January 22, 2010

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Nancy Lear!

170 years ago
1840

New Zealandiana
The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone to found the settlement that would become Wellington.

130 years ago
1880

Born on this date
Jack O'Neill. Canadian-born U.S. baseball player. Mr. O'Neill, a native of Saint John, New Brunswick, was an outfielder with the Boston Americans (1904); Washington Senators (1904); and Chicago White Sox (1906), batting .243 with 2 home runs and 42 runs batted in in 206 games. He played at least 6 seasons in the minor leagues from 1903-1910, although he may have played in the minors as early as 1899. Mr. O'Neill played 2 games at shortstop with the Americans, and on May 21, 1904, made 6 errors during a 13-inning 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Browns; he remained the only major league player of the 20th century to make 6 errors in a single game. He was with the White Sox when they won the World Series in 1906, and played in the third game of the Series, entering as a pinch runner in the 6th inning and scoring the final run on George Rohe's 3-run triple, remaining in the game in right field and making a putout as the White Sox shut out the Cubs 3-0. Mr. O'Neill played with the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association (1907-1910), and was suspended at last once for indifferent play. He died of tuberculosis on July 20, 1920 at the age of 40.

120 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Fred M. Vinson. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Vinson, a Democrat, represented Kentucky's 9th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1924-1929 and 1931-1933, and Kentucky's 8th Congressional District from 1933-1938. He was a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 1938-1943 before serving as Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1943-1945 and Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of President Harry Truman from 1945-1946. Mr. Truman nominated Mr. Vinson to succeed Harlan Fiske Stone as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Mr. Vinson held that position until his death from a heart attack on September 8, 1953 at the age of 63. The major issues that the Supreme Court dealt with during Mr. Vinson's time as Chief Justice were racial segregation, labour unions, Communism, and loyalty oaths.

110 years ago
1900

Died on this date
David Edward Hughes, 68. U.K. inventor. Mr. Hughes, a native of London or Wales who emigrated to the United States at the age of 7, became a professor of music at the University of Kentucky, and invented a printing telegraph system in 1855. He moved back to London in 1857, and invented a form of microphone in 1878, and apparently discovered radio waves a year later, nine years before Heinrich Hertz proved their existence.

70 years ago
1940

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Cardboard Box

Literature
Pierre Caille won a French prize of 10,000 francs for his translation of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind.

War
The governments of the United Kingdom and France agreed to combine scientific efforts to expedite development of new weapons systems. The Japanese Army claimed the capture of Shaohing, an important base in the Chinese province of Chekiang.

Diplomacy
The United States demanded that the U.K. modify her treatment of American ships and cargoes in the Mediterranean Sea.

Politics and government
Philippine President Manuel Quezon told the national parliament that independence for the Philippines should not be delayed past 1946.

U.S. Communist Party General Secretary Earl Browder was sentenced to four years in prison for illegally obtaining a U.S. passport. The decision was later appealed.

Labour
The International Labor Office in Geneva announced a meeting for February 3 to discuss the effect of World War II on labour.

60 years ago
1950

Died on this date
Alan Hale, Sr., 57. U.S. actor. Mr. Hale, born Rufus Edward Mackahan, appeared in at least 235 films from 1911-1950. He was best known as a character actor in movies for Warner Brothers Pictures in the 1930s and '40s, including 13 movies that starred Errol Flynn. Mr. Hale played Little John in Robin Hood (1922); The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950). He also invented a sliding theatre chair; a hand fire extinguisher; and greaseless potato chip. Mr. Hale died of a liver ailment and viral infection, 19 days before his 58th birthday. He was the father of actor Alan Hale, Jr.

War
The Nationalist Air Force in Taiwan reported that it was holding off an attempted Communist invasion of the island by bombing concentration of ships and junks along the mainland coast.

Nationalist sources charged that Chinese Communists had joined Viet Minh troops fighting French forces in the Vietnamese province of Tonkin.

World events
Soviet authorities were again reported to be stopping train and truck traffic from West Germany to Berlin, in defiance of a protest by the commanders of the Western sectors.

Aviation
Paul Mantz set a transcontinental record for gasoline-powered planes by flying a P-51 from Burbank, California to New York City in 4 hours 52 minutes 38 seconds.

Business
Preston Tucker and seven associates in an unsuccessful $28-million post-World War II venture to manufacture a rear-engine automobile were acquitted in U.S. federal court of mail fraud and conspiracy charges.

50 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (6th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: The Hitch-Hiker, starring Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong

This was the only episode of The Twilight Zone that was based on a radio play. Lucille Fletcher wrote the original drama, which was performed on The Mercury Theatre on the Air in 1941, starring Orson Welles. A shorter version was later broadcast as an episode of Suspense, again starring Mr. Welles. Rod Serling adapted The Hitch-Hiker for television.

At the movies
David e Golia (David and Goliath), directed by Ferdinando Baldi and Richard Pottier, and starring Orson Welles, Ivo Payer, Hilton Edwards, and Kronos (Aldo Pedinotti), opened in theatres in Italy.





La nave de los Monstruos (The Ship of Monsters), directed by Rogelio A. González, and starring Eulalio González, Ana Bertha Lepe, and Lorena Velázquez, opened in theatres in Mexico City.



Music
The single Tamiami/Candy Kisses by Bill Haley and his Comets was released on Warner Brothers Records; it was the group's first single with the label, after years with Decca Records. Promotional copies of the single were in stereo, and were pressed on gold vinyl.





40 years ago
1970

On television tonight
Dragnet 1970, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Burglary: Helpful Woman



World events
Eight army officers and three civilians were executed in Iraq--following 16 executions the previous day--as the repercussions of an unsuccessful right-wing coup attempt began to spread. In addition, seven Iraqis convicted of spying were hanged.

Aviation
The inaugural transatlantic commercial flight of the Boeing 747, the first of a new generation of jumbo jets, started almost 7 hours late. Engine trouble a few minutes before the scheduled takeoff the night before forced Pan American World Airways to substitute a second plane for the flight from New York to London.

Defense
The French press almost universally condemned the government’s announcement of the previous day that 100 Mirage fighter jets would be sold to Libya. The newspapers felt they had been deceived, and reacted with shock over what they interpreted as a policy of putting oil and trade above morality.

Politics and government
U.S. President Richard Nixon delivered his first State of the Union address, committing himself to achieving world peace, including a "just" settlement of the Vietnam War, saying that the chance for peace was now "far greater" than it was the previous January. He cited talks with the U.S.S.R. and Communist China as examples of the relations required to assure peace for the next generation. Mr. Nixon emphasized an improved quality of life and proposed a $10-billion program to clean up the nation’s waters--but its annual cost would be less than Congress had already authorized. He also called for a stepped-up fight against crime and pollution.



Crime
Paul Gilley, Claude Vealey, and Buddy Martin, arrested in Cleveland the day before, were formally charged with the murders of United Mine Workers of America official Jock Yablonski and his wife and daughter, whose bodies were discovered in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home on January 5.

Disasters
Eight people were killed in a plane crash near Aspen, Colorado.

30 years ago
1980

World events
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov, one of the U.S.S.R.’s best-known dissidents, was arrested and sent from Moscow into internal exile in Gorky, an industrial city 250 miles east of Moscow. He was also stripped of his title Hero of Socialist Labour and all other Soviet awards. The Soviet news agency Tass charged that Dr. Sakharov "has been conducting subversive activities against the Soviet state for a number of years" and "lately embarked on the road of open calls to reactionary circles of imperialist states to interfere in the U.S.S.R.’s internal affairs."

Golf
The PGA's Tournament Policy Board approved plans to create a new Senior PGA Tour for players 50 years of age and over.

25 years ago
1985

Politics and government
Helen Hunley, a former cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative provincial government of Premier Peter Lougheed, was installed as Alberta's Lieutenant-Governor, replacing Frank Lynch-Staunton.

20 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kuchibiru Kara Biyaku--Shizuka Kudo

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (8th week at #1)

World events
The Azerbaijani parliament threatened to secede from the U.S.S.R. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, in a televised address, used the John Turner "I had no option" defense to justify the use of Soviet troops to invade the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, which had begun two days earlier.

10 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Anne Hébert, 83. Canadian authoress and poetess. Mlle. Hébert, a native of St. Catherine de Fossambault, Quebec, won the Governor General's Award for Poetry for Poèmes (1960), and for Fiction for her novels Les enfants du sabbat (1975) and L'enfant chargé des songes (1992). Her other novels included Kamouraska (1970) and Les fous de Bassan (1982). Mlle. Hébert died of bone cancer in Montreal.

Craig Claiborne, 79. U.S. journalist. Mr. Claiborne was the restaurant critic for The New York Times from 1957 until the early 1970s, and the paper's food editor in later years. He pioneered the rating of restaurants on a scale from one to three stars, and was credited with popularizing various ethnic cuisines. Mr. Claiborne died after years of declining health.

Politics and government
The day after a mass protest had forced Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad Witt out of office, General Carlos Mendoza, acting Defense Minister and leader of the three-man junta that had replaced Mr. Mahuad, dissolved the junta in order to allow Vice-President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano to take power and preserve civilian rule. Congress approved Mr. Noboa as President.

War
Russian President Vladimir Putin brought in a new commander of Interior Ministry troops attempting to clear rebels from Grozny, capital of the rebellious republic of Chechnya.

Protest
One million people gathered in Madrid to protest a car-bomb attack that had been blamed on Basque separatists.

Weather
Heavy rain and high seas, backed by gale-force winds, caused major flooding and extensive property damage on the south coast of Newfoundland. The largest of the waves was between 50 and 60 feet travelling at about 55-70 miles per hour. Environment Canada said it was the largest set of waves to strike Newfoundland since the 1929 tsunami in the Burin Peninsula.