January 19, 2010

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Inese!

1,690 years ago
520

Died on this date
John of Cappadocia. Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 518-520. John of Cappadocia succeeded Timothy I as Ecumenical Patriarch. His reign was characterized by the Acclamations of Constantinople, affirming the orthodoxy of the ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. John was succeeded by Epiphanius.

490 years ago
1520

War
Danish forces commanded by Otte Krumpen defeated Swedish forces led by regent Sten Sture the Younger, in the Battle of Bogesund in Sweden. Sten Sture the Younger was mortally wounded, and died on February 3.

250 years ago
1760

Died on this date
Johnson. U.K. crime victim. Mr. Johnson was a steward of the Ferrers family, English nobility, who was appointed by Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers as a receiver of rents. Mr. Johnson died the day after being shot by Lord Ferrers. Lord Ferrers was convicted of murder in April, and was hanged on May 5, 1760 at the age of 39.

100 years ago
1910

Hockey
NHA
Montreal Canadiens 4 @ Renfrew 9

Newsy Lalonde scored 3 goals for the Canadiens in their first official game.

90 years ago
1920

Diplomacy
The United States Senate voted against joining the League of Nations.

In response to the submitted requirements of the Armenian united national delegation the Allied General Council adopted on January 19, 1920 the following decision and «de facto» recognized the State of Armenia:

1. a) The Government of the Armenian State is recognized as the Government,
2. b) This decision does not predetermine the Armenian State’s border issue.

Abominations
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded, as a reorganization of the National Civil Liberties Bureau.

Politics and government
The U.S. Justice Department was reported to be taking steps to guard Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer against threats on his life from left-wing radicals.



80 years ago
1930

Protest
Tensions between nativists and Filipino-Americans in Watsonville, California escalated into five days of riots that later spread to other cities in the state.

70 years ago
1940

At the movies
You Nazty Spy!, produced and directed by Jules White, and starring the Three Stooges, opened in theatres. It was the first Hollywood film of any kind to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.



Died on this date
William Borah, 74. U.S. politician. Mr. Borah, a Republican, represented Idaho in the United States Senate from 1907 until his death. He was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1924-1933 and was Dean of the Senate from 1933 until his death. He was known for his support of an isolationist foreign policy, and was one of the leading opponents of U.S. membership in the League of Nations, but took a favourable attitude toward the U.S.S.R. Senator Borah was known for his oratorical skills, and when he spoke on the Senate floor, a shout of "Borah's up!" from someone in the press gallery would immediately bring reporters into the chamber to hear him.

War
Chinese dispatches estimated 3,000 Japanese fatalities in fighting in the Chinese province of Hupeh.

Defense
Slovakia adopted military conscription.

Politics and government
The French parliament banned all Communist Party senators and deputies who had not repudiated their association with the international Communist movement as of October 26, 1939.

Disasters
Associated Press reported 82 deaths in 24 American states due to the cold wave moving across the U.S. from the Canadian northwest.

Sport
The Amateur Athletic Unions' Pan-American Games Committee chose the United States as the best country to host the 1940 games, pending formal cancellation of the 1940 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki. The Olympic had originally been awarded to Tokyo, but after Japan forfeited the games in 1938, the International Olympic Committee had rescheduled the games to be held in Helsinki from July 20-August 4, 1940.

60 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Escape, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: The Diamond Lens

Diplomacy
Communist Chinese Premier and Foreign Minister Chou En-lai (Zhou Enlai) arrived in Moscow to join in negotiations for a settlement between China and the U.S.S.R. The U.S.S.R. protested continued Nationalist Chinese representation in the United Nations by resigning from a number of UN commissions, including the Military Staff Committee; Far Eastern Commission; and Trusteeship Council.

Bulgaria demanded that the United States recall U.S. Minister to Bulgaria Donald Heath, recently accused of espionage against Bulgaria.

U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson announced U.S. support of a UN resolution to let member nations resume diplomatic relations with Spain. He said that restoration of ties would not mean approval of the Spanish regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco or its policies.

Defense
Dominican Republic President Rafael Trujillo offered to call off a two-year, $20-million armaments program if assured that his country would not be attacked from other Latin American states.

Labour
United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis was served with nine damage suits under Ohio's Valentine Act barring restraint of trade in coal production. It was the first time Mr. Lewis had ever been served with papers in a civil suit.

50 years ago
1960

On television tonight
The Lawless Years, starring James Gregory, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Prantera Story

This was the last episode of the season.

Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, hosted by John Newland, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Forests of the Night, starring Alfred Ryder, Mark Roberts, and Douglas Dick



Defense
The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan was signed in Washington.

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head--Johnny Farnham

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kuroneko no Tango--Osamu Minagawa (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Paxarinos--Víctor Manuel

Diplomacy
United Nations Secretary-General U Thant flew to Paris after a one-day visit to Nigeria, apparently satisfied that conditions of distress in the former Biafra region were not as serious as reported. He said there was "need for relief," and that the UN would help.

Health
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged the nation’s physicians to pay close attention to the risks said to be involved in the use of birth control pills. In letters sent to more than 300,000 doctors, he agency referred to new labelling that warned of blood clot problems and told doctors to inform their patients of the hazards.

Law
U.S. President Richard Nixon nominated Judge Harrold Carswell of Florida, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court caused by the resignation of Abe Fortas the previous year. Judge Carswell was regarded as a conservative.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Labor Department reported that national consumer prices had risen 6.1% in 1969, by far the worst inflation since 1951.

30 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Remi, Le Sue Avventure--I Ragazzi Di Remi (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): I Have a Dream--ABBA

#1 single in Ireland: Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)--Dana

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Brass in Pocket--Pretenders

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Brass in Pocket--Pretenders

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 I Have a Dream--ABBA (2nd week at #1)
2 David's Song (Who'll Come with Me)--Kelly Family
3 Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)--Pink Floyd
4 Rapper's Delight--Sugarhill Gang
5 Weekend--Earth and Fire
6 Fly Too High--Janis Ian
7 What's a Matter Baby--Ellen Foley
8 Thema Uit "De Verlaten Mijn" - Einsamer Hirte--Gheorghe Zamfir met Orkest o.l.v. James Last
9 Walking on the Moon--The Police
10 Sara--Fleetwood Mac

Singles entering the chart were Nederland, Die Heeft de Bal by André Van Duin & het Nederlands Elftal (#24); Babe by Styx (#28); A Message to You Rudy by the Specials (#30); Presidential Suite by Tiffany (#33); Crying by Don McLean (#34); and Tranen Heb Ik Om Jou Gehuild by De Wiko's (#36). Tiffany was a Dutch trio, not the American singer who became popular in the late 1980s.

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Rock with You--Michael Jackson
2 Do That to Me One More Time--Captain & Tennille
3 Escape (The Pina Colada Song)--Rupert Holmes
4 Coward of the County--Kenny Rogers
5 Send One Your Love--Stevie Wonder
6 Cruisin'--Smokey Robinson
7 We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard
8 Ladies Night--Kool & The Gang
9 Please Don't Go--KC & the Sunshine Band
10 Cool Change--Little River Band

Singles entering the chart were Him by Rupert Holmes (#72); Too Hot by Kool & The Gang (#76); Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd (#77); When a Man Loves a Woman by Bette Midler (#80); I Thank You by ZZ Top (#81); I Wish I was Eighteen Again by George Burns (#83); Got to Love Somebody by Sister Sledge (#85); Back on My Feet Again by the Babys (#87); Give it All You Got by Chuck Mangione (#89); I Pledge My Love by Peaches & Herb (#90); and I Don't Want to Be Lonely by Dana Valery (#93). When a Man Loves a Woman was from the movie The Rose (1979). Give it All You Got was the official theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, which took place in Lake Placid, New York from February 13-24.

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Rock With You--Michael Jackson (2nd week at #1)
2 Do That to Me One More Time--Captain & Tennille
3 Escape (The Pina Colada Song)--Rupert Holmes
4 Coward of the County--Kenny Rogers
5 Ladies Night--Kool & The Gang
6 We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard
7 Cruisin'--Smokey Robinson
8 Please Don't Go--KC & the Sunshine Band
9 Jane--Jefferson Starship
10 Don't Do Me Like That--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Singles entering the chart were On the Radio by Donna Summer (#60); Him by Rupert Holmes (#68); Too Hot by Kool & The Gang (#81); Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd (#82); Back on My Feet Again by the Babys (#84); Three Times in Love by Tommy James (#85); When a Man Loves a Woman by Bette Midler (#89); Make Believe it's Your First Time by Bobby Vinton (#90); Got to Love Somebody by Sister Sledge (#94); and I Wish I was Eighteen Again by George Burns (#99).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Record World)
1 Rock With You--Michael Jackson
2 Please Don't Go--KC & the Sunshine Band
3 Coward of the County--Kenny Rogers
4 Do That to Me One More Time--Captain & Tennille
5 Escape (The Pina Colada Song)--Rupert Holmes
6 Babe--Styx
7 The Long Run--Eagles
8 Cruisin'--Smokey Robinson
9 Ladies Night--Kool & The Gang
10 We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard

Singles entering the chart were On the Radio by Donna Summer (#43); Him by Rupert Holmes (#63); Too Hot by Kool & The Gang (#71); Three Times in Love by Tommy James (#76); Let Me Go, Love by Nicolette Larson (#77); Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd (#80); When a Man Loves a Woman by Bette Midler (#84); Wonderland by the Commodores (#89); Say Hello by April Wine (#94); I Thank You by ZZ Top (#99); and Under My Thumb by the Hounds (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Escape (The Pina Colada Song)--Rupert Holmes (2nd week at #1)
2 Message in a Bottle--The Police
3 Don't Do Me Like That--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4 I Don't Like Mondays--The Boomtown Rats
5 Babe--Styx
6 Please Don't Go--KC & the Sunshine Band
7 No More Tears/Enough is Enough--Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer
8 Cool Change--Little River Band
9 We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard
10 Rapper's Delight--Sugarhill Gang

Singles entering the chart were I Don't Want to Talk About It by Rod Stewart (#78); Don't Ya Hide It by Stonebolt (#86); Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar (#88); Goodbye L.A. by Bob Segarini (#92); I Can't Help Myself by Bonnie Pointer (#94); and 99 by Toto (#98).

Died on this date
William O. Douglas, 81. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1939-1975. Justice Douglas was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1937-1939 and was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served the longest term in that court’s history, making his mark as an advocate of civil liberties. Perhaps his best-known ruling was in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), where he invented a so-called "right to privacy." Mr. Douglas appears to have been an earlier version of Bill Clinton: an inveterate womanizer who survived impeachment attempts, and whose life story was largely fabricated--with the added feature of being a heavy drinker. For more on this slimy individual, go here.

Economics and finance
The United States government agreed to buy another 2.5 million tons of undelivered grain not affected by the decision 12 days earlier to embargo grain from delivery to the U.S.S.R., under a separate 1976 agreement to deliver 8 million tons a year to the Soviets for five years. Price levels of corn had returned to what they were before the announcement of the embargo; soybean prices were higher, and wheat prices were rapidly recovering.

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 7 Toronto 2
Edmonton 5 Pittsburgh 2

25 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Careless Whisper--George Michael (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Like a Virgin--Madonna (5th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Like a Virgin--Madonna (4th week at #1)
2 All I Need--Jack Wagner
3 Cool it Now--New Edition
4 Run to You--Bryan Adams
5 You're the Inspiration--Chicago
6 I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner
7 Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid
8 Born in the U.S.A.--Bruce Springsteen
9 Sea of Love--The Honeydrippers
10 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)

Singles entering the chart were California Girls by David Lee Roth (#35); Can't Fight this Feeling by REO Speedwagon (#44); Rockin' at Midnight by the Honeydrippers (#58); Private Dancer by Tina Turner (#61); Ooh Ooh Song by Pat Benatar (#64); I Wanna Hear it from Your Lips by Eric Carmen (#79); This is My Night by Chaka Khan (#80); Too Late for Goodbyes by Julian Lennon (#87); and Yo' Little Brother by Nolan Thomas (#88).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Like a Virgin--Madonna
2 Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid
3 I Feel for You--Chaka Khan
4 Sea of Love--The Honeydrippers
5 Run to You--Bryan Adams
6 Ti Amo--Laura Branigan
7 Careless Whisper--Wham! featuring George Michael
8 The Wild Boys--Duran Duran
9 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)
10 Smalltown Boy--Bronski Beat

Singles entering the chart were Private Dancer by Tina Turner (#71); Hang on to Your Love by Sade (#73); Sugar Walls by Sheena Easton (#80); Rockin' at Midnight by the Honeydrippers (#84); Naughty Naughty by John Parr (#93); and Misled by Kool & The Gang (#95).

20 years ago
1990

Died on this date
Herbert Wehner, 83. German politician. Mr. Wehner was a Communist from the late 1920s until his expulsion from the party during World War II, after apparently informing on fellow Communists to the Soviet secret police NKVD. After several years of foreign internment, Mr. Wehner returned to Germany in 1946, and joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was a member of the West German Bundestag from 1949-1983, and was Minister of Intra-German Relations in the cabinet of Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger (1966-1969), as well as chairman of the SPD's parliamentary group (1969-1983). Mr. Wehner was notorious for his heckling style and hurling personal insults at fellow MPs, and holds the Bundestag record for official censures (77-79). He died after years of suffering from diabetes and Binswanger's disease.

Alberto Semprini, 81. U.K. musician. Mr. Semprini was a pianist, cellist, composer, and conductor who led radio orchestras, and hosted the BBC radio program Semprini Serenade from 1957 until the early 1980s. He also made numerous recordings.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, 58. Indian religious leader. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, born Chandhra Mohan Jain, was a Hindu guru who became a philosophy professor and a popular lecturer in the 1950s and '60s. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh became known as the "sex guru" because of his liberal teachings on sex. He began initiating disciples in 1970, and created an ashram. The ashram began attracting Western followers, especially after 1975, when therapists promoting human potential, aka New Age teachings arrived. Violence and abundant sexual activity between members attracted critical attention from Indian authorities, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and he relocated to Oregon in 1981, where American followers Sheela Silverman and her husband John Shelfer had purchased property. The Rajneesh organization created the city of Rajneeshpuram, accumulating 93 Rolls Royces and encountering stiff opposition from local residents. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had taken a vow of silence in April 1981, but ended the public silence in October 1984, and almost a year later publicly denounced Ms. Silverman and her associates, accusing them of serious crimes, including a 1984 salmonella attack on local residents. Rajneeshpuram collapsed, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was indicted in October 1985 for conspiracy to evade U.S. immigration laws; he ended up making a deal including a fine and an agreement not to return to the United States for five years. After various stops around the world, he landed in Mumbai in July 1986, returning to his ashram in Pune six months later. He suffered from declining health, which he blamed on poisoning in U.S. jails, and in 1989 took the name Osho Rajneesh. He died of reported heart failure.

Scandal
Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arraigned in U.S. District Court on a misdemeanour charge of wilfully possessing cocaine, the day after his arrest at the Vista International Hotel in downtown Washington.

Abominations
Eight Salvadoran military officers and soldiers plus a ninth still being sought were indicted for the murders of six Jesuit priests and two other people in San Salvador in November 1989. The eight in custody pled not guilty.

Protest
Several hundred people showed up at Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg to protest the arrival of rebel cricketers from England who were defying a ban on playing in South Africa.

Society
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. cancelled its plan to test-market Uptown, a new brand of cigarette aimed at Negro consumers, saying that "the unfair and biased attention the brand had received" would invalidate the results of the test. The announcement was made the day after U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan had made a speech to medical students at the University of Pennsylvania sharply criticizing the plan.

10 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Hedy Lamarr, 85. Austrian-born U.S. actress and inventor. Miss Lamarr shot to fame with a nude appearance in the Czech film Ecstasy (1933); she made the move to Hollywood, where her movies included Samson and Delilah (1949) and My Favorite Spy (1951). In 1942 Miss Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for a radio-signalling device, a forerunner of today’s "spread spectrum."

Bettino Craxi, 65. Prime Minister of Italy, 1983-1987. Mr. Craxi, a Socialist, represented Milan (1968-1983, 1992-1994) and Naples (1983-1992) in the Chamber of Deputies, and was Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976-1993. He was Italy's first Socialist Prime Minister after World War II. Mr. Craxi's political career ended with charges of corruption; he fled to Tunisia in May 1994 to escape a prison sentence, and died in Tunisia from complications of diabetes.

Boxing
Lazaro Almanza (3-8) won a unanimous 4-round decision over Isaac Poole (2-20) in a heavyweight bout at the Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami.