October 31, 2016

725 years ago
1291

Born on this date
Philippe de Vitry. French composer. Mr. Vitry was prominent in the courts of Kings Charles IV, Philippe VI, and Jean II, and was regarded as the greatest musician of his time. He wrote chansons and motets, with only some of the latter surviving. Mr. Vitry was best known for the treatise Ars nova notandi (1322). He died on June 9, 1361 at the age of 69.

625 years ago
1391

Born on this date
Duarte. King of Portugal, 1433-1438. Duarte, known in English as Edward, acceded to the throne upon the death of his father João I. Duarte was known as the "Philosopher King," and was the oldest member of the "Illustrious Generation" of accomplished royal children who contributed to the development of Portuguese civilization during the 15th century. He listened to the unwise advice of his brothers and launched an unsuccessful military attack on the Marinid sultanate of Morocco in 1438, resulting in his youngest brother Ferdinand being handed over to the Marinids as a hostage in return for the safe departure of the Portuguese forces. King Duarte died from the plague on September 9, 1438 at the age of 46; popular legend has it that he died from a broken heart at leaving his brother in enemy hands. Duarte was succeeded on the throne by his 6-year-old son Afonso V, with now-dowager Queen Eleanor of Aragon as regent, leading to a political crisis and a popular uprising.

170 years ago
1846

Disasters
A heavy snowfall trapped the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

140 years ago
1876

Disasters
A monster cyclone ravaged India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.

125 years ago
1891

Football
ORFU
Semi-Finals
Hamilton 4 @ Osgoode Hall 28
Queen's College 15 @ University of Toronto 27

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Ethel Waters. U.S. singer and actress. Miss Waters was a blues, jazz, and gospel singer who was popular from the 1920s through the 1940s. Her hit singles included Dinah (1925); Am I Blue? (1927); and Stormy Weather (1933). Miss Waters also appeared in plays, films, and television programs. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting performance in Pinky (1949), and was the first Negro artist to star in her own television program: The Ethel Waters Show, a variety special, was broadcast on NBC on June 4, 1939. Miss Waters died on September 1, 1977 at the age of 80.

Football
CRU
ORFU
Round 2
Queen's College 1 @ University of Toronto 13 (University of Toronto won 2-game total points series 31-17)
Toronto Athletic Club 42 @ Royal Military College 1 (Toronto Athletic Club won 2-game total points series 50-14)

100 years ago
1916

Died on this date
Charles Taze Russell, 64. U.S. religious leader. Mr. Russell founded the Bible Student movement in the 1870s, and Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881. The latter became known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1886. Mr. Russell's theology was a mixture of truth and error, with the errors being serious enough to constitute heresy from the perspective of Biblical Christian doctrine. For instance, Mr. Russell believed that Jesus received His divinity after dying on the cross; taught that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but merely a manifestation of God's power; that Christ had begun ruling the world invisibly in 1874 and that the "Times of the Gentiles" would end in 1914, and Christ would visibly take control of Earth's affairs at that time. Mr. Russell died of cystitis while returning home to Brooklyn from a tour of western and southwestern states. His death resulted in a dispute over the presidency and a split among his followers; Joseph F. Rutherford was elected president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in January 1917 and led the organization until his death in 1942, adopting for it the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.

90 years ago
1926

Died on this date
Harry Houdini, 52. Austro-Hungarian born U.S. magician. Mr. Houdini, born Erik Weisz, emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 4. He began his career as a magician as a teenager, and eventually became the most famous escape artist in history. He starred in several movies, became an aviator, and devoted much time in his later years to debunking phony psychics and mediums at a time when spiritualism was popular. Mr. Houdini died in Detroit a week after his final performance, when he took the stage after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis and suffering a high fever. Several days earlier, he had been caught by surprise and repeatedly punched in the abdomen by McGill University student J. Gordon Whitehead, who reportedly wanted to see if it was true that punches to the stomach wouldn't hurt him.

Football
AFL
Rock Island @ Brooklyn (cancelled, inclement weather)
Newark @ New York (cancelled, Newark withdrawal from the league)
Los Angeles (4-3) 6 @ Cleveland (3-2) 0
Boston (2-3) 0 @ Chicago (3-3-1) 23

80 years ago
1936

Football
CRU
IRFU
Toronto (3-2) 12 @ Montreal (2-3) 14
Ottawa (2-3) 15 @ Hamilton (3-2) 21

Abe Eliowitz completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Burns on the last play of the game, and Mr. Eliowitz converted, as the Indians upset the Argonauts before 4,000 fans at Molson Stadium.

The Rough Riders made 11 fumbles and the Tigers 7 in a loosely-played game at H.A.A.A. Grounds.

WIFU
Finals
Regina 20 @ Winnipeg 7 (Regina won 2-game total points series 24-16)

On the last play of the game, Chappie Cooper of the Roughriders intercepted a pass 1 yard into his end zone and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown (the field at Osborne Stadium was only 100 yards long).

ORFU
Toronto (2-1) 13 @ Sarnia (2-1) 16

The Imperials scored 3 singles in the 4th quarter to defeat Balmy Beach at Athletic Park and force a playoff for the league title.

Canadian university
Toronto (3-1) 35 McGill (1-3) 2
Queen's (2-2) 3 Western Ontario (2-2) 1
Saskatchewan 3 @ Alberta 2 (Saskatchewan won 2-game total points series 8-5)

Mr. Weaver punted for a single in the 3rd quarter to open the scoring, and the Huskies trapped Mr. Wilson, the Alberta punter, in his own end zone for a safety touch later in the quarter to provide the winning margin as they held on to defeat the Golden Bears to win the Hardy Cup before 750 fans at Varsity Stadium in Edmonton in a game that was played on a field that was covered by six inches of snow. Messrs. Woywitka and Wilson punted for singles for Alberta in the 4th quarter.

75 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): It's a Great Day for the Irish--Judy Garland; The Jesters (1st month at #1)

War
Reports from London said that German troops had broken through the outer defenses of Tula, 110 miles south of Moscow, and were also driving forward in Crimea. A Yugoslav spokesman in London claimed that 80,000 Serbian guerrillas were fighting German and Italian troops along a 125-mile front in Serbia. A German spokesman in Berlin said that the previous day's sinking of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Reuben James west of Iceland was justifiable under international law if it was escorting a British convoy. U.S. Senator Tom Connally (Democrat--Texas) demanded that Congress "avenge" this "dastardly act of aggression." U.S. Senator George Aiken (Republican--Vermont), opposing amendments to the Neutrality Act, declared that "by ordering convoys...President Roosevelt is personally responsible for whatever lives may have been lost" in the sinking of the Reuben James.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. announced that delegations of the Mongolian People's Republic and Manchukuo had fixed the new frontier in the disputed Bor Nor region during a conference in Harbin, manchukuo on October 16.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that Josephus Daniels had resigned as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico because of his wife's illness.

Defense
U.S. Senator Harry Truman (Democrat--Missouri) criticized the U.S. government's contract with Alcoa to build and operate four aluminum plants for national defense as "just about the worst contract the government signed."

Americana
Work on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota was completed after 14 years.

Labour
U.S. Army soldiers occupied the Air Associates plant in Bendix, New Jersey; by mid-afternoon, every shop was back in operation.

Disasters
27 miners were killed in an explosion in the Brazeau Collieries in Nordegg, Alberta.

A flood in Oklahoma left eight people dead, 2,000 homeless, and ruined $10 million worth of crops.

Boxing
Sugar Ray Robinson (26-0) won a 10-round unanimous decision over former world welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic (111-27-5) at Madison Square Garden in New York.

70 years ago
1946

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Symphony--Bing Crosby; Freddy Martin and his Orchestra (1st month at #1)

War
Nationalist Chinese forces in Manchuria were reported advancing toward the Soviet-held port of Darien.

Terrorism
A Zionist squad damaged the Ras El Ain airfield near Jerusalem and killed two British soldiers in a gun battle, while the National Council of Palestine Jews condemned political terrorism.

Politics and government
The Australian Labour Party chose a new cabinet, renominating Prime Minister Joseph Chifley and External Affairs Minister Herbert Evatt.

Three Communists joined the Chilean cabinet, the first official Communist participation in a Latin American government.

Crime
U.S. Army Major David Watson was sentenced in Frankfurt to three years in prison and dismissal from service for conspiracy and receiving stolen property in the theft of jewellery and manuscripts from Friedrichshof Castle in Kronberg, Germany. The loot was discovered on June 4, 1946.

Law
The California State Supreme Court upheld a law giving the state title to lands operated by aliens ineligible for citizenship.

Medicine
Professor Hermann Muller of Indiana University was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation."

Economics and finance
Fiorello La Guardia announced that he would resign as director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration at the end of the year, and announced the transfer of $1.5 million in UNRRA funds to the World Health Organization.

The U.S. Office of Price Administration abolished its 1,642 local price control boards and dismissed half of its 20,000 employees, effective November 4, 1946.

60 years ago
1956

Theatre
Auntie Mame, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and starring Rosalind Russell, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway in New York.

War
British and French forces attacked Egyptian and Suez Canal Zone installations. Israeli troops reached the banks of the Suez Canal and pulled back to the 10-mile limit imposed by the U.K.-France ultimatum. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, opposing the British-French attack on Egypt as an action "taken in error" without consulting or informing the United States, promised in a nationwide broadcast that there would be "no United States involvement in these present hostilities." The United Nations Security Council voted to call for an emergency session of the General Assembly to consider the "actions undertaken against Egypt." The Security Council acted under provisions of the "Uniting for Peace" procedure proposed by former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson during the Korean War.

Hungarian troops freed Josef Cardinal Mindszenty from detention and restored him as Roman Catholic Primate of Hungary. The Hungarian government requested the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

Aviation
Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole.

Disasters
82 people were killed in heavy rainstorms that struck central and eastern Honshu in Japan.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Strangers In The Night--Frank Sinatra (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Merry Ploughboy--Dermot O'Brien (6th week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 96 Tears--? (Question Mark) & the Mysterians
2 Last Train to Clarksville--The Monkees
3 Psychotic Reaction--Count Five
4 See See Rider--Eric Burdon & the Animals
5 Dandy--Herman's Hermits
6 Reach Out I'll Be There--Four Tops
7 Poor Side of Town--Johnny Rivers
8 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?--The Rolling Stones
9 All Strung Out--Nino Tempo and April Stevens
10 Walk Away Renee--The Left Banke

Singles entering the chart included Look Through My Window by the Mamas and the Papas (#65); Who Am I by Petula Clark (#67); Up Went Nelson by the Carlton Showband (#75); Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys (#76); Stop Stop Stop by the Hollies (#83); It Tears Me Up by Percy Sledge (#89); I'm Ready for Love by Martha and the Vandellas (#90); Tell Me by the Characters (#91); Run, Run, Look and See by Brian Hyland (#92); Writing on the Wall by the Five Canadians (#95); Somebody Needs You by Darrel Banks (#96); Whisper by Jackie Wilson (#97); Help Me Girl by the Outsiders (#98); Don't Answer the Door by B.B. King (#99); and A Day in the Life of a Fool by Jack Jones (#100).

40 years ago
1976

Football
CFL
Hamilton (7-8) 25 @ Ottawa (9-5-1) 6
Montreal (6-8-1) 13 @ Winnipeg (9-6) 23
Calgary (2-11-2) 36 @ Edmonton (9-6-1) 28

Jimmy Edwards rushed 1 and 8 yards for touchdowns and Terry Evanshen scored another TD on a 27-yard pass from Jimmy Jones as the Tiger-Cats beat the Rough Riders at Lansdowne Park.

Jim Washington rushed 68 yards for a touchdown to help the Blue Bombers defeat the Alouettes before 24,146 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. Gerry Dattilio made his first start at quarterback for Montreal, but left with an injury after completing 1 of 3 passes for 14 yards.

Bob Martin returned a Bruce Lemmerman fumble 35 yards for a touchdown, and John Hufnagel followed with 3 touchdown passes, as the Stampeders earned their only road win of the season, defeating the Eskimos at Clarke Stadium and eliminating Edmonton from contention for first place. Mr. Lemmerman completed 31 of 49 passes. Edmonton defensive back Joe Hollimon set a Canadian Football League single-game record with 8 kickoff returns, for a total of 239 yards. It was the only CFL game for Edmonton middle linebacker Tom Hull, and the last regular season game for Edmonton running back Steve Ferrughelli.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): The Final Countdown--Europe (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
Shaka Zulu, on SABC Tonight's episode: Episode 2



Died on this date
Robert Mulliken, 90. U.S. physicist and chemist. Dr. Mulliken was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in chemistry "for his fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method."

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (6-10-1) 4 @ Calgary (11-7) 36

Rick Johnson passed for 2 touchdowns and rushed for another to lead the Stampeders over the Roughriders before 24,704 fans at McMahon Stadium. Calgary wide receiver Tony Woodruff decided to ride the Stampeders' horse mascot before the game, but the ride down the sidelines resulted in CTV host Al McCann being run over.



25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): The Fly--U2 (2nd week at #1)

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Wannabe--Spice Girls (10th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Say You'll Be There--Spice Girls

Died on this date
Marcel Carné, 90. French film director. Mr. Carné had a career that ran from the late 1920s to the late 1970s; his best-known film was Les Enfants du paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945).

Disasters
TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashed in São Paulo, Brazil, killing 99 people.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
P.W. Botha, 90. Prime Minister of South Africa, 1978-1984; State President of South Africa, 1984-1989. Pieter Willem Botha, a member of the National Party, was first elected to Parliament in 1948. He held several positions before becoming South Africa's last Prime Minister. The position of Prime Minister was abolished under a new constitution in 1984, and Mr. Botha was elected the country's first President. Mr. Botha relaxed some of the restrictions of South Africa's racial policy of apartheid, but continued to resist black majority rule. He suffered a stroke in January 1989, and resigned his office seven months later.