March 20, 2019

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Cliff Lander!

400 years ago
1619

Died on this date
Matthias, 62. Holy Roman Emperor, 1612-1619. Matthias acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Maximilian II. Matthias also held numerous other thrones, including Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia. He implemented conciliatory policies toward Protestants, but was opposed by the Roman Catholic Habsburgs. Matthias died after a period of declining health, and the Catholic faction, led by his brother Archduke Maximilian, succeeded in installing Ferdinand II as Matthias' successor.

150 years ago
1869

Canadiana
The Canadian government finally accepted the terms of Rupert's Land Act of 1868 in order to acquire the territory from the Hudson's Bay Company.

125 years ago
1894

Technology
In St. Stephen, New Brunswick, J. Roswell Sederquest patented the cycle runner, a bicycle attachment mounted in place of the front wheel, making it possible to pedal through snow.

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Richard Wurmbrand. Romanian-born pastor and writer. Mr. Wurmbrand, a Christian of Jewish ancestry, spent 14 years in Romanian prisons; he wrote the book Tortured for Christ about this experience. He and his wife Sabina were eventually freed, and came to the United States. In 1969 Mr. Wurmbrand founded the ministry Jesus to the Communist World, which is known today as Voice of the Martyrs, dedicated to helping the persecuted church throughout the world. The Canadian address of this ministry may be found here. Richard Wurmbrand went to be with his Lord on February 17, 2001 at the age of 91.

100 years ago
1919

Born on this date
Gerhard Barkhorn. German military aviator. Generalmajor Barkhorn joined the Luftwaffe in 1937; he flew 1,104 combat sorties against the Soviet Red Air Force on the Eastern Front during World War II. Generalmajor Barkhorn was credited with 301 victories, the most ever by an air ace except for fellow Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann, who recorded 352 victories. He surrendered to Allied authorities in May 1945, was released later that year, and served in the West German Bundeswehr until 1976. Generalmajor Barkhorn died on January 8, 1983 at the age of 63, two days after being injured in a car accident in which his wife Christl was killed.

90 years ago
1929

Died on this date
Ferdinand Foch, 77. French military officer. Marshal Foch began his military career in the Franco-Prussian War, but was best known for his role in World War I, when he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, presiding over the victorious offensives in 1918. He accepted the German cessation of hostilities, and was present at the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918.

Communications
The British Columbia Telephone Company set up a subsidiary, North-West Telephone Company, the world's First radiotelephone company.

80 years ago
1939

Diplomacy
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop delivered an oral ultimatum to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys, demanding that Lithuania give up the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory), which had been detached from Germany after World War I, or the Wehrmacht would invade Lithuania.

War
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King told the House of Commons that Canada would consider any attack on Great Britain as an attack on the Commonwealth.

75 years ago
1944

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Man Who Drowned in Paddington Station

Died on this date
Felix Woyrsch, 83. Bohemian-born German composer and choir director. Mr. Woyrsch directed several choirs in the Hamburg borough of Altona from the 1880s through the 1930s. His compositions included six symphonies, three operas, and numerous chamber, keyboard, vocal, and choral works.

War
Lieutenant General Henry D.C. Crerar was appointed to command of the 1st Canadian Army. It was the largest field formation ever formed by Canada, and included British, Dutch, Belgian, and Polish units. Soviet units in western Ukraine captured the industrial and railroad centre of Vinnitsa and the Dniester River city of Mogilev-Podolski. German troops completed their move into Hungary, as German dictator Adolf Hitler summoned Regent Admiral Nicholas Horthy and his aides to Nazi headquarters. Chinese and American forces smashed Japanese resistance in the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma. U.S. Marines landed on Emirau Island of the St. Matthias group and occupied it against light opposition.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a bill making it a criminal offense to publish or distribute anonymous statements regarding candidates for federal office.

Literature
The Boston Board of Retail Merchants banned the sale of the novel Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith, which dealt with love between a white man and a Negro woman.

70 years ago
1949

On the radio
Pat Novak For Hire, starring Jack Webb, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Rory Malone, Prizefighter

World events
The Western Allies declared the Soviet-zone mark invalid in their sectors of Berlin.

Politics and government
The Dutch colony of Curacao held its first legislative elections, with victory going to the conservative National Party and the Aruban People's Party.

Economics and finance
Western military governors approved 12 German trustees for the heavy industry of the Ruhr.

60 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Smoke Gets in Your Eyes--The Platters

Politics and government
Prime Minister Roy Welensky led his United Federal Party to victory in Northern Rhodesia's first multi-racial legislative election, as the UFP won 13 of 22 seats on the Legislative Council.

Portugal enacted a law ending popular election of the President and creating a special electoral college of National Assembly members and other political leaders to make the selection.

U.S.S.R. Deputy Premier Aleksei Kosygin replaced Joseph Kuzmin as chairman of the State Planning Commission.

Alabama's Democratic Executive Committee voted to cancel the pledge requiring electors to vote for the party's U.S. presidential nominee.

50 years ago
1969

On television tonight
Dragnet 1969, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Forgery: DR-33



Married on this date
U.K. rock musician John Lennon of the Beatles married Japanese artist Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

Academia
A 134-day class boycott at San Francisco State College was reported settled at a student rally where strike leaders claimed to have won all their demands. The demands were mainly concerned with creating more courses in black studies and enrolling more Negroes as students. The strike had begun on November 6, 1968.

Disasters
A United Arab airliner crashed at Aswan airport, leaving 87 dead and 14 injured.

All 16 aboard crashed when a chartered plane carrying men from the Memphis, Tennessee area to a hunting expedition in British Honduras crashed in a heavy fog and burned at New Orleans airport.

40 years ago
1979

On television tonight
The Paper Chase, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Clay Footed Idol



War
France withdrew its troops from Chad after a peace agreement between warring factions in the former French colony was announced in Paris.

World events
During the Knesset debate on the peace treaty with Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin vowed not to allow a Palestinian state to be established in the West Bank or Gaza.

Scandal
United States Attorney General Griffin Bell appointed former federal attorney Paul Curran as special counsel to investigate practices by Bert Lance's National Bank of Georgia involving $7 million in loans to President Jimmy Carter's family business.

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Tucker's Daughter--Ian Moss

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Like a Prayer--Madonna (2nd week at #1)

Politics and government
The governing Progressive Conservatives of Premier Don Getty won their sixth straight Alberta provincial election, but Mr. Getty lost his seat. The PCs won 59 of 83 seats, down from 61 in the most recent election in 1986. The New Democrats, led by Ray Martin, elected 16 Members of the Legislative Assembly and the Liberals, led by Laurence Decore, 8, including former Edmonton alderman Percy Wickman, who defeated Mr. Getty in the riding of Edmonton-Whitemud. Mr. Getty refused to resign as Premier, and subsequently won a by-election in the rural riding of Stettler.

Terrorism
Two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were assassinated by the Irish Republican Army in south Armagh.

25 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Hip Hop Holiday--The Hard Way (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Move on Baby--Cappella (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Doop--Doop (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Lewis Grizzard, 47. U.S. author. Mr. Grizzard was a humourist whose columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution were collected into many books. He died after surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.

War
United Nations convoys carrying 90 tons of flour and beans arrived in Maglaj, a Muslim enclave in north-central Bosnia, the day after Serbs had lifted a five-month siege of the town.

Politics and government
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Armando Calderón Sol led after the first round of voting in the El Salvador presidential election, receiving 49.0% of the vote; Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate was second with 24.9%, and they were the only candidates who proceeded to the second round of voting on April 24. In elections for the Legislative Assembly, ARENA won 39 of 84 seats, followed by FMLN (21); Christian Democratic Party (18); Party of National Conciliation (4); Democratic Convergence (1); and Movement of Unity (1). They were the first elections contested by FMLN and Movement of Unity.

Basketball
CIAU
Men's Championship Final @ Halifax
Alberta 77 McMaster 66

In his 11th season as head coach of the Golden Bears, Don Horwood finally succeeded in leading his team to its first national championship.

20 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Patrick Heron, 79. U.K. artist and critic. Mr. Heron was one of the leading abstract painters of his generation, and was also known as an art critic.

Popular culture
Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opened in Carlsbad, California.