November 20, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Silvia Castro!

700 years ago
1316

Died on this date
John I, 5 days. King of France, 1316. John I was the posthumous son of King Louis X, who had died on June 5, 1316. King John I succeeded to the throne upon his birth, but lived just five days; no cause of death was specified, but poisoning was suspected by some. He was succeeded as king by his uncle Philip V, who had served as regent during John I's reign.

575 years ago
1441

War
The Peace of Cremona ended the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, after the victorious Venetian enterprise of military engineering of the Galeas per montes.

240 years ago
1776

War
British forces landed at the Palisades and then attacked Fort Lee; the Continental Army started to retreat across New Jersey.

175 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Wilfrid Laurier. Prime Minister of Canada, 1896-1911. Sir Wilfrid, a native of Saint-Lin, Canada East, was first elected to the House of Commons in 1874, and led the Liberal Party of Canada from 1887 until his death at the age of 77 on February 17, 1919. He was the first French Canadian Prime Minister and led the Liberals to four consecutive federal election victories (1896; 1900; 1904; 1908) before losing to the Conservative Party led by Robert Borden in 1911. Sir Wilfrid's time in office remains the longest consecutive reign for any Canadian Prime Minister. He was succeeded as Liberal leader by Mackenzie King, who holds the record for total time as Prime Minister (approximately 22 years). Sir Wilfrid was one of Canada's greatest Prime Ministers.

François Denys Légitime. President of Haiti, 1888-1889. General Légitime, a member of the Liberal Party, held several offices in the early 1880s and in the provisional govenment in the late 1880s. He was elected President in December 1888, but resigned in August 1889 because of the opposition of Gen. Florvil Hyppolite, and retired to Jamaica. Gen. Légitime returned to Haiti under a general amnesty in 1896, and represented Sud in the State Council (1918-1919). He died on July 29, 1935 at the age of 93.

Crime
Maketū Wharetōtara, the 17-year-old son of the Ngāpuhi chief Ruhe, murdered five people at Motuarohia in New Zealand's Bay of Islands.

150 years ago
1866

Academia
A missionary meeting in the home of Deacon Henry Brewster in Washington, D.C. resulted in the founding of Howard University.

130 years ago
1886

Born on this date
Robert Hunter. U.S. golfer. Mr. Hunter was a member of the American team that won the gold medal at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, and won the national collegiate championship in 1910 while at Yale University. He died on March 28, 1971 at the age of 84.

Died on this date
William Bliss Baker, 26. U.S. artist. Mr. Baker produced more than 130 paintings, mainly of landscapes. He died at his father's house in Hoosick Falls, New York, a week before his 27th birthday, after being injured while ice skating and subsequently catching a cold.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Reginald Denny. U.K. actor. Mr. Denny, born Richard Dugmore, appeared in numerous plays, movies, and television programs in the U.K. and U.S.A. in a career spanning almost 70 years. He manufactured a drone called the OQ-2 Radioplane, which was used by the United States Army during World War II. Mr. Denny died after a stroke on June 16, 1967 at the age of 75.

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Carl Mayer. Austrian-born U.K. screenwriter. Mr. Mayer, who spent his most productive years in Germany, wrote or co-wrote screenplays for such movies as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920); Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh) (1924); Sunrise (1927); Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927); 4 Devils (1928); and Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) (1932). He fled for England when the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, and worked as an adviser to the British film industry. Mr. Mayer died of cancer on July 1, 1944 at the age of 49.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Evelyn Keyes. U.S. actress. Miss Keyes played supporting roles in numerous movies, but was best known for playing Suellen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). She died at the age of 91 on July 4, 2008.

90 years ago
1926

Football
CRU
Grey Cup Semi-Final
Toronto Balmy Beach (ORFU) 6 @ Ottawa Senators (IRFU) 7

Canadian university
Semi-final
Toronto 12 @ McGill 2

WCRFU
Final
Regina 13 @ University of Alberta 1

Joe Miller punted for 5 singles, but it was Charlie Lynch's single in the 4th quarter that provided the winning point as the Senators edged Balmy Beach before 8,500 fans at Lansdowne Park to advance to the Grey Cup in Toronto against the intercollegiate champions, to be decided one week hence between the University of Toronto and Queen's University.

Toronto, McGill, and Queen's had all finished the regular season with records of 2-2; Queen's won a draw for a bye into the final on November 27.

Messrs. Sandstrom and Middleton scored touchdowns for the Roughriders as they defeated the Golden Bears on an icy field at Varsity grid in Edmonton in zero-degree F. weather (see here and here).

AFL
Los Angeles (4-6-1) 7 @ Philadelphia (6-2) 13

80 years ago
1936

Died on this date
Buenaventura Durruti, 40. Spanish anarchist. Mr. Durruti was a member of various anarchist organizations before and during the Spanish Civil War. He was killed during a battle for the defense of Madrid, although accounts differ as to the circumstances of his death.

José Antonio Primo de Rivera, 33. Spanish politician. Mr. Primo de Rivera was a founder of the Falange Española (Spanish Phalanx) in 1933, and was a member of the Congress of Deputies from November 30, 1933-January 7, 1936. He was arrested in Madrid by the Republican government on March 14, 1936, and was executed by firing squad.

75 years ago
1941

Died on this date
Helmuth Wilberg, 61. German military officer. General der Flieger (General of the Air Force) Wilberg was one of the highest-ranking officers in the Luftwaffe. He was killed in a plane crash near Dresden while on his way to the funeral of Generaloberst Ernst Udet.

War
The British command announced that the British 8th Army had driven 80 miles into Libya and captured Rezegh, 10 miles from the outer Tobruk forts. The Vichy French regime announced the "retirement" of General Maxime Weygand; American sources said that his ouster had been demanded by German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler.

Politics and government
19 members resigned from the Japanese Imperial Rule Assistance League in protest against its curb on debate of domestic policy in the Diet.

Space
Dr. Adrian van Maanen of Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California reported the discovery of 24 small stars--some of them 1,000 times as faint as the sun--in the Pleiades constellation, raising the total discovered to 211.

Americana
Lincoln Borglum announced that work on the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota had been completed. Mr. Borglum had taken over the work from his father Gutzun after the elder Mr. Borglum's death six months earlier.

Journalism
The Brazilian government prohibited the circulation of German newspapers from abroad in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, and Parano.

U.S. Ambassador to Chile Claude Bowers told Chilean Interior Minister Leonardo Guzman that he repudiated as an "outrage" Time magazine's derogatory article on Chilean President Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

Reader's Digest reported that its monthly circulation had reached five million, the highest ever attained by a magazine.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
La Otra, directed by Roberto Gavaldón, and starring Dolores Del Rio, Victor Junco, and Agustín Irusta, opened in theatres in Mexico.



Theatre
Another Part of the Forest, written by Lillian Hellman as a prequel to her play The Little Foxes, opened at the Fulton Theatre on Broadway in New York. The production starred Patricia Neal, Percy Waram, Mildred Dunnock, and Leo Genn.

War
Vietnamese nationalists set up barricades in Haiphong, killing 23 French soldiers, after Vietnamese militia units opened fire on a French ship in the harbour.

Defense
The U.S. Navy Department revealed plans for the development of nuclear-powered submarines capable of carrying atomic weapons.

Journalism
Communists in the Chinese city of Yenan barred foreign newsmen as the city prepared to defend itself against an anticipated Nationalist attack.

Economics and finance
General William Draper, head of the economics division of the U.S. military government in Germany, issued his report A Year in Potsdam, stating that Germany faced economic collapse and demanding uniform application of the Potsdam agreement to revive the country.

The U.S. State Department reached an agreement with Czechoslvakia guaranteeing most-favored-nation trade status with the United States.

Labour
U.S. President Truman ordered the Justice Department to press contempt charges against Congress of Industrial Organizations President John L. Lewis if he disobeyed the November 18 court order against termination of the coal industry contract.

Football
NCAA
The Western and Pacific Coast Conferences signed an agreement eliminating outside teams from Rose Bowl competition for five years.

60 years ago
1956

Exploration
Two U.S. Navy planes made the first landing at the South Pole, flying in a construction party assigned to build a polar scientific observation station.

World events
United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold reported to the General Assembly that nearly 40,000 refugees had left Hungary since the Soviet start of the revolt against the U.S.S.R.

Protest
Newly-named Lebanese Prime Minister Sami el-Solh called in the Army to suppress rioting in Beirut following the bombing of the French-owned Bank of Syria and Lebanon.

Defense
U.S. Air Force General Lauris Norstad became commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Europe following the retirement of General Alfred Gruenther.

Politics and government
Robert Stanfield was sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia, as his Progressive Conservative government succeeded that of the outgoing Liberal government of Premier Henry Hicks.

50 years ago
1966

Theatre
The musical Cabaret, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway in New York.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Margherita--Riccardo Cocciante (10th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel--Tavares (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K (New Musical Express).: If You Leave Me Now--Chicago (3rd week at #1)

Rhodesia's Top 10 (Lyons Maid)
1 Don't Go Breaking My Heart--Elton John and Kiki Dee (6th week at #1)
2 Arms of Mary--Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
3 Heart on My Sleeve--Gallagher & Lyle
4 Why Did You Do It--Stretch
5 (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty--K C & the Sunshine Band
6 In Zaire--Johnny Wakelin
7 Kiss and Say Goodbye--The Manhattans
8 (What a) Wonderful World--Johnny Nash
9 Wish I was a Blue Job--John Edmond
10 The First Cut is the Deepest--Rod Stewart

The only single entering the chart was My Guy by the Pat Boone Family (#20).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)--Rod Stewart (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)--Rod Stewart
2 Muskrat Love--Captain and Tennille
3 The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald--Gordon Lightfoot
3 Rock'n Me--Steve Miller Band
5 More than a Feeling--Boston
6 Love So Right--Bee Gees
7 Beth--Kiss
8 Nadia's Theme (The Young and the Restless)--Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr.
9 You are the Woman--Firefall
10 The Rubberband Man--The Spinners

Singles entering the chart were Walk This Way by Aerosmith (#70); Lost Without Your Love by Bread (#73); This Song by George Harrison (#78); Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing by Donny and Marie (#79); Somebody to Love by Queen (#81); Drivin' Wheel by Foghat (#83); Sixteen Reasons by Laverne & Shirley (#88); Dog Eat Dog by Ted Nugent (#91); Baby, I'll Give it to You by Seals and Crofts (#92); Free by Deniece Williams (#96); It Keeps You Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers (#98); Keep Me Cryin' by Al Green (#99); and Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (#100). Sixteen Reasons was from the television comedy series Laverne & Shirley.

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald--Gordon Lightfoot
2 Love So Right--Bee Gees
3 Muskrat Love--Captain and Tennille
4 More than a Feeling--Boston
5 Beth--Kiss
6 Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)--Rod Stewart
7 Rock'n Me--Steve Miller Band
8 Disco Duck (Part 1)--Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots
9 You are the Woman--Firefall
10 Nadia's Theme (The Young and the Restless)--Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr.

Singles entering the chart were Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by the Beatles (#94); Whispering/Cherchez la Femme/Se Si Bon by Dr. Buzzard’s Original “Savannah” Band (#95); 9,999,999 Tears by Dickey Lee (#96); Every Face Tells a Story by Olivia Newton-John (#97); Enjoy Yourself by the Jacksons (#98); Nice 'N' Nasty by Salsoul Orchestra (#99); and Dazz by Brick (#100).

Died on this date
T.D. Lysenko, 78. U.S.S.R. agrobiologist. Trofim Denisovich Lysenko claimed to grow crops without fertilizers or minerals. He rejected the genetic theories of Gregor Mendel and instead promoted his own ideas of inheritance of acquired characteristics that became known as Lysenkoism. Mr. Lysenko was very influential in the early decades of the Soviet Union, but his ideas were later denounced as pseudoscience that had set Soviet agriculture and biology back for years.

Football
CFL
Western Final
Edmonton 13 @ Saskatchewan 23

Steve Molnar rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown and Molly McGee rushed for 100 to help the Roughriders defeated the Eskimos before 21,896 fans at Taylor Field in Regina, ending the Eskimos' 1-year reign as Grey Cup champions and 3-year reign as Western champions. The 30-miles-per-hour wind was a determining factor, and the Edmonton offense was unable to take advantage of the wind when it was at their backs in the 1st and 3rd quarters. 10 of the Eskimos' points came in the last few minutes of the 2nd quarter, when Larry Highbaugh returned a fumble by Mr. Molnar 16 yards for a touchdown. Dave Cutler converted and added a 27-yard field goal; his field goal, kicked against the wind, barely made it over the crossbar. The Roughriders led 16-13 and put the game away in the 4th quarter when quarterback Ron Lancaster completed a touchdown pass to tight end Bob Richardson; Mr. Richardson made a spectacular one-handed catch, which is the best cold-weather catch I've ever seen. A 2-point convert attempt was unsuccessful, bu Bob Macoritti later added a single. Edmonton running back Howard Strickland, playing his second CFL game, dropped 4 passes. This blogger and his parents were in attendance, and with temperatures of -20 C. and the wind, it was the coldest I've ever been in my life. It was the final game for Ray Jauch as head coach of the Eskimos after 7 years in the position; he moved up to the front office after the season to become director of football operations. Amont the Edmonton players whose careers ended with this game were punter and flanker Garry Lefebvre--ending an 11-year CFL career--and running back Calvin Harrell, who played 5 years. It was the final CFL game for Saskatchewan running back Robert Holmes, who had joined the team in mid-season after a career in the American and National Football Leagues; he dressed as the designated import, but didn't play, and was replaced on the roster for the Grey Cup a week later by Tom Campana.

Hockey
NHL
Minnesota 3 @ Toronto 8

Dave "Tiger" Williams scored 3 goals to lead the Maple Leafs over the North Stars before 16,485 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens in the national Hockey Night in Canada telecast.

30 years ago
1986

Died on this date
William Bradford Huie, 76. U.S. journalist. Mr. Huie, a native of Hartselle, Alabama, wrote fiction and non-fiction, with most of his books being about World War II or the Negro civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s. He wrote articles for The American Mercury, and served as the magazine's editor from 1950-1952. His books included The Execution of Private Slovik (1954); The Americanization of Emily (1959); and Three Lives for Mississippi (1965). Mr. Huie died of a heart attack a week after his 76th birthday.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Black or White-- Michael Jackson

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Soccer

Died on this date
Jean Bégin, 47. Canadian hockey coach. Mr. Bégin, a native of Quebec, was head coach of five teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (1982-86, 1987-89), coaching in France in 1986-87. He led the Laval Voisins to the President's Cup championship in 1984, only to be fired in mid-season the following year, but was hired by the Verdun Junior Canadiens shortly befoere the end of the regular season, and led them to the President's Cup championship. Mr. Bégin was in his second season with the Drummondville Voltigeurs when an anonymous player contacted agent Gilles Lupien, and two players contacted police, accusing Mr. Bégin of inappropriate sexual behaviour. He was promptly removed as coach, and served six months in prison after being convicted on seven counts of sexual assault. Mr. Bégin was banned from sports and contact with teenagers, and was stated to be a broken man after his release from prison. Near Stoneham, Quebec, he committed suicide by using a pipe to redirect carbon monoxide into his car, which then burst into flames and burned his corpse.

War
An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan was shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be the next UN Secretary-General.

Auto racing
Michael Andretti was named Indy Car Driver of the Year, following in the footsteps of his father Mario, who won the award in 1969. Earlier in the year, Jeff Andretti, Michael's brother, had won Rookie of the Year honors at the Indianapolis 500.

20 years ago
1996

Disasters
A fire in the Garley Building, a commercial building in Hong Kong, killed 41 people and injured 81; it was the worst peacetime fire in Hong Kong's history.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Donald Hamilton, 90. Swedish-born U.S. author. Mr. Hamilton was best known for the Matt Helm series of 27 spy novels (1960-1993).

Robert Altman, 81. U.S. movie director. Mr. Altman directed such movies as Countdown (1968); MASH (1970); McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971); and Nashville (1975). He died of leukemia.

Andre Waters, 44. U.S. football player. Mr. Waters was a safety with the Philadelphia Eagles (1984-1993) and Arizona Cardinals (1994-1995). He made 15 career interceptions, and was known as one of the hardest hitters and tacklers in the National Football League. Mr. Waters coached at various colleges after his playing career, but was unable to land a coaching job in the NFL, and committed suicide by shooting himself. A post-mortem examination by Dr. Bennet Omalu revealed brain damage from numerous concussions, and Dr. Omalu estimated that Mr. Waters would have been fully incapacitated within 10 years.