Hello there and welcome to the March 22nd, 2013 edition of Hangin’ in the Hammer; where we take a quick daily look at some of the interesting people and events from Canadian history, sports and entertainment associated with the day’s date and single out one (or more) special Canuck for our Great Canadian of the Day honours.
It’s great to see you all here as we get ready to do another of our quick daily treks through the Canadian past looking at some cool Canucks you should know. With us as has become the custom now, is the one and only Gordie Cornforsale, who has been fully advised and instructed in the daily details and will relate them to you now.
We shall work our way back to this day in 1849, when groups of young Tories went rampaging through the streets over the Rebellion Losses Bill. The group firmly objected to money being paid to those who were in their eyes, the cause of the rebellion trouble in the first place. Burning effigies of Robert Baldwin, William Blake and William Lyon Mackenzie, the group terrorized the citizens of Toronto for some hours. Similar protests would later erupt in Quebec as well, where they would even set the Parliament buildings in Montreal ablaze. The bill even had parliament members outraged to the point where future Canadian PM John A. Macdonald and William Blake agreed to step outside to settle their differences.
On this day in 1867, Queen Victoria gave her Royal Assent to the British North America Act or Constitution Act. The legislature had easily managed to pass through parliament just a few weeks earlier. It is a credit to those who worked to lay the ground work for the act in the years before it was introduced to the British House, that the lawmakers saw little need to make changes to it from how it had been originally written. A week later, as was the custom for Victoria, the act was publicly proclaimed and gazetted in London. Canada had been given the Royal thumbs up for launch in July.
On this day in 1885, the Winnipeg Militia received an order to make themselves ready and Major-General Frederick Dodson Middleton was given command of the troops to assist in dealing with the Provisional Saskatchewan Government. This group would be sent to eventually deal with the rebels at Batoche and would fight a major clash in April at Fish Creek. Middleton, who had previously been nominated for but, did not receive, a Victoria Cross, would later be granted a knighthood from her majesty Queen Victoria, for his service to the crown during the North West Rebellion.
On this day in 1929, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel sank the Canadian schooner ‘I’m Alone’ carrying some 2,800 cases of liquor, in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Its captain (John Thomas Randell) and crew were taken to New Orleans as prisoners for having violated American prohibition laws. At the time, the manufacturing of liquor was still legal in Canada and particularly in Quebec, where they never seriously considered a ban on the demon drink. The incident would prove to be a bit of a rough spot in relations between the countries for a while, but worse things were still to come in 1929.
From the world of sports, it was on this day in 1894, that the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association won the very first Stanley Cup championship series played by defeating the Ottawa Capitals 3–1 in the second game. The previous year, the Montreal shinny stars had been awarded the cup as the champions of the league but, no extra games were played once the season ended. As a result, Billy Barlow of Montreal would became the first player to score a Stanley Cup winning goal.
It was on this day in 1979, that the Hockey War finally ended, when the WHA and the NHL agreed to a merge for the coming 1979/1980 season. The new union meant that three new Canadian teams would be joining the league for play and the CBC TV deal, much to the chagrin of the Leafs. The Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers, the only new American entry, would all end up relocating to new homes; while the fourth team, the Edmonton Oilers, who had a secret weapon the others didn’t, managed to not only stay in place but, also capture 5 titles along the way.
Born on this day in 1931, in Montreal, QC, the captain of the starship Enterprise and the current star of Weird or What?, William Shatner. Bill has been quite the ambassador for our nation over the years and there was once some talk of making him our Governor General. (Is that a step down from Star Fleet Admiral?) We have selected Bill Shatner as today first Great Canadian of the Day.
Some notable Canadians born on March 22nd include; a former Leaf captain and HHoF member since 1986; Dave Keon; a three-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary award, Gabrielle Roy; Elizabeth Smellie, who was the first woman to make the rank of colonel in the Canadian Army; Aubert Cote, who grappled his way to an Olympic bronze in 1908; Maxwell Arnold Deacon, who helped the Canadian Olympic hockey team claim a silver medal at the 1936 games; Darcy Marquardt, who was a member of the 2012 Olympic rowing crew that claimed a silver medal in London; Victor Carl Lindquist, whose visit to the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid to play some hockey for Canada resulted in a gold medal and a winner of three world figure skating championships and two Olympic silver medals, Elvis Stojko. Elvis is another great ambassador of our nation, who managed to be at the very top of the skating world for a number of years. We were happy to select him as today’s second and the 500th overall Great Canadian of the Day.
On this day in 1998, the Juno Awards were held in Vancouver where Sara McLachlan was the night’s runaway star and David Foster was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Also collecting some Juno hardware that evening was Michael Phillip Wojewoda as Best Recording Engineer, for his work with Spirit Of The West. Today’s Juno Moldy Oldy is Home For A Rest.
Born on this day in 1936, Mr Roger Whitaker, who helped to inspire our daily musical question; when was the last time that you heard, The Last Farewell?
Today’s musical title, Heart Full Of Soul, took some inspiration for the fact that Keith Relf, the guy who lost his job to Robert Plant when the Yardbirds became The New Yardbirds (and eventually Led Zeppelin), was also born on this day in 1943. We dedicate that song to the final two Great Canadians of the Day, Elvis Stojko and William Shatner, who brought the nation a great deal of joy in their life’s journeys.
That concludes my contributions and now Puck will finish things off. So long.
Well, I was once more out voted and forced to add that on this day in 238 AD, Gordian and his son Gordian II were proclaimed Emporers of Rome. Oddly enough there were in total three Gordians.,(but I refuse to say, Hail Gordo.)
According to the historical records, the first printed book went into publishing on this day in 1454. The Gutenberg Bible had been due for release on the first day of Spring but, the world’s first paper jam caused a delay, which was also made even longer when tech support didn’t answer their page.
It was on this day in 1816, that our city (Hamilton) was named the district seat for Nassau. The distinction came with the provision that the village erect a courthouse and a jail, which George Hamilton went about doing at what is now the southwest corner of John and Main Streets. The main courthouse in Hamilton sits directly across the street from the old site, in the old Post Office building.
One last note for this date, Richard William Duncan Pound was born on this day in St Catharines, ON and went on to compete in swimming at the Olympics. Later he became the head Dick of the World Anti-Doping Agency, keeping steroids out of amateur sport.
Way back when in late June of 2010, I started writing, took the time to fix on a topic I felt I could write about every day and set about trying to improve my writing skills and hopefully have a little fun along the way. Since then, its pretty clear that I have learned a great deal about our country and its history as well as how the history of the world fits into what happened here. It was not without its trials, like trying to finish a blog in the middle of the night after working all day in Los Angeles and then getting the worst case of Montezuma’s Revenge I ever had to make the challenge even harder. I want to thank all those people who actually stopped by to see what I was doing these last 1,000 days. Your support was appreciated. As a final tribute to the Hammer we will spin one last bonus song, here is Junkhouse, who were nominated for two Junos on this day in 1998, with Shine.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out what was going on over here and have yourself a safe and fun day.
I’ve got a heart full of soul…
