a three-year contract providing for wage increases and fringe benefit increases of 45.6c per hour.

Football
CRU
IRFU
Toronto (0-1) 20 @ Montreal (1-0) 24

WIFU
Winnipeg (0-1) 16 @ Saskatchewan (1-2) 28
Calgary (0-2) 22 @ Edmonton (2-0) 23

ORFU
Rochester (0-1) 14 @ Kitchener-Waterloo (1-0) 30
Toronto (1-0) 22 @ Sarnia (0-1) 21

Jackie Parker scored 2 touchdowns and a single--which proved to be the deciding point--for the Eskimos as they edged the Stampeders at Clarke Stadium.

Billy Graham scored a touchdown, 3 converts, and a field goal to help the Dutchmen defeat the Rockets before 3,000 fans at Waterloo Stadium in the first game ever played by an American team in the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Kitchener-Waterloo quarterback Bob Celeri completed 15 of 28 passes for 267 yards and touchdowns of 28 yards to Don Loucks and 33 yards to Carl Totzke, and added 73 yards on 6 rushes. Bill Rogers relieved Mr. Celeri late in the game and completed his only pass for 12 yards; Mr. Rogers opened the scoring in the 1st quarter when Rochester quarterback Charlie Maloy fumbled in the vicinity of his own 25-yard-line, K-W's Tom Pagnan dribbled the ball into the Rochester end zone, and Mr. Rogers fell on it for a touchdown. Mr. Maloy completed 19 of 38 passes for 298 yards. Roy King rushed 10 times for 76 yards and scored both Rochester touchdowns.

Tom Urowitz scored 2 touchdowns to help Balmy Beach edged the Golden Bears before 5,000 fans at Norm Perry Park. Bernie Custis, playing his first game in the ORFU after five seasons as a star in the IRFU, scored the other Toronto TD early in the 4th quarter, taking a lateral from Gino Cappelletti and going 70 yards for the score after Mr. Cappelletti had fielded a punt. Mr. Cappelletti, who had played quarterback with Sarnia in 1955, scored 2 converts and 2 singles for Toronto, with his single in the final minutes of the game providing the winning margin. Bill Travneck scored 2 touchdowns and Dick Dixon scored the other for Sarnia, who played their first game as the Golden Bears after more than 20 years as the Imperials. The team changed its name after Imperial Oil dropped its sponsorship of the club after the 1955 season. Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber and Montreal Alouette quarterback Joe Zaleski played his first game with the Golden Bears.

Baseball
The New York Yankees claimed 40-year-old outfielder Enos Slaughter on waivers from the Kansas City Athletics. Mr. Slaughter was in his 16th season in the major leagues, and was batting .278 with 2 home runs and 23 runs batted in in 91 games with Kansas City in 1956. To make room for him on the roster, the Yankees released shortstop Phil Rizzuto and offered him a coaching post should he decline an offer to become a baseball telecaster in Baltimore. Mr. Rizzuto was in his 14th season with the Yankees, and was batting .231 in 31 games with no home runs and 6 runs batted in in 1956.

Dick Donovan pitched a 6-hit complete game to win the pitchers' duel over Whitey Ford as the Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Yankees 4-2 before 54,449 fans at Yankee Stadium.

The Washington Nationals scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning as they beat the Kansas City Athletics 8-4 before 2,352 fans at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Roy Sievers and Jim Lemon hit home runs for the Nationals, while Eddie Yost, nicknamed "The Walking Man," drew 4 bases on balls. Enos Slaughter, in his last game with the Athletics, came to bat in the 8th inning as a pinch hitter and popped out to Mr. Yost at third base.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)

Music
The Beatles continued their final concert tour with two shows at Seattle Center Coliseum.

Space
The United States launched AS-202--a test of a production Block I Apollo Command/Service Module atop a Saturn IB rocket--from Cape Kennedy, Florida. The mission was a success and lasted 1 hour 33 minutes.



Protest
French President Charles de Gaulle began a world tour with a visit to French Somaliland, where rioting mobs demanded the colony's independence from France.

40 years ago
1976

Died on this date
Eyvind Johnson, 76. Swedish author. Mr. Johnson was a novelist and short story writer who was awarded a share of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom." He died 27 days after his 76th birthday.

Politics and government
French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac resigned and was succeeded by Raymond Barre, former minister of foreign trade.

Oil
The U.S. Interior Department accepted $1.13 billion in bids by oil companies to drill in the Atlantic Ocean.

Football
CFL
Calgary (0-5-1) 11 @ Hamilton (2-4) 18

Rick Cassata completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Edwards with 2:16 remaining in the game to cap an 85-yard drive and give the Tiger-Cats their victory over the Stampeders before 21,332 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Baseball
The Oakland Athletics released veteran infielder Cesar Tovar, who was in his 12th season in the major leagues, and his second with Oakland. In 29 games with the Athletics in 1976, Mr. Tovar was batting .178 with no home runs and 4 runs batted in.

Jim Lyttle singled in 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-1 win over Mr. Lyttle's former team, the Montreal Expos, before 18,738 fans at Dodger Stadium in the Wednesday night Expos Baseball telecast on CBC. Doug Rau pitched a 7-hit complete game to win the pitchers' duel over Steve Rogers, who allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs in also going the distance.

The San Francisco Giants scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning as they defeated the New York Mets 7-1 before 3,974 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Ed Halicki pitched an 8-hit complete game victory, allowing no earned runs.

Bruce Kison pitched a 5-hitter, walking no batters and striking out 6, to win the pitchers' duel over Dave Freisleben as the Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the San Diego Padres 3-0 before 10,963 fans at San Diego Stadium. Mr. Freisleben allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs in 8 innings.

Mickey Rivers singled home Oscar Gamble with 2 out in the bottom of the 19th inning to give the New York Yankees a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins before 24,351 fans at Yankee Stadium in a game that lasted 5 hours 26 minutes. Dick Tidrow, the second of three New York pitchers, allowed just 4 hits and no runs in 10 2/3 innings of relief, but left with no decision.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych pitched a 5-hit complete game, allowing no earned runs, to win the pitchers' duel over Bart Johnson as the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 before 39,884 fans at Tiger Stadium in a game that was played in 1 hour 48 minutes. Mr. Fidrych improved his 1976 record to 15-5, while Mr. Johnson, who allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs while also going the distance, dropped to 9-12.



The Baltimore Orioles scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and went on to beat the Oakland Athletics 9-4 before 6,942 fans at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

Andy Hassler allowed 5 hits and 1 earned run in 7 innings as the Kansas City Royals edged the Cleveland Indians 2-1 before 7,113 fans at Cleveland Stadium. Jim Kern, who allowed 4 hits and 1 run--earned--in 5 2/3 innings in relief of erratic starter Jim Bibby, took the loss.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Papa Don't Preach--Madonna (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): La Puerta de Alcalá--Víctor Manuel y Ana Belén (6th week at #1)

Baseball
Rookie third baseman Mark McGwire hit his first major league home run--a 450-foot blast to center field off Walt Terrell in the 5th inning--as Mr. McGwire and the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 before 20,475 fans at Tiger Stadium.

Doug DeCinces led off the 2nd and 4th innings with home runs to help the California Angels beat the New York Yankees 5-3 before 30,941 fans at Yankee Stadium. John Candelaria won the pitching matchup with Phil Niekro.

Larry Parrish drew a base on balls with 2 out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 9th inning and Ruben Sierra followed with a home run to give the Texas Rangers a 4-2 win over the Boston Red Sox before 24,459 fans at Arlington Stadium. Boston starting pitcher Roger Clemens had a shutout after 7 innings, but Mr. Sierra hit an infield single with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, and pinch hitter Geno Petralli followed with a 2-run home run to tie the score 2-2. Calvin Schiraldi took the mound for Boston in the 9th.

Eric Davis drove in 4 runs with a pair of home runs and a single to help the Cincinnati Reds edge the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 before 8,093 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

The Atlanta Braves scored all of their runs in the last 3 innings as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 before 21,808 fans at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

The Houston Astros scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 before 24,211 fans at the Astrodome.

The Montreal Expos scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning and hld on to edge the San Francisco Giants 6-5 before 5,609 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): (Everything I Do) I Do it for You--Bryan Adams (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: (Everything I Do) I Do it for You--Bryan Adams (4th week at #1)

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Wind of Change--Scorpions (8th week at #1)
2 Bobby Brown--Frank Zappa
3 The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in his Kiss)--Cher
4 Sailing on the Seven Seas--OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)
5 Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee La Da Da)--Crystal Waters
6 Do the Limbo Dance--David Hasselhoff
7 Losing My Religion--R.E.M.
8 (Everything I Do) I Do it for You--Bryan Adams
9 Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)--Roxette
10 Jesus Loves You--Bow Down Mister

Singles entering the chart were Bacardi Feeling (Summer Dreamin') by Kate Yanai (#18); Shiny Happy People by R.E.M. (#25); Rush Rush by Paula Abdul (#29); and Chorus by Erasure (#30).

War
The Battle of Vukovar began the 87-day siege of the Croatian city by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces during the Croatian War of Independence.

Europeana
Belarus gained its independence from the U.S.S.R.

Technology
Linus Torvalds announced the first version of what became the Linux operating system.

Track and field
Carl Lewis of the United States set a world record in the men's 100-metre run at the world championships in Tokyo, covering the distance in 9.86 seconds.

Baseball
The California Angels fired Doug Rader as manager and replaced him with former Angels' catcher and former Montreal Expos' manager Buck Rodgers. Mr. Rader was in his third season as manager of the Angels, who were in seventh and last place in the American League West Division with a record of 61-63.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning and 6 in the 8th as they came back from a 7-2 deficit to beat the New York Yankees 11-7 before 50,320 fans at SkyDome in Toronto. Toronto second baseman Roberto Alomar batted 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 4 runs batted in, while Roberto Kelly drove in 4 runs for New York.

Dave Valle hit a solo home run in the top of the 9th to break a 2-2 tie and give the Texas Rangers a 3-2 lead over the Detroit Tigers, but the Tigers scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3 before 29,480 fans at Tiger Stadium.

Rod Nichols (2-10) pitched a 3-hitter for his only major league shutout as the Cleveland Indians blanked the Chicago White Sox 3-0 before 10,106 fans at Cleveland Stadium.

The Texas Rangers scored a run in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game 4-4 and 4 runs in the top of the 11th to beat the Kansas City Royals 8-4 before 26,037 fans at Royals Stadium.

Doug Dascenzo of the Chicago Cubs made an error in his team's 12-9 loss to the San Diego Padres before 31,190 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago, ending the center fielder's errorless streak at 242 games, a National League record and 2 games short of the major league record. Darrin Jackson hit 2 home runs for the Padres. Scott May, the third of six Chicago pitchers, faced 3 batters and allowed 2 hits, a base on balls, and 3 runs--all earned--in his fifth and last major league game.

Mark Gardner (7-9) allowed just 3 hits in 7 innings as he pitched the Montreal Expos to a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros before 10,851 fans at the Astrodome.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Chains--DLT (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Killing Me Softly--The Fugees (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Insomnia--Faithless

#1 single in Scotland (OCC): Wannabe--Spice Girls (5th week at #1)

Golf
Tiger Woods, 20, won an unprecedented third straight United States Amateur title, rallying from two strokes back with three holes to play to defeat Steve Scott of the University of Florida at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Cornelius, Oregon. Mr. Woods turned professional two days later. In 1994 he had become the youngest amateur champion and the first Negro ever to win the title.



10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Noor Hassanali, 88. 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago, 1987-1997. Mr. Hassanali, a graduate of the University of Toronto, was a judge on the Court of Appeal from 1978-1985 before being elected President in 1987 and re-elected to the largely ceremonial position in 1992. He was the country's first Indo-Trinidadian President, and the first Muslim head of state in the Americas.

Football
CFL
Toronto (5-5) 18 @ Winnipeg (5-5) 15

Damon Allen threw 2 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter, with the second one going to Arland Bruce with 2:23 remaining, as the Argonauts rallied from a 15-0 deficit to beat the Blue Bombers before 25,014 fans at Canad Inns Stadium.