December 11, 2008

320 years ago
1688

World events
King James II of England, while trying to flee to France, threw the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames.

290 years ago
1718

Died on this date
Charles XII, 36. King of Sweden, 1697-1718. Charles XII succeeded his father Charles XI on the throne, and recorded military victories in his early years, but defeat by Russian forces in the Battle of Poltava in 1709 marked the end of the Swedish Empire, and King Charles spent five years in exile in the Ottoman Empire, much of his time being spent under house arrest in Constantinople. He returned to lead his country's troops into battle, and was struck in the head by a projectile and killed during an invasion of Norway and a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten; conspiracy theories abound. Charles XII was succeeded on the throne by his sister Ulrika Eleonora.

170 years ago
1838

Born on this date
John Labatt. Canadian brewer. Mr. Labatt, a native of Westminster Township, Upper Canada (near present-day London, Ontario) inherited the Labatt Brewing Company upon the death of his father in 1866. Under his leadership, the company became the largest brewery in Canada. Mr. Labatt died on April 27, 1915 at the age of 76.

140 years ago
1868

War
Brazilian troops defeated Paraguayan troops in the Battle of Avay in Paraguay.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Amon Göth. Austrian war criminal. SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Göth was commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in Płaszów in German-occupied Poland for most of the camp's existence during World War II. He was tried after the war by the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland at Kraków and was convicted of murder for personally ordering the murders of an unspecified number of people, resulting in his execution by hanging on September 13, 1946 at the age of 37.

Hákun Djurhuus. Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, 1963-1967. Mr. Djurhuus was first elected to the Løgting in 1946 and was its Speaker from 1950-1951. He was chairman of the Fólkaflokkurin (Peoples Party) from 1951-1980, and was one of two Faroese members of the Folketing (Danish parliament) from 1957-1960 and 1968-1973. Mr. Djurhuus died on September 22, 1987 at the age of 78.

80 years ago
1928

Exploration
U.S. Navy Admiral Richard Byrd's ship City of New York radioed from the Antarctic that the existence of Scott Island had been confirmed.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Christian Lous Lange, 69. Norwegian historian. Dr. Lange was a leading internationalist, and was awarded a share of the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize "[For his work as] the first secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee" and "the secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union." Dr. Lange was Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1900-1909.

Football
NFL
Championship
Green Bay 17 @ New York 23

Ed Danowski's 23-yard touchdown pass to Hank Soar in the 3rd quarter provided the winning margin as they defeated the Packers before 48,120 fans at the Polo Grounds. New York led 9-0 after the 1st quarter on a 13-yard field goal by Ward Cuff and a 6-yard touchdown rush by Tuffy Leemans (Johnny Gildea's convert attempt was unsuccessful). Both scores were set up by blocked punts. The Packers hit the scoreboard in the 2nd quarter on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Arnie Herber to Moose Mulleneaux, converted by Tiny Engebretsen to make the score 9-7. The Giants replied with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Mr. Danowski to Hap Barnard, converted by Mr. Cuff. Green Bay replied with a 1-yard touchdown rush by Clark Hinkle, converted by Mr. Engebretsen, to make the score 16-14 at halftime in favour of the Giants. The Packers took their only lead of the game early in the 3rd quarter on a 15-yard field goal by Mr. Engebretsen. New York drove 61 yards for the winning touchdown shortly after, which held up through a scoreless 4th quarter. Mr. Soar rushed 21 times for 65 yards, caught 3 passes for 41, returned 1 kickoff for 16, and threw 1 incomplete pass. Mr. Danowski completed 7 of 11 passes for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns, rushed once for 4 yards, punted 6 times for an average of 39.5 yards, and made an interception for zero yards. Mr. Herber completed 5 of 14 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Green Bay's Don Hutson, who had led the league in yards and touchdowns receiving, was injured, and didn't catch a pass. He did record a 10-yard gain on a lateral from a teammate who caught a pass.



60 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Buttons and Bows--Dinah Shore and the Happy Valley Boys (6th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Buttons and Bows--Dinah Shore and the Happy Valley Boys (5th week at #1)
--The Dinning Sisters
2 On a Slow Boat to China--Kay Kyser Orchestra
--Freddy Martin and his Orchestra
--Benny Goodman and his Orchestra
--Eddy Howard and his Orchestra
--Art Lund
3 Maybe You'll Be There--Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
4 My Darling, My Darling--Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae with the Starlighters
--Doris Day and Buddy Clark
5 Until--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
6 You were Only Fooling (While I was Falling in Love)--Blue Barron and his Orchestra
--The Ink Spots
--Kay Starr
7 Cuanto la Gusta--Carmen Miranda and the Andrews Sisters
8 Twelfth Street Rag--Pee Wee Hunt and his Orchestra
9 A Tree in the Meadow--Margaret Whiting
10 It's Magic--Doris Day
--Dick Haymes and Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
--Tony Martin

Singles entering the chart were the version of You were Only Fooling (While I was Falling in Love) by Kay Starr; All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) by Spike Jones and his City Slickers (#16); For You by Perry Como (#24); In My Dreams by Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (#30); and Sweet Georgia Brown by Brother Bones and his Shadows (#34).

Canadiana
The governments of Canada and Newfoundland signed an agreement in Ottawa providing for Newfoundland's admission to the Dominion as the 10th province.

War
Forces loyal to former Costa Rican President Rafael Calderon Guardia invaded Costa Rica from Nicaragua, causing President Jose Figueres to order a nationwide mobilization.

The United Nations passed General Assembly Resolution 194, creating a Conciliation Commission to mediate the Arab–Israeli War. All references to the Bernadotte plan, calling on Israel to give up the Negev desert, were eliminated from the ruling establishing the commission, which consisted of representatives from France, Turkey, and the United States.

Diplomacy
Egypt and Syria warned King Abdullah of Transjordan against any attempt to annex Arab Palestine.

Defense
U.S. Defense Secretary James Forrestal ordered the creation of a Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, composed of military and civilian specialists, to study armaments in light of "probable future combat conditions."

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities began to release State Department documents surrendered by Whittaker Chambers, most of them concerning U.S. relations with Germany, Japan, and China during the late 1930s.

Economics and finance
U.S. Economic Cooperation Administrator Paul Hoffman arrived in Shanghai on an inspection trip after stating that the U.S.A. would no longer "finance" China's Nationalist government.

50 years ago
1958

Died on this date
Ahmed Naguib el-Hilaly, 67. Prime Minister of Egypt, 1952. Professor el-Hilaly was a member of the Wafd Party from 1936-1951, and served as Egypt's Minister of Education from 1937-1938 and 1942-1944. He was Prime Minister for four months in 1952 and then again for one day in 1952 before being deposed by the Egyptian Revolution ld by Gamal Nasser and Mohammed Naguib.

Politics and government
French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gained self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin), respectively, and joining the French Community.

The Argentine House of Representatives indefinitely extended the state of siege imposed in November by President Arturo Frondizi.

The Swiss Parliament elected Defense Minister Paul Chaudet to succeed Economic Affairs Minister Thomas Holenstein as President of Switzerland for 1959.

Acting on the request of U.S. Attorney General William Rogers, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Johnson, Jr. ordered Circuit Court Judge George Wallace and five county registrars to produce Alabama voter registration records and submit to questioning at a hearing in Montgomery.

Society
Thai Prime Minister Sarit Thanarat announced that 900 licensed opium-smoking houses would be closed and all opium smoking outlawed in 1959.

Economics and finance
The Afro-Asian Economic Council, meeting in Cairo, voted to establish a permanent Afro-Asian Organization for Economic Cooperation.

Labour
A U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. ordered Teamsters union President James Hoffa and other union officials to follow the clean-up recommendations of a court-appointed board of monitors.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Lily the Pink--The Scaffold

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Little Arrows--Leapy Lee
2 Hey Jude/Revolution--The Beatles
3 Those were the Days--Mary Hopkin
4 White Room--Cream
5 (The Lament of the Cherokee) Indian Reservation--Don Fardon
6 Hold Me Tight--Johnny Nash
7 Love Child--Diana Ross and the Supremes
8 Elenore/Surfer Dan--The Turtles
9 With a Little Help from My Friends--Joe Cocker
10 All Along the Watchtower--The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Singles entering the chart were Hi-Heel Sneakers/Hitchcock Railway by Jose Feliciano (#31); Not Enough Indians by Dean Martin (#33); Let's Take a Walk by Tommy Leonetti (#34); Listen to Me by the Hollies (#35); and The Yard Went on Forever by Richard Harris (#36).

Died on this date
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, 77. U.S. newspaper publisher. Mr. Sulzberger published The New York Times from 1935-1961; he was succeeded as publisher by his son-in-law Orvil Dryfoos and eventually by his son Arthur Ochs Sulzberger.

Television
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which was to be the Rolling Stones' first television special, featuring them, Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Dirty Mac with Yoko Ono, was filmed in Wembley, London. The film wasn't publicly shown until 1996.

War
Peace talks in Paris between the United States and North Vietnam bogged down in a disagreement over the design of the table at which representatives of the two countries, South Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front (NLF) were to be seated. The U.S. suggested a rectangular table with North Vietnam and the NLF on one side, and the U.S.A. and South Vietnam on the other, or at two separate tables--one for N.V. and NLF, and the other for S.V. and U.S.A. North Vietnam insisted first on a square table with a delegation on each side, and then proposed four tables, one for each party.

Politics and government
U.S. President-elect Richard Nixon introduced his cabinet, and for the first time, did it on television. The cabinet consisted of 12 white males, all Republicans. The key post of Secretary of State went to lawyer William Rogers, 55, who had served as Attorney General in the cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower a decade earlier.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Rasputin--Boney M. (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kisetsu no Naka de--Chiharu Matsuyama (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Tú--Umberto Tozzi (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Vincent du Vigneaud, 77. U.S. biochemist. Dr. du Vigneaud was awarded the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone," a reference to his work on the cyclic peptide oxytocin.

Paul O'Dea, 58. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. O'Dea was an outfielder and pitcher who spent most of his career in the minor leagues, but played with the Cleveland Indians from 1944-1945, batting .272 with 1 home run and 34 runs batted in in 163 games, and posting a 0-0 record with an earned run average of 5.68 in 4 games on the mound. He played in the majors despite suffering vision loss in his right eye after being hit by a foul ball during spring training in 1940, and was one of several players who were employed in the major leagues during World War II who had a disability. Mr. O'Dea played in at least 620 games in at least 10 seasons in the minor leagues from 1938-1951, and managed various teams in the lower ranks of the Cleveland farm system from 1947-1960. He then served as a scout with the Indians until his death.

Protest
400,000 people took to the streets of Tehran to protest against Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. An anti-Shah demonstration in Isfahan, Iran's second-largest city, turned violent.

Crime
A group led by Lucchese crime family associate Jimmy Burke stole an estimated $5.875 million ($22.1 million today) in cash, plus $875,000 in jewellery from the Lufthansa Airlines cargo depot at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, making it the largest cash robbery committed on American soil at the time.

Boxing
George Chuvalo (73-18-2) retained his Canadian heavyweight title with a technical knockout of George Jerome (11-23-4) in the 3rd round at St. Lawrence Market in Toronto; it was Mr. Chuvalo's last fight.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Come Back and Stay--Paul Young (2nd week at #1)

Politics and government
Gary Filmon was elected leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Melting Pot--When the Cat's Away

#1 single in Switzerland: Orinoco Flow--Enya

Disasters
At least 62 people were killed and 80 injured when illegal fireworks exploded and sent a fire racing through a crowded market in Mexico City.

10 years ago
1998

Scandal
The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.

Disasters
Thai Airways Flight 261, en route from Bangkok, crashed on its third landing attempt at Surat Thani Airport, killing 101 people, with 45 survivors, all injured. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-300 was thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.