July 31, 2014

175 years ago
1839

Born on this date
Ignacio Andrade. 25th President of Venezuela, 1898-1899. Mr. Andrade was a member of the Great Liberal Party of Venezuela. He died on February 17, 1925 at the age of 85.

100 years ago
1914

Economics and finance
The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. Trading didn't resume until December.

70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Whispering Grass (Don't Tell the Trees)--The Ink Spots (1st month at #1)

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Giant Rat of Sumatra

Died on this date
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 44. French aviator and author. Mr. Saint-Exupéry, one of France's best-known pilots in the 1920s and '30s, wrote a number of books, the best-known of which was the novella Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) (1943). While flying with the Free French Air Force he disappeared off the French coast near Marseilles while on a reconnaissance mission, and was presumed dead.

War
U.S. units in France swept down the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula and captured the town of Avranches. Soviet troops in Poland began outflanking Warsaw on the northeast, approaching within 10 miles of the city. Romanian peace terms submitted to Allied representatives were rejected because of Soviet objections. U.S. troops in New Guinea crossed the lower portion of the Driniumor River below Aitape and then began moving eastward.

Diplomacy
German Ambassador Franz von Papen warned Turkish Premier Sukru Saracoglu that a break in relations with the Axis would have "grave consequences" for Turkey.

Politics and government
Ecuadorian President Jose Velasco Ibarra named Alfredo Vera, a Communist, as minister of education.

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Heideröslein--Friedel Hensch und die Cyprys (2nd month at #1)

#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): The Happy Wanderer--Frank Weir and his Orchestra; Obernkirchen Children's Choir

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Little Things Mean a Lot--Kitty Kallen (Best Seller--9th week at #1; Disc Jockey--8th week at #1; Jukebox--5th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Little Things Mean a Lot--Kitty Kallen (7th week at #1)
2 The Little Shoemaker--The Gaylords
--Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra
3 Sh-Boom--The Crew-Cuts
--The Chords
4 Three Coins in the Fountain--The Four Aces
--[Frank Sinatra]
5 Hernando's Hideaway--Archie Bleyer
6 The Happy Wanderer--Frank Weir and his Orchestra
7 I Understand Just How You Feel--The Four Tunes
--June Valli
8 If You Love Me (Really Love Me)--Kay Starr
--Vera Lynn
9 Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight--The McGuire Sisters
--Sunny Gale
10 Hey There--Rosemary Clooney

Singles entering the chart were Half as Lovely (Twice As True) by Frank Sinatra (#20); Take Me Back Again by Tony Bennett (#33); Bumble Boogie by Ralph Marterie and his Orchestra (#36); and If I Didn't Care by the Hilltoppers (#38).

Died on this date
Onofre Marimón, 30. Argentinian auto racing driver. Mr. Marimón was a driver on the Formula One circuit whose most recent race had been the British Grand Prix, where he had tied his career-best performance with a third-place finish. He became the first driver to die at a Grand Prix race when he was killed in a crash while attempting to qualify for the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

Adventure
Mount Godwin-Austen (K2) in northern Kashmir, the world's second-highest peak, was climbed for the first time by an Italian team led by Ardito Desio. Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli were the first to reach the summit.

Baseball
Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves set a major league record of 18 total bases in 5 at bats by hitting 4 home runs and a double as the Braves defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 15-7 before 12,263 fans at Ebbets Field.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Won't Forget You--Jim Reeves (2nd week at #1)

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 A Hard Day's Night--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)
2 Thank You Girl--The Beatles
3 As Long as I'm Sure of You--Bobby Curtola
4 Lucky Star--Rick Nelson
5 Can't You See that She's Mine--The Dave Clark Five
6 Such a Night--Elvis Presley
7 Memphis--Johnny Rivers
8 Everybody Loves Somebody--Dean Martin
9 C'mon Everybody--Elvis Presley
10 Rag Doll--The 4 Seasons
Pick hit of the week: I'll Cry Instead--The Beatles
New this week: Johnny Loves Me--Floraine Darlin
And I Love Her--The Beatles
He's Sure to Remember Me--Brenda Lee
Promises--Patti Page
If I Didn't Have a Dime--The Furys
Everybody's Got a Home But Me--Lance Desmond

And I Love Her was from the movie A Hard Day's Night.

Died on this date
Jim Reeves, 40. U.S. musician. Mr. Reeves, known for his smooth baritone voice, was a popular country singer in the United States and throughout the world. His biggest hits included Four Walls (1957) and He'll Have to Go (1960). He and his business partner and manager Dean Manuel were killed when the plane that Mr. Reeves was piloting crashed in a thunderstorm near Brentwood, Tennessee. The wreckage and bodies were discovered two days later.

Space
The U.S. probe Ranger 7 sent back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes, just before crashing onto the lunar surface.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Toronto (3-1) 13 @ Edmonton (1-2) 22

Toronto quarterback Sandy Stephens, in his final CFL appearance, completed 7 of 12 passes for 77 yards in the Argonauts' loss to the Eskimos at Clarke Stadium.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Sugar Baby Love--The Rubettes (3rd week at #1)

Scandal
U.S. District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell sentenced former White House counsel John Ehrlichman from 20 months to 5 years in prison for conspiring to violate the civil rights of Dr. Lewis Fielding, as well as three counts of making false statements. Mr. Ehrlichman had authorized the 1971 break-in at the Beverly Hills, California office of Dr. Fielding, the psychiatrist to former U.S. Defense Department employee Daniel Ellsberg, who had leaked the "Pentagon Papers," documents related to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, to the press. Dr. Gesell, who referred to the break-in as "a shameful episode in the history of this country," also handed out sentences to three others involved in the action, all members of the "plumbers," men affiliated with the administration of President Richard Nixon who were assigned to "fix leaks." G. Gordon Liddy was sentenced from 1-3 years in prison, while Bernard Barker and Eugenio Martinez were given suspended sentences and three years of probation, on the grounds that they had been duped by high government officials and had been sufficiently punished. Mr. Liddy' sentence was to be served concurrently with the sentence he had recently received for his role in the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

Harold S. Nelson, former general manager of Associated Milk Producers, Inc., pled guilty to conspiring to bribe John Connally, who, at the time of the bribe attempt, was U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Connally had been indicted on July 29 on five counts in relation to accusations that he had received $10,000 in cash payments from AMP in return for recommending raised federal milk price supports. Mr. Nelson also admitted to conspiracy in connection with illegal corporate campaign contributions to a long list of public officials, including U.S. Senators Hubert Humphrey (Democrat--Minnesota) and Edmund Muskie (Democrat--Maine).

Football
CFL
Ottawa (0-2) 17 @ Montreal (2-0) 20
British Columbia (2-0) 29 @ Winnipeg (0-1) 22
Saskatchewan (1-1) 24 @ Calgary (0-2) 18

Don Sweet's 34-yard field goal with 2:12 remaining in the game gave the Alouettes their victory over the defending Grey Cup champion Rough Riders before 15,742 fans at Autostade. The winning kick was set up by an interception by Marv Luster.

Don Moorhead passed for 401 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Lions defeated the Blue Bombers before 20,000 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. Jim Young caught 3 of Mr. Moorhead's TD passes, covering 86,33, and 65 yards; Slade Willis scored the other B.C. touchdown on a 10-yard reception. Winnipeg quarterback Don Jonas completed touchdown passes to Brian Jack and Tom Scott. Mr. Scott was playing his first CFL game; also making his CFL debut was Dieter Brock, who dressed as the backup quarterback to Mr. Jonas.

Ron Lancaster completed 23 of 31 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown to Steve Mazurak as the Roughriders defeated the Stampeders before 23,616 fans at McMahon Stadium. Calgary quarterback Peter Liske completed 20 of 33 passes for 283 yards and touchdown passes to Tom Forzani and Moody Jackson.

WFL
Jacksonville (1-3) 16 @ New York (2-2) 24
Birmingham (4-0) 21 @ Detroit (0-4) 18
Florida (3-1) 6 @ Houston (2-2) 7
Philadelphia (2-2) 25 @ Portland (0-4) 7

Baseball
Joe Henderson pitched a no-hitter to lead the Iowa Oaks to a 10-0 win over the Wichita Aeros before 6,664 fans at Lawrence Stadium in Wichita in an American Association game. Leon Brown led the Iowa attack with a double, 2 singles, and 4 runs batted in.

30 years ago
1984

Theatre
Eleusinian Rites, Mysteries and Drama Soirees put on its first performance, a murder mystery at the Youth Emergency Shelter in Edmonton.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): The Look--Roxette (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): The Look--Roxette (6th week at #1)

Canada's top 10 (RPM):
1 Express Yourself--Madonna (2nd week at #1)
2 Batdance--Prince
3 If You Don't Know Me by Now--Simply Red
4 Toy Soldiers--Martika
5 So Alive--Love and Rockets
6 Good Thing--Fine Young Cannibals
7 Baby Don't Forget My Number--Milli Vanilli
8 Rock 'N' Roll Duty--Kim Mitchell
9 Rooms on Fire--Stevie Nicks
10 The End of the Innocence--Don Henley

Singles entering the chart were One by the Bee Gees (#76); I Like It by Dina (#85); Hangin' Tough by New Kids on the Block (#87); Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Great White (#89); Don't Look Back by Fine Young Cannibals (#91); Need a Little Taste of Love by the Doobie Brothers (#93); Shipwrecked at the Stable Door by Bruce Cockburn (#95); In My Eyes by Stevie B (#97); and That's the Way by Katrina and the Waves (#99). Don't Look Back and its B-side, As Hard as it Is, were from the movie Tin Men (1987).

Television
The Halifax-based cable station CBC Newsworld began broadcasting, being shown throughout Canada.

Baseball
The Minnesota Twins traded the previous year’s Cy Young Award winner, Frank Viola, to the New York Mets for five players: pitchers Rick Aguilera; David West; Tim Drummond; Kevin Tapani; and a player to be named later (pitcher Jack Savage). Mr. Viola was 8-12 with an earned run average of 3.79 in 24 games with the Twins in 1989, after going 24-7 in 1988. Mr. Aguilera was 6-6 with a 2.34 ERA in 36 games with New York in 1989; Mr. Drummond was 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA in 8 games with the Tidewater Tides of the AAA International League; Mr. Tapani was 0-0 with a 3.68 ERA in 3 games with the Mets and 7-5 with an ERA of 3.47 in 17 games with the Tides in 1989; and Mr. Savage, who wasn't assigned to the Twins until October 16, ended the 1989 season with a record of 3-2 and an ERA of 3.59 and 1 save in 33 games with Tidewater.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Swear--All-4-One (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Eins, zwei, polizei--Mo-Do (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: I Swear--All-4-One

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Love is All Around--Wet Wet Wet (10th week at #1)

World events
200 U.S. military personnel arrived to open the airport in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Virginia Grey, 87. U.S. actress. Miss Grey appeared in numerous radio programs and movies such as Another Thin Man (1939), The Big Store (1941), and All that Heaven Allows (1955), but was primarily known for being romantically involved with Clark Gable in the 1940s.

Laura Betti, 77. Italian actress. Miss Betti, born Laura Trombetti, was known for her friendship with director Pier Paolo Pasolini, and appeared in seven of his films.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product had grown at an annual rate of 3% in the second quarter of 2004, down from 4.5% in the first quarter.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (3-4) 24 @ Saskatchewan (3-4) 33