December 25, 2008

250 years ago
1758

Space
Based on predictions by Edmond Halley in 1705, Johann Georg Palitzsch observed a comet that was later named Halley's Comet.

140 years ago
1868

Died on this date
Linus Yale, Jr., 47. U.S. inventor and businessman. Mr. Yale, the son of a lockmaker, also invented locks, including the pin tumbler safe lock, and co-founded Yale Lock Manufacturing Company in 1868. He died of a heart attack while on a business trip to New York City.

Politics and government
U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to everyone involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.

130 years ago
1878

Born on this date
Louis Chevrolet. Swiss-born U.S. auto racing driver and automobile executive. Mr. Chevrolet drove race cars and designed engines in his native country before moving to Paris, Montreal, New York City, and Detroit. On November 8, 1911, Mr. Chevrolet, along with W.C. Durant and William Little and Edwin Campbell, founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company, which joined General Motors in 1917. In 1916, Louis and younger brothers Arthur and Gaston founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation. As a driver, he competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1915 (finishing 20th); 1916 (12th); 1919 (7th); and 1920 (18th). Because of America’s entry into World War I, there was no 500-mile race at Indianapolis on Decoration Day in 1917 and 1918, but there was a 250-mile race at Cincinnati on that date in 1917, and Louis Chevrolet was the winner. He lost his wealth in the stock market crash in 1929, and was forced to go back to work as a mechanic in a Chevrolet factory. He died nearly penniless in Detroit on June 6, 1941 at the age of 62.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Quentin Crisp. U.K. actor and raconteur. Mr. Crisp, born Denis Charles Pratt, was an openly effeminate sodomite who worked as a model for 30 years. His experiences provided material for his autobiography The Naked Civil Servant (1968), which was adapted into a made-for-television film in 1975. The success of the film led to a successful career for Mr. Crisp as a raconteur, performing one-man shows in packed theatres. He had small roles in several films, including Orlando (1991). Mr. Crisp died of a heart attack on November 21, 1999 at the age of 90.

90 years ago
1918

Defense
Major General Ants Kurvits, commander of the Estonian Defence League in Tartu County, began forming the Viljandi Volunteer Battalion.

80 years ago
1928

At the movies
In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, received its premiere screening in Los Angeles; it was directed by Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings, and starred Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter, and Dorothy Burgess.



Died on this date
Miles Burke, 43. U.S. boxer. Mr. Burke won the silver medal in the flyweight division at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis, losing the gold medal bout to fellow American George Finnegan by a technical knockout in the 1st round. Mr. Burke was allegedly three pounds over the 105-pound weight limit for flyweights, but was allowed to compete because no other opponent could be found. He died 18 days before his 44th birthday.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Karel Čapek, 48. Czech author and playwright. Mr. Čapek wrote fiction and non-fiction, in which he expressed his opposition to both Fascism and Communism. He was best known for his science fiction, especially the play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921), which introduced the word "robot." Mr. Čapek suffered from fragile health, and died of pneumonia.

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 (8th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Buttons and Bows--Dinah Shore and the Happy Valley Boys (7th week at #1)
--The Dinning Sisters
--Betty Rhodes
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 My Darling, My Darling--Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae with the Starlighters
--Doris Day and Buddy Clark
4 Maybe You'll Be There--Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
5 Until--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
6 All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)--Spike Jones and his City Slickers
7 You were Only Fooling (While I was Falling in Love)--Blue Barron and his Orchestra
--The Ink Spots
--Kay Starr
8 Cuanto la Gusta--Carmen Miranda and the Andrews Sisters
9 Twelfth Street Rag--Pee Wee Hunt and his Orchestra
10 Life Gits Tee-jus Don't It--Carson Robison with the Pleasant Valley Boys

Singles entering the chart were Galway Bay by Bing Crosby (#26) and I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Les Brown and his Orchestra (#39).

At the movies
Command Decision, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, and others, opened in theatres in Los Angeles.

Music
A Down Beat poll listed Duke Ellington's band as the most popular group in the United States.

War
Chinese nationals abandoned Changkiakow, one of their few remaining industrial centres in northern China, to the Communists.

Education
The U.S. Federal Security Agency revived the National Advisory Committee on the Education of Negroes, appointing Ambrose Calliver of the U.S. Office of Education to head the agency.

50 years ago
1958

Defense
The U.S. Army reported that it had dropped 70,000 men during the past fiscal year as mentally or physically unfit.

Politics and government
Dispatches from Cairo reported the arrest of leading Syrian Communist Party members and the closing of the Syrian Communist daily newspaper Al Nour in an anti-Communist crackdown ordered by U.A.R. President Gamal Nasser.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Lily the Pink--The Scaffold (3rd week at #1)

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Hey Jude/Revolution--The Beatles (11th week at #1)
2 White Room--Cream
3 Little Arrows--Leapy Lee
4 Love Child--Diana Ross and the Supremes
5 Those were the Days--Mary Hopkin
6 (The Lament of the Cherokee) Indian Reservation--Don Fardon
7 Hold Me Tight--Johnny Nash
8 With a Little Help from My Friends--Joe Cocker
9 Elenore/Surfer Dan--The Turtles
10 All Along the Watchtower--The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Singles entering the chart were The Great Escape by Ray Stevens (#29); Goody Goody Gumdrops by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#36); See Saw by Aretha Franklin (#38); and Kentucky Woman/Hush by Deep Purple (#39).

Space
A Service Propulsion System engine burn at 12:34 A.M. Central Standard Time was successful, sending the Apollo 8 spacecraft on a course for home after 10 orbits of the moon.

Abominations
44 members of families of striking Dalit workers were burned to death by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords, in Tamil Nadu, India.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Y.M.C.A.--Village People

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Chameleon Army--Pink Lady (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Tú--Umberto Tozzi (4th week at #1)

Space
The U.S.S.R. probe Venera 11, launched on September 9, 1978, made a soft landing on Venus, four days after the arrival of Venera 12. Venera 11 transmitted information for 95 minutes, until its flight platform flew out of range.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Come Back and Stay--Paul Young (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Joan Miró, 90. Spanish artist. Mr. Miró was a painter, sculptor, and ceramicist whose work has been described as surrealistic, and an attack on established styles of art.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Orinoco Flow--Enya (3rd week at #1)