May 7, 2021

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Gifty Boateng!

1,670 years ago
351

War
The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus, Caesar of the eastern part of the Roman Empire and brother-in-law of Emperor Constantius II, began after his arrival at Antioch. The revolt, led by Isaac of Diocesarea, began with a night assault on the Roman garrison, which was destroyed, and allowed the Jews to procure the necessary weapons.

310 years ago
1711

Born on this date
David Hume. U.K. philosopher. Mr. Hume, a native of Edinburgh, argued that all human knowledge derives solely from experience, and that passions rather than reason govern human behaviour. He wrote on economics, religion, and other subjects in books such as A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740) and The History of England (6 volumes, 1754-1762). Mr. Hume died of abdominal cancer on August 25, 1776 at the age of 65.

180 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Gustave Le Bon. French polymath. Dr. Le Bon was a psychologist, sociologist, and anthropologist who was best known for his book Psychologie des Foules (The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind) (1895). He believed that crowds developed their own new psychological entity, the characteristics of which are determined by the "racial unconscious" of the crowd. Dr. Le Bon influenced people such as Theodore Roosevelt, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, and Sigmund Freud. He died on December 13, 1931 at the age of 90.

175 years ago
1846

Journalism
The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, was published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Disasters
A landslide obliterated the Ngāti Tūwharetoa village of Te Rapa on the south-west shore of Lake Taupō, killing 60 people in what remains New Zealand's worst landslide.

160 years ago
1861

Born on this date
Rabindranath Tagore. Indian poet. Sir Rabindranath was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West." He was the first non-European to win the prize. Mr. Tagore died on August 7, 1941 at the age of 80.

125 years ago
1896

Died on this date
H. H. Holmes, 34. U.S. criminal. Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, whose real name was Herman Webster Mudgett, was a physician who was a con artist, trigamist, and most notably, a serial killer. He confessed to 27 murders from December 1891-November 1894, during and near the 1893 World's Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Dr. Holmes was convicted of only one murder--accomplice and business partner Benjamin Pitezel--and was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, nine days before his 35th birthday.

120 years ago
1901

Born on this date
Gary Cooper. U.S. actor. One of the biggest movie stars of the first half of the 20th century, Mr. Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952). Other notable films of Mr. Cooper included The Virginian (1929); A Farewell to Arms (1932); Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); Beau Geste (1939); The Westerner (1940); Ball of Fire (1941); Meet John Doe (1941); The Pride of the Yankees (1942); For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943); The Fountainhead (1949); Ten North Frederick (1958); Man of the West (1958); and They Came to Cordura (1959). He died of cancer on May 13, 1961, six days after his 60th birthday.

Marcel Poot. Belgian composer. Mr. Poot taught at the Brussels Conservatory (1939-1966), serving as its director (1949-1966). He was a member of the group of composers known as Les Synthétistes; his compositions included seven symphonies, and other instrumental, orchestral, and chamber works. Mr. Poot died on June 12, 1988 at the age of 87.

Transportation
Moncton inventor Alex Carter and machinist Walter S. Bowness built New Brunswick's first automobile in their shop on Victoria Street.

110 years ago
1911

Born on this date
Ishiro Honda. Japanese film director. Mr. Honda was known for directing Japanese monster movies, which achieved worldwide popularity in the 1950s and '60. His films included Godzilla (1954); Mosura (aka Mothra) (1961); Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964); Monster of Monsters: Ghidorah (aka Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster) (1964); Kingu Kongu no gyakushû (aka King Kong Escapes!) (1967). Mr. Honda died on February 28, 1993 at the age of 81.

100 years ago
1921

Born on this date
Asa Briggs. U.K. historian. Professor Briggs was a specialist in the Victorian era, and was also known for The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom (5 volumes, 1961-1995). He died on March 15, 2016 at the age of 94.

Horse racing
Behave Yourself, with Charles Thompson up, won the 47th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:04 1/5. Black Servant placed second and Prudery finished third in the 12-horse field.



Baseball
Bob Meusel hit for the cycle to help the New York Yankees edge the Washington Nationals 6-5 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Babe Ruth struck out 3 times against Washington pitcher Walter Johnson (2-2) before hitting a home run off him in the 8th inning that landed in a tree past right field. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 8th and 2 in the 9th as they overcame a 4-2 deficit. Former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was among the 15,000 fans in attendance.

90 years ago
1931

Crime
A stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department took place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City. New York City police engaged in a two-hour-long shootout with Mr. Crowley, witnessed by 15,000 bystanders, before he finally surrendered.

80 years ago
1941

Died on this date
James George Frazer, 87. U.K. anthropologist. Sir James, one of the fathers of modern anthropology, specialized in the study of myth and religion. He was best known for his multi-volume work The Golden Bough (originally published in 1890), where he documented similarities among magical and religious beliefs throughout the world. Sir James posited that human belief progresses from primitive magic to religion, and finally to science. He and his wife Lily died within hours of each other.

War
General Henri Dentz, French High Commissioner in Syria, was reported to have received demands that German troops be permitted to pass through Syria in a drive on Suez.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the alien ship-seizure bill and sent it to the Senate. U.S. immigration officials, acting on orders of Attorney General Robert Jackson, began a roundup of mor than 200 German sailors in a dozen cities who had overstayed their leaves. U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox said that the Navy was "readier than ever," if called upon, to insure the delivery of war supplies to Britain.

Politics and government
A British House of Commons vote of non-confidence in the government of Prime Minister Winston Churchill was defeated 447-3.

Baseball
The Pittsburgh Pirates traded outfielder Lloyd Waner to the Boston Braves for pitcher Nick Strincevich. Mr. Waner, nicknamed "Little Poison" in contrast to his older brother, former Pittsburgh star Paul "Big Poison" Waner, was in his 15th season with the Pirates, but had appeared in just 3 games in 1941, batting .250 (1 for 4) with no home runs and 1 run batted in. Mr. Strincevich, in his second season with Boston, was 0-0 with a 12.00 earned run average in 3 games in 1941.

Detroit Tigers' left fielder Hank Greenberg was inducted into the United States Army, two days after playing his last game until 1945.

75 years ago
1946

Died on this date
Herbert Macaulay, 81. Nigerian politician and journalist. Mr. Macaulay was a man of many talents who is regarded by many as the founder of Nigerian nationalism. He worked for the British colonail service in the 1890s and 1900s, but eventually turned against the colonial government, and began advocating Nigerian nationalism. Mr. Macaulay was convicted by the colonial government once for fraud and once for sedition, making him ineligible for public office. He founded the Nigerian Daily News as a platform for his views, and founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1923; the party won all the seats in the Lagos Legislative Council elections of 1923, 1928 and 1933. In 1944, Mr. Macaulay co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and became its president.

Anton Mussert, 51. Dutch politician. Mr. Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) and its formal leader. He maintained his position during World War II, with German help, as German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler's "leader of the Netherlands people." Mr. Mussert was arrested on May 7, 1945 and was convicted of high treason in November 1945; exactly a year after his arrest and four days before his 52nd birthday, he was executed by a firing squad on the Waalsdorpervlakte, a site near The Hague.

Diplomacy
The foreign ministers of the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., U.K., and France agreed in Paris on Balkan boundaries in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Russia.

Defense
The United Nations Security Council subcommittee investigating Spain asked the 51 member nations of the UN to submit evidence of the Spanish threat to world peace.

A British delegation in Cairo announced plans to withdraw all British forces from Egypt as part of a proposed Anglo-Egyptian military alliance.

Politics and government
Hermann Dietrich was appointed food commissioner by the minister-presidents of the three states in the American zone of Germany.

Communications
The U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development revealed that wartime researchers in Germany and Japan had developed telephones of limited range which sent signals on beams of infrared light.

Business
Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, with about 20 employees.

70 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Lost Will of Dr. Rant, starring Leslie Nielsen, Russell Collins, Pat Englund, and Eva Condon



Died on this date
Warner Baxter, 62. U.S. actor and inventor. Mr. Baxter won the 1928-29 Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1928), becoming the first to win the award for a sound film. He starred in the Crime Doctor series of 10 detective movies from 1943-1948. Mr. Baxter co-invented a revolving searchlight for use in law enforcement, and helped to develop a radio device to allow emergency vehicles to alter traffic signals from two blocks away. He died of pneumonia.

Literature
The 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Literature was awarded to Conrad Richter for his novel The Town, while the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was awarded to Carl Sandburg for Complete Poems.

War
The U.S.S.R. proposed that foreign ministers of Communist China, the U.S.S.R., U.S.A., and U.K. hold a Japanese peace treaty conference within two months.

Economics and finance
The U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. indefinitely suspended negotiations for the settlement of the Soviet Union's World War II Lend-Lease debt.

Labour
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of 26 postal employees by the government on suspicion of disloyalty.

The U.S. Senate passed and sent to the House of Representatives a bill authorizing the government to import Mexicans for seasonal work on U.S. farms and imposing fines of up to $20,000 for employment of illegal aliens as farm labour.

Olympics
The International Olympic Committee in Vienna unanimously voted in favour of Soviet participation in the 1952 Olympic Games.

60 years ago
1961

World events
The central Congolese government of President Joseph Kasavubu admitted that it had ordered the seizure of President Moise Tshombe of the secessionist province of Katanga as he was leaving a conference of Congolese leaders in Coquilhatville on April 26. Mr. Kasavubu’s government announced that it would try Mr. Tshombe on charges that included the assassination of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba in February.

50 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Too Young to Be Married--The Hollies (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson (4th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Alan Garrity
2 Understanding--Peanutbutter Conspiracy
3 A Summer Prayer for Peace--The Archies
4 Have You Ever Seen the Rain--Creedence Clearwater Revival
5 What is Life--George Harrison
6 Home--Dave Mills
7 She’s a Lady--Tom Jones
8 Another Day--Paul McCartney
9 Vicki--Lance James
10 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins

Singles entering the chart were Happy Birthday Baby by Barbara Ray (#17); and Help Me Make it Through the Night by Sammi Smith (#19).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop
2 Sweet and Innocent--Donny Osmond
3 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night
4 If--Bread
5 Jodie--Joey Gregorash
6 I Am...I Said--Neil Diamond
7 A Country Boy Named Willy--Spring
8 Friends/Honey Roll--Elton John
9 Here Comes the Sun--Richie Havens
10 Me and You and a Dog Named Boo--Lobo

Singles entering the chart were Hot Love by T. Rex (#25); Try by Pepper Tree (#26); I'll Meet You Halfway by the Partridge Family (#27); The Drum by Bobby Sherman (#29); and Rock 'n Roll Lover Man by Northwest Company (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night (3rd week at #1)
2 Broken/Albert Flasher--The Guess Who
3 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
4 Lucky Man--Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5 Sweet Mary--Argent
6 Love Her Madly--The Doors
7 That's the Way--Carly Simon
8 Who Do You Love--Tom Rush
9 C'mon--Poco
10 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop

Singles entering the chart were Toast and Marmalade for Tea by Tin Tin (#27); Never Ending Song of Love by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (#28); Too Much Truth, Too Much Love by Dave Mason & Cass Elliot (#29); and I'm Comin' Home by Dave Edmunds (#30).

Space
The United States launched the Mars probe Mariner 8, but the upper stage of the Atlas-Centaur rocket began to oscillate in pitch and tumbled out of control four minutes after liftoff. The Centaur stage and payload separated about 100 seconds later and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere about 1,000 miles downrange before plunging into the Atlantic Ocean.

Basketball
ABA
Finals
Utah 110 @ Kentucky 116 (Utah led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Darrel Carrier scored 25 points and Dan Issel scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to help the Colonels defeat the Stars before 12,337 fans at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Willie Wise led Utah with 29 points and 17 rebounds.

30 years ago
1981

Hit parade
Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Morning Train (Nine to Five)--Sheena Easton
2 Kiss on My List--Daryl Hall & John Oates
3 Take it on the Run--REO Speedwagon
4 Keep on Loving You--REO Speedwagon
5 Angel of the Morning--Juice Newton
6 Bette Davis Eyes--Kim Carnes
7 Somebody's Knockin'--Terri Gibbs
8 While You See a Chance--Steve Winwood
9 Ain't Even Done with the Night--John Cougar
10 Being with You--Smokey Robinson

Singles entering the chart were Watching the Wheels by John Lennon (#17); I Love You by Climax Blues Band (#18); I Missed Again by Phil Collins (#19); and Another One Rides the Bus by "Weird Al" Yankovic (#20).

Edmonton's Top 12 (CHED)
1 Take it on the Run--REO Speedwagon
2 Angel of the Morning--Juice Newton
3 High School Confidential--Rough Trade
4 Just the Two of Us--Grover Washington, Jr.
5 Her Town Too--James Taylor and J.D. Souther
6 Kiss on My List--Daryl Hall & John Oates
7 Somebody’s Knockin’--Terri Gibbs
8 While You See a Chance--Steve Winwood
9 Ain’t Even Done with the Night--John Cougar
10 Morning Train (Nine to Five)--Sheena Easton
11 Turning Japanese--The Vapors
12 It Just Occurred to Me--Peter Pringle

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Minnesota 1 @ Calgary 3 (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 3-2)

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Houston 92 @ Boston 90 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Allen Leavell's late field goal gave the Rockets their win over the Celtics before 15,320 fans at Boston Garden. Moses Malone led the Rockets with 31 points and 15 rebounds, while Larry Bird led the Celtics with 19 points and 21 rebounds.





30 years ago
1991

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference Finals
Boston 1 @ Pittsburgh 4 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Baseball
Marquis Grissom hit a solo home run off Trevor Wilson with 1 out in the bottom of the 15th inning to give the Montreal Expos a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants before 10,197 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Giants scored a run in the top of the 12th to take a 2-1 lead, but Nelson Santovenia doubled home Larry Walker with 2 out in the bottom of the 12th to tie the score.

Pete O'Brien's 2-run home run off Doug Jones with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning climaxed a 5-run 9th-inning rally and gave the Seattle Mariners a 7-6 win over the Cleveland Indians before 9,511 fans at the Kingdome in Seattle. Cleveland led 6-1 after 7½ innings.

Harold Baines hit 3 home runs and a double in 4 at bats and drove in 7 runs, while Mike Moore improved his record for the season to 5-0 as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Baltimore Orioles 11-3 before 22,908 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

25 years ago
1996

Politics and government
Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning suspended MPs Bob Ringma and Dave Chatters from caucus for remarks they had made on a proposed amendment to a sodomite rights law; MP Jan Brown was suspended for criticizing her colleagues.

Economics and finance
The Ontario government of Premier Mike Harris cut provincial income taxes by 30.2%--a 7% reduction on July 1, 1996, and a further 8.5% reduction on January 1, 1997.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
Philadelphia 3 @ Florida 1 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Pittsburgh 3 @ New York Rangers 2 (Pittsburgh led best-of-seven series 2-1)

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Willard Boyle, 86. Canadian physicist. Dr. Boyle, a native of Amherst, Nova Scotia, was a pioneer in the field of laser technology and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device. He and George E. Smith shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor." Dr. Boyle died in Wallace, N.S. from kidney disease.

Seve Ballesteros, 54. Spanish golfer. Mr. Ballesteros won 90 professional torunaments--a record 50 on the European Tour--in a profressional career spanning 1974-2007. He won every major tournament at least once, with a total of seven. Mr. Ballesteros was ranked as the number one player in the world for 61 weeks from 1986-1989. He died after a long battle with brain cancer.

George Webley, 53. U.K. musician and broadcaster. "Big George" has been described as Britain's most successful composer of theme music, writing for theatre, radio, and television. He hosted several music programs on BBC radio from 1994 until his death from a heart attack, 22 days before his 54th birthday, after taking the drug mephedrone.

Horse racing
Animal Kingdom, with John Velasquez up, won the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby before 164,858 fans at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:02.04. Nehro placed second and Mucho Macho Man finished third in the 19-horse field.



Baseball
Justin Verlander (3-3) pitched his second career major league no hitter, striking out 4 batters and walking 1 for the Detroit Tigers as they shut out the Toronto Blue Jays 9-0 before 23,453 fans at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Toronto catcher J.P. Arencibia walked with 1 out in the 8th inning, but was erased on a double play. It was the major leagues' second no-hitter in five days; Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins accomplished the feat in a 1-0 win over the hicago White Sox on May 3.