Wednesday 7 May 2014

May 7, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Gifty Boateng!

520 years ago
1494


Died on this date
Kwestantinos II, 22
. Emperor of Ethiopia, 1478-1494. Kwestantinos II, born Eskender, acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Baeda Maryam I. The empire was ruled by a regency during Kwestantinos II's early years on the throne. Accounts differ as to whether he was killed in battle or assassinated. Emperor Kwestantinos II was succeeded by his infant son Amda Seyon II.

350 years ago
1664


Franciana
King Louis XIV inaugurated the Palace of Versailles.

310 years ago
1704


Born on this date
Carl Heinrich Graun
. German singer and composer. Mr. Graun was an operatic tenor who wrote about three dozen operas, and was regarded as the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time. He died on August 8, 1759 at the age of 55.

220 years ago
1794


Religion
French revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.

190 years ago
1824


Music
Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony received its world premiere performance in Vienna. The performance was conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.

150 years ago
1864


War
In the U.S. Civil War, the Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, broke off from the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County, Virginia and moved southward.

Transportation
The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide, was launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.

120 years ago
1894


Born on this date
George Drew
. Canadian politician. Mr. Drew was Mayor of Guelph, Ontario from 1925-1929, and then entered provincial politics in Ontario as a member of the Conservative Party. He was elected party leader in 1938, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1939. Mr. Drew led the renamed Progressive Conservative Party to victory in the 1943 Ontario provincial election, beginning 42 years of consecutive PC rule. He lost his seat in the 1948 provincial election, but didn't care, as he had decided to run for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. Mr. Drew was successful, but he wasn't successful in federal election campaigns in 1949 and 1953, as the PCs were soundly defeated by Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent's Liberals. The fortunes of Mr. Drew and the PCs seemed to be improving in 1956, but he suffered an attack of meningitis, and he resigned from active politics upon warnings from his doctors that he could die if he didn't. The PCs under new leader John Diefenbaker won a narrow victory in the 1957 federal election, and Prime Minister Diefenbaker appointed Mr. Drew as Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, where he served from 1957-1964. He served as the first Chancellor of the University of Guelph from 1965-1971, and died on January 4, 1973 at the age of 78, two months after suffering a heart attack.

100 years ago
1914


Born on this date
Arthur Snelling
. U.K. diplomat. Sir Arthur's posts included High Commissioner to Ghana (1959-1961) and Ambassador to South Africa (1970-1973). He died of emphysema on June 25, 1996 at the age of 82, while being treated for lung cancer.

70 years ago
1944


War
German U-boats sank the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Valleyfield. Yugoslavian partisans reported the capture of Kladanj, Bosnia, 30 miles east of Sarajevo. Japanese forces gained control of all but 14 miles of the Paking-Hankow railroad in China. British troops withdrew from their base of Buthedaung in western Burma. The United States Army disclosed that there were 183,618 prisoners of war in the United States: 133,155 German; 50,136 Italians; and 347 Japanese.

Diplomacy
General Charles de Gaulle said that France wanted to be a centre of cooperation in western Europe and a permanent ally of Russia.

Chess
Arnold Denker defeated Reuben Fine to win the national championship of the U.S.A.

60 years ago
1954


Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Secret Love--Doris Day (2nd week at #1)

War
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which had begun on March 13, ended in a French defeat and a Vietnamese victory.

50 years ago
1964


Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Little Children--Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Don't Throw Your Love Away--The Searchers

Disasters
Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashed near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation later reported that a cockpit recorder tape indicated that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.

40 years ago
1974


Hit parade
#1 single in France: Waterloo--ABBA (2nd week at #1)

Scandal
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (Republican--Pennsylvania) said that transcripts of recordings of White House conversations related to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and the subsequent cover-up portrayed "deplorable, disgusting, shabby, immoral performances" by all those involved, including President Richard Nixon. House of Representatives Minority Leader John J. Rhodes (Republican--Arizona) and Senator Charles Percy (Republican--Illinois) added "shocking" to the list of adjectives.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Philadelphia 2 @ Boston 3 (Boston led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Bobby Orr scored with 22 seconds remaining in regulation time to give the Bruins their win over the Flyers before 15,003 fans at Boston Garden.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Boston 96 @ Milwaukee 87 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-2)

John Havlicek and Dave Cowens each scored 28 points as the Celtics defeated the Bucks before 10,938 fans at Milwaukee Arena. Milwaukee center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led all scorers with 37 points.

30 years ago
1984


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Eat It--"Weird Al" Yankovic

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Relax--Frankie Goes to Hollywood

War
A Saudi tanker leaving the Iranian oil terminal of Kharg Island was hit by an Iraqi missile, four days after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had urged "my Arab brothers to avoid chartering their ships to foreign companies that load oil at Kharg Island."

Politics and government
U.S. Senator Gary Hart (Colorado) won the Colorado caucuses in the contest for the Democratic party nomination for President of the United States in the November 1984 election.

Law
U.S. Vietnam War veterans reached an out-of-court settlement with seven chemical companies in their class-action suit related to Agent Orange, a herbicide that had been used as a defoliant in Vietnam. The suit charged that dioxin, a by-product of Agent Orange, had caused cancer as well as nerve, liver, and skin damage, and had also resulted in miscarriages and birth defects. The suit involved 15,000 veterans and members of their families, but the agreement allowed for the possibility of many more people sharing in the $180 billion made available for compensation. In the settlement, the companies made no acknowledgment of culpability. A court-approved panel was to authorize disbursement to claimants from a trust fund that was to be established immediately. The settlement, believed to be the largest in the history of product-liability law, left open the question of culpability by the United States government.

25 years ago
1989


Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): The Look--Roxette

#1 single in Switzerland: Looking for Freedom--David Hasselhoff (2nd week at #1)

Defense
Auxiliary minesweepers HMCS Anticosti and HMCS Moresby were commissioned into the Canadian Navy at Halifax.

Politics and government
International observers, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, were in Panama were that country's presidential and legislative elections. Independent tallies showed that opposition candidate Guillermo Endara had won the presidential election in a landslide over Carlos Duque, the hand-picked candidate of dictator General Manuel Noriega. Gen. Noriega's government annulled the election before all the votes had been counted.

Canadiana
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Montreal Mayor Jean Doré were among those in attendance at the inauguration of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference Finals
Montreal 3 @ Philadelphia 0 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-1)

20 years ago
1994


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): The Sign--Ace of Base (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: I'll Remember--Madonna

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Sister Golden Hair--Spanic (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): The Most Beautiful Girl in the World--The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Love Symbol) (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): Without You--Mariah Carey (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): It's Alright--East 17

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): I Like to Move It--Reel 2 Real featuring the Mad Stuntman

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): The Real Thing--Tony Di Bart

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 The Sign--Ace of Base (5th week at #1)
2 Bump n' Grind--R. Kelly
3 The Most Beautiful Girl in the World--The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Love Symbol)
4 Return to Innocence--Enigma
5 Without You/Never Forget You--Mariah Carey
6 Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm--Crash Test Dummies
7 I'll Remember--Madonna
8 Baby I Love Your Way--Big Mountain
9 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
10 Now and Forever--Richard Marx

Singles entering the chart were If You Go by Jon Secada (#54); Don't Turn Around by Ace of Base (#61); Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories (#74); Moving On Up by M People (#93); Shine by Collective Soul (#94); and Possession by Sarah McLachlan (#97).

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Most Beautiful Girl in the World--The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Love Symbol) (3rd week at #1)
2 Baby, I Love Your Way--Big Mountain
3 The Sign--Ace of Base
4 Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm--Crash Test Dummies
5 Without You/Never Forget You--Mariah Carey
6 I'll Remember--Madonna
7 Return to Innocence--Enigma
8 I'm Ready--Tevin Campbell
9 Streets of Philadelphia--Bruce Springsteen
10 So Much in Love--All-4-One

Singles entering the chart were If You Go by Jon Secada (#64); Leaving Las Vegas by Sheryl Crow (#68); Don't Turn Around by Ace of Base (#84); Always by Erasure (#88); Moving On Up by M People (#89); and Regular Thang by Ovis (#90).

Music
Randy Bachman led 1,322 other guitarists in an outdoor marathon in Vancouver, British Columbia, playing Bachman-Turner Overdrive's 1974 hit song Takin' Care of Business. The jam lasted for 68 minutes and 40 seconds, setting two world records: the greatest number of guitarists, and the longest mass guitar jam session in history.

Art
Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream was recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.

Horse racing
Go for Gin, with Chris McCarron up, won the 120th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:03.72. Strodes Creek placed second and Blumin Affair third.



10 years ago
2004


Died on this date
Nick Berg, 26
. U.S. businessman. Mr. Berg was looking for work in Iraq when he was beheaded by Islamic terrorists. The act was recorded on videotape and released on the Internet the following day.

War
At hearings before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Armed Service committees, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apologized to Iraqis for abuses of prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but rejected calls for his resignation.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the uunemployment rate had declined from 5.7% to 5.6% in March, and that 288,000 jobs had been created in April.

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