January 14, 2009

470 years ago
1539

Caribbeana
Spain annexed Cuba.

370 years ago
1639

Politics and government
The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.

110 years ago
1899

Journalism
The Fernie (British Columbia) Free Press began publication.

Hockey
CAHL
Montreal Shamrocks (1-1) 4 @ Montreal (1-2) 3
Quebec (0-2) 1 @ Ottawa (2-0) 3

100 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Joseph Losey. U.S.-born U.K. theatre and film director. Mr. Losey's movies included The Boy with Green Hair (1948); These are the Damned (1963); and Accident (1967). Because of left-wing associations in the 1930s and 1940s, he was investigated by the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee, and settled in London after being blacklisted in the United States. Mr. Losey had a reputation for making movies that were artsy-fartsy talkfests. He died on June 22, 1984 at the age of 75.

Brenda Forbes. U.K.-born U.S. actress. Miss Forbes, born Dorothy Brenda Taylor, was mainly a stage actress; she played Wilson, the maid, in the original production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930). Among her few movies was Mrs. Miniver (1942). Miss Forbes died of cancer on September 11, 1996 at the age of 87.

90 years ago
1919

War
Armoured trains and the Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, organized and led by Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov, liberated Tartu, Estonia from invading Soviet forces.

Politics and government
Three days of voting in the El Salvador presidential election concluded with the election of National Democratic Party candidate Jorge Meléndez, who was running unopposed.

75 years ago
1934

Music
Charles Previn conducted the Leo Reisman Orchestra in the premiere performance of Variations on "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin at Symphony Hall in Boston.

70 years ago
1939

World events
Norway formally laid claim, on the basis of prior discovery, to the area of Antarctica known as Dronning (Queen) Maud Land.

60 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Harry Stack Sullivan, 56. U.S. psychiatrist. Dr. Sullivan was a psychoanalyst who emphasized the importance of interpersonal relationships. His own most interpersonal relationship was with a man 20 years his junior, lasting until Dr. Sullivan's death in Paris.

War
Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong broadcast his conditions for peace over the North Shensi radio, demanding the abolition of the Nationalist government; punishment of Generalissimo Chaing Kai-shek and other leading Nationalists; introduction of a land reform program; and election of a Political Consultative Conference to create a new government.

United Nations observers in Batavia reported the outbreak of large-scale guerrilla resistance in northern and central Java and claimed that Dutch forces were not strong enough to maintain order on the island.

Diplomacy
French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin concluded two days of talks in London after agreeing to support the creation of new political institutions for the Western European Union and insisting on the continued dismantling of German factories for reparations.

Defense
A meeting in Oslo of the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian defense ministers ended without agreement on proposals to join the projected North Atlantic defense organization. The U.S. State Department issued a policy statement reaffirming American willingness to join a North Atlantic security alliance to defend Marshall Plan gains in Western Europe from Communist attempts at subversion.

Politics and government
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously recommended the confirmation of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State, after two days of hearings on Mr. Acheson's views.

Law
U.S. Attorney General Tom Clark urged Congress to enact new anti-espionage laws introducing penalties for unauthorized possession of official secrets, allowing wiretapping in investigation of such cases, and cancelling the statute of limitations in espionage prosecutions.

Crime
New York U.S. federal Judge Harold Medina refused a request by 12 top U.S. Communists that their trial be postponed for 90 days because of the continued illness of Communist Party U.S.A. leader William Z. Foster.

Economics and finance
The United Kingdom and Poland signed a trade agreement providing for a $1-billion exchange of goods over the next five years, the largest deal made by an Eastern European state since World War II.

Business
The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust suit in Newark, New Jersey, demanding that Western Electric Company be separated from American Telephone & Telegraph and split into three competing firms.

50 years ago
1959

Abominations
Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, denying reports that he had ordered a halt to the execution of officials with the government of recently-deposed President Fulgencio Batista, pledged to keep revolutionary courts operating until "all criminals of the Batista regime" were tried.

Politics and government
The Laotian National Assembly granted Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone special powers to reorganize the Laotian government and to govern by decree for one year.

Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim el-Kassim ordered the leftist Iraq Students Union and People's Resistance Force to halt their interference with police authorities and to submit to control of the Iraqi Army.

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Eloise--Barry Ryan (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Roy Henry, 83. Canadian insurance agent. Mr. Henry, the maternal grandfather of this blogger, ran his own agency in Edmonton (Roy Henry Insurance) for many years. In 1956 he became the team historian of the Edmonton Eskimos, and was on the team's board of directors; the scrapbooks he compiled are now at the Edmonton City Archives. Mr. Henry remains very much missed by this blogger.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 4, with only Vladimir Shatalov aboard. Its mission was to dock with the two-man spacecraft Soyuz 5--launched the next day--and transfer crews.

War
South Vietnamese Prime Minister Tran Van Huong declared that his country was "confident" that it had the strength to fight the Communists with a diminished American force, and proposed a "gradual, phased withdrawal" of U.S. forces at the rate of 10,000-20,000 men per month, which would, he said, give South Vietnam time "to organize and make ourselves stronger." He added, in an apparent reversal of S.V. policy, that his government was willing to negotiate with the National Liberation Front (NLF), even while fighting was in progress.

The United States was cool in its response to the U.S.S.R. plan for peace between Israel and Lebanon, replying that the Soviet Union and other states should "use all their influence to stop the grave increase of Arab terrorist operations."

Politics and government
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson delivered his final State of the Union message to Congress, stressing the need to continue his Great Society social programs at home while seeking peace abroad.



The U.S. Democratic National Committee, on the recommendation of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, selected Senator Fred Harris (Oklahoma) to succeed the departing Larry O'Brien as chairman.

Crime
Morton Sobell, 51, was released from Lewisburg (Pennsylvania) Federal Penitentiary after serving 17 years and 9 months of his 30-year sentence for conspiracy to commit espionage. He had been convicted in 1951 of participating in a conspiracy with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to steal U.S. atomic bomb secrets on behalf of the U.S.S.R. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953.

Disasters
The accidental explosion of a Zuni rocket aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise near Hawaii began a series of fires and explosions that killed 28 sailors and injured 314 others, while destroying 15 aircraft. The carrier was on its way to Vietnam at the time.

Soccer
English FA
Matt Busby, 59, announced that he would retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season, but would remain as general manager. He had managed the club since 1945, with great success; his most recent achievement was leading Manchester United to the European Cup championship in 1968, becoming the first English club to accomplish the feat.

30 years ago
1979

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

Hockey
NHL
Toronto @ Chicago (postponed, snow)
Pittsburgh 5 @ Buffalo 4

25 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): La Donna Cannone--Francesco De Gregori (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT Top 30): You Are--Dolly Parton

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): You Are--Dolly Parton (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Only You--The Flying Pickets (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Pipes of Peace--Paul McCartney

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson (6th week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Union of the Snake--Duran Duran (3rd week at #1)
2 Owner of a Lonely Heart--Yes
3 Say it Isn't So--Daryl Hall-John Oates
4 Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
5 Twist of Fate--Olivia Newton-John
6 Talking in Your Sleep--The Romantics
7 Break My Stride--Matthew Wilder
8 All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie
9 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club
10 Major Tom (Coming Home)--Peter Schilling

Singles entering the chart were Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police (#35); Jump by Van Halen (#47); New Moon on Monday by Duran Duran (#58); Bang Your Head (Metal Health) by Quiet Riot (#64); and This Woman by Kenny Rogers (#71).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Major Tom (Coming Home)--Peter Schilling
2 Union of the Snake--Duran Duran
3 Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
4 Love is a Battlefield--Pat Benatar
5 Owner of a Lonely Heart--Yes
6 Twist of Fate--Olivia Newton-John
7 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club
8 Cum On Feel the Noize--Quiet Riot
9 All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie
10 Islands in the Stream--Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton

Singles entering the chart were So Bad by Paul McCartney (#36); Think of Laura by Christopher Cross (#41); Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police (#44); Pink Houses by John Cougar Mellencamp (#46); and If I'd Been the One by 38 Special (#50).

Died on this date
Brooks, Atkinson, 89. U.S. theatre critic. Mr. Atkinson was probably the most influential theatre critic of his time, working with The New York Times from 1922-1960, with the exception of much of the 1940s, when he was a foreign correspondent in China and the U.S.S.R. He supported new kinds of theatre, and helped to boost the popularity of Off-Broadway productions. Mr. Atkinson was awarded the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his work in Moscow.

Ray Kroc, 81. U.S. business executive. Mr. Kroc joined the McDonald's restaurant chain in 1954, and bought the company for $2.7 million in 1961, turning it into the world's most successful fast food operation. In 1974 he bought the San Diego Padres baseball team, which seemed on the verge of moving to Washington, and kept the club in San Diego.

Saad Haddad. Lebanese militia leader. General Haddad, who led an Israeli-backed militia in southern Lebanon, died of cancer.

Music
The single Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell, with guest vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson, was released on Motown Records.

Politics and government
Nicaragua announced that presidential and legislative elections would be held in 1985.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): C'è da spostare una macchina--Francesco Salvi (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Can't Stay Away from You--Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine

#1 single in France (SNEP): High--David Hallyday (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Especially for You--Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 My Prerogative--Bobby Brown
2 Two Hearts--Phil Collins
3 Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison
4 Don't Rush Me--Taylor Dayne
5 Armageddon It--Def Leppard
6 In Your Room--Bangles
7 Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson
8 I Remember Holding You--Boys Club
9 Put a Little Love in Your Heart--Annie Lennox and Al Green
10 The Way You Love Me--Karyn White

Singles entering the chart were Paradise City by Guns n' Roses (#85); The Love in Your Eyes by Eddie Money (#88); Don't Tell Me Lies by Breathe (#96); and Let's Put the X in Sex by Kiss (#97).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box): Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison (4th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 5 Toronto 3