May 1, 2020

200 years ago
1820

Died on this date
Richard Tidd, 46 or 47; Arthur Thistlewood, 45 or 46; William Davidson, 38 or 39; John Thomas Brunt, 37 or 38; James Ings, 25 or 26. U.K. conspirators. Messrs. Tidd, Thistlewood, Davidson, Brunt, and Ings were publicly hanged and then beheaded at Newgate Prison in London, three days after being convicted of various charges involving a conspiracy to assassinate all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.

180 years ago
1840

Economics and finance
The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, was issued in the United Kingdom.

170 years ago
1850

Born on this date
Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Governor General of Canada, 1911-1916. Prince Arthur was the third son and seventh child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He served with the British Army for 40 years, reaching the rank of Field Marshal. As Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, he became the only British royal family member to serve as Governor General of Canada, and encouraged Canadian troops as they were training for service in World War I. The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn held no public offices after leaving Canada at the expiration of his term as Governor General, but continued his military service and public engagements. He died on January 16, 1942 at the age of 91.

140 years ago
1880

Baseball
The Chicago Cubs edged the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 in the first game to be played at Bank Street Grounds in Cincinnati.

125 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Nikolai Yezhov. U.S.S.R. bureaucrat. Mr. Yezhov was a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1935-1939, and held various positions, including head of the secret police force NKVD from 1936-1938, overseeing mass arrests and executions during the Great Purge. He fell from favour with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and confessed--probably under torture--to various anti-Soviet activities. On February 4, 1940, two days after being convicted in a secret trial, Mr. Yezhov, 54 was executed by shooting, in the basement of a small NKVD station in Moscow.

120 years ago
1900

Disasters
More than 200 men were killed in Scofield, Utah in what was the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history to date.

110 years ago
1910

Born on this date
J. Allen Hynek. U.S. astronomer and ufologist. Dr. Hynek specialized in the study of stellar evolution and in the identification of spectroscopic binary stars, but was better known for his interest in unidientified flying objects. He was an adviser to the U.S. Air Force Projects Sign (1947-1949); Grudge (1949-1952); and Blue Book (1952-1969), with his position regarding UFOs changing over time from skepticism to open-mindedness. Dr. Hynek founded the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in 1973, and developed the "Close Encounter" classification system for those claiming to have witnessed UFOs. He died of a brain tumour, four days before his 76th birthday.

100 years ago
1920

Died on this date
Margaret of Connaught, 38. U.K. and Swedish royal family member. Princess Margaret, the elder daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married the future King Gustav VI of Sweden in 1905. The couple had five children and she was eight months pregnant with their sixth child when she died of sepsis, shortly after having surgery to remove a mastoid. Princess Margaret died on her father's 70th birthday.

Joe Leonard, 26. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Leonard was a third baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1914); Cleveland Indians (1916); and Washington Nationals (1916-1917, 1919-1920), batting .226 with 2 home runs and 61 runs batted in in 269 games. He died of acute appendicitis, eight days after playing his last game.

Labour
One Big Union (OBU) organizer Tommy Roberts called a general strike in the mines of the Sandon, British Columbia area; the strike destroyed what little was left of the industry crippled by the post-war market collapse.

Baseball
Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves and Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Dodgers each went the distance in a 26-inning pitchers’ duel before 4,500 fans at Braves Field. The game was called because of darkness with the score tied 1-1; the 26-inning length made it the longest game in major league history.

Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a New York Yankee--a blast over the right field roof of the Polo Grounds in New York in the 6th inning--as the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-0 before 12,000 fans. Duffy Lewis also homered; both home runs were hit off Herb Pennock (2-1). Bob Shawkey (1-3) pitched a 4-hit shutout.

90 years ago
1930

Space
"Pluto" was officially proposed by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular the for the name of the dwarf planet recently discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The name quickly caught on.

80 years ago
1940

War
The French steamship Ile de France left New York City with war material. Chinese Communist official Chou En-lai charged that the U.S.A., U.K., and France wanted to end the war in China only to bring the country's resources into the war against Germany.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a strong message to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini warning him of the dangers to Italy if it was to enter the European war on the side of Germany.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew and U.K. Ambassador to Japan Robert Craigie cancelled vacations to remain in Tokyo, hoping to improve relations between their respective countries and Japan.

Politics and government
New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser shuffled his cabinet, retaining all ministers but reassigning duties.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt conferred at the White House with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reorganization in an effort to gain support for his proposed merger of the Civil Aviation Administration and the Air Safety Board.

Economics and finance
Storage stocks of every commodity except cheese were at a three-year high in Canada due to the "Phony War."

Panama announced that it could not afford to buy its $1 million of allotted shares in the Inter-American Bank.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Senate-approved bill giving President Franklin D. Roosevelt the authority to freeze assets of belligerents held in the United States.

Labour
The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the Wage-Hour Law, excluding farm and farm-process workers from its provisions.

Olympics
The 1940 Summer Olympics, originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo and then moved to Helsinki, were cancelled because of World War II.

75 years ago
1945

Died on this date
Josef Goebbels, 47. Chancellor of Germany, 1945. Dr. Goebbels was Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda in the Nazi administration of Adolf Hitler from 1933-1945.
He succeeded Mr. Hitler as Chancellor upon Mr. Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945. Dr. Goebbels and his wife Magda, 43, committed suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker in Berlin. Their six children were also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother.

War
Radio broadcasts from Hamburg reported that German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler had died the previous day in the battle of Berlin while at his command post in the Chancellery. As Soviet forces continued to diminish the German hold on Berlin, U.K. and U.S. forces linked up northwest of the German capital. Up to 2,500 people died in a mass suicide in the German town of Demmin following the advance of the Soviet Red Army. Yugoslav Partisans free Trieste, and British troops made contact with Yugoslavian units at Monfalcone, 8 miles northwest of Trieste. An Allied invasion opened on Borneo with landings on Tarakan Island, just off the northeast corner of Netherlands Borneo.

Politics and government
Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz became Fuehrer of Germany upon the death of Josef Goebbels.

Brazilian President Getulio Vargas announced his support for General Eurico Gaspar Dutra for the presidency.

Labour
About 72,000 U.S. anthracite miners walked off the job after their contract expired.

70 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Gloves of Gino, starring Sara Anderson, Leslie Barrett, Betty Barry, and Ross Martin

Westinghouse Studio One, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Miracle in the Rain, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, and starring Jeffrey Lynn, Joy Geffen, and Katherine Squire



Died on this date
Vera Maxwell. U.S. actress. Miss Maxwell starred in Broadway shows including Ziegfeld Follies of 1911; Ziegfeld Follies of 1912; and Miss 1917 (1917).

Radio
Springbok Radio, the first commercial station in South Africa, began broadcasting.

Theatre
The musical South Pacific by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II was awarded the Pulitzer Prize as the best American play of the 1949-50 season.

Literature
Gwendolyn Brooks became the first Negro American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, for Annie Allen.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Palestine Refugees Work and Relief Organization took over care of 300,000 Palestine Arab refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria from the League of Red Cross Societies.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee authorized the Navy to begin a $350-million fleet modernization program.

Society
The Wisconsin branch of the American Legion staged a mock Communist seizure of Mosinee, Wisconsin as an example of what life would be like in a "United Soviet States of America." "Communist invaders" theoretically sealed off the town; arrested Mayor Ralph Kronenwetter and Police Chief Carl Gewiss; shut down a church; purged the town library; and consigned citizens to a "concentration camp." Mayor Kronenwetter suffered a cerebral hemorrhage hours later, and died within a week. The exercise may have served as the inspiration for the U.S. Armed Forces information film Face to Face with Communism (1951).







Labour
Communists and anti-Communists held huge labour rallies within sight of each other on opposite sides of Berlin's dividing line, but police in both sectors cooperated to subdue the threat of mob violence.

10,000 Congress of Industrial Organizations Communications Workers of America members ended a seven-day strike against Western Electric Company after settlement of a dispute over allegedly unsafe working conditions in Indiana.

60 years ago
1960

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Hero, starring Eric Portman, Oskar Homolka, and Irene Tedrow

World events
An American Lockheed U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, U.S.S.R., and Mr. Powers was apprehended by Soviet authorities.

Indianica
The western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed from the division of Bombay State.

50 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Let it Be--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): All Kinds of Everything--Dana (7th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Ma Belle Amie--Tee Set
2 Carol Ok--Chris Andrews
3 Love is a Beautiful Song--Dave Mills
4 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel
5 Spider Spider--Tidal Wave
6 Travelin' Band--Creedence Clearwater Revival
7 Hitchin' a Ride--Vanity Fare
8 Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)--Edison Lighthouse
9 Wand'rin' Star--Lee Marvin
10 Tchaikovsky One--Omega Limited

Singles entering the chart were Die Tantes van Nantes by Al Debbo & Nico Carstens (#19); and Everybody Get Together by the Dave Clark Five (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 American Woman/No Sugar Tonight--The Guess Who (2nd week at #1)
2 Little Green Bag--George Baker Selection
3 Something's Burning--Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
4 Cecilia--Simon & Garfunkel
5 Vehicle--The Ides of March
6 Everything is Beautiful--Ray Stevens
7 Love or Let Me Be Lonely--The Friends of Distinction
8 Come Running--Van Morrison
9 Mr. Monday--The Original Caste
10 Let it Be--The Beatles

Singles entering the chart were Tennessee Bird Walk by Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan (#23); Our Love's a Chain by Illustration (#24); My Baby Loves Lovin' by White Plains (#26); Puppet Man by the 5th Dimension (#28); and The Letter by Joe Cocker with Leon Russell and the Shelter People (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Let it Be--The Beatles (7th week at #1)
2 Spirit in the Sky--Norman Greenbaum
3 Shilo--Neil Diamond
4 Something's Burning--Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
5 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel
6 American Woman--The Guess Who
7 Love Minus Zero - No Limit--Turley Richards
8 Temma Harbour--Mary Hopkin
9 You, Me and Mexico--Edward Bear
10 Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)--Diana Ross

Died on this date
Yi Un, 72. Korean royal family member. Great Prince Ye Un was the seventh son of Emperor Gojong and the younger half-brother of Emperor Sunjong, who was forced to abdicate when Japan annexed Korea in 1910. Ye Un married Princess Masako of the Japanese royal family in 1920. He served with the Imperial Japanese Army from 1917 through the end of World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant general. Lt. Gen. Ye Un held several commanding positions, including that of the 1st Air Army from July 1943, and became a member of the Supreme War Council in April 1945. Great Prince Ye Un was stripped of his royal status, was declared stateless, and was refused readmission to Korea until South Korean President Park Chung-hee allowed him to return in November 1963. The former Great Prince spent his last years with his younger sister Princess Deokhye at Nakseon Hall in Changdeokgung Palace, the Korean royal family's former residence in Seoul.

Politics and government
Lieutenant Colonel Emile Paul de Souza, chairman of the ruling military directorate of Dahomey, announced the formation of a presidential commission to replace the military triumvirate.

Protest
Police and National Guardsmen used tear gas to disperse a crowd on New Haven, Connecticut’s Town Green. Some rocks and bottles were thrown at the police, but there were no reported arrests or injuries. Earlier, 15,000 people attended a rally in support of the Black Panthers, whose leader, Bobby Seale, and others were facing trial on murder charges.

Protests erupted following the previous night's announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces would attack Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign. President Nixon referred to some campus radicals who opposed his policies as "bums," contrasting them with American soldiers, whom he called "the greatest."



Labour
International Workers' Day observations returned to Quebec as union members demonstrated in Quebec City in solidarity with 450 truck drivers from the private company Lapalme. The federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had withdrawn the company's postal transport contract, and barred truckers from associating with the Confédération des Syndicats National (CSN).

Boxing
George Chuvalo (57-15-2) knocked out Willie Tiger (17-17-2) at 1:53 of the 4th round of a heavyweight bout at Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit. It was Mr. Tiger's last professional fight.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
New York 115 @ Los Angeles 121 (OT) (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)

The Lakers outscored the Knickerbockers 22-16 in overtime before 17,509 fans at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Jerry West led Los Angeles with 37 points, 5 rebounds, and 18 assists, while Elgin Baylor added 30 points and 13 rebounds, and Wilt Chamberlain scored 17 points while grabbing 25 rebounds and adding 7 assists. Dick Barnett led New York scorers with 29 points.

40 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (Hot Press): Take that Look Off Your Face--Marti Webb (6th week at #1)

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Sun of Jamaica--Goombay Dance Band
2 Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)--Pink Floyd
3 Boat on the River--Styx
4 I Have a Dream--ABBA
5 It's a Real Good Feeling--Peter Kent
6 Atomic--Blondie
7 The Ballad of Lucy Jordan--Marianne Faithfull
8 Que sera mi vida (If You Should Go)--Gibson Brothers
9 Coward of the County--Kenny Rogers
10 Confusion--Electric Light Orchestra

Singles entering the chart were Weekend by Earth and Fire (#14); Money is Addiction (Of this Crazy World) by Ganymed (#17); and Give Me More by the Teens (#20).

World events
An estimated 3,000 boats were waiting at the Cuban port of Mariel to pick up Cubans wishing to flee the country for the United States, while 6,000 refugees had already been processed in Key West, Florida.

Terrorism
The Arab Iranians who had seized the Iranian embassy in London the previous day released one of their hostages.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Minnesota 0 @ Philadelphia 7 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)
New York Islanders 2 @ Buffalo 1 (2 OT) (New York led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Seven different players scored goals and Phil Myre made 27 saves for the shutout as the Flyers routed the North Stars at the Spectrum.

Bob Nystrom scored the winning goal at 1:20 of the 2nd overtime period at War Memorial Auditorium; itt was his third career Stanley Cup overtime goal.

30 years ago
1990

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Cocoa and Sympathy

Died on this date
Sergio Franchi, 64. Italian-born U.S. singer. Mr. Franchi, born Sergio Franci Galli, was a tenor who was popular singing opera and popular music on stage and television from the 1960s through the 1980s. He died of a brain tunour.

Crime
A nine-hour gun battle left two people dead at the Akwesasne Indian reserve, which straddles the borders of New York, Quebec, and Ontario near Cornwall, Ontario. The victims represented opposing factions in the ongoing violence between anti-gambling residents and pro-gambling Mohawk Warriors.

Politics and government
Canadian government House Leader Harvie Andre threatened to invoke a never-used section of the British North America Act to stack the Senate with Progressive Conservative members, increasing the upper house by eight members, if the Liberals, who held a majority in the Senate, continued to oppose the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Protest
Independent and unofficial organizations were allowed to march in the May Day parade in Moscow for the first time, and thousands of people jeered Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and other national leaders as they passed the reviewing area atop Lenin’s Mausoleum. These marchers, who included ethnic nationalists, human rights and religious activists, students, and intellectuals, carried banners of protest, with slogans such as "Down with the Cult of Lenin" and "Seventy-two Years on the Road to Nowhere." No May Day celebrations were held at all in the capitals of five of the dissident Soviet republics.

Religion
The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) was granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province, and was renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.

Agriculture
Canadian Grains and Oilseeds Minister Charlie Mayer announced that the price of No. 1 spring wheat was to drop by 18%, from $165 to $135 per tonne.

25 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Baby Baby--Corona (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)--Scatman John (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Self Esteem--The Offspring (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Back for Good--Take That

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Believe--Elton John (3rd week at #1)
2 I Know--Dionne Farris
3 No More "I Love You's"--Annie Lennox
4 Wonderdrug--Jann Arden
5 Can't Stop Lovin' You--Van Halen
6 You Lose You Gain--John Bottomley
7 O Siem--Susan Aglukark
8 In the House of Stone--Martin Page
9 Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?--Bryan Adams
10 Hold On--Jamie Walters

Singles entering the chart were Low Life by Bryan Adams (#86); Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen (#90); Shy Guy by Diana King (#93); Wonderful by Adam Ant (#95); Eat My Brain by the Odds (#96); For Adam's Sake (#97)/Heaven or Hell (#99) by Roch Voisine; and Do Ya by Barney Bentall (#98).

Music
I'll Be There for You by the Rembrandts, the theme from the television series Friends, was released as a single on EastWest Records.

War
Croatian forces launched Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 6 Edmonton 5

20 years ago
2000

At the movies
Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, and others, received its premiere screening in Los Angeles.



Died on this date
Steve Reeves, 74. U.S. bodybuilder and actor. Mr. Reeves won several bodybuilding titles before moving into acting. He was popular as the star of "sword and sandal" movies such as Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1959). Mr. Reeves suffered a shoulder injury in 1959 that ultimately led to his retirement from acting. He raised horses and promoted drug-free bodybuilding, and died from a blood clot, two days after surgery.

War
Rebel forces in Sierra Leone began seizing United Nations peacekeepers who had come to enforce a failed 1999 agreement between the government and the rebels. In return for amnesty for atrocities, the rebels had been required to turn in their arms, but they had refused to do so, and were marching on Freetown, the capital. Most of the captured peacekeepers were Zambians.

The first of 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel went on trial. Observers believed the arrest of the Jews was part of the ongoing power struggle between religious conservatives and moderate reformers in Iran. The conservatives had lost control of parliament in February, but still controlled the Revolutionary Courts.

Protest
Hundreds of anti-capitalist hooligans fought running battles with police in London. 95 were arrested and nine police officers were injured.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Conference Semi-Finals
Toronto 1 @ New Jersey 5 (New Jersey led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Colorado 1 @ Detroit 3 (Colorado led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Baseball
Todd Helton batted 4 for 5 with 3 home runs, 4 runs, and 5 runs batted in to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 15-8 win over the Montreal Expos before 35,104 fans at Coors Field in Denver. The teams combined to hit 10 home runs.

10 years ago
2010

Died on this date
Helen Wagner, 91. U.S. actress. Miss Wagner was best known for playing Nancy Hughes McClosky in the television soap opera As the World Turns from 1956-2010, with several breaks during that time, becoming the longest-serving actor in an American soap opera. She was given a Daytime Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004.

Horse racing
Super Saver, with Calvin Borel up, won the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby before 155,804 fans at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:04 4/5, 2½ lengths ahead of Ice Box, with Paddy O'Prado third.