March 12, 2018

1,480 years ago
538

War
Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ended his siege of Rome and retreated to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.

130 years ago
1888

Labour
China approved a treaty barring Chinese labourers from entering the United States for 20 years. The treaty was in accord with a policy approved six years earlier by the U.S. Congress.

110 years ago
1908

Aviation
Toronto native Casey Baldwin became the first Canadian and first British subject to fly an airplane, crashing into Lake Keuka near Glen Curtiss's workshop at Hammondsport, New York.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Winnipeg Maple Leafs 3 @ Montreal Wanderers 9 (Montreal won 2-game total goals challenge series 20-8)

Moose Johnson and Bruce Stewart each scored 4 goals as the defending champion Wanderers routed the Maple Leafs at Montreal Arena to retain the cup. Hamby Shore scored 2 goals for the Maple Leafs.

100 years ago
1918

At the movies
Hearts of the World, produced, directed, and written by D.W. Griffith, and starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish, opened in theatres.

Born on this date
Elaine de Kooning. U.S. artist. Mrs. de Kooning was married to artist Willem de Kooning, and became an abstract expressionist and figurative expressionist painter herself, but was perhaps better known for writing and teaching about art in the post-World War II period. She died on February 1, 1989 at the age of 70.

Russiana
Moscow became the capital of Russia again after St. Petersburg had held this status for 215 years.

90 years ago
1928

Died on this date
S.M. Kinkead, 38. British aviator. Flight Lieutenant Kinkead, a competitor in the previous year's Schneider Trophy seaplane race, was killed off the Salshot (Southampton) air station when he crashed into the sea at 150 miles per hour.

80 years ago
1938

World events
The German 8th Army crossed the border into Austria in the morning, facing no military opposition. The German troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Hitler salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. One term used to describe this invasion was Blumenkrieg (War of Flowers). It marked the first big test of machinery for the Wehrmacht under the rule of the Nazis. That afternoon, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler crossed the border in his car at Braunau, his birthplace. He arrived at Linz that evening, and the reception for him at city hall was so enthusiastic that even the Nazis themselves were surprised.

75 years ago
1943

Music
Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man received its premiere performance by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as part of a fanfare project commissioned by the orchestra. Others among the 10 composers who produced works for the project were Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and Virgil Thomson.

War
Soviet forces recaptured Vyazma, 130 miles southwest of Moscow, claiming to have killed 9,000 Germans. U.K. Royal Air Force planes heavily bombed Stuttgart and other industrial and communication centres in southwestern Germany. Italian occupying forces in Greece abandoned the town of Karditsa to the partisans; on the same day, an Italian motorized column razed the village of Tsaritsani, burning 360 of its 600 houses and shooting 40 civilians.

Diplomacy
U.K. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden arrived in Washington for conferences on war and postwar problems.

Law
1940 Republican Party U.S. presidential candidate Wendell Willkie appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court against the cancellation of the U.S. citizenship of William Schneiderman, a Communist, for the second time. Mr. Willkie argued that conviction on the basis of seditious statements in Communist Party literature was preposterous, since guilt in America was personal.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced that rationing of meats, canned fish, and edible fats and oils, including butter and most cheeses, would begin on March 29.

70 years ago
1948

Died on this date
George Noble, 96. Irish politician. Mr. Noble was a leader of the Irish Republican Movement.

Edgar Grant Sisson, 72. U.S. journalist. Mr. Sisson was Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan from 1914-1917, when it was a magazine of investigative journalism and fiction by leading authors.

Diplomacy
In a complaint to the United Nations Security Council, Chile formally charged the U.S.S.R. with threatening peace because of the recent Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.

Europeana
The United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands established a Union of Western Europe in Brussels, covering defense, trade, and cultural matters.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Senate defeated a foreign aid amendment proposed by Sen. Robert Taft (Republican--Ohio) limiting Marshall Plan funds for the first year to $4 billion.

Business
General Lucius Clay of the U.S. military government in Germany announced a halt to the dissolution of German industrial monopolies, in the face of U.S.-U.S.S.R. tension.

Labour
Coal miners in northern France and Alsace-Lorraine struck for higher wages.

60 years ago
1958

War
The Indonesian government announced that its paratroops had landd in central Sumatra and taken Pakanbaru, 200 miles from the insurgent centres of Badang and Bukittinggi.

Politics and government
Cuba's week-old government resigned after President Fulgencio Batista again suspended constitutional guarantees for 45 days.

U.A.R. President Gamal Nasser decreed the abolition of all Syrian political parties and associations.

Labour
The International Ladies Garment Workers Union ended its week-long general strike after accepting a three-year contract providing for an 8% raise, overtime pay for piece workers, 6 1/2 holidays per year, and a severance pay fund for workers thrown out of jobs by shutdowns.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Words--The Bee Gees

On television tonight
Wojeck, on CBC
Tonight's episode: A Dime Harry Doesn't Need

This was the 20th and final episode of Wojeck, one of the best series ever produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The series starred John Vernon as Toronto coroner Steve Wojeck. The character was inspired by Dr. Morton Shulman, known as the "Crusading Coroner." Wojeck often dealt with serious social issues, such as abortion, homosexuality, or the plight of urban Indians, at a time when such issues were rarely depicted on television. Patricia Collins played Wojeck's wife Marty; Ted Follows played Crown Prosecutor Arnie Bateman; and Carl Banas was Detective Sergeant Byron James. The first 10 episodes were made in black and white, and were broadcast in the fall of 1966. The 10 episodes of the second season were made in colour. The pilot episode, titled Tell Them the Streets are Dancing, aired in the United States on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater on NBC on March 9, 1966. A made-for-television reunion movie, Wojeck: Out of the Fire, was shown on CBC on March 15, 1992, and is the only episode available on DVD (so far).

Asiatica
Mauritius achieved independence from the United Kingdom after 158 years of British rule, with Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam as Prime Minister. The new nation remained in the British Commonwealth. Independence was marred by communal rioting.

Politics and government
The New Hampshire primaries for the U.S. presidential nominations were held. Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, an outspoken opponent of President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War policy, took 42% of the vote in the Democratic primary; President Johnson took 48% on an organized write-in campaign. Former Vice-President Richard Nixon polled 79% of the vote in the Republican primary; New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller took 11% on a write-in.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (7th week at #1)

Died on this date
Gene Moore, 68. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Moore was an outfielder with six major league teams from 1931-1945, batting .270 with 58 home runs and 436 runs batted in in 1,042 games, and played 9 seasons in the minor leagues from 1928-1942. His best season was his official rookie year of 1936, when he hit .290 with 38 doubles, 12 triples, 13 home runs, and 67 RBIs in 151 games with the Boston Bees. Mr. Moore suffered several injuries in 1938 that shortened his season and hampered his career. He was with the St. Louis Browns in 1944 when they won their only American League pennant.

Golf
Tom Weiskopf won the Doral-Eastern Open in Miami with a score of 272. First prize money was $40,000.

Hockey
CHL
Salt Lake City 5 @ Tulsa 1

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Perdere l'Amore--Massimo Ranieri

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (8th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You--Glenn Medeiros

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Together Forever--Rick Astley

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Beat Dis--Bomb the Bass (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Father Figure--George Michael (3rd week at #1)
2 She's Like the Wind--Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser)
3 I Get Weak--Belinda Carlisle
4 What Have I Done to Deserve This?--Pet Shop Boys (with Dusty Springfield)
5 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley
6 Endless Summer Nights--Richard Marx
7 Man in the Mirror--Michael Jackson
8 Out of the Blue--Debbie Gibson
9 Just Like Paradise--David Lee Roth
10 Can't Stay Away from You--Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine

Singles entering the chart were Dreaming by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (#84); Anything for You by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine (#85); Strange But True by Times Two (#87); and Love in the First Degree by Bananarama (#90).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Pump Up the Volume--M/A/R/R/S (3rd week at #1)
2 Hungry Eyes--Eric Carmen
3 What Have I Done to Deserve This?--Pet Shop Boys (with Dusty Springfield)
4 Father Figure--George Michael
5 She's Like the Wind--Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser)
6 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley
7 Could've Been--Tiffany
8 Need You Tonight--INXS
9 Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)--Sway
10 Crying--Roy Orbison and k.d. lang

Singles entering the chart were What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstong (#78); One Step Up by Bruce Springsteen (#83); Electric Blue by Icehouse (#90); Push It by Salt 'N' Pepa (#92); I Won't Cry by Paul Janz (#93); I Want Her by Keith Sweat (#95); Some Kind of Lover by Jody Watley (#96); and Pamela by Toto (#97).

Politics and government
Rev. Jesse Jackson won the Democratic Party primary in South Carolina in the contest for the nomination for President of the United States.

Disasters
In Katmandu, Nepal, more than 90 people died when a hailstorm at a soccer game caused fans to stampede toward the exits.

Hockey
NHL
Chicago 4 @ Toronto 6

25 years ago
1993

Terrorism
At least 250 people were killed and 1,100 injured when 15 bombs exploded in Bombay, causing $10 million in damage.

Politics and governemnt
Janet Reno took office as the first female Attorney General in the United States.

Disasters
A huge storm system began sweeping across eastern North America from Canada to Cuba, affecting mainly the United States and causing over 110 deaths. Snowdrifts ran as high as four metres.

Track and field
Sprinter Bruny Surin of Canada won the 60-metre men's indoor world title at SkyDome in Toronto, covering the distance in 6.5 seconds.

20 years ago
1998

Energy
Quebec and Newfoundland resolved the long-running Churchill Falls hydro dispute.

Business
Mutual Life of Canada acquired Metropolitan Life for $1.2 billion to become Canada's second-largest insurance company; there was an expected loss of 1,100 jobs with restructuring.

10 years ago
2008

Scandal
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned, two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring; he was succeeded in office by Lieutenant Governor David Paterson.