April 5, 2019

1,100 years ago
919

War
The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt began when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, set out from Raqqada at the head of his army.

800 years ago
1219

Born on this date
Wonjong. King of Korea, 1260-1274. Wonjong, the son of King Gojong, acceded to the throne with the help of Kublai Khan, and ruled as a vassal of China's Yuan dynasty. King Wonjong died on July 23, 1274 at the age of 55 and was succeeded by his son Chungryeol.

410 years ago
1609

War
Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan completed his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.

225 years ago
1794

Died on this date
Fabre d'Églantine, 43. French playwright and politician; François Joseph Westermann, 42. French military officer; Pierre Philippeaux, 39. French lawyer; François Chabot, 37. French politician; Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, 34. French judge and politician; Georges Danton, 34. French politician; Camille Desmoulins, 34. French journalist and politician. The seven men were figures in the French Revolution, but were convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of various offenses, and, with eight others, were executed by guillotine in Paris.

140 years ago
1879

War
Chile declared war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.

125 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Lawrence Bell. U.S. aviation executive. Mr. Bell founded Bell Aircraft Corporation in 1935. Bell Aircraft made fighter planes during World War II, but was perhaps best known for the Bell X-1, in which Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier in 1947. Mr. Bell died from a stroke on October 20, 1956 at the age of 62.

Hans Hüttig. German war criminal. Mr. Hüttig was an SS officer who worked at various concentration camps in the 1930s and '40s, and oversaw the construction of camps and prisons. He was interned by the Allies after World War II and was sentenced to death by a French military court in 1954. The sentence wasn't carried out, and Mr. Hüttig was released in 1956, living a quiet life until his death on February 23, 1980 at the age of 85.

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Albert R. Broccoli. U.S. film producer. "Cubby" Broccoli was best known for producing or co-producing most of the James Bond movies from 1962-1989. He died on June 27, 1996 at the age of 87.

100 years ago
1919

Born on this date
Lester James Peries. Sri Lankan film director. Mr. Peries directed more than 20 movies in a career spanning more than 50 years, and was regarded as the "father of Sri Lankan cinema." He died on April 28, 2018, 23 days after his 99th birthday.

Died on this date
Joe Hall, 37. U.K.-born Canadian hockey player. "Bad Joe Hall" grew up in Brandon, Manitoba, and was a defenceman in various amateur leagues, but was best known for his years in the National Hockey Association with the Montreal Shamrocks (1909-10) and Quebec Bulldogs (1910-17), and in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens (1917-19). He scored 52 goals and 17 assists in 137 NHA games, and 15 goals and 8 assists in 35 NHL regular season games, with 1 assist in 7 playoff games as an NHL player. Mr. Hall scored 6 goals in 12 playoff games before turning professional, and helped the Kenora Thistles win the Stanley Cup in 1907. He was with the Bulldogs' Stanley Cup championship teams in 1912 and 1913, and was playing with the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals in Seattle when most of the Canadiens took ill with influenza, and Mr. Hall died a week after the fifth game. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal @ Seattle (Best-of-five series tied 2-2-1)

With most of the Canadiens hospitalized because of the influenza epidemic and the death of Joe Hall, the deciding game of the finals was cancelled, and the Cup was not awarded for 1919.

75 years ago
1944

War
German troops executed 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura. Soviet troops captured Kubanka, 17 miles north of Odessa, and also took Razdelnaya and Kuchurgan, thus cutting the last rail and highway escape route for an estimated 100,000 German troops in the Odessa area. Japanese invasion forces seized a 15-mile stretch of the Imphal-Kohima highway in the Indian state of Manipur and pushed to a point 80 miles east of Dimapur, which was the Allied lifeline to northern Burma.

Diplomacy
The United Kingdom ended public telephone service to Ireland and, as a safety measure, halted exports of newspapers and most other printed matter to Ireland and Gibraltar.

Politics and government
Crown Prince Humbert of Italy said that he was prepared to act as deputy for King Victor Emmanuel III, who had agreed to name him his lieutenant with authority to exercise the prerogatives of the crown.

Wendell Willkie, the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States in 1940, announced his withdrawal from the contest for the 1944 Republican nomination after a poor performance in the Wisconsin primary.

The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals announced that it had withdrawn a 1940 deportation order against the Russian-born wife of Communist Party U.S.A. leader Earl Browder.

Society
The U.S. Committee on Fair Employment Practices revealed that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had agreed to employ qualified dining car stewards without regard to race, creed, colour, or national origin.

70 years ago
1949

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Man Upstairs, starring Mildred Natwick and Anthony Ross

Died on this date
Erich Zeigner, 63. German politician. Mr. Zeigner took office as Justice Minister of Saxony in 1921, and became Minister-President of Saxony in March 1923. On October 10, 1923, he appointed two Communists to his cabinet, and 17 days later, German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann issued an ultimatum demanding their dismissal. Mr. Zeigner refused, and was deposed as Minister-President two days later by German President Friedrich Ebert. Mr. Zeigner opposed the Nazi Party in the early 1930s, and was arrested shortly after they took power in Germany in 1933. He was acquitted at trial in 1935, but had difficulty earning a living. After a brief imprisonment in 1939, Mr. Zeigner worked as a bookkeeper in Leipzig until being arrested and interned after the unsuccessful assassination attempt against German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler in July 1944.

War
Israel and Syria began armistice talks in the Upper Galilee region.

Diplomacy
Philip Jessup and Jacob Malik, U.S. and U.S.S.R. delegates, respectively, to the United Nations, held a second informal discussion in New York on the subject of Berlin, following consultations among the Western Allies. Mr. Jessup read Mr. Malik a statement tentatively approving the Soviet offer to lift the Berlin blockade in return for a German conference and an end to Western traffic restrictions.

Canadiana
The coat of arms for the mythical “Republic of Madawaska,” designed by P.C. Laporte and J. Gaspard Boucher, was officially registered in Ottawa. Ten knights sat on the Executive of the Order of the Republic, with the Mayor of Edmundston, New Brunswick as President.

Labour
New Jersey Governor Charles Driscoll signed a bill strnegthening bans against racial and religious employment discrimination.

Disasters
A fire at St. Anthony's Hospital in Effingham, Illinois killed 77 people, leading to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Montreal 1 @ Detroit 3 (Detroit won best-of-seven series 4-3)

60 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): La marche des gosses--Annie Cordy (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Cheap is Cheap, starring Dennis Day and Alice Backes

Politics and government
Cyprus Governor Sir Hugh Foot announced a 12-member Cypriot provisional cabinet in which Archbishop Makarios held the post of Foreign Minister.

The Panchen Lama arrived in Lhasa and assumed the chairmanship of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibetan Autonomous Region, empowered by the People's Republic of China to rule Tibet.

Law
In the wake of two U.S. Supreme Court rulings upholding "double jeopardy," U.S. Attorney General William Rogers indicated that the Justice Department continued to believe that "after a state prosecution there should be no federal trial for the same act or acts unless the reasons are compelling."

Environment
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory disclosed that atmospheric radioactivity over the eastern United States had increased up to 300% after Soviet nuclear tests had been conducted in the autumn of 1958.

Auto racing
Roberto Mieres and Fritz d'Orey, sharing a drive in a Porsche RSK, won the first sports car race ever held at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. The race was scheduled for 620 miles (1,000 kilometres), but was shortened to 560 miles (900 km) because of darkness.

Golf
Art Wall shot a 6-under-par 66, with birdies on 5 of the last 6 holes, to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia with a 4-under-par total score of 284, 1 stroke ahead of Cary Middlecoff. First prize money was $15,000.



Basketball
NBA
Finals
Minneapolis 108 @ Boston 128 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Bill Sharman scored 28 points and Tom Heinsohn added 24, while Bill Russell grabbed 30 rebounds to help the Celtics easily defeat the Lakers before 11,082 fans at Boston Garden. Vern Mikkelsen led Minneapolis scorers with 35 points, while Elgin Baylor made just 2 of 17 field goal attempts and scored 13 points.

50 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps--The Beatles (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Rhodesia (Lyons Maid): Crimson and Clover--Tommy James and the Shondells (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Oh Lady Mary--David Alexandre Winter

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Ma che freddo fa--Nada (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Atlantis--Donovan (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?--Peter Sarstedt

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Heard It Through the Grapevine--Marvin Gaye

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Why--The Cats (3rd week at #1)
2 Don Juan--Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
3 First of May--The Bee Gees
4 Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)--Peter Sarstedt
5 Sorry Suzanne--The Hollies
6 I Can Hear Music--The Beach Boys
7 The Walls Fell Down--The Marbles
8 Spooky's Day Off--Swinging Soul Machine
9 Atlantis--Donovan
10 Good Times (Better Times)--Cliff Richard

Singles entering the chart were Ich Sing' ein Lied für Dich by Heintje (#24); De Laatste Dans by Anja (#25); Pinball Wizard by the Who (#35); 5th Symphony Beethoven by Ekseption (#38); and Michael and the Slipper Tree by the Equals (#40).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Dizzy--Tommy Roe (4th week at #1)
2 Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)--The 5th Dimension
3 Time of the Season--The Zombies
4 You've Made Me So Very Happy--Blood, Sweat & Tears
5 Galveston--Glen Campbell
6 Run Away Child, Running Wild--The Temptations
7 Only the Strong Survive--Jerry Butler
8 Traces--Classics IV
9 My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)--David Ruffin
10 Proud Mary--Creedence Clearwater Revival

Singles entering the chart were I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I’ll Get it Myself) by James Brown (#61); To Know You is to Love You by Bobby Vinton (#72); Pinball Wizard by the Who (#73); Atlantis by Donovan (#75); In the Bad, Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me) by the Foundations (#77); Grazing in the Grass by the Friends of Distinction (#80); Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) by Peter Sarstedt (#85); Love is All I Have to Give by the Checkmates, Ltd. (#86); Badge by Cream (#87); More Today than Yesterday by the Spiral Starecase (#88); Back in the U.S.S.R. by Chubby Checker (#90); These Eyes by the Guess Who? (#91); Morning Girl by Neon Philharmonic (#93); Gitarzan by Ray Stevens (#94); When You Dance by Jay and the Americans (#95); A Million to One by Brian Hyland (#96); California Girl (And the Tennessee Square) by Tompall and the Glaser Brothers (#97); Rhythm of the Rain by Gary Lewis and the Playboys (#98); and Idaho by the 4 Seasons (#99). Idaho was the other side of Something's on Her Mind, which had charted a week earlier at #98, and was now off the chart.

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)--The 5th Dimension
2 Dizzy--Tommy Roe
3 Time of the Season--The Zombies
4 Galveston--Glen Campbell
5 You've Made Me So Very Happy--Blood, Sweat & Tears
6 Traces--Classics IV
7 It's Your Thing--The Isley Brothers
8 Run Away Child, Running Wild--The Temptations
9 My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)--David Ruffin
10 Rock Me--Steppenwolf

Singles entering the chart were Gitarzan by Ray Stevens (#58); The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel (#60); Pinball Wizard by the Who (#69); Good Times Bad Times by Led Zeppelin (#72); Badge by Cream (#73); The River is Wide by the Grassroots (#77); Happy Heart by Petula Clark (#84); Love is All I Have to Give by the Checkmates, Ltd. (#85); Happy Heart by Andy Williams (#86); Love (Can Make You Happy) by Mercy (#88); You Came, You Saw, You Conquered! by the Ronettes (#92); These Eyes by the Guess Who? (#93); July You're a Woman by Pat Boone (#95); Back in the U.S.S.R. by Chubby Checker (#98); and Grazing in the Grass by the Friends of Distinction (#100).

Calgary's Top 10 (Glenn's Music)
1 Things I'd Like to Say--The New Colony Six (2nd week at #1)
2 Indian Giver--1910 Fruitgum Co.
3 Dizzy--Tommy Roe
4 Build Me Up Buttercup--The Foundations
5 Proud Mary--Creedence Clearwater Revival
6 Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)--The 5th Dimension
7 Galveston--Glen Campbell
8 Rock Me--Steppenwolf
9 Something's Happening--Herman's Hermits
10 Johnny One Time--Brenda Lee
Pick hit of the week: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'--Crazy Elephant

Died on this date
Ain-Ervin Mere, 66. Estonian spy. Mr. Mere, born Ervin Martson, joined the Soviet secret police force NKVD in 1940-1941, reporting on Baltic activities. He surrendered to the German military in July 1941, and became a member of the Estonian Security Police, forming the anti-Communist organization Eesti Vabadusliit in February 1945. Mr. Mere eventually lived in England, and was convicted in absentia by a Soviet war crimes court in 1961 and sentenced to death for active involvement in the killing of Estonian Jews during World War II. British authorities refused to extradite Mr. Mere to the U.S.S.R. because of a lack of evidence, and he lived the rest of his life in England.

Rómulo Gallegos, 84. 48th President of Venezuela, 1948. Mr. Gallegos was a novelist whose criticism of dictator Juan Vicente Gómez led to Mr. Gallegos' exile in Spain from 1929-1936. He returned to Venezuela and was elected to Congress in 1937, serving as Mayor of Caracas from 1940-1941. Mr. Gallegos was involved in the coup that brought the "Revolutionary Government Junta" to power; in 1947, as the Acción Democrática candidate, he won what was believed to be Venezuela's first honest presidential election, taking office on February 17, 1948. After just nine months in office, President Gallegos was deposed by a military coup on November 24, 1948, and spent the next 10 years in exile in Cuba and Mexico. He returned to Venezuela in 1958 and was made a Senator for Life in 1961, but took no active role in politics.

Alberto Bonucci, 50. Italian actor. Mr. Bonucci appeared in 53 films from 1950-1967; his movies included Fugitive in Trieste (1951) and Toto in Color (1952).

Crime
Donald Lambright, the son of comic actor Stepin Fetchit, shot at cars travelling along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, killing his wife and two other people, and then killed himself. At least 17 people were wounded or cut by flying glass as bullets shattered windshields.

Protest
On a rainy day in New York, more than 20,000 walked up Fifth Avenue in what was both a tribute to Martin Luther King on the first anniversary of his assassination and a protest against the Vietnam War. Some protesters wore armbands bearing the number "33,000," signifying the number of Americans killed in the war to date.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Montreal 4 @ New York 1 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Boston 4 @ Toronto 3 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-0)
St. Louis 3 @ Philadelphia 0 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Oakland 5 @ Los Angeles 2 (Oakland led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Gary Sabourin scored the winning goal at 7:41 of the 1st period, and Jacques Plante made 27 saves for his second straight shutout in goal as the Blues blanked the Flyers at the Spectrum.

CHL
Adams Cup
Semi-Finals
Dallas 4 @ Omaha 3 (OT) (Dallas led best-of-five series 2-0)
Tulsa 5 @ Oklahoma City 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

Wayne Maki scored Dallas' first 3 goals, and Jim Wiste scored 39 seconds into the 1st overtime period as the Black Hawks edged the Knights.

30 years ago
1979

Protest
Demonstrators protesting the execution of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto clashed with police in numerous locations in Pakistan.

Oil
U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that he would seek to gradually phase out price controls on domestic oil production by July 1, in an effort to spur U.S. production and to cut consumption.

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Like a Prayer--Madonna (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Like a Prayer--Madonna

Died on this date
Frank Foss, 93. U.S. pole vaulter. Mr. Foss won the Amateur Athletic Union championship in 1919 and 1920, and won the gold medal in the men's pole vault competition at the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, breaking his own world record.

War
Vietnam announced that it would pull all of its troops out of Cambodia by September 30. Vietnamese forces had entered Cambodia a decade earlier to overthrow the regime led by Pol Pot.

Politics and government
Poland's Communist government and its opposition, led by Lech Walesa, agreed to a new structure for government that would include a new bicameral national legislature. A new Senate would have 100 seats, and the existing parliament would become the lower house with 460 seats, 65% of which would be reserved for the Communist Party and its allies. The legislature would elect a president for a six-year term and strong executive powers. Agreement was also announced to grant official recognition to the Roman Catholic Church.

25 years ago
1994

Died on this date
Kurt Cobain, 27. U.S. musician. Mr. Cobain was the leader of the grunge rock group Nirvana, who achieved popularity in the early 1990s. Mr. Cobain was a drug addict who seems to have spent most of his life rebelling against God. He was found dead on April 8, 1994 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound; the coroner estimated April 5 as the date of death. Some people considered Mr. Cobain a genius, and he was regarded as "the spokesman of a generation," but it's a generation that this blogger wants no part of.

War
Serb forces broke through Bosnian army defense lines at the Muslim enclave of Gorazde.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the Index of Leading Economic Indicators had declined 0.1% in February.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 3,675.41, an increase of 82.06 from the previous day.

20 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Paul David, 79. Canadian physician and politician. Dr. David, a native of Montreal, was a cardiologist who founded the Montreal Heart Institute in 1954, and directed Canada's first heart transplant. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1985, and represented Bedford, Quebec until his retirement in 1994.

Terrorism
Libya released two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan American flight 103 (which killed 270 people when the plane exploded over Lockerbie Scotland) to a United Nations official. The two men were to be tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law. By turning over the suspects, Libya gained automatic release from UN--though not United States--sanctions.

War
Four bridges over the Danube River had been destroyed by the bombing of NATO forces upon Yugoslavia.

10 years ago
2009

Space
The North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 was launched from the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground and passed over Japan, sparking concerns that it may have been a trial run of technology that could be used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.