March 23, 2017

175 years ago
1842

Died on this date
Stendhal, 59. French author. Stendhal, whose real name was Marie-Henri Beyle, was best known for his novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma) (1839). He died a few hours after collapsing with a seizure.

160 years ago
1857

Technology
Elisha Otis's first elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City.

110 years ago
1907

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Challenge series @ Winnipeg Auditorium
Montreal Wanderers 7 Kenora Thistles 2 (First game of 2-game total goals series)

Ernie Russell scored 4 goals, Pud Glass 2, and Moose Johnson another as the Wanderers routed the Thistles in an attempt to regain the Cup, which they had lost to Kenora two months earlier. Tommy Phillips and Alf Smith scored the Kenora goals. The series was to have begun in Kenora on March 20, but the ice was reported to be unplayable.

100 years ago
1917

Born on this date
Perry F. Rockwood. Canadian clergyman. A native of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Pastor Rockwood came to know Jesus Christ and his Lord and Saviour in the mid-1930s, and became a Presbyterian minister in Nova Scotia. He became increasingly concerned about apostasy, and when he delivered a series of sermons titled "The Church Sick Unto Death," he was ordered by higher-ups in the Presbyterian Church to burn his sermons or resign. He resigned, and started his own independent church. On September 7, 1947, Pastor Rockwood went on radio with the first broadcast of the People's Gospel Hour, which continues today. Pastor Rockwood went to be with the Lord 16 days before his 91st birthday. I had the pleasure of attending Missionary Bible Church in Halifax in 1991 and meeting Pastor Rockwood.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Finals @ Seattle Ice Arena
Montreal Canadiens (NHA) 1 @ Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) 4 (Seattle led best-of-five series 2-1)

Bernie Morris scored 3 goals and Frank Foyston added another for the Metropolitans as they defeated the Canadiens in a game played under Pacific Coast Hockey Association rules, where the teams used seven players per side.

80 years ago
1937

Politics and government
John Bowen was installed as Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta, succeeding Philip Primrose, who had died on March 17.

75 years ago
1942

War
Japanese forces occupied the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, and carried out their heaviest air raid of the war, against Port Moresby, New Guinea.

Defense
Associated Press reported from Buenos Aires that the Argentine military mission to Washington was returning home because it was unable to purchase any arms.

Diplomacy
U.K. Lord Privy Seal Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in New Delhi, saying that he would stay for only two weeks, and wanted a "quick decision" on British proposals for Indian self-government. Sir Stafford had been sent to India by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Secretary of State for India Leo Amery to secure India's full cooperation in the war effort.

Society
The first 1,000 Japanese-Americans evacuated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp in Manzanar, California.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration froze retail prices on refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, stoves, washing and ironing machines, radio sets, phonographs, and typewriters, effective March 30, 1942.

Labour
The federal manager of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad reached agreement with railroad brotherhoods to end the strike against the line.

70 years ago
1947

Diplomacy
The first Inter-Asian Relations Conference, attended by 250 delegates of 25 Far Eastern nations, opened in New Delhi.

The U.S. State Department charged in documents submitted to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that the U.S.S.R. was waging a "war of nerves" against Turkey, but claimed the Turks "are united...in resisting outside pressure."

Labour
United Auto Workers of America President Walter Reuther attempted unsuccessfully to oust the union's national legislative representative, Irving Richter, whom Mr. Reuther criticized as a "leftist influence."

60 years ago
1957

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Singing the Blues--Guy Mitchell (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Cindy, Oh Cindy--Wolfgang Sauer (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): Young Love--Tab Hunter (5th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Young Love--Tab Hunter (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Disc Jockey--6th week at #1; Jukebox--3rd week at #1; Top 100--6th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Young Love--Tab Hunter (3rd week at #1)
--Sonny James
2 Teen-Age Crush--Tommy Sands
3 Marianne--Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders
--The Hilltoppers
4 Butterfly--Charlie Gracie
--Andy Williams
5 Round and Round--Perry Como
6 Party Doll--Buddy Knox with the Rhythm Orchids
--Steve Lawrence
7 Too Much--Elvis Presley
8 I'm Walkin'--Fats Domino
9 Banana Boat (Day-O)--Harry Belafonte
10 Don't Forbid Me--Pat Boone

Singles entering the chart were Ninety-Nine Ways (#34)/Don't Get Around Much Anymore (#48) by Tab Hunter; Bahama Mama (#36)/You're Mine (#45) by the Four Aces; Love is a Golden Ring by Frankie Laine (#43); and He's Mine by the Platters (#44).

Defense
Announcing himself as the official who "asked for the intervention of Soviet troops" against the 1956 uprising, Hungarian Minister of State Gyorgy Marosan said in Budapest that U.S.S.R. forces "will remain in Hungary as long as American troops are stationed in Europe."

Labour
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations President Walter Reuther announced plans to set up a public review board of prmominent citizens to guard against racketeering or corruption in the labour movement.

Basketball
NCAA
Men's Championship
Final @ Kansas City
North Carolina 54 Kansas 53 (3 OT)

Joe Quigg made two free throws in the final 6 seconds of the third overtime period and blocked a field goal attempt by Wilt Chamberlain as the Tar Heels edged the Jayhawks to complete the season with a 32-0 record. Mr. Chamberlain led all scorers with 23 points.

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)--Engelbert Humperdinck (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
Dragnet 1967, starring Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Jade Story



World events
Two days after a military coup led by Brigadier General David Lansana had abducted Prime Minister Siaka Stevens from the State House in Freetown several hours after Mr. Stevens had taken the oath of office as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, however, a group of senior army officers led by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Juxon-Smith, an ethnic Creole, in turn seized control of the government, arrested Brigadier General Lansana, and suspended the constitution. Martial law was maintained, and all political parties were dissolved. The group constituted itself as the National Reformation Council (NRC), with Lieutenant Colonel Juxon-Smith as its chairman. Brigadier General Lansana was an ethnic Mende, while Mr. Stevens was an ethnic Limba, and the Mendes were unhappy about the result of the March 17 election.

Curling
Scotch Cup @ Perth Ice Rink, Perth, Scotland
Final
Scotland (Chuck Hay) 8 Sweden (Bob Woods) 5

This was the first world championship to be won by Scotland, and the last time it was known as the Scotch Cup; it became the Air Canada Silver Broom in 1968.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Knowing Me, Knowing You--ABBA

Television
British journalist David Frost taped the first of 12 interviews (over four weeks) with former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal.

Politics and government
The British Labour Party government of Prime Minister James Callaghan survived a "no confidence" vote in the House of Commons by a margin of 322-298, thanks to the support of 13 Liberal MPs. The motion was made by the opposition Conservative Party.

Economics and finance
The cabinet of West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt approved a $6.7-billion program to stimulate the country's economy.

Disasters
Earthquakes on two consecutive days in southern Iran resulted in the deaths of 167 people in villages near the Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): I Knew You were Waiting for Me--Aretha Franklin and George Michael (2nd week at #1)

Terrorism
31 people were injured after a car bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded at the British army base at Rheindahlen, West Germany.

Disasters
Six American skiers and their Canadian guide were killed in an avalanche near Kamloops, British Columbia.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Kersantti Karoliina--Popeda (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Friedrich von Hayek, 92. Austrian-born U.K. economist. A champion of economic freedom, Dr. Hayek was best known for his book The Road to Serfdom (1944). He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Gunnar Myrdal of Sweden "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena."

Ron Lapointe, 42. Canadian hockey coach. Mr. Lapointe coached the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Fredericton Express of the American Hockey League before moving up to the National Hockey League, where he was head coach of the Quebec Nordiques from 1987-89, compiling a record of 33-50-6. He was forced to resign his position because of a kidney tumour. Mr. Lapointe then returned to the American Hockey League for two seasons as coach of the Milwaukee Admirals, and was a scout with the Vancouver Canucks when he died after a long battle with kidney cancer. The Ron Lapointe Trophy is given to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Coach of the Year.

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Don't Speak--No Doubt (7th week at #1)

#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Cold Rock a Party--MC Lyte

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): When I Die--No Mercy (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Don't Speak--No Doubt (4th week at #1)

Music
This blogger was among those enjoying a concert by Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert, Alberta.

Figure skating
Elvis Stojko of Canada won the gold medal in the men's competition in the world championships at CIG Malley in Lausanne, Switzerland. Todd Eldredge of the United States won the silver medal, and Alexei Yagudin of Russia won the bronze medal.

10 years ago
2007

Figure skating
Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria won the gold medal in the ice dancing competition in the world championships at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada won the silver medal, and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States won the bronze medal.