December 23, 2008

1,090 years ago
918

Died on this date
Konrad I, 28. King of East Francia, 911-918. Konrad I was chosen by the rulers of the East Frankish stem duchies to succeed Louis the Child, becoming the first king not of the Carolingian dynasty, the first to be elected by the nobility, and the first to be anointed. He had difficulty maintaining power against the nobility, and died several weeks after being wounded in battle against Amulf, Duke of Bavaria. Konrad I was succeeded on the throne by Henry the Fowler.

320 years ago
1688

World events
As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England fled from England to Paris after being deposed in favor of his nephew William of Orange, and his daughter Mary.

225 years ago
1783

Defense
George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Continental Army and retired to his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

220 years ago
1788

Americana
Maryland passed an act to cede a parcel of land for the seat of the national government, part of which later became the District of Columbia.

75 years ago
1933

World events
Marinus Van der Lubbe was convicted in Leipzig of setting the fire that had burned down the German Reichstag in Berlin on February 27, 1933, and of attempting to overthrow the government. Co-defendants Ernst Torgler, Georgi Dimitrov, Blagoi Popov, and Vasil Tanev were acquitted. Mr. Van der Lubbe was sentenced to death.

60 years ago
1948

Died on this date
Gil Dobie, 70. U.S. football coach. Mr. Dobie played end and quarterback with the University of Minnesota from 1900-1902, but was best known as head coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (1906-1907); University of Washington (1908-1916); U.S. Naval Academy (1917-1919); Cornell University (1920-1935); and Boston College (1936-1938), compiling a record of 182-45-15, including 58-0-3 at Washington. It took Mr. Dobie just 108 games to achieve 100 career wins, an NCAA record that stood until 2014, and still a major college record. Mr. Dobie's Cornell teams from 1921-1923 were recognized as national champions. Mr. Dobie also compiled a 17-5 record as NDSAC's basketball coach from 1908-1908. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1951.

Kōki Hirota, 70. Prime Minister of Japan, 1936-1937;
Iwane Matsui, 70. Japanese military officer; Kenji Doihara, 65. Japanese military officer; Hideki Tojo, 63. Prime Minister of Japan, 1941-1944; Seishirō Itagaki, 63. Japanese military officer and politician; Heitarō Kimura, 60. Japanese military officer; Akira Mutō, 56. Japanese military officer. The seven generals and politicians had been convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East of war crimes committed during World War II, and were hanged by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.

War
The Israeli-Egyptian truce in the Negev desert broke down as Israeli forces attacked Egyptian positions near Gaza and other coastal cities.

Politics and government
The Japanese Diet passed a vote of non-confidence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, forcing the government to dissolve parliament and call new elections for early 1949.

Economics and finance
Yugoslavia signed a one-year, $120-million trade agreement with the United Kingdom after promising to compensate British owners of nationalized Yugoslavian factories.

Labour
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities issued the pamphlet 100 Things You Should Know About Communism in Labor, attacking 20 Congress of Industrial Organizations unions as Communist-controlled. Among the unions listed were the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union; National Maritime Union; United Public Workers of America; and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. ILWU President Harry Bridges was criticized with 13 other CIO officials as a Communist.

50 years ago
1958

Politics and government
Nationalist Chinese President Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek announced that he would not seek a third term as President when his current term expired in 1960.

Labour
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Chicago that union strike benefits were not taxable.

Football
NCAA
Joe Kuharich, recently fired as head coach of the Washington Redskins, was named to succeed Terry Brennan as head coach of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Koi no Kisetsu--Pinky and the Killers (13th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Those were the Days--Mary Hopkin (3rd week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Wichita Lineman--Glen Campbell (2nd week at #1)
2 Stormy--Classics IV
3 Shame, Shame--Magic Lanterns
4 I Love How You Love Me--Bobby Vinton
5 Cinnamon--Derek
6 Scarborough Fair--Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
7 For Once in My Life--Stevie Wonder
8 Chewy Chewy--Ohio Express
9 Cloud Nine--The Temptations
10 A Ray of Hope--The Rascals

Singles entering the chart were Eloise by Barry Ryan (#73); These Eyes by the Guess Who (#85); Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett (#86); This Magic Moment by Jay and the Americans (#87); Hang 'em High by Booker T. & the M.G.'s (#89); Feelin' So Good (S.k.o.o.b.y-D.o.o.) by the Archies (#90); Honey Do by the Strangeloves (#94); Saturday Night at the World by Mason Williams (#95); Soul Sister, Brown Sugar by Sam & Dave (#98); Release Me by Johnny Adams (#99); and Don't Pat Me on the Back and Call Me Brother by Kasandra (#100).

On television tonight
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock, on BBC 1
Tonight's episode: The Blue Carbuncle

This was the last of 16 episodes of this series, and the last attempt at a Sherlock Holmes television series until the 1980s. Mr. Cushing played the role of Sherlock Holmes once more, in a 1984 made-for-television movie called Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death. Mr. Stock, who had played Dr. Watson on television opposite Douglas Wilmer in a 1964-1965 BBC series, played the role again in a series of long-playing records released in 1970-1971, with Robert Hardy as Holmes. Mr. Stock made one final appearance as Dr. Watson in a radio broadcast shortly before his death in 1986.

Space
The Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first people to leave the earth's gravitational pull and enter that of the moon; they were more than 200,000 miles from earth. In their daily television coverage from the spacecraft, the astronauts showed pictures of the earth, the first time people had seen such views.

War
At a news conference in Seoul, Lloyd Bucher, commander of the U.S. spy ship USS Pueblo , said that he and the crew members had been brutally beaten during their 11-month imprisonment, and that he had been kept in solitary confinement. "Not once," he said, did his ship violate North Korean waters, but he confessed to such a violation because of "pretty vivid" threats.

Politics and government
Italian Prime Minister Mariano Rumor received a vote of confidence from the Chamber of Deputies for his 20-member coalition cabinet of Christian Democrats, Socialists, and Republicans.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Una donna per amico--Lucio Battisti (10th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord--Boney M. (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord--Boney M. (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Le Freak--Chic (2nd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Paradise by the Dashboard Light--Meat Loaf
2 Trojan Horse--Luv'
3 Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord--Boney M.
4 Get Off--Foxy
5 Y.M.C.A.--Village People
6 Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?--Rod Stewart
7 Felicidad--BZN
8 Sandy--John Travolta
9 Giving Up, Giving In--The Three Degrees
10 Who Pays the Ferryman?/Wie Betaalt de Veerman?--Yannis Markopoulos

Singles entering the chart were Stumblin' In by Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman (#22); Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads (#23); Holland Disco by the New Dutch Organ Group (#29); Music Box Dancer by Frank Mills (#31); Nachtrijders by Henk Wijngaard (#32); Hey Girl by Gruppo Sportivo (#33); and Still Believe by Herman Brood & his Wild Romance (#35).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Le Freak--Chic (2nd week at #1)
2 You Don't Bring Me Flowers--Barbra & Neil
3 Too Much Heaven--Bee Gees
4 Sharing the Night Together--Dr. Hook
5 My Life--Billy Joel
6 I Love the Night Life (Disco 'round)--Alicia Bridges
7 (Our Love) Don't Throw it All Away--Andy Gibb
8 Hold the Line--Toto
9 Y.M.C.A.--Village People
10 I Just Wanna Stop--Gino Vannelli

Singles entering the chart were Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? by Rod Stewart (#47); Blue Morning, Blue Day by Foreigner (#67); No Tell Lover by Chicago (#82); I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor (#84); Stormy by Santana (#88); and Take it Any Way You Wanna by the Outlaws (#98).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 You Don't Bring Me Flowers--Barbra & Neil (3rd week at #1)
2 I Just Wanna Stop--Gino Vannelli
3 Sharing the Night Together--Dr. Hook
4 I Love the Night Life (Disco 'round)--Alicia Bridges
5 Y.M.C.A.--Village People
6 Too Much Heaven--Bee Gees
7 How Much I Feel--Ambrosia
8 (Our Love) Don't Throw it All Away--Andy Gibb
9 My Life--Billy Joel
10 Time Passages--Al Stewart

Singles entering the chart were (Boogie Oogie) Dancin' Shoes by Claudja Barry (#84); Fire by the Pointer Sisters (#91); Please Come Home for Christmas by the Eagles (#92); Easy Driver by Kenny Loggins (#94); Soul Man by the Blues Brothers (#99); and Love Don't Live Here Anymore by Rose Royce (#100).

Disasters
The bodies of 108 people were pulled from the Tyrrhenian Sea near Palermo, Sicily after an Alitalia jet crashed just short of the airport; 21 survived.

Hockey
NHL
St. Louis 1 @ Toronto 6
New York Islanders 9 @ New York Rangers 4

Islanders' centre Bryan Trottier scored 5 goals and 3 assists to lead his team over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. He set a league record for points in a period with 3 goals and 3 assists in the 2nd period.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Uptown Girl--Billy Joel (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Come Back and Stay--Paul Young (7th week at #1)

Politics and government
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau named Jeanne Sauve, a former Liberal federal cabinet minister, to be Canada's first female Governor General. She was sworn in on May 14, 1984, succeeding Ed Schreyer.

Scandal
J. Lynn Helms resigned as head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration during investigations by two federal grand juries of his private business dealings. The Wall Street Journal had said that Mr. Helms had engaged in questionable business practices, reporting on October 7 that Mr. Helms and an associate had taken over several small businesses and manipulated their assets, resulting in several bankruptcies and defaults on millions of dollars of debt, much of it backed by government agencies.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin (8th week at #1)

10 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Anatoly Rybakov. U.S.S.R. author. Mr. Rybakov, a native of Ukraine, wrte the anti-Stalinist tetralogy Children of the Arbat (1987-1994) and many popular children's books. He died in New York City.

Joe Orlando, 71. Italian-born U.S. writer and illustrator. Mr. Orlando, who moved to the United States at the age of 2, worked as a writer and editor for various comic books and comic strips, but was perhaps best known for his work as an illustrator with Mad magazine in the 1960s. He was associate publisher and illustrator with Mad from 1992-1997.