December 30, 2009

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones!

1,970 years ago
39

Born on this date
Titus. Emperor of the Roman Empire, 79-81. Titus, the son of Vespasian, served as a military commander under his father. When Vespasian became Emperor in 69, Titus completed the suppression of the rebellion in Judea, sacking Jerusalem and destroying the Second Temple in 70. Titus served as prefect of the Praetorian Guard and acceded to the throne upon the death of his father, becoming the first Roman Emperor to succeed his biological father. He oversaw the completion of the Colosseum and eased the suffering caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 and a fire in Rome in 80, but died from a fever on September 13, 81 at the age of 41, and was succeeded as Emperor by Domitian.

1,010 years ago
999

War
The combined forces of Munster and Meath under king Brian Boru inflicted a crushing defeat on the allied armies of Leinster and Dublin in the Battle of Glenmama near Lyons Hill in Ireland.

590 years ago
1419

War
Castilian forces led by King John II captured 40 ships of an allied Flemish-Hanseatic fleet in the naval Battle of La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay.

190 years ago
1819

Born on this date
John W. Geary. U.S. military officer and politician. Colonel Geary served with the 2nd Pennsylvania infantry in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and was the first Mayor of San Francisco (1850-1851). He was Territorial Governor of Kansas (1856-1857), but resigned after failing to bring peace between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in the territory. Brigadier General Geary commanded Pennsylvania infantry forces with the Union Army in the American Civil War, and he rose to the rank of Brevet Major General. As a Republican, he served two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania (1867-1873), but died of a heart attack on February 8, 1873 at the age of 53, just 18 days after leaving office.

150 years ago
1859

Born on this date
J.B. Foerster. Bohemian composer. Josef Bohuslav Foerster was a drama critic and music teacher before becoming known as a composer. He wrote five symphonies, six operas, and chamber, orchestral, and instrumental works. Mr. Foerster died on May 29, 1951 at the age of 91.

140 years ago
1869

Born on this date
Stephen Leacock. U.K.-born Canadian humourist. Mr. Leacock was born in England but moved to Ontario with his family at the age of 6. He was a professor of political economy at McGill University and wrote the standard textbook Elements of Political Science (1936), but was better known for his humourous works, which were collected into books such as Literary Lapses (1910); Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912); and Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914). Groucho Marx and Jack Benny were both influenced by Mr. Leacock's writing. Mr. Leacock died on March 28, 1944 at the age of 74. The Stephen Leacock Award was created in 1947 to recognize the best of Canadian humour writing.

110 years ago
1899

Born on this date
Helge Ingstad. Norwegian explorer and politician. Mr. Ingstad, a lawyer by training, explored the Scandinavian and North American Arctic from the 1920s through the 1960s. He and his wife Anne found remnants of a Viking settlement in Newfoundland in 1960, proving that Norsemen had landed in North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. Mr. Ingstad was Governor of Erik the Red's land (1932-1933) and acting Governor of Svalbard (1933-1935). He died on March 29, 2001 at the age of 101.

100 years ago
1909

Canadiana
Gold was discovered at Porcupine, Ontario.

Hockey
CHA
All-Montreal 7 @ Montreal Le National 2

This was the first game played in the new professional league known as the Canadian Hockey Association.

75 years ago
1934

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Louis Hector and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Today’s episode: The Case with Two Solutions

Born on this date
Del Shannon. U.S. musician and singer. Mr. Shannon was best known for his first and biggest hit single, Runaway, which spent 4 weeks as the #1 single in the U.S.A. in the spring of 1961. Other hits included Hats Off to Larry (#5, 1961); Little Town Flirt (#12, 1963); Handy Man (#22, 1964); Keep Searchin' (#9, 1964-1965); and Sea of Love (#33, 1982). He shot himself to death while under the influence of Prozac on February 8, 1990.

60 years ago
1949

Hit parade
Billboard listed Mule Train as the year's most popular song of 1949.

Radio
Radio Daily selected Mind the Shadows (CBS); Living (NBC); and The Berlin Story (ABC) as the outstanding network broadcasts of 1949. Hooperatings named The Jack Benny Program (CBS); Radio Theater; Fibber McGee and Molly (NBC); and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (CBS) as the most popular network shows.

War
U.S. President Harry Truman and his military advisers decided against using American forces to defend Taiwan against a possible Communist attack, but agreed to consider the possibility of sending fresh equipment and advisers to the Nationalist government on the island.

Diplomacy
India recognized the People's Republic of China and ended diplomatic relations with the Nationalist government.

The Shah of Iran concluded a six-week visit to the United States.

Politics and government
Vietnamese Chief of State Bao Dai and French High Commissioner Leon Pignon signed an agreement in Saigon giving the French-sponsored Vietnamese state greater control over its internal affairs, including education and local administration. Foreign and military affairs remained in French hands.

French Prime Minister Georges Bidault won a vote of confidence in the National Assembly during debate over the 1950 budget.

The British government gave Hong Kong Governor Sir Alexander Grantham emergency powers to deal with disorders arising from Communist efforts to organize a general strike.

The U.S. War Assets Administration was liquidated, and the remaining property was turned over to the General Services Administration.

Economics and finance
The British government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee introduced several measures to attract more foreign capital into the country, giving investors permission to withdraw their capital at any time, and allowing foreign workers to send home all of their savings.

Business
The court-ordered dissolution of Paramount Pictures, Inc. was completed with the formation of Paramount Pictures Corporation and United Paramount Theaters, Inc.

Boxing
Rocky Marciano (25-0) knocked out Carmine Vingo (16-2) at 1:46 of the 6th round of a heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mr. Vingo was taken from the ring on a stretcher, slipped into a coma, and was given only a 50% chance of survival. He did survive, and recovered, with slight paralysis on his left side, but never boxed again.

50 years ago
1959

Defense
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev told interviewers that the U.S.S.R. "has already suspended all tests of atomic and hydrogen weapons" and would conduct no more tests unless Western powers did so.

The U.S. Navy commissioned its first active atomic submarine equipped to fire the Polaris missile--the 5,400-ton USS George Washington--in Groton, Connecticut.

Politics and government
Laotian Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone submitted his resignation to King Savang Vathana.

Four Syrians resigned from the U.A.R.'s central cabinet and the Syrian Regional cabinet in opposition to the appointment of Vice President Abdel Hakim Amer as administrator of the Syrian Regional Government.

U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota) announced his candidacy for the 1960 Democratic Party U.S. presidential nomination.

Anthropology
Margaret Mead was named President of the American Anthropological Association at its convention in Mexico City, succeeding Sol Tax.

Business
Cuba's National Agrarian Reform Institute announced the seizure of Unitd Fruit Company property in Oriente Province.

Basketball
NCAA
The top-ranked University of Cincinnati Tigers defeated the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 96-83 in the final of the Holiday Festival tournament in New York City.

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Grüezi wohl, Frau Stirnimaa--Die Minstrels (10th week at #1)

War
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegates at the Paris peace talks criticized as perfidious a U.S. appeal bidding the Communists, as a humanitarian gesture, to indicate whether the 1,046 men on a list of missing in action in Vietnam were prisoners of war or dead. Chief North Vietnamese negotiator Xuan Thuy boycotted the final sessions.

Diplomacy
U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew, as part of his tour of Asia, was in Manila, and attended the inauguration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos for his second term.

Crime
A three-judge Israeli court ruled that Dennis Michael Rohan was mentally ill when he set fire to the El Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on August 21, and ordered him confined to a hospital for treatment. The court held that the 28-year-old Australian had acted on an "irresistible impulse" in setting the blaze and was not punishable under Israeli law.

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Jezebel--Jon Stevens (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Todesengel--Frank Duval (2nd week at #1)

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Gladys Lucy Pomazongo!

Died on this date
Richard Rodgers, 77. U.S. composer. Mr. Rodgers was best known for his work in musical theatre, writing music for 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs. He became one of the most popular songwriters of the 20th century, writing with lyricists Lorenz Hart (1919-1942) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1942-1960). Mr. Rodgers was the first person to complete the "EGOT"--winning an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award (Oscar), and Tony Award--in addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize. He died after years of declining health.

War
The Soviet newspaper Pravda said that the U.S.S.R. had sent a "limited" military contingent to Afghanistan due to "imperialist interference" in Afghan affairs that was "taking form and acquiring a scale that placed the very existence of the republic in danger." The U.S.S.R. justified the invasion on the basis of its defense treaty with Afghanistan and article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which grants any country the right to provide military aid to a member that appeals for such help.

Religion
Pope John Paul II and five West German prelates who had been summoned to Rome upheld the censure of Rev. Hans Kung, a Swiss theologian teaching at the University of Tubingen in West Germany, for teaching views contrary to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Football
NFL
AFC Divisional Playoff
Miami 14 @ Pittsburgh 34



NFC Divisional Playoff
Los Angeles 21 @ Dallas 19

See videos here and here.

25 years ago
1984

Football
NFL
NFC Divisional Playoff
Chicago 23 @ Washington 19

AFC Divisional Playoff
Pittsburgh 24 @ Denver 17

20 years ago
1989

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Lambada--Kaoma (14th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Hélène--Roch Voisine (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid II (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (3rd week at #1)
2 Don't Know Much--Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
3 Rhythm Nation--Janet Jackson
4 Just Like Jesse James--Cher
5 With Every Beat of My Heart--Taylor Dayne
6 Pump Up the Jam--Technotronic featuring Felly
6 This One's for the Children--New Kids on the Block
8 Just Between You and Me--Lou Gramm
9 Living in Sin--Bon Jovi
10 How am I Supposed to Live Without You--Michael Bolton

Singles entering the chart were All or Nothing by Milli Vanilli (#64); C'Mon and Get My Love by D Mob introducing Cathy Dennis (#80); Black Velvet by Alannah Myles (#85); and Timeless Love by Saraya (#92).

#1 single in Canada (RPM): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (3rd week at #1)

Football
U.S. university
Sun Bowl
Pittsburgh 31 Texas A&M 28

10 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Sarah Knauss, 119. U.S. supercentenarian. Mrs. Knauss, a native of Hollywood, Pennsylvania, was married to Lehigh County official Abraham Knauss from 1901 until his death in 1965 at the age of 86. Mrs. Knauss became the oldest American ever, and the second-oldest whose lifespan can be fully documented. She and her husband had a daughter, Kathryn, who died in 2005 at the age of 101.

Des Renford, 77. Australian swimmer. Mr. Renford took up distance swimming in 1939, and made 19 crossings of the English Channel in as many attempts. He died the day after suffering a heart attack while swimming.