April 16, 2021

675 years ago
1346

Europeana
Stefan Dušan, "the Mighty", was crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans.

275 years ago
1746

War
British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland decisively defeated French-supported Jacobite forces commanded by Charles Stuart in the Battle of Culloden in Scotland; it was the last pitched battle on British soil. After the battle, many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.

200 years ago
1821

Born on this date
Ford Madox Brown. French-born U.K. artist. Mr. Brown was a painter of portraits and historical and moral subjects in a career spanning more than 50 years. His last major work was The Manchester Murals, 12 paintings for Manchester Town Hall depicting the city's history. Mr. Brown died on October 8, 1893 at the age of 62.

175 years ago
1846

Died on this date
Domenico Dragonetti, 83. Italian-born U.K. musician. Mr. Dragonetti was a double bassist who moved to London in 1794 and remained there for the rest of his life. He wrote various works for double bass, and designed the Dragonetti bow. Mr. Dragonetti died nine days after his 83rd birthday.

170 years ago
1851

Born on this date
Ponnambalam Ramanathan. Ceylonese politician. Sir Ponnambalam was a lawyer who was an unofficial member (1879-1892, 1911-1924) and an official member (1924-1930) of the Legislative Council of Ceylon and Solicitor-General of Ceylon (1892-1906). He died on November 26, 1930 at the age of 79.

150 years ago
1871

Born on this date
John Millington Synge. U.K. author, poet, and playwright. Mr. Synge, a native of Ireland, wrote mainly about working class Roman Catholics in rural Ireland. He was best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World (1907). Mr. Synge died of Hodgkin's disease on March 24, 1909, 23 days before his 38th birthday.

Farran Zerbe. U.S. numismatist. Mr. Zerbe began collecting coins as a child, and joined the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 1900. He served as chief numismatist (person responsible for selling government coins) at the World's Fairs in St. Louis (1904), Portland (1905), and San Francisco (1915), and was president of the ANA in 1908-1909. Mr. Zerbe's 1908 purchase of the ANA's journal The Numismatist for himself instead of on behalf of the ANA earned him the enmity of other numismatists. He sold his coin collection to Chase National Bank in 1928, and served as its curator until his retirement in 1939. Mr. Zerbe died on December 25, 1949 at the age of 78, and was inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame in 1969. The ANA awarded the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for distinguished service from 1951-2020, but removed his name from the award in 2021 after an investigation into accusations regarding his activities as ANA president and the decline in value of the World's Fair coins.

140 years ago
1881

Law
In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fought his last gun battle, against A.J. Peacock and Al Updegraff, resuting in the wounding of Mr. Updegraff.

130 years ago
1891

Politics and government
New Brunswick abolished the Legislative Council, the provincial Upper House.

125 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Robert H. Best. U.S. journalist. Mr. Best was a Vienna-based foreign correpsondent for United Press from 1923-1941, covering events in Central Europe. He fell under Nazi influence following the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938, and was fired by UP three years later for "non-performance." Mr. Best went to Berlin in 1942 and made propaganda broadcasts for Radio Berlin as "Mr. Guess Who," titled Berlin's Best Broadcast. His broadcasts, heard by Allied forces in Europe and transmitted by shortwave to the United States, generally blamed U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the Jews for World War II. Mr. Best was indicted in absentia by a U.S. federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in 1943 on charges of treason, and was returned to the United States after being arrested by British forces in Austria in January 1946. He was tried in Boston and convicted in April 1948 of 12 counts of treason. Mr. Best's appeal was unsuccessful, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of $10,000. He died in prison of a brain hemorrhage on December 21, 1952 at the age of 56.

110 years ago
1911

Born on this date
Guy Burgess. U.K. traitor. Mr. Burgess, a British Foreign Office official, was one of the Cambridge Five spies who passed Western secrets to the U.S.S.R. during the early years of the Cold War. He and fellow traitor Donald Maclean escaped to the Soviet Union in 1951 after Mr. Maclean came under suspicion in Britain. Mr. Burgess was a sodomite who drank himself to death on August 30, 1963 at the age of 52.

100 years ago
1921

Born on this date
Peter Ustinov. U.K.-born actor, playwright, and director. Sir Peter won Academy Awards for his supporting performances in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964), and was nominated for his supporting performance in Quo Vadis (1951) and, with Ira Wallach, for the original screenplay for Hot Millions (1968). His best-known play was Romanoff and Juliet (1956); he wrote, directed, and starred in the movie version (1961). Mr. Ustinov spent many years as an ambassador for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and served as president of the World Federalist Movement. He died on March 28, 2004, 19 days before his 83rd birthday.

80 years ago
1941

War
An estimated 400 German planes pounded London for eight hours in the heaviest "reprisal" raid of the European war. The German command said that the 2nd Serbian Army had capitulated; the U.K. conceded that Serbian resistance had ended. The Italian-German Tarigo convoy was attacked and destroyed by British ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

Diplomacy
Canadian Prime Miniser Mackenzie King met U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House in Washington to discuss hemispheric defense issues, and how Canada could earn more U.S. dollars for American purchases.

Defense
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked the Neutrality Act against Hungary for "having without justification attacked Yugoslavia." Under a new order released by the U.S. Adjutant General's Office, all soldiers would be subject to overseas duty, if necessary, whether or not they had volunteered specifically for such service.

Politics and government
The Ustaše, a Croatian ultranationalist organization is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 was effected. Ante Pavelich was named Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Economics and finance
U.S. Federal Price Administator Leon Henderson froze iron and steel prices at their first-quarter levels following a general 10c hourly wage increase granted to more than 525,000 steel workers.

Labour
U.S. Office of Production Management Director William Knudsen called jurisdictional strikes "plain stupid," and denounced strikes that took advantage of the defense program as "criminal."

75 years ago
1946

Died on this date
Arthur Chevrolet, 61. Swiss-born U.S. auto racing driver. Mr. Chevrolet, the brother of drivers Gaston and Louis Chevrolet, participated in the 1911 and 1916 Indianapolis 500. He and his brothers founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation in 1916; Arthur drove a Frontenac in the 1916 Indianapolis 500--placing 18th--and was driving a Frontenac in 1920 when he suffered career-ending injuries in a crash during practice runs for that year's Indianapolis 500. Arthur Chevrolet continued as an automotive and aviation engineer, but suffered from depression, and hanged himself nine days before his 62nd birthday.

Diplomacy
British High Commissioner Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham promised that the 1,014 Jewish refugees detained in Italy would be permitted to enter Palestine under the 1,500 monthly quota system.

11 Democratic congressmen and Labourite Vito Marcantonio asked U.S. President Harry Truman to sever relations with Spain.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to cite for contempt 17 officials of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee in New York for refusing to produce records demanded by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Medicine
Scientists at the Wister Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philadelphia disclosed the development of an alcoholic extract which destroyed tumours and cancers in albino rats.

Agriculture
U.S. Famine Emergency Commission chief Chester Davis said that the world food situation was worsening, while former United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Director Herbert Lehman accused the U.S. of "faulty planning" for famine relief, and urged reimposition of rationing.

Economics and finance
The Netherland, Belgium, and Luxembourg formed a customs and economic union at a meeting in The Hague.

British Food Minister Sir Ben Smith announced a sharp cut in the export of food products containing sugar or grain as a measure to aid the home market.

Labour
A conference of trade union representatives from American states ended in Mexico City after adopting resolutions to improve industrial relations and rejecting government control of industry.

U.S. President Harry Truman signed without comment the Lea bill aimed at curbing the power of American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo.

Major film studios in Hollywood offered an 18½c hourly wage increase to 17,000 workers as union leaders conferred on a possible strike.

Baseball
Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler ruled that players who jumped to foreign leagues were automatically suspended from organized baseball in the United States for five years. The Mexican League had lured several players away from the major leagues, especially from the New York Giants.

70 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Witness, starring Dane Clark, Howard Smith, and Florence Stanley

War
U.S. Senator Albert Gore (Democrat--Tennessee) proposed that the United States use atomic weapons to make a strip of Korean territory between Communist and United Nations lines radioactive and "dehumanized" in order to halt fighting on the peninsula.

Defense
U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur left Tokyo after farewell ceremonies before a crowd of 230,000.

Scandal
A U.S. federal court in Baltimore sentenced former Air Force General Bennett Meyers to a year in prison and a $15,000 fine for income tax evasion, the result of charges growing out of the 1949 "five percenter" scandal.

Economics and finance
The U.S.S.R. announced the completion of the latest five-year economic plan, claiming a 75% gain in industrial production.

Baseball
The Pittsburgh Pirates scored a run in the 2nd inning and 3 in the 3rd and held on to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 in the major league season opener before 30,441 fans at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Snow began falling in the bottom of the 1st inning. Roy McMillan made his major league debut with the Reds when he entered the game with 2 out in the 9th inning as a pinch runner for Dixie Howell, who singled. Bobby Adams then drew a base on balls, but Bob Usher flied out to right field to end the game. Cliff Chambers (1-0) was the winning pitcher over Ewell Blackwell (0-1).

60 years ago
1961

Abominations
In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro declared that he was a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.
Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Chicago 5 @ Detroit 1 (Chicago won best-of-seven series 4-2)

Ab McDonald scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal at 18:49 of the 2nd period at Olympia Stadium. It was the Black Hawks’ third Stanley Cup win, their first since 1938, and their last until 2010.






50 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): The Pushbike Song--The Mixtures

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 A Summer Prayer for Peace--The Archies (3rd week at #1)
2 Have You Ever Seen the Rain--Creedence Clearwater Revival
3 Home--Dave Mills
4 Silver Moon--Michael Nesmith & the First National Band
5 Knock Three Times--Dawn
6 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison
7 She’s a Lady--Tom Jones
8 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
9 Pushbike Song--The Mixtures
10 Do It--Neil Diamond

Singles entering the chart were The Song of My Life by Petula Clark (#18); Las Vegas by Tony Christie (#19); and Another Day by Paul McCartney (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 I was Wondering--The Poppy Family
2 I Am...I Said--Neil Diamond
3 Another Day--Paul McCartney
4 Oh What a Feeling--Crowbar
5 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night
6 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
7 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop
8 A Country Boy Named Willy--Spring
9 Free--Chicago
10 Timothy--The Buoys

Singles entering the chart were Albert Flasher/Broken by the Guess Who (#25); Sweet and Innocent by Donny Osmond (#27); Hats Off to the Stranger by Lighthouse (#28); Love Her Madly by the Doors (#29); and Me and You and a Dog Named Boo by Lobo (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why--Paul McCartney (3rd week at #1)
2 A Country Boy Named Willy--Spring
3 Power to the People--John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
4 One Toke Over the Line--Brewer and Shipley
5 Lucky Man--Emerson, Lake & Palmer
6 Me and My Arrow--Nilsson
7 I was Wondering--The Poppy Family
8 Pushbike Song--The Mixtures
9 Friends--Elton John
10 Sweet Mary--Argent

Singles entering the chart were Love Her Madly by the Doors (#23); Music is Love by David Crosby (#28); Rock 'n Roll Lover Man by Northwest Company (#29); and Crazy Love by Rita Coolidge (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 She’s a Lady--Tom Jones (2nd week at #1)
2 Where Evil Grows--The Poppy Family
3 Patricia--Ronnie Hawkins
4 I Am...I Said--Neil Diamond
5 Jodie--Joey Gregorash
6 A Country Boy Named Willy--Spring
7 Another Day--Paul McCartney
8 Tillicum--Syrinx
9 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night
10 If--Bread

Died on this date
William D. "Spike" Eckert, 62. U.S. military officer; Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1965-1968. A lieutenant general in the United States Air Force, Mr. Eckert worked as a management consultant to the aviation industry and served on the boards of directors of several corporations. Lt. Gen. Eckert, a compromise choice of the owners of the 20 major league teams, succeeded Ford Frick as Commissioner of Major League Baseball on November 17, 1965. The owners thought it would be desirable to have a commissioner who had a background and connections with business. Although he has been credited with improving the efficiency of major league baseball and helping to promote the game abroad, Gen. Eckert was regarded as ineffective in dealing with substantial business issues, lost the confidence of the owners, and was forced to resign at the end of the 1968 season as the threat of a players' strike loomed. Lt. Gen. Eckert died while playing tennis in the Bahamas.

40 years ago
1981

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Edmonton 2 @ New York Islanders 8 (New York led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Calgary 0 @ Philadelphia 4 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Minnesota 4 @ Buffalo 3 (OT) (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 1-0)
New York Rangers 3 @ St. Louis 6 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Rick St. Croix earned the shutout for the Flyers over the Flames at the Spectrum, while Paul Holmgren’s goal at 3:30 of the 1st period proved to be the winner.

Steve Payne scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the North Stars their win over the Sabres at War Memorial Auditorium.

30 years ago
1991

Died on this date
David Lean, 83. U.K. film director. Sir David was best known for large-scale epic films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); Lawrence of Arabia (1962); Doctor Zhivago (1965); Ryan's Daughter (1970); and A Passage to India (1984). He was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning for The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia.

Economics and finance
The Canadian Manufacturers Association (CMA) said that Canadians would save $6.5 billion a year if 500 or so interprovincial trade barriers were removed.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals
Detroit 2 @ St. Louis 3 (St. Louis won best-of-seven series 4-3)
Edmonton 5 @ Calgary 4 (OT) (Edmonton won best-of-seven series 4-3)

The Blues’ win at St. Louis Arena climaxed a comeback from a 3 games-to-1 deficit.

Esa Tikkanen scored the winning goal for the Oilers at 6:58 of the 1st overtime period as they eliminated the Flames at Olympic Saddledome.



25 years ago
1996

Died on this date
Stavros Niarchos, 86. Greek shipping tycoon. Mr. Niarchos, like rival Aristotle Onassis, became wealthy from petroleum shipping. Mr. Niarchos owned the world's largest supertankers, and later became a successful owner of race horses.

Lucille Bremer, 79. U.S. dancer and actress. Miss Bremer danced with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York City before embarking on a brief acting career in movies such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); Till the Clouds Roll By (1946); and Ruthless (1948).

Britannica
Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York announced that they were getting divorced.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Conference Quarter-Finals
Tampa Bay 3 @ Philadelphia 7 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Montreal 3 @ New York Rangers 2 (OT) (Montreal led best-of-seven series 1-0)
St. Louis 3 @ Toronto 1 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Vancouver 2 @ Colorado 5 (Colorado led best-of-seven series 1-0)

20 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Robert Osterloh, 82. U.S. actor. Mr. Osterloh was a character actor in movies and television from 1948-1968, playing minor roles in movies such as The Dark Past (1948) and White Heat (1949) and television series such as The Untouchables (1959).

Michael Ritchie, 62. U.S. movie director, producer, and screenwriter. Mr. Ritchie directed movies such as Downhill Racer (1969); The Candidate (1972); Smile (1975); The Bad News Bears (1976); and Fletch (1985). He died from complications of prostate cancer.

War
India and Bangladesh began a five-day border conflict, but were unable to resolve the disputes about their border.

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Sol Saks, 100. U.S. screenwriter and producer. Mr. Saks was a radio actor and writer in his younger days, but was best known for creating the television comedy series Bewitched (1964-1972). He wrote the screenplay for Cary Grant's last movie, Walk, Don't Run (1966).

Allan Blakeney, 85. Canadian politician. Mr. Blakeney, a native of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, was a provincial civil servant in Saskatchewan before entering politics. A member of the New Democratic Party, he represented four different Regina ridings in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly (1960-1988) and served in the cabinet of Premier Woodrow Lloyd before the government's defeat in the 1964 provincial election. Mr. Blakeney became national president of the New Democratic Party of Canada in 1969, and succeeded Mr. Lloyd as Saskatchewan NDP leader in 1970. He led the party to victory in the 1971 provincial election. Mr. Blakeney served as Premier of Saskatchewan until 1982; he created government corporations in the province's national resource industries, but was a strong advocate of provincial rights over natural resources. Mr. Blakeney's government was defeated in the 1982 provincial election, but he remained as Leader of the Opposition through another electoral defeat in 1986, and resigned as party leader in 1987. He died in Saskatoon of cancer.