April 6, 2013

560 years ago
1453

War
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II began his siege of Constantinople; the city fell on May 29.

220 years ago
1793

Politics and government
During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety became the executive organ of the republic.

125 years ago
1888

Died on this date
Thomas Green Clemson, 80. U.S. politician and diplomat. Mr. Clemson served as U.S. Chargé d’affaires to Belgium from 1844-1852, and as U.S. Superintendent of Agriculture in the administration of President James Buchanan from 1860-1861. He resigned his position when the Civil War began and returned to his home state of South Carolina to serve in the Confederate States army. Mr. Clemson left a legacy in his will that established the school now known as Clemson University in South Carolina.

120 years ago
1893

Religion
The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.

60 years ago
1953

At the movies
One Girl's Confession, written, produced, and directed by Hugo Haas, and starring Cleo Moore, Mr. Haas, and Glenn Langan, opened in theatres.



50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Walk Like a Man--The 4 Seasons

#1 single in France: Tous les Garçons et les Filles--Françoise Hardy (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): La terza luna--Neil Sedaka

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Ich kauf' mir lieber einen Tirolerhut--Billy Mo

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): How Do You Do It--Gerry and the Pacemakers

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): He's So Fine--The Chiffons (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 He's So Fine--The Chiffons (2nd week at #1)
2 The End of the World--Skeeter Davis
3 Our Day Will Come--Ruby and the Romantics
4 South Street--The Orlons
5 Can't Get Used to Losing You--Andy Williams
6 Rhythm of the Rain--The Cascades
7 Our Winter Love--Bill Pursell
8 Baby Workout--Jackie Wilson
9 You're the Reason I'm Living--Bobby Darin
10 In Dreams--Roy Orbison

Singles entering the chart were Two Faces Have I by Lou Christie (#78); A Love She Can Count On by the Miracles (#99); The Bird's the Word by the Rivingtons (#80); I Love You Because by Al Martino (#84); Heart by Wayne Newton (#90, charting with the version by Kenny Chandler); and Shut Down by the Beach Boys (#99). Shut Down was the B-side of Surfin' U.S.A., charting at #47.

Died on this date
Otto Struve, 65. Russian-born U.S. astronomer. Dr. Struve focused his research on binary and variable stars, stellar rotation and interstellar matter. He served as director of several observatories--most notably Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin--and was an early advocate of searching for extraterrestrial life.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Block Buster--The Sweet (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Mama Loo--Les Humphries Singers (3rd week at #1)

Space
The United States launched the probe Pioneer 11, whose mission was to study the asteroid belt, solar wind and cosmic rays, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, and the far reaches of the solar system. It was last heard from on November 30, 1995.

Protest
The Chogyal of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, and his American-born wife, the former Hope Cooke, went into seclusion under heavy palace guard as 15,000 protesters approached Gangtok, the capital of the Indian protectorate. The disturbances were set off largely by the National Congress and State Congress parties which had accused the Chogyal of rigging recent elections in the 18-member State Council in favour of his own party.

Diplomacy
Aides close to South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu reported that he had asked U.S. President Richard Nixon for a commitment of $700 million in aid per year through 1975, with a sharp reduction thereafter.

Hockey
WHA
Avco World Trophy
West Division Semi-Finals
Minnesota 1 @ Winnipeg 3 (Winnipeg led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Bobby Hull scored 2 goals to lead the Jets past the Fighting Saints before 7,354 fans at Winnipeg Arena.

Baseball
The American League began using the designated hitter in regular season play. The first DH to come to bat was Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees, who came to bat in the first inning at Fenway Park in Boston against Red Sox' startig pitcher Luis Tiant, and drew a base on balls with the bases loaded to drive in a run. Mr. Blomberg finished 1 for 3 in the game, while Boston designated hitter Orlando Cepeda batted 0 for 6 in his first game with the Red Sox. The Red Sox won the game 15-5 as Carlton Fisk hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam, and Boston second baseman Doug Griffin made 4 hits. The Red Sox knocked New York starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre out of the game in the 3rd inning, scoring 8 runs off him. Felipe and Matty Alou, teammates with the Yankees, combined for 5 hits off Mr. Tiant. It was the first regular season game for the Yankees since being purchased by Cleveland shipping magnate George Stgeinbrenner on January 3.

30 years ago
1983

Labour
U.S. President Ronald Reagan went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit a conference on the "dislocated worker" and a class of computer maintenance trainees who had been steelworkers. 4,000 protesters, many of them unemployed steelworkers, demonstrated against Mr. Reagan’s policies. Mr. Reagan said that much unemployment was structural due to changes in technology, but he promised that "smokestack industries" would not disappear.

Weather
Heavy rains, which kept up for a week, began hitting the southern United States. 14 inches fell in Hattiesburg, Mississsippi on April 6, and Governor William Winter declared a statewide emergency. In Louisiana, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Slidell were hard hit. The northeastern states were also hit, and the rain that fell in New York City made April 1983 one of the three wettest months ever recorded there.

Hockey
NHL
The Stanley Cup playoffs began. Television viewers in Alberta were able to watch the Edmonton Oilers open at home with a 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres edged the Montreal Canadiens 1-0.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Allt som jag känner--Tone Norum and Tommy Nilsson (8th week at #1)

Died on this date
Tirza Porat, 15. Israeli girl. According to the Israeli army, Miss Porat was accidentally shot by Israeli guards near the West Bank town of Beita. She was the first Israeli civilian to be killed in the occupied territories since the beginning of Palestinian unrest in December 1987.

Terrorism
About half of the 112 hostages aboard a Kuwait Airlines jet that had been hijacked the day before were released at Mashhad, Iran, where the plane had landed.

Politics and government
Televangelist Pat Robertson suspended his campaign, leaving VicePresident George Bush unopposed for the 1988 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.

Crime
Suspected drug dealer Juan Ramon Matta, seized in Honduras by U.S. authorities the day before, was returned to the Marion, Illinois prison from which he’d escaped in 1971 while serving a sentence for entering the U.S. illegally.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Hartford 3 @ Montreal 4 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Buffalo 3 @ Boston 7 (Boston led best-of-seven series 1-0)
New Jersey 3 @ New York Islanders 4 (OT) (New York led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Philadelphia 4 @ Washington 2 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Toronto 6 @ Detroit 2 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Chicago 1 @ St. Louis 4 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Los Angeles 4 @ Calgary 6 (Calgary led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Winnipeg 4 @ Edmonton 7 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 1-0)

20 years ago
1993

Scandal
Revenue Canada revealed that investigators had found 5,000 false tax returns filed from the Toronto area in a huge fraud that cheated the government of Canada of $60 million. Investigators stressed that at least 30 tax preparers were involved in unrelated efforts that used minor infractions to try to beat the system. The investigators blamed a large part of the problem on the unlicensed nature of the field of tax return preparation and the new electronic filing system that did not require receipts.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Gerald Emmett Carter, 91. Canadian clergyman. Rev. Carter was Roman Catholic Bishop of London from 1964-1978 and Archbishop of Toronto from 1978-1990. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1979.

Babatunde Olatunji, 75. Nigerian-born U.S. musician. Mr. Olatunji was a drummer who moved to the United States in 1950. He performed with musicians such as John Coltrane, and recorded several albums with his own band. Mr. Olatunji died in New York City the day before his 76th birthday.

David Bloom, 39. U.S. journalist. Mr. Bloom was a reporter with the National Broadcasting Company who died of a pulmonary embolism while accompanying the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.

War
In a friendly fire accident, 18 Kurds were killed when U.S. planes bombed a convoy of U.S. and Kurish troops in Iraq.

The United States flew Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (a London-base organization of groups opposed to the regime of President Saddam Hussein) and 500-700 Iraqi fighters to southern Iraq.