Maurice Richard (1921–2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens between 1942 and 1960. A prolific scorer, he was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season and the first to reach 500 career goals. An eight-time Stanley Cup champion, he won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player in 1947 and played in 13 consecutive All-Star Games. Richard was a cultural icon for Quebec's Francophone population, as recounted in the short story The Hockey Sweater, which elevated him to a pan-Canadian hero. His 1955 suspension for striking an official precipitated the Richard Riot; some historians consider the incident a violent manifestation of Francophone Quebec's dissatisfaction over its place within Canada and a precursor to the Quiet Revolution. Richard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 and was named to the Order of Canada in 1967. The Canadiens retired his jersey number, 9, in 1960, and in 1998 donated the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy to the NHL, awarded annually to the league's regular season leading goal-scorer. (Full article...)
1783 – A cataclysmic eruption of Mount Asama(pictured), the most active volcano in Japan, killed roughly 1,400 people and exacerbated a famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths.
1914 – First World War: Adhering to the terms in the 1839 Treaty of London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the latter's invasion of Belgium.
The SAI KZ IV was a light twin-engined aircraft first built in Denmark in 1944 for use as an air ambulance. A single machine was built during the war, and was used by Folke Bernadotte while negotiating for the release of Danish prisoners in German concentration camps. It is now held by the Danmarks Flymuseum and has been restored to its original wartime configuration and markings. A second aircraft was built and flown in 1949, remaining actively operational until the mid 1960s.
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