May 18, 2019

520 years ago
1499

Exploration
Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.

225 years ago
1794

War
French forces commanded by General Joseph Souham defeated an Austrian, British, and Hanoverian Coalition army under Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany in the Battle of Tourcoing in France.

130 years ago
1889

Died on this date
Isabella Glyn, 65. U.K. actress. Miss Glyn was one of Britain's leading Shakespearean actresses from the 1840s through the 1870s. She died of cancer, four days before her 66th birthday.

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Fred Perry. U.K.-born U.S. tennis player. Mr. Perry was the top men's amateur player in the world from 1934-1936. His major tournament wins included the men's singles championships at Wimbledon (1934-1936) and the United States Open (1933-1934, 1936). Mr. Perry, who became a United States citizen in 1938, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1975. He died on February 2, 1995 at the age of 85.

Died on this date
George Meredith, 81. U.K. writer. Mr. Meredith wrote poetry and novels such as The Egoist (1879), and his non-fiction Essay on Comedy (1877) is still regarded as a reference on the subject.

Isaac Albéniz, 48. Spanish musician and composer. Mr. Albéniz was a child prodigy who began a lengthy career as a concert pianist at the age of 9. He was known for his numerous compositions for piano--often based on Spanish folk music--and influenced Spanish composers and others such as the French composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Mr. Albéniz died of Bright's disease, 11 days before his 49th birthday.

100 years ago
1919

Born on this date
Margot Fonteyn. U.K. dancer. Dame Margot, born Margaret Hookham, was the prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet in a career that spanned more than 40 years. She married Panamanian diplomat Roberto Arias in 1955, and was briefly detained in Panama in 1959 after the couple participated in an unsuccessful coup attempt against Panamanian President Ernesto de la Guardia. Mr. Arias became a quadriplegic after he was shot in 1964, and Dame Margot cared for him until his death in 1989. She died on Febraury 21, 1991 at the age of 71, after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

90 years ago
1929

Died on this date
Hilda Moore, 38-43. U.K. actress. Miss Moore appeared in plays and films. She had recently played a supporting role in the movie Jealousy (1929) when she died six days after catching a streptococcal infection from her 5-year-old son.

Horse racing
Clyde Van Dusen, with Linus McAtee up, won the 55th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:10 4/5. Naishapur placed second and Panchio finished third in the 21-horse field.



Baseball
The Brooklyn Robins and Philadelphia Phillies combined for a major league record 50 runs in a doubleheader before 14,000 fans at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Robins won the opener 20-16 in an error-free game. Johnny Frederick scored 5 runs for the Robins for a total of 8 in his last 2 games, a major league record. Chuck Klein hit his 7th home run of the season for the Phillies. Philadelphia won the second game 8-6, as Mr. Klein hit his 8th home run of the season. Mr. Frederick and his teammate Babe Herman each had 5 hits in the doubleheader.

80 years ago
1939

Canadiana
King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and the royal party boarded a 12-car train (five from Canadian Pacific, five from Canadian National, and the two vice-regal cars) in Québec City and departed for Montréal. The royal train was painted in royal blue and aluminum, and royal crowns are affixed to the running boards of both locomotives. A pilot train, carrying officials and the press, preceded the royal train by an hour and no other trains are permitted to travel within this period.



75 years ago
1944

On the radio
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Donovan's Brain, Part One, starring Orson Welles

Appointment with Fear
Tonight's episode: The Clock Strikes Eight

War
Allied troops captured the Italian town of Monte Cassino after a four-month battle against Nazi forces. German forces at the southern end of the front retreated in disorder after losing the port of Fornia on the Gulf of Gaeta, and abandoned Gaeta as indefensible. Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt was named chief of the German anti-invasion forces in western Europe.

Abominations
The deportation by the U.S.S.R. government of several hundred thousand Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan began; the deportation, ostensibly in reprisal for alleged collaboration of Crimean Tatars with Nazis, resulted in thousands of deaths.

Crime
A Mexican appeals court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Ramon Mercader for the 1940 murder of exiled Soviet revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, and directed him to pay a $7,000 indemnity to Mr. Trotsky's widow.

70 years ago
1949

Died on this date
James Truslow Adams, 70. Venezuelan-born U.S. banker and historian. Mr. Adams was an investment banker in New York who made enough money to pursue a career as a historian. He was awarded the 1922 Pulitzer Prize in History for The Founding of New England (1921), the first volume of a trilogy. Mr. Adams coined the phrase "American dream" in his book The Epic of America (1931). Mr. Adams died of a heart attack.

War
Chinese Communist forces completed the encirclement of Shanghai and continud a southward push toward the port of Foochow, opposite Taiwan.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Harry Truman welcomed Brazilian President Eurico Dutra to Washington to begin a 10-day visit to the United States.

U.S. President Truman appointed World Bank President John McCloy as the first civilian U.S. high commissioner to Germany, succeeding U.S. Military Governor Lucius Clay.

Defense
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee completed hearings on the North Atlantic Treaty.

Americana
The National Institute of Social Sciences presented a gold medal to former Secretary of State George Marshall for "distinguished service to humanity."

60 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Diana--Paul Anka (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Kansas City--Wilbert Harrison
2 Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)--The Impalas
3 The Happy Organ--Dave "Baby" Cortez
4 Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)--Edward Byrnes & Connie Stevens
5 A Teenager in Love--Dion and the Belmonts
6 Dream Lover--Bobby Darin
7 The Battle of New Orleans--Johnny Horton
8 Quiet Village--Martin Denny
9 Turn Me Loose--Fabian
10 Pink Shoe Laces--Dodie Stevens

Singles entering the chart were Lipstick on Your Collar (#57)/Frankie (#66) by Connie Francis; So Close by Brook Benton (#63); My Melancholy Baby by Tommy Edwards (#64); Tall Cool One by the Wailers (#64); Hallelujah, I Love Him So by Peggy Lee (#77); Bongo Rock by Preston Epps (#80); Graduation's Here by the Fleetwoods (#85); Judy by David Seville (#86); Hey Little Lucy! (Don’tcha Put No Lipstick On) by Conway Twitty (#87); Along Came Jones by the Coasters (#88); The Class by Chubby Checker (#90); Russian Band Stand by Spencer and Spencer with the Sonia Pryor Choir (#91); (I Don't Care) Only Love Me by Steve Lawrence (#92); The Wonder of You by Ray Peterson (#94); Someone to Come Home To by the Ames Brothers (#98); and I Can't Get You Out of My Heart by Al Martino (#100).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKWX)
1 The Battle of New Orleans--Johnny Horton
2 Kansas City--Wilbert Harrison
3 Three Stars--Tommy Dee with Carol Kay and the Teen-Aires
4 (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I/I Need Your Love Tonight--Elvis Presley
5 Guitar Boogie Shuffle--The Virtues
6 Enchanted--The Platters
7 Tell Him No--Travis and Bob
8 Dream Lover--Bobby Darin
9 Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)--Edward Byrnes & Connie Stevens
10 The Tijuana Jail--The Kingston Trio

Singles entering the chart were Tallahassee Lassie by Freddy Cannon (#34); Just Keep it Up by Dee Clark (#40); My Heart is an Open Book by Carl Dobkins, Jr. (#48); Lonely Saturday Night by Don French (#50); Old Spanish Town by the Bell Notes (#53); Graduation's Here by the Fleetwoods (#55); There's No Fool Like a Young Fool by Tab Hunter (#57); The Five Pennies by Dodie Stevens (#58); Summer Dreams by the McGuire Sisters (#59); and White Lightning by George Jones (#60).

Died on this date
John Hummel, 76. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Hummel was a utility player with the Brooklyn Superbas/Dodgers/Robins (1905-1915) and New York Yankees (1918), batting .254 with 29 home runs and 394 runs batted in in 1,161 games. He played at least 8 seasons in the minor leagues from 1904-1926.

Divorced on this date
U.S. actor Mickey Rooney was divorced by his fourth wife, Elaine Mahnken, in Santa Monica, California.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter told the Geneva foreign ministers conference that the United States "has no intention of recognizing the so-called German Democratic Republic as representative of any part of the German people."

Defense
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Navy Secretary Thomas Gates to succeed the late Donald Quarles as deputy Defense Secretary.

Politics and government
Ceylonese Agriculture Minister Philip Gunawardena and Industries Minister William de Silva resigned, ending the Marxist-Freedom Party coalition formed in 1956 by Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

Football
CFL
Sam Lyle resigned as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos after just one season, when the club's board of directors refused to give him a vote of confidence. Assistant coach Eagle Keys was named as his replacement. In 1958 the Eskimos had finished second in the Western Interprovincial Football Union with a 9-6-1 record, and lost the WIFU finals to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2 games to 1.

Baseball
The Detroit Tigers hit 5 home runs, including a 3-run shot by winning pitcher Jim Bunning, as they routed the Boston Red Sox 14-2 before 3,028 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Mr. Bunning batted 4 for 4 with a triple, 2 runs, and 5 runs batted in, while second baseman Frank Bolling, the 8th man in the Detroit batting order, was 3 for 4 with a home run and 5 runs.

50 years ago
1969

Space
Apollo 10 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, the only Saturn V to lift off from launch pad 39-B. The crew of Commander Tom Stafford, Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan, and Command Module Pilot John Young were given the assignment of orbiting the moon and flying the lunar module to within 9 miles of the moon's surface. The command module was given the name Charlie Brown, and the lunar module was Snoopy.





Baseball
Dave Watkins singled with 2 out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 9th inning and Larry Hisle followed with a double to drive him home to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 9-8 win over the San Francisco Giants before 17,534 fans at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Burda hit a 3-run home run for the Giants as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning.

Pinch hitter Len Gabrielson hit a solo home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the score, and Wes Parker singled home Willie Crawford with 2 out to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 21,086 fans at Dodger Stadium. The Pirates had scored a run in the top of the 9th to take a 5-4 lead.

Carl Yastrzemski hit a grand slam off Mike Marshall with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to climax a 5-run inning, but it wasn't enough, as the the Boston Red Sox fell 9-6 to the Seattle Pilots before 25,125 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Diego Segui relieved Mr. Marshall after Mr. Yastrzemski's homer and allowed singles by Tony Conigliaro and Dalton Jones, but George Scott made an out to third base to end the game. Mr. Marshall allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings for his third and last win in a Seattle uniform, and batted 2 for 5 with 2 runs and a run batted in, leading off the 8th with his only major league home run.



The Detroit Tigers defeated the Minnesota Twins 8-2 before 20,778 fans at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington despite the base-stealing feats of Rod Carew and Cesar Tovar. Mr. Tovar stole third base and home plate ahead of Mr. Carew's thefts of second and third, and then Mr. Carew followed with his own steal of home in the 3rd inning. The 2 steals of home in one inning tied a major league record. Mr. Tovar was hit by a pitch from Mickey Lolich in his next time at bat.

The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the California Angels before 18,705 fans at Yankee Stadium. First baseman Joe Pepitone hit a 3-run home run to give Mel Stottlemyre a 3-1 win in the opener, and led off the bottomm of the 9th with a solo homer off Hoyt Wilhelm to give the Yankees a 1-0 win in the second game. Steve Hamilton was the winning pitcher in relief of Bill Burbach.

Dennis Higgins earned saves in both games as the Washington Senators swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox 3-2 in 10 innings and 3-2 before 6,274 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

40 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Hallelujah--Milk & Honey (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Born to Be Alive--Patrick Hernandez (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): In the Navy--Village People (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Ray Blades, 82. U.S. baseball player, manager, and coach. Mr. Blades played left field with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1922-1928 and 1930-1932, batting .301 with 50 home runs and 340 runs batted in in 767 regular season games, and .083 (1 for 12) in 8 World Series games as he helped the Cardinals win National League pennants in 1928 and 1930 and the World Series in 1931. He coached with the Cardinals from 1930-1933 and then in their farm system, returning to manage the Cardinals in 1939-1940, compiling a 106-85 record before being fired. Mr. Blades was a coach with the Cincinnati Reds (1942); Brooklyn Dodgers (1947-1948); Cardinals (1951); and Chicago Cubs (1953-1956), recording a win in one game as interim manager of the Dodgers in 1948. He scouted for the Cubs in the late 1950s and early '60s.

Economics and finance
A U.S. Senate and House of Representatives conference approved a federal budget deficit for 1980 of $23 billion, $5 billion less than the amount estimated by President Jimmy Carter.

Hockey
WHA
Avco World Trophy
Finals
Winnipeg 2 @ Edmonton 10 (Winnipeg led best-of-seven series 3-2)

Baseball
Dale Murphy hit 3 home runs in as many at bats and batted in 5 runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants before 13,896 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Dan Driessen singled home Joe Morgan with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Cincinnati Reds a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers before 34,192 fans at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

Jim Beattie pitched a 4-hitter and the New York Yankees scored 7 runs in the last 2 innings as they routed the Boston Red Sox 10-0 before 33,694 fans at Fenway Park in Boston.

Al Bumbry singled home Eddie Murray with 1 out in the top of the 11th inning to break a 6-6 tie as the Baltimore Orioles a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays before 12,088 fans at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

The Minnesota Twins scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning to break a 6-6 tie as they defeated the Kansas City Royals 10-6 before 21,475 fans at Royals Stadium. Mike Marshall pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to get the win, improving his 1979 record to 7-3.

Bill Travers pitched a 3-hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers as they shut out the Oakland Athletics 8-0 before 2,556 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Finnish Singles Chart): The Look--Roxette (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Shall Never Pass This Way Again--Various Artists

Theatre
After meeting with officials of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Stratford Festival made two cuts in its production of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, removing two allegedly anti-Semitic references.

25 years ago
1994

World events
Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip after three decades of occupation as the Palestinian Authority took over responsibility for governing the area.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Western Conference Finals
Vancouver 4 @ Toronto 3 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

20 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Betty Robinson, 87. U.S. runner. Miss Robinson won the gold medal in the women's 100-metre dash and a silver medal in the women's 4 x 100-metre relay event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She suffered severe injuries in a plane crash in 1931 and was thereafter unable to kneel properly at the start of a 100-metre run, but she was able to participate in relay events, and won another gold medal as the third runner on the American team in the women's 4 x 100-meter competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Miss Robinson died of Alzheimer's disease.

Crime
In Boston‚ Joseph Schnabel pled guilty to stealing wills signed by baseball Hall of Famer George Wright and 1920s umpire Tom Connolly and selling them for more than $15‚000. The discovery of the missing documents led authorities in other parts of the country to realize that they had experienced similar thefts.

Baseball
Joe Torre returned to manage the New York Yankees after being treated for prostate cancer, but the Yankees lost 6-3 to the Boston Red Sox before 33,620 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Pedro Martinez allowed 10 hits in 7 innings, but only 2 runs--both earned--to get the win, improving his 1999 record to 8-1.

Designated hitter Edgar Martinez had 3 home runs and 4 runs batted in to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins before 20,486 fans at the Kingdome in Seattle.

First baseman Mark Grace hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 11th inning to break a 1-1 tie as the Chicago Cubs beat the Florida Marlins 4-1 before 13,504 fans at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The Marlins had only 3 hits, all by shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

10 years ago
2009

Died on this date
Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54. Sri Lankan terrorist leader. Mr. Prabhakaran founded and led the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers), an organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. His death at the hands of Sri Lankan Army troops ended the Sri Lankan Civil War.

War
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) were defeated by Sri Lankan Army forces, ending the Sri Lankan Civil War after almost 26 years.