July 19, 2018

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Chris Walker and Chris Woods!

1,020 years ago
998

War
Forces of the Fatimid Caliphate defeated a Byzantine army in the Battle of Apamea in what is now Syria. The tide of the battle turned when a lone Kurdish rider managed to kill Byzantine commander Damian Dalassenos, 58 (?).

430 years ago
1588

War
The Spanish Armada was sighted in the English Channel.

175 years ago
1843

Transportation
The Brunel steamship SS Great Britain was launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the world.

170 years ago
1848

Abominations
The two-day Sececa Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in the United States, opened at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York.

150 years ago
1868

Born on this date
Florence Foster Jenkins. U.S. singer. Mrs. Jenkins was a talented pianist in her youth, but switched to singing after an arm injury ended her career as a pianist. She was a soprano who sang so badly that she inspired gales of laughter in any audience that heard her. Mrs. Foster died on November 26, 1944 at the age of 78, a month after suffering a heart attack.

90 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Oliver Denton. U.S. teacher. Mr. Denton was a music teacher in Paris who was suffocated when fire engulfed the New Salle Pleyel, a concert hall and studio building.

Joseph Lefkowitz, 30. U.S. criminal. Mr. Lefkowitz was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York for having instigated the murder of Benjamin Goldstein by drowning at Coney Island, in order to collect $80,000 in life insurance.

John F. McCabe, 25. U.S. criminal. Mr. McCabe, who had already been convicted of three crimes and was awaiting trial for a payroll robbery, tried to shoot his way out of Bronx County Jail in New York. He killed guards Morris Broderson and Daniel Horgan before finding his way barred by a door he could neither dislodge nor unlock, at which point he shot himself.

Politics and government
King Fuad I of Egypt issued a decree suspending both houses of Parliament for three years, or longer if deemed necessary, while investing the King and his ministers with full legislative authority. The press immunity from ordinary administrative action was likewise suspended indefinitely.

The Southern Dry Democratic convention, led by Methodist Episcopal Bishop James Cannon, Jr., adjourned in Asheville, North Carolina after pledging to vote and work against Democratic Party U.S. presidential candidate Al Smith, an avowed opponent of Prohibition.

75 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Katya Budanova, 26. U.S.S.R. military aviatrix. Miss Budanova and fellow Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak were the best female flying aces of World War II. Miss Budanova had 11 victories in combat, but was fatally shot down by the German Luftwaffe.

War
U.K. forces engaged German troops in the Catania plains in the greatest battle of the Sicilian campaign. Allied--mostly American--planes bombed Rome for the first time, blasting railroad yards and airports east and south of the city's centre. U.S. forces made a limited advance and enlarged their beachhead at Lilio, east of Munda, New Georgia Island. Allied forces drove back Japanese troops in a series of skirmishes on the slopes of Mount Tanbu in the Komlatum sector of New Guinea.

Politics and government
An eastern conference of the U.S. Republican party Postwar Policy Association warned the party that narrow nationalism was dead and that "isolationist stuffed shirts" must be purged.

The American-Puerto Rican commission began consideration of home rule for the island.

Technology
General Electric Laboratory in Schenectady, New York announced the development of photographic equipment with an exposure of one-millionth of a second, which could photograph a rifle bullet in flight.

Oil
The world's largest pipeline--from Longview, Texas to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania--was completed, providing the eastern United States with 300,000 barrels daily.

70 years ago
1948

On the radio
The Casebook of Gregory Hood, starring Elliott Lewis, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Poor Little Rich Girl

Died on this date
Elmer Irey, 60. U.S. bureaucrat. Mr. Irey was a United States Treasury Department official who led the team--popularly known as "T-men"--that prosecuted over 15,000 people for income tax evasion over a period of 27 years. He became famous for conviction of gangster Al Capone for income tax evasion; lesser known is Mr. Irey's willingness to use his powers to attack opponents of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Crime
Japanese Communist Party leader Kyuichi Tokuda was wounded by a home-made bomb while addressing a party rally. Ichiro Koga, leader of an anti-Communist war veterans' league, was arrested as the would-be assassin.

Politics and government
The cabinet of French Prime Minister Robert Schuman resigned after Socialists split from the ruling coalition in a disagreement over the arms budget.

John Bracken announced his resignation as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada after recent losses in federal and provincial by-elections. Mr. Bracken had served as Premier of Manitoba from 1922-1942 before being elected federal PC leader.

Religion
Eastern Orthodox Church leaders meeting in Moscow agreed to work for closer ties with Protestants, but rejected any resumption of relations with the Roman Catholic Church.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Treasury agreed to return $30 million in Yugoslavian funds held in New York after the Yugoslavian government or President Marshal Josip Broz Tito promised to pay $17 million in private claims on nationalized property in Yugoslavia.

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Twilight Time--The Platters (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Sail Along Silvery Moon--Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Hello, le soleil brille--Annie Cordy (19th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): All I Have to Do is Dream/Claudette--The Everly Brothers (4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Yakety-Yak--The Coasters
2 The Purple People Eater--Sheb Wooley
3 Patricia--Perez Prado and his Orchestra
4 Splish Splash--Bobby Darin
5 Hard Headed Woman--Elvis Presley
6 Poor Little Fool--Ricky Nelson
7 Secretly--Jimmie Rodgers
8 When--The Kalin Twins
9 Rebel Rouser--Duane Eddy and the Rebels
10 All I Have to Do is Dream--The Everly Brothers

Singles entering the chart were Somebody Touched Me by Buddy Knox with the Rhythm Orchids (#57); Just Like in the Movies by the Upbeats (#66); The Waiting Game by Harry Belafonte (#69); Western Movies by the Olympics (#70); Born Too Late by the Poni-Tails (#71); Blue Boy by Jim Reeves (#72); How the Time Flies by Jerry Wallace (#73); and June, July and August by Rusty Draper (#74). Somebody Touched Me was the other side of C'mon Baby, which had entered the chart a week earlier at #63 and was now off the chart.

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKWX)
1 Hard Headed Woman--Elvis Presley (2nd week at #1)
2 Poor Little Fool--Ricky Nelson
3 Guess Things Happen that Way--Johnny Cash
4 Rebel Rouser--Duane Eddy and the Rebels
5 Return to Me--Dean Martin
6 Splish Splash--Bobby Darin
7 When--The Kalin Twins
8 Yakety-Yak--The Coasters
9 The Purple People Eater--Sheb Wooley
10 Jennie Lee--Jan & Arnie

Singles entering the chart were Left Right Out of Your Heart (Hi Lee Hi Lo Hi Lup Up Up) by Patti Page (#11); All I Have to Do is Dream by the Everly Brothers (#14); Angel Baby by Dean Martin (#15); Enchanted Island by the Four Lads (#17); and If Dreams Came True by Pat Boone (#19).

Canadiana
Princess Margaret opened the Okanagan Lake Bridge in Kelowna, British Columbia.

In London, Kwakwaka'wakw Chief Mungo Martin (Nakaṕankam) presented the Royal Totem to Her Majesty the Queen Mother, who accepted on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, to mark the centennial of the creation of the colony of British Columbia.

Diplomacy
Ghanaian Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah arrived in Ottawa to begin a four-day visit to that city and Montreal, and addressed the Canadian Parliament.

Defense
The United Kingdom landed 500 Royal Marine Commandos in Libya and reinforced its garrisons in Kuwait and Aden.

U.A.R. President Gamal Nasser and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Abdel Salam Mohammed Aref signed a mutual defense treaty in Damascus.

World events
East Germany released nine U.S. soldiers held since the landing of their helicopter near Zwickau in June.

Politics and government
The International Supervision and Control Commission for Laos, created by the 1955 Geneva armistice agreement, was suspended.

Auto racing
British drivers took the first four positions in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England. Peter Collins won, followed by Mike Hawthorn, Roy Salvadori, and Stuart Lewis-Evans.





50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Spinning, Spinning, Spinning--Simple Image

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Hurdy Gurdy Man--Donovan
2 Classical Gas--Mason Williams
3 Indian Lake--The Cowsills
4 Angel of the Morning--Merrilee Rush
5 D.W. Washburn/It's Nice to Be with You--The Monkees
6 Jumpin' Jack Flash--The Rolling Stones
7 Sky Pilot (Parts One and Two)--Eric Burdon and the Animals
8 Lady Willpower--Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
9 Mountain of Love--Ronnie Dove
10 Bring a Little Lovin'--Los Bravos
Pick hit of the week: Classical Gas--Mason Williams
New this week: I Would Be the One--Kensington Market
Girl Watcher--The O'Kaysions
Break Out--Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
Yesterday's Dream--Four Tops

The B-side of Yesterday's Dream was For Once in My Life, which became a big hit for Stevie Wonder a few months later. It was common practice at Motown records in those days for more than one version of a song to be recorded by their artists.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu began two days of talks in Honolulu.

Crime
James Earl Ray, accused of the assassination of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, was returned to the United States and confined in Shelby County jail in Memphis, six weeks after being arrested in London.

Law
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas, who had been nominated by President Lyndon Johnson to succeed the retiring Earl Warren as Chief Justice, concluded five days of testimony on his legal philosophy and fitness for confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee, becoming the first Supreme Court nominee to be called on to do so. Senate critics of Justic Fortas took issue with his practice of offering advice to his longtime friend President Johnson while serving on the Supreme Court.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): You're the One that I Want--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (6th week at #1)

At the movies
Revenge of the Pink Panther, produced, directed, and co-written by Blake Edwards, and starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, and Dyan Cannon, opened in theatres.



Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Kamel concluded two days of talks at Leeds Castle in Kent, England to discuss their conflicting proposals regarding the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The meeting, originally scheduled for London, was moved after U.K. Prime Minister James Callaghan received reports that Palestinian terrorists were planning to disrupt the talks.

Politics and government
A Bolivian court annulled the July 9 election of General Juan Pereda Asbun on grounds of electoral fraud. Current President Hugo Banzer Suarez had planned to turn over power on August 6 to an elected President, ending 12 years of military rule.

Protest
A group of 28 women from the Tobique First Nation begin a 100-mile walk from the Kanesatake First Nation in Québec to Ottawa, to bring attention to gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

The Broad Opposition Front (FAO), a Nicaraguan organization opposed to the regime of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, called a 24-hour strike by business and labour to protest human rights violations. At last 23 people had been killed in political violence in Nicaragua in July so far.

Transportation
The U.S.A. and Canada started a 10-year program to resurface and rebuild the Alaska Highway and Haines Highway.

Disasters
An 18-day heat wave in the Dallas-Fort Worth area had killed 21 people, most of them elderly.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (0-1) 23 @ Hamilton (1-1) 27
British Columbia (1-1) 21 @ Calgary (1-1) 23

Ron Lancaster, beginning his 19th season as a Canadian Football League quarterback, had the Roughriders ahead of the Tiger-Cats 23-3 at Ivor Wynne Stadium, when head coach Jim Eddy chose to pull him in favour of rookie Larry Dick. The move turned the game around, and the Tiger-Cats came back to win. The result turned out to be the only win as a CFL head coach for Tom Dimitroff.

A late field goal by Cyril McFall gave the Stampeders their win over the Lions at McMahon Stadium.

Baseball
This blogger and his father were among the 18,854 fans at Anaheim Stadium to see Nolan Ryan pitch a 6-hit shutout for the California Angels, striking out 10 batters to win the pitchers' duel over Rick Wise as the Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-0. California designated hitter Don Baylor batted 3 for 3 with a home run, and was hit by a pitch. California right fielder Lyman Bostock was 1 for 3 with a base on balls in the only game that this blogger saw him play in person.

The Boston Red Sox scored 4 runs in each of the 7th and 8th innings to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-2 before 45,332 fans at County Stadium in Milwaukee. Carlton Fisk drove in a run with a ground out in the 7th and hit a 3-run home run in the 8th. Mike Torrez pitched a 6-hit complete game victory to win the pitching matchup over Lary Sorensen, who had a perfect game going with 1 out in the 5th, and carried a shutout into the 7th before falling apart.

Ed Figueroa pitched a 6-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Geoff Zahn as the New York Yankees shut out the Minnesota Twins 2-0 before 29,591 fans at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.

Warren Cromartie's grand slam with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning climaxed a 5-run inning to give the Montreal Expos an 8-6 win over the Atlanta Braves in the first game of a doubleheader before 20,282 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Jeff Burroughs hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 6th to open the scoring as the Braves won the second game 3-1, with Eddie Solomon pitching 6 scoreless innings to win the pitchers' duel over Wayne Twitchell.

The Cincinnati Reds trailed the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 after 6 innings before 45,608 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, but Ken Henderson hit a 3-run home run off Steve Carlton in the 7th and George Foster hit a grand slam off Tug McGraw in the 8th as the Reds came back to win 7-2.



30 years ago
1988

Politics and government
U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts) addressed the Democratic National Convention at the Omni in Atlanta, repeating the phrase "Where was George?" when mentioning various decisions made by the administration of President Ronald Reagan. At the Republican National Convention a month later, someone held up a sign reading "For your information, he was home with his wife and sober." Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination, addressed the convention and appealed to the party and to the American people to find "common ground" and compared the nation to a quilt made from diverse strands. The party approved a 5,000-word statement of principles as its platform.



25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Mr. Vain--Culture Beat (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Red Prysock, 67. U.S. musician. Wilburt Prysock was a jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who performed with bands of artists such as Roy Milton and Cootie Williams, and led his own band in the 1950s and '60s. His biggest hit single was Hand Clappin' (1955), which reached #73 on the Music Vendor pop singles chart. Mr. Prysock's brother Arthur was a jazz and rhythm and blues singer from the 1950s through the '80s, and Red often played saxophone on his brother's later records.

Diplomacy
Iraq bowed to international pressure and agreed to accept United Nations monitoring to prevent building weapons of mass destruction.

Abominations
U.S. President Bill Clinton presented his "don't ask, don't tell" policy for allowing sodomites and lesbians to serve in the military. Generals and admirals supported the compromise proposals, which limited the ability of commanders to open investigations.

Scandal
U.S. President Bill Clinton fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director William Sessions after an internal ethics report had severely criticized Mr. Sessions' conduct, but he had refused to resign.

The former postmaster of the United States House of Representatives said that he had helped Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (Democrat--Illinois) embezzle $21,300.

20 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Elmer Valo, 77. Czechoslovakian-born U.S. baseball player. Mr. Valo, born Imrich Valo, moved to the United States with his family at the age of 6. He was an outfielder with six major league teams from 1940-1943 and 1946-1961, batting .282 with 58 home runs and 601 runs batted in in 1,806 games. Mr. Valo was known as an outstanding pinch hitter in his later years.

Golf
Mark O'Meara defeated Brian Watts by 2 strokes in a four-hole aggregate playoff to win the British Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. The two had been tied after four rounds with even par totals of 280, 1 stroke ahead of Tiger Woods. First prize money was £300,000 ($493,500).



10 years ago
2008

Football
CFL
Montreal (2-2) 33 @ Saskatchewan (4-0) 41