March 13, 2018

880 years ago
1138

Religion
Roman Catholic Cardinal Cardinal Gregorio Conti was elected Antipope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II.

210 years ago
1808

Died on this date
Christian VII, 59. King of Denmark and Norway, 1766-1808. Christian VII succeeded his father Frederick V on the throne, but was beset by severe mental problems--perhaps schizophrenia--and was king in name only for most of his reign. He died of a stroke, and was succeeded by his son Frederick VI.

170 years ago
1848

World events
The German revolutions of 1848–49 began in Vienna.

150 years ago
1868

Politics and government
The impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson began in the Senate.

100 years ago
1918

Born on this date
George McAfee. U.S. football player. Mr. McAfee was a halfback with Duke University (1937-1939) before being selected in the 1st round of the 1940 National Football League draft by the Chicago Bears, for whom he played from 1940-1941 and 1945-1950, losing three prime seasons to service in World War II. He helped the Bears win NFL championships in 1940, 1941, and 1946. Mr. McAfee's best season was 1941, when he scored 12 touchdowns--6 rushing, 3 receiving, 1 each by way of kickoff return, punt return, and interception return--in an 11-game season. He finished his career with 21 touchdowns, and was inducted into both the College and Professional Football Halls of Fame. Mr. McAfee developed dementia in later years and ended up in an assisted living facility, where he died on March 4, 2009, nine days before his 91st birthday, of chemical burns after drinking from a bottle of detergent that hadn't been properly locked up.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
NHL
O'Brien Cup
Finals
Toronto 3 @ Montreal 4 (Toronto won 2-game total goals series 10-7)

90 years ago
1928

Disappeared on this date
Walter G.R. Hinchliffe, 33; Elsie Mackay, 35 (?). U.K. socialites. Captain Hinchliffe and Miss Mackay, third daughter of Viscount Inchcape, left Cranwell airdrome in England in a monoplane, bound for the United States. They were never heard from again.

Diplomacy
Afghanistan's King Amanullah Khan and Queen Surrayya arrived in London from Germany, and were welcomed by King George V and Queen Mary.

Politics and government
The Nicaraguan House of Deputies voted 23-17 against U.S. supervision of the Nicaraguan national elections that were to take place later in 1928.

Aviation
Eileen Vollick of Hamilton, Ontario passed her test to get a pilot's licence; she was issued Private Pilot Certificate No. 77 on March 22, becoming the first Canadian woman to be a licensed pilot.

Disasters
The St. Francis Dam of the Los Angeles, California water supply, 40 miles north of that city, gave way at 1 A.M., flooding the San Francisquito Canon with 12 billion gallons of water. 450 people were killed as the flood devastated the Santa Clara River valley, destroying property at Newhall, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Moorpack, Camarillo, Piru, Salicov, and Bakersfield. At least 400 houses in the upper portion of the valley between Piru and the dam, a distance of 16 miles, were swept away without any sign of their foundations remaining. 300 houses in the southern section of Santa Paula were wrecked and swept into a tangled mess of debris as the waters raced through there to the Santa Clara River bed. More than 30 people were killed at Santa Paula.

80 years ago
1938

On the radio
In Europe, Edward R. Murrow and William L. Shirer put together a multi-site live broadcast about the Anschluss. The Columbia Broadcasting System special, hosted by Bob Trout in New York, included Mr. Shirer in London (with Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson); reporter Edgar Ansel Mowrer of the Chicago Daily News in Paris; reporter Pierre J. Huss of the International News Service in Berlin; and Senator Lewis B. Schwellenbach in Washington, D.C. Another reporter, Frank Gervasi in Rome, was unable to find a transmitter to broadcast reaction from the Italian capital, but phoned his script to Mr. Shirer in London, who read it on the broadcast. The broadcast became the basis for World News Roundup, which still runs each weekday morning and evening on the CBS radio.

Died on this date
Clarence Darrow, 80. Mr. Darrow was one of the most famous lawyers in American history. He was best known for his defense of teenage murderers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who had killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks in 1924, and John Thomas Scopes, a Tennessee schoolteacher who was charged in 1925 with violating the state's prohibition on the teaching of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

World events
The Anschluss of Austria with Germany immediately came into effect by legislative act (subject to ratification by referendum), the day after the German 8th Army had marched into Austria unopposed. Under the legislation, Austria became the German province of Ostmark, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (a pro-Nazi Austrian lawyer who had been appointed Interior Minister under pressure from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler) was appointed Governor.

75 years ago
1943

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I've Heard that Song Before--Harry James and his Music Makers with Helen Forrest (2nd week at #1)

At the movies
The Moon is Down, directed by Irving Pichel, and starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers, Lee J. Cobb, Doris Bowdon, and Margaret Wycherly, received its premiere screening in Toronto.



Died on this date
J.P. Morgan, Jr., 75. U.S. financier. John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr. inherited his father's fortune and continued his father's banking interests. He made $30 million for the Morgan banking interests by brokering a deal that positioned his company as the sole munitions and supplies purchaser for the British and French governments during World War I. After the war, Morgan Guaranty managed Germany's reparations payments, and was a leading lender to Germany and Europe.

Stephen Vincent Benét, 44. U.S. author and poet. Mr. Benét won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for John Brown's Body (1928). He was also known for the short stories The Devil and Daniel Webster (1936) and By the Waters of Babylon (1937). He died of a heart attack.

Abominations
Nazis began liquidating the Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Poland. They sent about 8,000 deemed able to work to the Plaszow labour camp, with most of the rest either killed or sent to the death camp at Auschwitz.

War
The Canadian Flower-class corvettes HMCS Prescott and HMCS Napanee sink German submarine U-163 while defending a convoy off the coast of Spain. The Canadian Pacific steamer Empress of Canada, converted to a troopship, was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci over 400 miles south of Cape Palmas off the coast of West Africa, with the loss of 400 lives. U.K. Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force planes dropped 1,000 tons of bombs on Essen in the worst raid yet on the German industrial city. German forces made another gain west of Kharkov and increased their pressure in other sectors of the city.

Diplomacy
U.K. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt began war discussions at the White House in Washington.

Medicine
Captain James Loveless and Colonel William Denton of the U.S. Army Medical Corps reported that sulfathiazole may be a gonorrhea and chancroid preventive. Tests conducted on 1,400 Negro soldiers resulted in a gonorrhea rate of 8 per 1,000 as compared with a rate of 171 per 1,000 in a control group of 4,000 men.

Labour
John L. Lewis was elected by the United Mine Workers of America for a 12th term as international president.

70 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Manana (Is Soon Enough for Me)--Peggy Lee

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover--Art Mooney and his Orchestra
--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--The Three Suns
--Uptown String Band
2 Now is the Hour (Maori Farewell Song)--Bing Crosby
--Gracie Fields
--Margaret Whiting
--Eddy Howard and his Orchestra
3 Manana (Is Soon Enough for Me)--Peggy Lee
4 Beg Your Pardon--Francis Craig and his Orchestra
--Frankie Carle and his Orchestra
--Larry Green and his Orchestra
5 Ballerina--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Bing Crosby with the Rhythmaires
--Buddy Clark
6 Serenade of the Bells--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Jo Stafford
--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra
7 Golden Earrings--Peggy Lee
8 How Soon (Will I Be Seeing You)--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Bing Crosby and Carmen Cavallaro
--Jack Owens
--Dinah Shore
9 I'll Dance at Your Wedding--Ray Noble and his Orchestra with Buddy Clark
--Peggy Lee
10 But Beautiful--Frank Sinatra
--Margaret Whiting

Singles entering the chart were Thoughtless, with versions by Vic Damone; Doris Day; and Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (#15); Sabre Dance by Woody Herman and his Orchestra (#21); Saturday Date, with versions by Tex Beneke and his Orchestra, and Kay Kyser and his Orchestra (#32); and Little White Lies by Dick Haymes (#35).

Politics and government
Six Southern U.S. state governors and U.S. Senator Harry Byrd (Democrat--Virginia) announced in Washington that they would resist the nomination of any presidential candidate advocating a civil rights program.

60 years ago
1958

War
Indonesian Prime Minister Djuanda reported that government troops had overrun U.S.-owned Caltax-Pacific Corporation oilfields in the Pakanbaru area of central Sumatra.

Defense
U.S. State Secretary John Foster Dulles backed the French proposal for a Mediterranean alliance of European and North African states.

Diplomacy
Saudi Arabian delegates to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea announced in Geneva that Saudi Arabia had formally extended her territorial waters to 12 miles, "legally" closing the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.

The Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Council offered Algerian nationalists the use of its Cairo headquarters and propaganda services, and began a campaign to gather military and financial aid for them.

Politics and government
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Morarji Desai was named Finance Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Percival Brundage resigned as U.S. Budget Bureau Director; President Dwight D. Eisenhower promoted Deputy Budget Director Maurice Stans to succeed him.

Protest
Paris police marched on the Fench National Assembly to demonstrate for higher pay and bonuses for work in areas subject to attack by Algerian terrorists.

Crime
Nathan Leopold, 53, was released on parole from Stateville Prison in Illinois after serving 33 years for his part in the murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in May 1924. Mr. Leopold, then 19, and his friend Richard Loeb, then 18, were precocious Univrsity of Chicago students and devotees of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche who regarded themselves as supermen who were above the law and conventional morality. They connived the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks (an acquaintance of Mr. Loeb's) in order to demonstrate that they could commit the perfect crime. Mr. Leopold and Mr. Loeb were caught soon after the "crime of the century," and hired 67-year-old Clarence Darrow to defend them on capital charges of murder and kidnapping. Mr. Darrow entered guilty pleas for both defendants before Cook County Circuit Court Judge John R. Caverly in order to avoid a jury trial. Mr. Darrow's speech against capital punishment on the final day of the trial succeeded in obtaining sentences of life for murder and 99 years for kidnapping for both clients. Mr. Loeb was murdered by a fellow inmate in January 1936. Mr. Leopold used his years in prison to further his education, eventually mastering 28 languages. After his parole he obtained a teaching position with the University of Puerto Rico. He married a widowed florist in 1961, and died on August 30, 1971. The Leoplold-Loeb killing was fictionalized for theatre by Patrick Hamilton in his 1929 play Rope (the play was set in England, and the names of the characters were changed), which was made into a movie (with an American setting) by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948. The 1959 movie Compulsion employed a documentary approach, although not using the parties' real names. Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman played the killers in Compulsion, with Orson Welles (complete with large putty nose) as their lawyer.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Cinderella Rockefella--Esther and Abi Ofarim (3rd week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)--John Fred and his Playboy Band (2nd week at #1)
2 Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)--Johnny Farnham
3 Bottle of Wine--The Fireballs
4 Love is Blue (L'Amour est Bleu)--Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra
5 The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde--Georgie Fame
6 Tin Soldier/I Feel Much Better--Small Faces
7 Woman, Woman--The Union Gap
8 Am I that Easy to Forget--Engelbert Humperdinck
9 You Only Live Twice/Oh Lonesome Me--Nancy Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
10 Different Drum--Stone Poneys

Singles entering the chart were Sky Pilot (Part Two) by Eric Burdon and the Animals (#29); When I was Six Years Old by Ronnie Burns (#30); and Today by Sandie Shaw (#39).

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): It's a Heartache--Bonnie Tyler (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Hohoemi Gaeshi--The Candies

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Te Amo--Umberto Tozzi (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
John Cazale, 42. U.S. actor. Mr. Cazale appeared in only five feature films--The Godfather (1972); The Conversation (1974); The Godfather, Part II (1974); Dog Day Afternoon (1975); and The Deer Hunter (1978), but all five were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His best-known role was as Fredo Corleone in the Godfather movies. Mr. Cazale's only other movie appearance was in the 1962 short The American Way. Mr. Cazale was also a distinguished stage actor, and won an Obie award for his performance in The Indian Wants the Bronx in 1967-68. He and Al Pacino became friends as teenagers, and developed a close personal and working relationship. Mr. Cazale was dying of lung cancer when he was hired to act in The Deer Hunter, and his scenes were the first ones filmed. Meryl Streep was also acting in this picture, and the two became engaged during filming.

Television
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rejected th introduction of pay television in Canada.

Terrorism
Three South Moluccan terrorists, aged 19-22, seized a Dutch government building in Assen, Holland, holding 70 hostages, and demanding the release of South Moluccans imprisoned in the Netherlands. One man was killed when the terrorists stormed the building.

Economics and finance
The United States and West Germany announced a series of joint actions to stabilize the U.S. dollar, which had been declining in value against other currencies since late February.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Heaven is a Place on Earth--Belinda Carlisle (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: House Arrest--Krush (2nd week at #1)

Academia
Gallaudet University, a school for deaf students in Washington, D.C., appointed Irving King Jordan, Jr., dean of arts and sciences, as the university's first deaf president. Non-deaf Elizabeth Ann Zinser had been chosen for the position by the trustees on March 6, sparking student protests (presumably mostly silent protests) that almost shut down the university. Ms. Zinser's appointment was opposed by many faculty and staff members, and she resigned on March 11, noting how deeply feelings ran on the issue.

Transportation
The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opened between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.

Curling
Alberta, skipped by Pat Ryan, defeated Saskatchewan 8-7 in the final to win the Brier in Chicoutimi, Quebec. Including playoffs, Mr. Ryan's rink finished with a perfect record of 12 wins and no losses.

Hockey
NHL
Detroit 5 New York Islanders 1
Chicago 5 Philadelphia 4 (OT)

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): You Don't Treat Me No Good--Sonia Dada (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: La Solitudine--Laura Pausini

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): No Limit--2 Unlimited (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): No Limit--2 Unlimited

#1 single in France (SNEP): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): No Limit--2 Unlimited (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): No Limit--2 Unlimited (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Informer--Snow

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Ordinary World--Duran Duran
2 A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)--Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle
3 I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston
4 Nothin' But a "G" Thang--Dr. Dre
5 I'm Every Woman--Whitney Houston
6 Bed of Roses--Bon Jovi
7 Hip Hop Hooray--Naughty By Nature
8 Informer--Snow
9 Mr. Wendal--Arrested Development
10 Don't Walk Away--Jade

Singles entering the chart were I Feel You by Depeche Mode (#49); Simple Life by Elton John (#71); Nothin' My Love Can't Fix by Joey Lawrence (#73); Love U More by Sunscreem (#78); and It was a Good Day by Ice Cube (#84).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Ordinary World--Duran Duran (2nd week at #1)
2 I'm Every Woman--Whitney Houston
3 Bed of Roses--Bon Jovi
4 No Mistakes--Patty Smyth
5 Man on the Moon--R.E.M.
6 Hope of Deliverance--Paul McCartney
7 Little Bird--Annie Lennox
8 If I Ever Lose My Faith in You--Sting
9 Harvest Moon--Neil Young
10 Steam--Peter Gabriel

Singles entering the chart included Prairie Town by Bachman (#57); What You Won't Do for Love by Go West (#78); Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz (#85); Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies (#87); Connected by Sasso MC's (#94); Will You Remember Me by Jann Arden (#95); Don't Walk Away by Jade (#96); So Close by Dina Carroll (#97); Brother Louie by Quireboys (#98); and Real World by Alanis (#99).

Music
This blogger attended a performance of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. The concert, which was most enjoyable, was part of their Pops' series, and Toni Tennille was the guest performer, performing mainly standards rather than the hits she had enjoyed as half of the duo The Captain and Tennille in the 1970s.

20 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Hans von Ohain, 86. German-born U.S. physicist and engineer. Dr. Ohain designed the first operational jet engine in1937, and a leter development powered the world's first flyable all-jet aircraft, the prototype of the Heinkel He 178 (He 178 V1), in 1939. None of his engine designs entered widespread production or operational use, as other German designs eclipsed his. Dr. Ohain was brought to the United States in 1947 as part of Operation Paperclip, and worked for the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In 1956, he was made the Director of the Air Force Aeronautical Research Laboratory, and by 1975 he was the Chief Scientist of the Aero Propulsion Laboratory there. Dr. Ohain retired from Wright-Patterson in 1979, and taught at the University of Dayton. He held the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the National Air and Space Museum in 1984-85.

World events
South Korean President Kim Dae Jung freed scores of political prisoners and cleared the records of 5.5 million Koreans.

Abominations
The U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton abandoned U.S. sponsorship of the United Nations' annual resolution criticizing the People's Republic of China's record on human rights.

Scandal
A court martial acquitted U.S. Army Sergeant Major Gene C. McKinney of sexual misconduct, but convicted him on one count of obstructing justice.

10 years ago
2008

Abominations
The Canadian House of Commons voted 198-77 to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan by two years to 2011.

Economics and finance
Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.