Friday 31 August 2018

August 31, 2018

Married on this date
Happy Anniversary, Lois & Lee Morrow!

1,700 years ago
318


Died on this date
Liu Cong
. Emperor of Han Zhao, 310-318. Liu Cong was a son of Emperor Liu Yuan, who founded Han Zhao, a state of the nomadic Xiongnu people. Following Liu Yuan's death in 310, Liu Cong won a power struggle by killing his older brother Liu He. Liu Cong became increasingly dictatorial during his reign, and died of a brief illness, apparently brought on by the death of his son Liu Kang in a fire in the summer of 318. Liu Cong was succeeded on the throne by his son Liu Can.

1,000 years ago
1018


Born on this date
Jeongjong II
. King of Goryeo (Korea), 1034-1046. Jeongjong II, the second son of Hyeonjong, succeeded his elder brother Deokjong on the throne. Jeongjong II completed the Cheolli Jangseong, an enormous wall across northern Korea, in 1044. King Jeongjong II died on June 24, 1046 at the age of 27 and was succeeded by his younger brother Munjong.

850 years ago
1168


Born on this date
Zhang Zong
. Emperor of China, 1189-1208. Zhang Zong, born Madage, succeeded his grandfather Shizong as Emperor of the Jin dynasty. He encouraged the use of the Jurchen language and customs, and built Confucian temples throughout the empire. Zhang Zong died on December 29, 1208 at the age of 40, less than a month short of 20 years on the throne. He was succeeded by his son Wanyan Yongji.

800 years ago
1218


Died on this date
Al-Adil I, 73
. Sultan of Egypt, 1200-1218. Emir of Damascus, 1196-1218. Al Adil I, whose full name was al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, was known in the West as Saphadin, the younger brother of Saladin. Saphadin succeeded his brother as Emir of Damascus, and won a power struggle with his brothers to become Sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty. Sultan Al-Adil I promoted trade and good relations with the Crusader states, but he was killed in a campaign against a Crusader invasion, and was succeeded on the throne by his son Al-Kamil.

425 years ago
1593


Died on this date
Pierre Barrière
. French criminal. Mr. Barrière was executed by breaking on the wheel and dismemberment four days after attempting to assassinate King Henry IV. Mr. Barrière was denounced by a Dominican priest to whom he had confessed the crime.

330 years ago
1688


Died on this date
John Bunyan, 59
. English author and preacher. Mr. Bunyan, a non-conformist, was best known for his allegorical novel The Pilgrim's Progress (1678-1684).

175 years ago
1843


Born on this date
Georg von Hertling
. Chancellor of the German Empire, 1917-1918. Mr. Hertling, a member of the Centre Party, was Minister-President of Bavaria from 1912-1917 before serving as Chancellor of the German Empire and Minister-President of Prussia. He was viewed as a puppet of German military leaders during the last year of World War I, and was forced to resign as Chancellor on September 30, 1918 when it was clear that he was unable to manage the collapse of the home front. Mr. Hertling died just three months later on January 4, 1919 at the age of 75.

130 years ago
1888


Died on this date
Mary Ann Nichols, 43
. U.K. murder victim. Mrs. Nichols, a prostitute in the Whitechapel area of London, was considered to be the first victim of the murderer known as Jack the Ripper.

110 years ago
1908


Born on this date
William Saroyan
. U.S. author and playwright. Mr. Saroyan was the son of Armenian immigrants, and wrote extensively about the Armenian immigrant experience in California. His play The Time of Your Life (1939) became the first drama to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. He won an Academy Award for his story for The Human Comedy (1943). When MGM Pictures rejected Mr. Saroyan's original script for the movie, he had it published as a novel, shortly before the film's release. Mr. Saroyan died of prostate cancer on May 18, 1981 at the age of 72.

100 years ago
1918


Born on this date
Kenny Washington
. U.S. football player and actor. Mr. Washington was a halfback with the University of California at Los Angeles Bruins in the late 1930s, leading the nation in total offense and earning All-American recognition in 1939, his senior year. He played with the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League (1940-1945), earning all-Star honours every year, while also working with the Los Angeles Police Department, as a knee injury made him ineligible for the military draft during World War II. Mr. Washington also played baseball at UCLA, and was regarded more highly than his teammate, Jackie Robinson; Mr. Washington was a third baseman, and played 6 games with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League (1950), batting 0 for 8 with a base on balls and a run. He joined the Los Angeles Rams in 1946, becoming the first Negro to sign with a National Football League team in the post-World War II era. Knee injuries shortened his career, but he played with the Rams through 1948, averaging 6.1 yards per rush. Mr. Washington also appeared in several movies from 1940-1950, starring in While Thousands Cheer (1940). He returned to the LAPD after his career, and scouted for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mr. Washington was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956, and died from heart and lung problems on June 24, 1971 at the age of 52.

Ana María González. Mexican singer. Miss González was famous throughout Latin America and Spain, performing in various genres in a career spanning almost 50 years. She died of a heart attack on June 18, 1983 at the age of 64.

Alan Jay Lerner. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Lerner was a lyricist and librettist who was best known for his partnership with Frederick Loewe on musical plays such as Brigadoon (1947); My Fair Lady (1956); and Camelot (1960). He won three Academy Awards and three Tony Awards. Mr. Lerner died of lung cancer on June 14, 1986 at the age of 67.

90 years ago
1928


Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. notified the French envoy in Moscow that it would adhere to the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy.

Politics and government
The National Executive Committee of the U.S. Prohibition Party voted 4-3 to keep their U.S. presidential ticket in the field.

Crime
In Philadelphia, a U.S. federal grand jury, which for 10 days had been investigating the activities of gangsters and bootleggers, declared in a preliminary report that the city was in the grip of a wealthy, powerful, and highly-organized criminal ring, which, with the benefit of efficient legal advice, had conducted an organized system of bribery, robbery, assault, and murder, using notorious criminals, thugs, and gunmen "who have been put upon the streets of Philadelphia with deadly weapons, and in the conduct of their illegal purposes have not hesitated to indulge in bloodshed and wanton brutality."

80 years ago
1938


Disasters
Torrential rains hit the St. Lawrence River Valley in Quebec; 12 people were killed in flooding and landslides.

75 years ago
1943


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): White Christmas--Bing Crosby (3rd month at #1)

War
The Soviet Red Army opened a drive on Smolensk, 220 miles south of Moscow.

Politics and government
Chilean President Juan Antonio Rios revised his cabinet to give more posts to Radical Party members.

Law
India's highest tribunal upheld the right of the British viceroy to hold Hindu nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi and other political prisoners without trial.

Journalism
Without mentioning Drew Pearson's name, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a press conference, assailed the columnist as a chronic liar and said that his charge that Secretary of State Cordell Hull was anti-Soviet was a lie from beginning to end.

Oil
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced plans for new gasoline ration coupon centres to check thefts and permit stricter investigation of requests for extra supplies, after U.S. Representative Fred Hartley, Jr. (Republican--New Jersey) had charged that fuel saved by reducing Midwest allotments was going to black markets.

70 years ago
1948


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Near You--Bing Crosby; Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (4th month at #1)

Died on this date
Andrei Zhdanov, 52
. U.S.S.R. politician. Mr. Zhdanov held various positions, including Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. from 1939-1948. Mr. Zhdanov was intended to be the successor to First Secretary Josef Stalin, but he was a drunkard, and died in a sanatorium of a reported heart attack, shortly after taking a contrary stand on Yugoslavia to that of Mr. Stalin.

Diplomacy
Allied military governors began negotiations on a Berlin settlement, holding the first session of the Allied Control Council since the withdrawal of the U.S.S.R. on March 20, 1948. Allied deputy foreign ministers ended a year of discussions on disposition of Italy's foreign colonies without agreement.

Politics and government
Yugoslavian President Marshal Josip Broz Tito eliminated all non-Communists from his cabinet, with the exception of Justice Minister Frane Frol. Deputy Premier Eduard Kardelj replaced Stanoje Simich as Foreign Minister.

The French National Assembly gave Robert Schuman a vote of confidence following his appointment as Prime Minister by President Vincent Auriol.

Labour
American Federation of Labor International Ladies Garment Workers Union President David Dubinsky announced the formation of an IGLWU Political Campaign Committee to support U.S. President Harry Truman and congressional candidates opposed to the Taft-Hartley Act. The Congress of Industrial Organizations Executive Board also promised to back President Truman.

Illinois barred the Progressive Party from the state ballot in coming elections.

Chess
Herman Steiner of Los Angeles won the U.S. Chess Federation Championship in South Fallsburg, New York.

Football
IRFU
Ottawa (1-0) 36 @ Montreal (0-1) 18

Tony Golab scored 2 touchdowns and Doug Smylie, Bob Paffrath, Nelson Greene, and Lally Lalonde also scored TDs for the Rough Riders as they overcame an early 12-0 deficit to beat the Alouettes before 11,000 fans at Royals Stadium. Eric Chipper converted 4 of the Ottawa touchdowns, and Ace Powell converted the other. Bronco Reese and Glen Douglas scored to give the Alouettes an early lead, and Virgil Wagner closed the scoring with a Montreal touchdown.

60 years ago
1958


Sport
Italy won the eight-oar title and Australia's Stuart Mackenzie the single sculls title at the world rowing championships in Poznan, Poland.

50 years ago
1968


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): MacArthur Park--Richard Harris (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Rain and Tears--Aphrodite's Child (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): La nostra favola--Jimmy Fontana (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Du sollst nicht weinen--Heintje (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Help Yourself--Tom Jones (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Help Yourself--Tom Jones

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): People Got to Be Free--The Rascals (3rd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Ich Bau' Dir Ein Schloss--Heintje (10th week at #1)
2 Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong--Golden Earrings
3 Times were When--The Cats
4 Callow-La-Vita--Raymond Froggatt
5 Do it Again--The Beach Boys
6 Fire--The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
7 I've Gotta Get a Message to You--The Bee Gees
8 Abergavenny--Marty Wilde
9 Help Yourself--Tom Jones
--Dans Met Mij--Ben Cramer
10 Rain and Tears--Aphrodite's Child

Singles entering the chart were Classical Gas by Mason Williams (#34); Gotta See Jane by R. Dean Taylor (#39); and Ice in the Sun by the Status Quo (#40).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 People Got to Be Free--The Rascals (2nd week at #1)
2 Born to Be Wild--Steppenwolf
3 Light My Fire--Jose Feliciano
4 Turn Around, Look at Me--The Vogues
5 Hello, I Love You--The Doors
6 Sunshine of Your Love--Cream
7 Classical Gas--Mason Williams
8 Sealed with a Kiss--Gary Lewis and the Playboys
9 Soul-Limbo--Booker T. & the M.G.'s
10 Dream a Little Dream of Me--Mama Cass

Singles entering the chart were To Wait for Love by Herb Alpert (#79); I Wish it Would Rain by Gladys Knight & the Pips (#80); Hey, Western Union Man by Jerry Butler (#91); Shape of Things to Come by Max Frost and the Troopers (#92); Walk in the Park by Claudine Longet (#94); Private Number by Judy Clay and William Bell (#97); Fly Me to the Moon by Bobby Womack (#99); and The Funky Judge by Bull and the Matadors (#100). Shape of Things to Come was from the movie Wild in the Streets (1968).

Calgary's Top 10 (Glenn's Music)
1 Hello, I Love You--The Doors (3rd week at #1)
2 Sunshine of Your Love--Cream
3 1,2,3, Red Light--1910 Fruitgum Company
4 My Name is Jack--Manfred Mann
5 Girl from the North Country--Tom Northcott
6 Do it Again--The Beach Boys
7 Pictures of Matchstick Men--The Status Quo
8 On the Road Again--Canned Heat
9 Born to Be Wild--Steppenwolf
10 Lady Willpower--Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
Pick hit of the week: Street Fighting Man--The Rolling Stones

War
American deaths in Vietnam for the week of August 25-31 were reported at 408, while North Vietnamese and Viet Cong deaths ere put at 4,755, most of them in the attack on a U.S. camp at Duclap in the mountains near Cambodia. Total U.S. casualties reported since 1961 came to 27,508 killed and 171,809 wounded.

40 years ago
1978


Died on this date
John Wrathall, 65
. 2nd President of Rhodesia, 1976-1978. Mr. Wrathall, a member of the National Front, held various cabinet posts before serving as President until his death from a heart attack, three days after his 65th birthday. He was the last white President of Rhodesia.

Disappeared on this date
Musa al-Sadr, the Iranian-born Shia Muslim cleric and then religious leader of Lebanon, disappeared during an official visit to Libya.

Crime
William and Emily Harris pled guilty to kidnapping American newspaper heiress Patty Hearst from her Berkeley, California apartment in 1974.

Politics and government
U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed Agriculture Department counsel Sarah Weddington, an abortion rights advocate, to a women's issues position in his administration, replacing Midge Costanza, who had resigned a month earlier.

30 years ago
1988


Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Superstitious--Europe (4th week at #1)

Journalism
Moncton's daily newspaper Le Matin declared bankruptcy, leaving L'Acadie NOUVELLE, in Caraquet, as the only French-language daily in New Brunswick.

Football
CFL
Calgary (2-6) 17 @ Toronto (7-1) 33


Saskatchewan (4-4) 35 @ Winnipeg (4-4) 38

25 years ago
1993


World events
Church bells rang in Lithuania as the last Russian troops left Lithuania after more than half a century of Soviet and Russian occupation.

Environment
Canadian Fisheries Minister Ross Reid announced that east coast fisheries would be shut down in five more areas until the end of the 1993 fishing season and that quotas would be slashed in three other areas.

20 years ago
1998


Space
North Korea claimed to have successfully launched Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite, although no objects were ever tracked in orbit from the launch.

10 years ago
2008


Died on this date
Ike Pappas, 75
. U.S. journalist. Mr. Pappas was a correspondent with CBS News from 1962-1987. He was at the Dallas jail on November 24, 1963 and asked President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, if he had anything to say in his defense; at that moment, Jack Ruby fatally shot Mr. Oswald.

Ken Campbell, 66. U.K. actor and director. Mr. Campbell was known for his work in experimental theatre, especially for his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy Illuminatus! (1976) and his 22-hour staging of Neil Oram's play cycle The Warp (1979).

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (2-7) 6 @ Saskatchewan (7-2) 19

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