Saturday 29 March 2014

March 29, 2014

125 years ago
1889


Born on this date
Warner Baxter
. 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 on May 7, 1951 at the age of 62.

Howard Lindsay. U.S. playwright, actor, and producer. Mr. Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, teamed with Russel Crouse to write Broadway plays from 1935-1962, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for State of the Union (1946). Mr. Lindsay also wrote and acted with his wife Dorothy Stickney, and the two co-starred in Life with Father on Broadway in New York in 1939. Mr. Lindsay died on February 11, 1968 at the age of 78.

70 years ago
1944


War
Allied forces withdrew from the eastern slopes of Mount Cassino in Italy, leaving the Nazis in control of all heights dominating the highway entering the Liri Valley. Nazi assaults at the Anzio beachhead were driven off. Soviet troops crossed the Prut River and reached the outskirts of Cernauti, capital of northern Bukovina. The U.S. Pacific Fleet attacked Japanese positions on the Palau Islands, 550 miles east of the Philippines, and Woleai and Yap Islands, east of the Palaus, destroying all enemy ships.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing American participation in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Politics and government
A report from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities said that the Congress of Industrial Organizations' Committee for Political Action was Communist-dominated and that Sidney Hillman had replaced Earl Browder "as the Communist political leader in the United States."

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced the end of rationing for all frozen fruits and vegetables effective April 2.

Labour
Montgomery Ward & Company labour relations manager John Barr told the U.S. National War Labor Board that the firm would not obey a board directive to renew a contract with the Congress of Industrial Organizations United Retail, Wholesale and Warehouse Workers Union because it had pending a court decision to declare the directive illegal.

40 years ago
1974


Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Baby Blue--George Baker Selection (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Dan the Banjo Man--Dan the Banjo Man

At the movies
The Great Gatsby, starring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, and Wiliam Atherton, opened in theatres.

Radio
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that it would gradually remove commercials from its AM stations.

Space
NASA's Mariner 10 became the first probe to fly by Mercury.

Archaeology
Local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, discovered the Terracotta Army sculptures that had been buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the 3rd century B.C.

Crime
One present member and seven former members of the Ohio National Guard were indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in Cleveland with violating the civil rights of four students at Kent State University who had been killed and nine who had been wounded during protests at the campus on May 4, 1970. The grand jury did not find any evidence of conspiracy.

Disasters
2,000-5,000 people died in floods in Brazil that ended on this day. As many as 1,000 were killed in Tubaro in southern Brazil.

Basketball
ABA
Western Division playoff
San Diego 131 @ Denver 111 (San Diego won sudden-death playoff for fourth place)

The Conquistadors defeated the Rockets at Denver Coliseum in a playoff necessitated by the teams finishing tied for fourth place in the Western Division with records of 37-47. The Conquistadors moved on to play the first-place Utah Stars in the Western Division semi-finals.

30 years ago
1984


Hit parade
Edmonton's top 24 (CHED)
1 Footloose--Kenny Loggins
2 Somebody's Watching Me--Rockwell
3 Miss Me Blind--Culture Club
4 I Want a New Drug--Huey Lewis and the News
5 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)--Phil Collins
6 Jump--Van Halen
7 Radio Ga Ga--Queen
8 Hold Me Now--Thompson Twins
9 Hello--Lionel Richie
10 Runner--Manfred Mann's Earth Band
11 Come Back and Stay--Paul Young
12 Adult Education--Daryl Hall and John Oates
13 Hyperactive--Thomas Dolby
14 Thriller--Michael Jackson
15 Don't Bite--Pretty Rough
16 Got a Hold on Me--Christine McVie
17 This Could Be the Right One--April Wine
18 Girls Just Want to Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper
19 Girls--Dwight Twilley
20 Joanna--Kool & The Gang
21 Leave It--Yes
22 You Might Think--The Cars
23 Don't Answer Me--Alan Parsons Project
24 Love Somebody--Rick Springfield

Labour
Lynn Williams of Toronto became the first Canadian to be elected president of the United Steelworkers of America.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the Index of Leading Economic Indicators had risen 0.7% in February.

Football
NFL
The Baltimore Colts moved all of their belongings from Owings Mills, Maryland to Indianapolis in a convoy of 12 moving vans that left in the middle of the night.

25 years ago
1989


Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Like a Prayer--Madonna (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Did I Tell You--Jerry Williams (6th week at #1)

Movies
The Academy Awards for 1988 were presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Rain Man won for Best Picture (Mark Johnson, Producer); Director (Barry Levinson); Actor (Dustin Hoffman); and Original Screenplay (Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow). Other awards included: Actress--Jodie Foster (The Accused); Supporting Actor--Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda); Supporting Actress--Geena Davis (The Accidental Tourist); Original Song--Let the River Run (Working Girl); Original Score--Dave Grusin (The Milagro Beanfield War); and Foreign Language Film--Pelle the Conqueror.

Music
The New Zealand/Australian pop group Crowded House played a gig for 80 people in the basement of Grant Harvey's home in Calgary. The 23-year-old film student won a MuchMusic contest that asked contestants what their house would look like if Crowded House paid a visit; his 4-minute, $87 video production won out over hundreds of other contestants.

Terrorism
The leader of Belgium's Muslim community and a colleague were shot to death in Brussels. Two days later, a pro-Iranian terrorist group claimed that it had killed the leader because he had criticized the fatwa (legal judgment) of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini against British author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses (1988) was regarded as disrespectful toward the prophet Muhammad.

Environment
Five days after the U.S. tanker Exxon Valdez had spilled 240,000 barrels of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska, the spill had extended to 45 miles.

Scandal
Michael Milken, head of the so-called "junk bond" division of the Wall Street investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, was indicted along with his brother and a third DBL employee on 98 counts of racketeering, mail fraud, securities fraud, and other criminal charges. The indictment charged that Mr. Milken had led a conspiracy to defraud DBL clients, shareholders, and the investing public. Mr. Milken, who had received $550 million in compensation from the firm in 1987, said that he would plead not guilty to all charges.

Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese concluded two days of testimony at the trial of former National Security Council member Oliver North, who was facing 12 charges in relation to his involvement with the mid-1980s Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. Mr. Meese testified that as the scandal unfolded, the administration of President Ronald Reagan had feared the possibility that Mr. Reagan would be impeached.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the Index of Leading Economic Indicators had declined 0.3% in February.

Hockey
NHL
Sergei Priakin, the first Soviet player allowed to play in North America by the U.S.S.R. Ice Hockey Federation, signed with the Calgary Flames.

20 years ago
1994


Died on this date
Bill Travers, 62
. U.K. actor. Mr. Travers was known for his starring roles in movies such as Bhowani Junction (1956) and Born Free (1966), the latter of which inspired him to spend the rest of his life as an animal welfare advocate.

Abominations
Evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders signed the joint declaration Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium. Dave Hunt provided an excellent commentary on the event in The Berean Call's May 1994 newsletter, The Gospel Betrayed.

War
Bosnian Serbs stepped up their bombardment of Gorazde, 35 miles southeast of Sarajevo, which they had first surrounded in May 1993. Gorazde had been intended to be one of six "safe areas" established under a United Nations agreement in May 1993, but few steps had been taken to protect the city.

Politics and government
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, who had served as Mexico's secretary of the budget and then as secretary of education, was chosen as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)'s candidate in the upcoming presidential election, six days after the assassination of the PRI's previous candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta. A second suspect was arrested by Mexican federal agents in Tijuana.

Football
NFL
Jimmy Johnson, who had led the Dallas Cowboys to Super Bowl championships after the 1992 and 1993 seasons, resigned as the team's head coach. Mr. Johnson and team owner Jerry Jones had differing opinions over who was more responsible for the team's recent success.

10 years ago
2004


Television
Māori Television Service, New Zealand's de facto public network, began broadcasting.

Defense
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as full members.

Abominations
The state legislature of Massachusetts voted 105-92 in favour of an amendment to create civil unions for sodomites and lesbians and ban same-sex "marriages."

Society
The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces, including pubs and restaurants.

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