September 24, 2008

1,240 years ago
768

Died on this date
Pepin the Short, 54. King of the Franks, 751-768. Pepin, the youngest son of Prince Charles Martel, was the first Carolingian King of the Franks, taking full control of the throne after suppressing his brothers. He expanded the realm, and donated several cities to the papacy. Pepin the Short was succeeded by his sons Charles I--better known as Charlemagne--and Carloman I.

90 years ago
1918

Scandal
New Brunswick's "Patriotic Potato Scandal" inquiry opened in the Saint John County Court House. After almost three years of inquiry, a tale unfolded of patronage, perjury, cover-ups, incompetence, and many other forms of political corruption.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Rob Roy. U.S. presidential dog. Rob Roy, a collie, was the favourite dog of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, and died of stomach ulcers.

75 years ago
1933

Died on this date
Ferdinand Bonn, 71. German actor. Mr. Bonn began his career on stage in 1885, and in 1905 founded Ferdinand Bonn's Berlin Theater, which collapsed after just two years. He frequently played detectives, including Sherlock Holmes in several plays. Mr. Bonn appeared in 80 films from 1912-1932.

70 years ago
1938

Tennis
Don Budge of the United States defeated fellow American Gene Mako 6-3, 6-8, 6-2, 6-1 to win the men's singles title at the U.S. Open Championships at Forest Hills, New York, becoming the first player to win the grand slam--Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open--in the same year.

Football
CRU
IRFU-ORFU
Exhibition
Toronto Argonauts 2 @ Toronto Balmy Beach 7
Sarnia 13 @ Ottawa 9

ORFU-university
Exhibition
Queen's University 0 @ Montreal Nationals 5

IRFU-university
Exhibition
McGill University 14 Montreal Cubs 3

University
Exhibition
Royal Military College 0 @ University of Western Ontario 38

WIFU
Winnipeg (3-1) 17 @ Regina (3-1) 10
Calgary (2-2) 5 @ Edmonton (0-4) 3

Art Stevenson's 49-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Nicklin in the 2nd quarter helped the Blue Bombers defeat the Roughriders at Parc de Young.

The Bronks punted for 2 singles in the 4th quarter to edge the Eskimos at Clarke Stadium.

60 years ago
1948

Died on this date
Warren William, 53. U.S. actor. Warren William Krech achieved success playing corrupt businessmen in movies such as Skyscraper Souls (1932) and The Match King (1932), and starred in movie series as Perry Mason (1934-1936); Philo Vance (1934, 1939); and the Lone Wolf (1939-1943). Mr. William died of cancer.

War
Chinese Communist forces captured Tsinan, capital of Shantung Province and a major rail and industrial centre, after a nine-day siege.

Mildred Gillars, better known as "Axis Sally," pled not guilty in Washington to charges that she had committed treason by broadcasting German propaganda during World War II.

World events
Argentine President Juan Peron touched off widespread anti-American demonstrations when he charged former U.S. cultural attache John Griffith with participating in a plot to assassinate him and seize the government for the opposition Labour Party.

Economics and finance
The French National Assembly passed Prime Minister Henri Queuille's anti-inflation plan, which called for higher taxes and reduced government spending in an effort to balance the budget.

Negotiators in Paris announced agreement on the first multilateral East-West transaction, an $80-million lumber purchase by six Western European countries from five Eastern European states.

Business
Honda Motor Company was incorporated.

Bolstered by a record $3.4-million congressional appropriation, the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division announced plans to investigate the Du Pont industrial empire. The Justice Dept. also filed a petition in New York to break up the Aluminum Company of America.

Labour
Dissatisfied with the French cabinet's wage increase proposals, French workers staged a two-hour general strike.

Football
NFL
Philadelphia (0-1) 14 @ Chicago Cardinals (1-0) 21

Charlie Trippi completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to Mal Kutner with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game to break a 14-14 tie as the defending champion Cardinals beat the Eagles before 27,875 fans at Comiskey Park. Mr. Trippi rushed 8 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring, and Paul Christman passed 30 yards to Mr. Kutner to make the score 14-0 after Pat Harder's second extra point. Philadelphia quarterback Tommy Thompson completed touchdown passes of 34 yards to Bosh Pritchard in the 2nd quarter and 42 yards to Pete Pihos in the 3rd, both converted by Cliff Patton. Chicago tackle Stan Mauldin pulled himself from the game in the 2nd half, but went back in for the last 2 minutes. In the dressing room after the game, he complained of a headache and then collapsed. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 1:03 A.M. on September 25.

60 years ago
1958

At the movies
The Defiant Ones, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and starring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, received its premiere screening in New York City.



War
Nationalist China claimed that its fighter planes had downed at least 10 Communist MiG-17s in fighting over the Formosa Strait.

Politics and government
Lebanese President Fuad Chehab appointed an eight-member cabinet headed by Rashid Karami, a Muslim, and composed of moderate opponents of former President Camille Chamoun.

Defense
Canadian Defense Minister George Pearkes decided to cancel the Canadian fire control and missile systems of the Avro Arrow program; it was a major step in the road to final cancellation of the program on February 20, 1959.

Economics and finance
Renato Costa Lima, the new president of the Brazilian Coffee Institute, rejected an African plan to stabilize world coffee prices through fixed export quotas.

The Southern Governors Conference, meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, voted to abandon the South's traditional free trade policy in favour of import restrictions, specifically on textiles and petroleum.

Labour
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruled that a union contract, regardless of the length of time for which it was negotiated, could prevent workers of a company from shifting to another union for no more than two years.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Hey Jude--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
60 Minutes, hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace, on CBS

This was the first broadcast of the long-running news magazine program.



Diplomacy
The United Nations General Assembly began its 24th regular session, and unanimously approved Swaziland as its 125th member, while electing Guatemalan Foreign Minister Emilio Arenales Catalan as president of the session.

Protest
Two days of clashes in Mexico City between university students and police in which students fired on police from university buildings and surrounding houses concluded with at least 15 deaths.

Disasters
11 people were killed, 23 injured, and 22 escaped unhurt when a U.S. Air Force jet tanker, with one engine out, crash-landed at Wake Island.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (12th week at #1)

Died on this date
Ruth Etting, 81. U.S. singer and actress. Miss Etting recorded about 60 top-10 hit singles from 1926-1935, including Love Me or Leave Me (1928) and Ten Cents a Dance (1930). She appeared on Broadway beginning with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1927, and starred in a series of comedy short films from 1929-1936. Miss Etting was primarily known for her tumultuous private life; she was married to Chicago gangster Moe "the Gimp" Snyder from 1922 until their divorce in 1937. He controlled her career, and when in 1938 she began a relationship with her pianist, Myrl Alderman, who was married, Mr. Snyder shot and wounded him in the presence of Miss Etting. Mr. Snyder ended up going to prison, Mr. Alderman ended up getting divorced, and Miss Etting married Mr. Alderman in December 1938. The couple settled near Colorado Springs, where she died.

Lyman Bostock, Jr., 27. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Bostock, the son of Negro League player Lyman Bostock, Sr., was an outfielder with the Minnesota Twins (1975-1977) and California Angels (1978), batting .311 with 23 home runs and 250 runs batted in in 526 games. He hit .336 with 14 homers and 90 RBIs in 1977, and signed a lucrative free agent contract with the Angels. Mr. Bostock got off to a poor start in 1978, and donated his first month's salary to charity, but raised his average to .296, batting 2 for 4 in a 5-4 loss to the White Sox in Chicago on September 23. He went to Gary, Indiana after the game to visit his uncle, Thomas Turner, as well as Joan Hawkins, a woman whom Mr. Bostock had tutored years earlier. They were accompanied by Miss Hawkins' sister Barbara Smith, and Mr. Turner was driving the women home, with Mr. Bostock in the back seat of the car next to Mrs. Smith, whom he had met just 20 minutes earlier. Her estranged husband Leonard followed them in his car, pulled up beside them, and fired a shotgun, hitting Mr. Bostock in the head. Mr. Bostock died several hours later; had he lived and continued his level of play, he may have ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Diplomacy
The leaders of Syria, Algeria, South Yemen, Libya, and the Palestine Liberation Organization concluded four days of talks in Damascus with an announcement that they had severed all relations with Egypt because of the previous week's Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (2-9) 18 @ Ottawa (8-2) 53
British Columbia (3-6-2) 25 @ Winnipeg (7-4) 32
Calgary (4-3-3) 20 @ Edmonton (8-1-2) 20

Tony Gabriel caught 3 touchdown passes and Larry Brune returned a blocked punt 15 yards for a touchdown as the Rough Riders routed the Roughriders before 24,960 fans at Lansdowne Park, outscoring them 36-0 in the last 24 1/2 minutes.

Jerry Tagge completed 34 of 49 passes for 430 yards, but his Lions still lost to the Blue Bombers before 27,201 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. The Lions had the ball at the Winnipeg 10-yard line in the last minute, but Mr. Tagge's third-down pass to Jim Young in the Winnipeg end zone was incomplete. It was the first Canadian Football League game for Winnipeg quarterback Terry Luck, who dressed as the backup to Dieter Brock.

Dave Cutler's 20-yard field goal with 55 seconds remaining in the game--which the Stampeders insisted was wide--gave the Eskimos the tie before 42,778 fans at Commonwealth Stadium. Calgary outplayed Edmonton for most of the game, but quarterback Tom Wilkinson directed a comeback in the last few minutes, passing 9 yards to Don Warrington for a touchdown, converted by Mr. Cutler, and then driving the Eskimos into position for the tying field goal. Mr. Wilkinson completed a touchdown pass to Tom Scott in the 1st quarter, while Mr. Cutler kicked a 55-yard field goal--the season's longest--in the 3rd quarter. Willie Burden scored the Calgary touchdown on a pass from John Hufnagel in the 3rd quarter.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Gimme Five 2--Jovanotti (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Stop--Sam Brown (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Stop--Sam Brown (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Un Roman d'amitié (Friend You Give Me Reason)--Elsa and Glenn Medeiros (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Desire--U2

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother--The Hollies

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother had originally reached #3 in the U.K. in the fall of 1969.

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Sweet Child o' Mine--Guns 'N' Roses (3rd week at #1)
2 Simply Irresistible--Robert Palmer
3 Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin
4 I'll Always Love You--Taylor Dayne
5 If it Isn't Love--New Edition
6 Love Bites--Def Leppard
7 Perfect World--Huey Lewis and the News
8 One Good Woman--Peter Cetera
9 Nobody's Fool--Kenny Loggins
10 Don't Be Cruel--Cheap Trick

Singles entering the chart were Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi (#46); Giving You the Best That I Got by Anita Baker (#78); Look Away by Chicago (#81); A Word in Spanish by Elton John (#83); I Can't Wait by Deniece Williams (#86); Talkin' Bout a Revolution by Tracy Chapman (#88); and I'm Not Your Man by Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers (#89).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Monkey--George Michael (2nd week at #1)
2 Sweet Child o' Mine--Guns 'N' Roses
3 Perfect World--Huey Lewis and the News
4 It Would Take a Strong Man--Rick Astley
5 Simply Irresistible--Robert Palmer
6 One Good Woman--Peter Cetera
7 Look Out Any Window--Bruce Hornsby and the Range
8 I Don't Wanna Live Without Love--Chicago
9 Forever Young--Rod Stewart
10 Don't You Know--Steve Winwood

Singles entering the chart were Talkin' Bout a Revolution by Tracy Chapman (#76); One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston (#81); Hold Me Now by One to One (#87); Flying on Your Own by Anne Murray (#91); Your Love Just Came Too Late by Eria Fachin (#94); How Can I Fall by Breathe (#96); and Please Don't Go Girl by New Kids on the Block (#98).

Olympics
Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the United States won the heptathlon at the Summer Olympics in Seoul with a record total of 7,291 points.

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (6-6) 31 @ Ottawa (1-11) 0

The Blue Bombers' rout of the Rough Riders before 18,523 fans at Lansdowne Park was the fifth and last shutout in the CFL in the 1980s, with Winnipeg posting four of them.

Baseball
Pascual Perez pitched a no-hitter as the Montreal Expos edged the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 before 14,088 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in a game that was called because of rain with runners on first and second bases and 1 out in the top of the 6th inning. Otis Nixon doubled to lead off the 4th inning, advanced to third base on a single by Dave Martinez, and scored when Andres Galarraga grounded into a force play.

Danny Jackson pitched a 4-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Rick Mahler, improving his 1988 record to 23-7, as the Cincinnati Reds edged the Atlanta Braves 2-1 before 21,098 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays had his bid for a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians broken up with 2 outs in the 9th inning, giving up a bad-hop single to Julio Franco. Mr. Stieb settled for a 1-0, 1-hit victory before 8,157 fans at Cleveland Stadium. The Blue Jays scored the only run in the top of the 9th when Fred McGriff led off with a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Rob Ducey.

Mark Langston pitched a 1-hitter for the Seattle Mariners as they shut out the Texas Rangers 3-0 before 13,219 fans at Arlington Stadium. Jeff Kunkel singled with 2 out in the 5th inning for the only Texas hit, when Seattle right fielder Jay Buhner lost the ball in the lights.

Shortstop Jody Reed made an error on a ground ball by Willie Randolph, allowing Claudell Washington to score the winning run as the New York Yankees scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 before 51,392 fans at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox had scored a run in the top of the 9th to take a 3-2 lead.

Pinch runner Mark Davidson scored on a sacrifice fly by Jim Dwyer with 1 out in the top of the 9th inning to break a 2-2 tie as the Minnesota Twins edged the California Angels 3-2 before 25,290 fans at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels had runners on first and third bases with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, but Mark McLemore flied out to right field to end the game.

10 years ago
1998

Diplomacy
South African President Nelson Mandela visited the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Hull, Quebec, and unveiled a commemorative plaque honouring John Peters Humphrey, a Canadian jurist who served for 20 years as the Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, drafting and championing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. During his remarks at the unveiling, President Mandela expressed his desire that the Monument “inspire all who see it to join hands in a partnership for world peace, prosperity, and equity.” Mr. Mandela becomes the first foreign leader to receive the Order of Canada.

Canadiana
The government of Canada officially proclaimed the last Sunday in September of each year as Police and Peace Officers’ National Memorial Day.