January 16, 2010

1,460 years ago
550

War
The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquered Rome after a long siege by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

890 years ago
1120

Law
The Council of Nablus was held in Jerusalem, resulting in the first written laws for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

310 years ago
1710

Died on this date
Higashiyama, 34. Emperor of Japan, 1687-1709. Higashiyama, born Asahito or Tomohito, acceded to the throne upon the abdication of his father Reigen. Higashiyama was Emperor in name only, as the Tokugawa shogunate actually controlled Japan. Emperor Higashiyama abdicated in favour of his son Nakamikado.

230 years ago
1780

War
A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent off the southern coast of Portugal.

210 years ago
1800

Crime
John Murray Bliss and Samuel Denny Street fought the first known duel in New Brunswick, near the present-day Playhouse Theatre, on Queen Street in Fredericton. Mr. Street challenged Mr. Bliss over an issue of slavery; the incident ended in a draw.

140 years ago
1870

Born on this date
Jüri Jaakson. Elder of State of Estonia, 1924-1925. Mr. Jaakson, a banker from Tallinn, was Elder of State from December 1924-December 1925. He was imprisoned by the Soviet secret police NKVD on June 14, 1941, and was executed for "counter-revolutionary activities" on April 20, 1942 at the age of 72.

130 years ago
1880

Technology
Thomas Campbell of Saint John, New Brunswick patented the combined hot and cold water faucets.

110 years ago
1900

Diplomacy
The United States Senate accepted the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Dizzy Dean. U.S. baseball pitcher. Jay Hanna Dean, one of the most colourful players in major league history, played with the St. Louis Cardinals (1930, 1932-1937); Chicago Cubs (1938-1941); and St. Louis Browns (1947), compiling a record of 150-83 with an earned run average of 3.02 in 317 games, and batting .225 with 8 home runs and 76 runs batted in in 325 games. From 1932-1936 he was one of the major leagues' best pitchers, winning 120 games. Mr. Dean became the most recent National League pitcher to win 30 games in a season when he went 30-7 in 1934 and won 2 more games in the World Series as the "Gashouse Gang" Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers in 7 games. Mr. Dean's career began to go downhill in the 1937 All-Star Game when a line drive by Earl Averill of the Cleveland Indians broke his big toe. Mr. Dean returned to action too soon, changed his pitching motion in an attempt to minimize the pain from the injury, and damaged his arm beyond repair. Mr. Dean became a broadcaster of baseball games on radio and television after his playing career, and was known and loved for mangling the English language. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953, and died on July 17, 1974 at the age of 64.

Dwight Weist. U.S. actor. Mr. Weist was known for his ability to do voice impressions in a career spanning almost 50 years. He acted in radio, with his roles including Inspector Weston in The Shadow and the title character in Mr. District Attorney (1939), but was best known for his work in newsreels, doing voice impressions of real people in The March of Time newsreels. Mr. Weist died of a heart attack on July 16, 1991 at the age of 81.

90 years ago
1920

Diplomacy
The League of Nations held its first council meeting, in Paris.

Academia
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.

70 years ago
1940

War
Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn accused the Canadian government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King of inefficiency in preparing for war. German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler ordered a postponement of the secret planned January offensive against Belgium, Holland, and France. Wang Ching-wei, who was slated to head the Japanese-sponsored government in central China, asked Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek to make peace with Japan.

Diplomacy
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain asserted in London that the German propaganda ministry had failed to inflame the issue of Palestine.

Politics and government
The United States Senate confirmed Robert H. Jackson as U.S. Attorney General in the cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In Rochester, New York, newspaper magnate Frank Gannett launched his campaign for the 1940 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.

Law
The United States Senate confirmed Frank Murphy as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Football
NCAA
The Washington Touchdown Club presented the Walter Camp Trophy as college football player of the year in the United States for 1939 to Nile Kinnick of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. Mr. Kinnick passed for 638 yards and 11 touchdown on just 31 completions, and rushed for 374 yards and 5 touchdowns as Iowa posted a 6-1-1 record. Mr. Kinnick also won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Trophy for 1939.

60 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Green Dress, starring Mercedes Gilbert, Candy Montgomery, Robert Pastene, and Lynn Salisbury

War
U.S. Ambassador-at-large Philip Jessup, touring the Far East to assess American policy there, conferred with Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, who said the Nationalists could hold Taiwan with limited U.S. aid.

Defense
U.S. Army Secretary Gordon Gray ordered all field commanders to assign qualified Negroes to white combat units as "an additional step" to fulfilling President Harry Truman's anti-discrimination orders.

Politics and government
In his opening speech to Parliament, new Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa el-Nahhas Pasha promised that his regime would build up a stronger Egyptian Army; try to get Britain to withdraw its troops from the Suez Canal Zone and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; end martial law; industrialize the country; and wipe out illiteracy.

Crime
Government prosecutors rested their case in the San Francisco perjury trial of International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union leader Harry Bridges, who was accused of lying about his past as a Communist.

Society
New York Governor Thomas Dewey attacked New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer's proposal to legalize sports betting, calling it "shocking, indecent and immoral."

Economics and finance
U.K. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin urged U.S. participation in Commonwealth plans to encourage the economic development of Southeast Asia.

West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer reasserted his government's claim to the Saar coal mines, citing the passage of the West German constitution giving the Bonn republic possession of Third Reich property.

U.S. President Truman asked Congress to continue production controls on synthetic rubber for another 10 years, but urged that the industry be transferred to private ownership.

Boxing
Willie Pep (144-2-1) retained his world featherweight title with a knockout of Charley Riley (51-12-2) at 1:05 of the 5th round at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

50 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Joey's Song/Ooh! Look-a-There, Ain't She Pretty?--Bill Haley and his Comets (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Tintarella di luna--Mina

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Marina--Rocco Granata and the International Quintet (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (2nd week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Why--Frankie Avalon (3rd week at #1)
2 Running Bear--Johnny Preston
3 El Paso--Marty Robbins
4 The Big Hurt--Miss Toni Fisher
5 Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--Freddie Cannon
6 Among My Souvenirs--Connie Francis
7 It's Time to Cry--Paul Anka
8 Pretty Blue Eyes--Steve Lawrence
9 The Village of St. Bernadette--Andy Williams
10 Go, Jimmy, Go--Jimmy Clanton

Singles entering the chart were Let it Be Me (#77)/Since You Broke My Heart (#98) by the Everly Brothers; The Theme from "A Summer Place" by Percy Faith and his Orchestra (#81); Crazy Arms by Bob Beckham (#82); T.L.C. Tender Love and Care by Jimmie Rodgers (#83); Bulldog by the Fireballs (#84); Amapola by Jacky Noguez and his Orchestra (#92); Skokiaan (South African Song) by Bill Haley and his Comets (#93); All in Good Time by the Nelson Trio (#94); Time After Time by Frankie Ford (#95); Time and the River by Nat King Cole (#96); The Sound of Music by Patti Page (#100); Southern Love by Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (also #100); and Why Do I Love You So by Johnny Tillotson (also #100).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CFUN)
1 Running Bear--Johnny Preston (2nd week at #1)
2 Go, Jimmy, Go--Jimmy Clanton
3 Way Down Yonder in New Orleans--Freddie Cannon
4 Pretty Blue Eyes--Steve Lawrence
5 Lonely Blue Boy--Conway Twitty
6 Lucky Devil--Carl Dobkins, Jr.
7 Why--Frankie Avalon
8 Hound Dog Man--Fabian
9 Sandy--Larry Hall
10 Bonnie Came Back--Duane Eddy and the Rebels

Singles entering the chart were Let it Be Me by the Everly Brothers (#32); Clementine by Jan & Dean (#34); Love Me Like You Can by Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (#36); Handy Man by Jimmy Jones (#37); Smokie--Part 2 by Bill Black's Combo (#38); Dynamite/Travellin' Light by Cliff Richard and the Shadows (#39); Teen Angel by Mark Dinning (#41); I Don't Know What it Is by the Bluenotes (#43); Beyond the Sunset by Pat Boone (#46); He'll Have to Go by Jim Reeves (#47); Terry by Leigh Bell (#48); and Not One Minute More by Della Reese (#50). Love Me Like You Can was the B-side of Southern Love.

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): And When I Die--Blood, Sweat & Tears

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Two Little Boys--Rolf Harris (4th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 (Call Me) Number One--The Tremeloes (2nd week at #1)
2 Pretty Belinda--Chris Andrews
3 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother--The Hollies
4 Jam Up Jelly Tight--Tommy Roe
5 Suspicious Minds--Elvis Presley
6 Down on the Corner--Creedence Clearwater Revival
7 Theresa--Dave Mills
8 Without Love (There is Nothing)--Tom Jones
9 Cry to Me--The Staccatos
10 Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)--Steam

Singles entering the chart were Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head by B.J. Thomas (#17); and Don't Cry Daddy by Elvis Presley (#19).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 That's Where I Went Wrong--The Poppy Family
2 Jam Up Jelly Tight--Tommy Roe
3 No Time--The Guess Who
4 Don't Cry Daddy--Elvis Presley
5 Midnight Cowboy--Ferrante & Teicher
6 Venus--The Shocking Blue
7 She--Tommy James and the Shondells
8 Arizona--Mark Lindsay
9 Early in the Morning--Vanity Fare
10 Let's Work Together--Wilbert Harrison

Singles entering the chart were He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by the Hollies (#27); Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby) by Lulu (#28); I'll Never Fall in Love Again by Dionne Warwick (#29); and Blowing Away by the 5th Dimension (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Don't Cry Daddy--Elvis Presley (2nd week at #1)
2 Fancy--Bobbie Gentry
3 Arizona--Mark Lindsay
4 Cold Turkey--Plastic Ono Band
5 Leaving on a Jet Plane--Peter, Paul and Mary
6 Up on Cripple Creek--The Band
7 Whole Lotta Love--Led Zeppelin
8 Groovy Grubworm--Harlow Wilcox and the Oakies
9 Venus--The Shocking Blue
10 Something/Come Together--The Beatles

War
Striking to within 37 miles of Cairo, a commando force made Israel’s deepest penetration by ground troops since the Six-Day War in 1967. The raiding party destroyed electricity and telephone pylons on the main road between Cairo and Port Suez.

Politics and government
Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, 27-year-old leader of the military officers who had seized control of Libya on September 1, 1969, assumed the post of prime minister and appointed four members of the revolutionary command council to his new 12-man cabinet.

Crime
Warren Kimbro, head of the Black Panther chapter in New Haven, Connecticut, pled guilty to the killing in May 1969 of fellow Panther Alex Rackley. Mr. Kimbro faced a mandatory life sentence.

Economics and finance
U.S.S.R. Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev was reported to have told the party’s Central Committee that serious difficulties in the Soviet economy required tighter state control over planning, increased austerity measures, and stricter work discipline.

Business
Bethlehem Steel Corporation announced a 5% increase effective March 1 in prices of important categories of steel used in the construction of commercial and industrial buildings, ships, bridges, and heavy machinery.

Labour
Outfielder Curt Flood, who had recently refused to accept a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies, filed suit in U.S. federal court in New York City charging baseball with violation of the antitrust laws and requesting Mr. Flood’s immediate release from the reserve clause, which tied a player to one team indefinitely. The suit had the potential of affecting all major professional team sports in the United States.

Boxing
Carlos Marks (17-7-1) scored a technical knockout of Tom Bethea (9-5-1) in the 6th round of a middleweight bout at the Felt Forum in New York. The fight was stopped because of a severe gash over the right eye of Mr. Bethea, who was substituting for Juarez DeLima.

30 years ago
1980

War
An estimated 85,000 Soviet troops were in Afghanistan, and international concern was aroused by reports that many of them were in western Afghanistan near the border of Iran.

Chinese officials said that they were ready to increase a covert flow of Chinese small arms to the Afghan insurgents fighting the Soviets.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington visited Pakistan and its border with Afghanistan to dramatize British support for the country.

Medicine
Scientists and officers of Biogen, S.A., an international genetic research concern, announced that human interferon, a natural disease-fighting substance, had been made successfully in the laboratory by gene-splicing techniques. Scarce and prohibitively expensive, interferon was thought to hold great potential for curing a wide variety of virus diseases and some forms of cancer. Further improvements in the gene-splicing technique would enable the large-scale commercial production of the substance.

Hockey
NHL
Edmonton 5 Washington 2
Montreal 3 Chicago 1

20 years ago
1990

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Don’t You Know Anything About Women?

Hockey
NHL
Detroit 6 Edmonton 4

20 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Robert R. Wilson, 85. U.S. physicist. Dr. Wilson worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II and then taught at Cornell University before serving as the first director of what became known as the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (1967-1978). He was also an architect who helped to design the Fermilab and his surroundings. Dr. Wilson died not long after suffering a stroke.

John Morris Rankin, 40. Canadian musician. Mr. Rankin, originally a fiddler, played piano for the Nova Scotia group The Rankin Family. He died when his car plunged into the frigid Gulf of St. Lawrence near his Cape Breton home; his son and two friends escaped unharmed.

Politics and government
Ricardo Lagos Escobar, who had been an ally of slain Chilean President Salvador Allende in the 1970s, won a runoff election to become the first Socialist to win the country’s presidency since Mr. Allende’s election in 1970. Mr. Lagos Escobar, who most recently had served as minister of education and of public works, took 51% of the vote. He defeated Joaquin Lavin, a former aide to military dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Mr. Lavin made the strongest showing in years for a right-wing candidate.

Football
NFL
NFC Divisional Playoff
Minnesota 37 @ St. Louis 49



AFC Divisional Playoff
Tennessee 19 @ Indianapolis 16