September 5, 2016

350 years ago
1666

Disasters
The Great Fire of London ended; 10,000 buildings weree destroyed, but only six people were known to have died.

225 years ago
1791

Born on this date
Giacomo Meyerbeer. German musician and composer. Mr. Meyerbeer, born Jacob Liebmann Beer, began his career as a pianist, but devoted the bulk of his career to composing operas. He wrote 19 operas, and has been called "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner." Mr. Meyerbeer wrote choral works and about 50 songs in his later years, and died on May 2, 1864 at the age of 72.

Baseball
At a town meeting in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a bylaw was passed making it illegal to play baseball and other sports within 80 yards of the town hall to prevent breaking of windows. It was the first mention of baseball in the United States.

200 years ago
1816

Politics and government
King Louis XVIII of France dissolved the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber"), the first Chamber of Deputies elected after the Second Bourbon Restoration in 1815.

180 years ago
1836

Politics and government
Military hero Sam Houston became the first President of the Republic of Texas.

110 years ago
1906

Football
U.S. college
The first legal forward pass in American football was thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Ernie White. U.S. baseball pitcher and manager. Mr. White played with the St. Louis Cardinals (1940-1943) and Boston Braves (1946-1948), comipiling a record of 30-21 with an earned run average of 2.78 in 108 games. He was with the Cardinals when they won the World Series in 1942 and the NL pennant in 1943, and was with the Braves when they won the NL pennant in 1948. Mr. White then spent the years 1949-1964 as a manager in the minor leagues, except for 1963, when he was pitching coach with the New York Mets. He died on May 22, 1974 at the age of 57 from complications following knee surgery.

Frank Yerby. U.S. author. Mr. Yerby was known for novels such as The Foxes of Harrow (1946) and Dahomean (1971). He was of mixed racial origin and left the United States in 1955 in a protest against racial discrimination, living in Spain until his death on November 29, 1991 at the age of 75.

Frank Shuster. Canadian comedian. Mr. Shuster and Johnny Wayne comprised the duo Wayne and Shuster, who were Canada's most popular comedy team from the 1940s until Mr. Wayne's death in July 1990. Mr. Shuster died on January 13, 2002 at the age of 85.

80 years ago
1936

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Louis Hector and Harry West, on MBS

75 years ago
1941

At the movies
Charlie Chan in Rio, directed by Harry Lachman, and starring Sidney Toler and Victor Sen Yung, opened in theatres.



The Argentine interior minister banned the U.K. anti-Nazi film Freedom Radio (aka A Voice in the Night) on the ground that it was offensive toward a friendly nation.

War
The whole territory of Estonia was occupied by German forces. Japanese cabinet spokeman Iichi Kishi said that if Chinese leader Wang Ching-wei and Chiang Kai-shek were to negotiate a peace settlement, "that would be an affair between two Chinese regimes." Wang Ching-wei led the Japanese-sponsored Chinese government. The American freighter Steel Seafarer was sunk in the Red Sea by a bomb; the nationality of the plane was unknown. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told a press conference that the previous day's German submarine attack on the U.S. destroyer USS Greer was deliberate, and that U.S. warships would "eliminate" the U-boat if they found it.

Diplomacy
The Argentine Chamber of Deputies investigating committee declared that the German embassy was financing Nazi propaganda in Argentina.

Defense
Japan created an Air Defense Bureau to rush the construction of air-raid shelters throughout the country. The U.S. Senate passed the $3,583,900,000 defense tax bill and sent it to conference with the House of Representatives.

Politics and government
William Woodward installed as Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.

The United States Senate confirmed the appointment of Francis Biddle as U.S. Attorney General without opposition.

Business
A U.S. federal judge ruled that market-sharing and patent-pooling agreements between the German dye trust I.G. Farbenindustrie and four U.S. drug manufacturers violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Labour
The U.S. National Railway Mediation Board announced that it had failed to mediate the wage dispute between the railraods and 19 unions representing 1.25 million workers.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
Cloak and Dagger, directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Gary Cooper and Lilli Palmer, received its premiere screening in Atlantic City, New Jersey.



Radio
The formation of the Alaska Broadcasting System, the territory's first network, was announced in Anchorage.

Diplomacy
U.S.S.R. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky urged the Italian Political and Territorial Commission of the Paris Peace Conference to support Yugoslavia's claim to the whole of Istria and Trieste. The Romanian Commission awarded the predominantly Hungarian area of Transylvania to Romania. U.K. delegate to the United Nations Sir Alexander Cadogan labelled Ukrainian charges against Greece "unbridled propaganda."

Crime
The day after pleading guilty to burglary to the 1945 murders in Chicago of Josephine Ross and Frances Brown and the January 1946 murder of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan, William Heirens, 17, was sentenced by Chief Justice Harold G. Ward to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Mr. Heirens was transferred from Cook County Jail to Stateville Prison. Mr. Heirens claimed his confession was obtained under duress.

Politics and government
Virginia's Democratic State Convention named U.S. Representative Willis Robertson to take the seat of the late Carter Glass in the United States Senate.

Academia
Indiana Governor Ralph Gates demanded an investigation of possible subversive influences in the faculties of Indiana University and Indiana State Teachers College.

Medicine
Dr. Russell Reynolds of the United Kingdom, speaking at the American Congress of Physical Medicines in New York, described a method of making X-ray motion pictures without harm to the patient.

Economics and finance
General Lucius Clay of the U.S. military government in Germany announced plans for the economic unification of the U.K. and U.S. zones, involving the creation of German bizonal agencies responsible for food and agriculture, economics, and transport.

Labour
More than 60,000 members of the American Federation of Labor Seafarers Union and the AFL Sailors Union tied up Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico shipping in a dispute over the U.S. Wage Stabilization Board's rejection of a wage increase won through collective bargaining.

Despite pleas from United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration director Fiorello La Guardia, New York longshoremen refused to load a freighter with relief supplies for Yugoslavia because of the August 9 and 19 Yugoslavian attacks on U.S. aircraft.

60 years ago
1956

Died on this date
Danny Russo, 71. U.S. songwriter and bandleader. Mr. Russo was active in the 1920s.

Charles Lowen, Jr., 41. U.S. bureaucrat. Mr. Lowen was chief of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Defense
U.K. Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd and French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau detailed, before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Permanent Council meeting in Paris, Anglo-French military moves in the Mediterranean. Egyptian President Gamal Nasser presented his alternatives to the U.S. proposal for internationalization of the Suez Canal, expressing readiness to agree on formation of an international Suez advisory board as proposed by India at the London conference.

Defense
Addressing the American Legion's national convention in Los Angeles, Illinois Governor and Democratic Party U.S. presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson said he thought it "is the national will that the draft be ended at the earliest possible moment consistent with national safety."

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Un Sorbito De Champán--Los Brincos (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Pretty Brown Eyes--Joe Dolan

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Bus Stop--The Hollies
2 Sunny--Bobby Hebb
3 Sunshine Superman--Donovan
4 See You in September--The Happenings
5 Wouldn't it Be Nice--The Beach Boys
6 Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby--The Beatles
7 Get Away--Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames
8 Sunny Afternoon--The Kinks
9 Summer in the City--The Lovin' Spoonful
10 Off to Dublin in the Green--The Abbey Tavern Singers/Merry Ploughboy--The Carlton Showband

Singles entering the chart were Girl on a Swing by Gerry & the Pacemakers (#80); I Got to Handle It by the Capitols (#82); In the Arms of Love by Andy Williams (#83); Rumors by Syndicate of Sound (#84); Summer Samba (So Nice) by Walter Wanderley (#86); 96 Tears by ? (Question Mark) & the Mysterians (#87); Flamingo by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (#90); Ain't Nobody Home by Howard Tate (#92); Can't Satisfy by the Impressions (#93); Campfire Girls by Billy Joe Royal (#94); I Chose to Sing the Blues by Ray Charles (#95); You're Gonna Miss Me by the 13th Floor Elevators (#96); Sad and Blue by Mel West (#97); And She's Mine by the Guess Who? (#98); It Hurts Me by Bobby Goldsboro (#99); and Blue Side of Lonesome by Jim Reeves (#100).

Football
CFL
Ottawa (4-1) 12 @ Hamilton (4-1) 16
Montreal (3-3) 0 @ Saskatchewan (5-2) 44
Toronto (0-5) 8 @ Calgary (2-5) 13

Joe Zuger rushed for a touchdown, punted for 2 singles, and handed off to Bobby Kuntz for the winning TD in the 4th quarter as the Tiger-Cats beat the Rough Riders before 29,003 fans at Civic Stadium. Whit Tucker scored the only Ottawa touchdown on a pass from Russ Jackson.

Ron Lancaster threw 3 touchdown passes to Hugh Campbell and George Reed rushed for 3 more TDs as the Roughriders routed the Alouettes before 19,451 fans at Taylor Field in Regina.

Peter Liske completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Terry Evanshen and Larry Robinson added a convert and 2 field goals as the Stampeders defeated the Argonauts before 20,000 fans at McMahon Stadium. Al Irwin scored the Toronto touchdown on a pass from Wally Gabler.

40 years ago
1976

Hockey
Canada Cup
Canada 4 U.S.A. 2

Football
CFL
Toronto (3-5) 0 @ Montreal (4-3-1) 28

Linebacker Chuck Zapiec stole the ball from punt returner Larry Uteck's hands and returned it 11 yards for the final touchdown as the Alouettes blanked the Argonauts before 20,444 fans in the last CFL game ever played at Autostade. Don Sweet kicked his 12th and 13th consecutive field goals, a league record at the time.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Holiday Rap--MC Miker G & Deejay Sven (3rd week at #1)

Terrorism
22 people were killed and 150 injured during a 16-hour siege aboard a Pan Am jet at Karachi Airport. Four gunmen held 390 people hostage. The flight had departed Bombay bound for New York.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (4-6) 14 @ Winnipeg (6-4) 38

James Sykes rushed for 191 yards, including one run for 57 yards, as the Blue Bombers easily beat the Roughriders before 24,996 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. Winnipe quarterback John Hufnagel passed for 328 yards in a brilliant performance, but when he was removed from the game in the 4th quarter, it was former Seattle Seahawk Jim Zorn, dressing for his first CFL game, who was given a standing ovation, merely for going onto the field.



25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Everything I Do (I Do it for You)--Bryan Adams (10th week at #1)

Law
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, came into force.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Wannabe--Spice Girls

Disasters
Hurricane Fran made landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 miles-per-hour sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people.