January 4, 2011

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Angela Ieriti, Agness Nyambe, and Aydee Ramirez!

130 years ago
1881

Music
Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture received its premiere performance in Breslau, Germany.

70 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Frenesi--Artie Shaw and his Orchestra (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Henri Bergson, 81. French philosopher. Professor Bergson was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented." He was an evolutionist who promoted the idea that the processes of immediate experience and intuition are more significant than abstract rationalism and science for understanding reality.

Movies
Charlie Chaplin declined the New York Film Critics Circle award as Best Actor for 1940 for The Great Dictator because he said the award implied that actors competed with each other.

War
Ecuadorians and Peruvians clashed at Carrol Viejo in a border dispute.

U.S. Senator Carter Glass (Democrat--Virginia) urged the United States Navy to act against Germany.

Franciana
The Vichy regime decreed dominion status for Indochina.

Politics and government
Prime Minister Johann William Rangell formed a new cabinet in Finland.

The U.S. House of Repesentatives Committee on Un-American Activities asked Congress to bar foreign anti-American propaganda from benefit of reduced postage rates.

Diplomacy
The Sino-Korean Peoples League in Los Angeles accused Japanese consulates of conscripting Japanese descendents on the Pacific coast and in Hawaii.

The Vichy regime in France appointed General Henri Dentz as High Commissioner for Syria.

Labour
American Federation of Labor metal unions adopted a no-strike policy to speed the national defense effort.

60 years ago
1951

At the movies
Halls of Montezuma, directed by Lewis Milestone, and starring Richard Widmark, Richard Boone, Jack Webb, and others, received its premiere screenings in New York and Los Angeles.



War
Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul for the second time since the beginning of the Korean War in June 1950.

World events
The International Relief Organization reported that 250,000 refugees from Bulgaria had entered Turkey since the border had been opened to them a month earlier.

Defense
A one-week meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers began in London; the purpose was discuss Commonwealth defense policy.

40 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Hashire Kōtarō--Salty Sugar

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Te Quiero, Te Quiero--Nino Bravo (3rd week at #1)

30 years ago
1981

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Shaddap You Face--Joe Dolce Music Theatre (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Angel of Mine--Frank Duval & Orchestra (4th week at #1)

Football
NFL
AFC Divisional Playoff
Oakland 14 @ Cleveland 12

Mike Davis intercepted Brian Sipe's pass in the Oakland end zone with 41 seconds remaining in the game to preserve the Raiders' win over the Browns before 78,245 fans on a cold day at Cleveland Stadium.



NFC Divisional Playoff
Dallas 30 @ Atlanta 27

Trailing 24-10 in the 4th quarter, the Cowboys scored 20 points to beat the Falcons before 59,793 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The winning score came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Danny White to Drew Pearson with 42 seconds remaining in regulation time.



25 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Election Day--Arcadia (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Nikita--Elton John (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Nikita--Elton John (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Thank You Very Much Mr Eastwood--Dermot Morgan (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Saving All My Love for You--Whitney Houston (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box) : Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Canada (RPM): Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Wilbur R. Franks, 84. Canadian inventor. Dr. Franks, a native of Weston, Ontario, was a cancer researcher at the University of Toronto's Banting and Best Medical Research Institute, where he invented the anti-gravity suit, or G-suit.

Christopher Isherwood, 81. U.K.-born U.S. author. Mr. Isherwood was a sodomite who wrote many novels, the best-known of which was probably I am a Camera (1951).

Phil Lynott, 36. U.K. rock musician. Mr. Lynott, leader of the group Thin Lizzy in the 1970s, died the typical rock lifestyle death--after a drink and drug binge. Thin Lizzy were best known for the 1976 hit single The Boys are Back in Town.

Hockey
NHL
Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers became the first NHL player to score 100 or more points in seven consecutive seasons.

Football
NFL
AFC Divisional Playoff
Cleveland 21 @ Miami 24

Ron Davenport's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:57 remaining in regulation time climaxed a comeback from a 21-3 3rd-quarter deficit as the Dolphins edged the Browns before 74,667 fans at the Orange Bowl.



NFC Divisional Playoff
Dallas 0 @ Los Angeles Rams 20

Eric Dickerson set an NFL playoff record with 248 yards rushing on 34 carries, including touchdowns of 55 and 40 yards, as the Rams shut out the Cowboys before 66,581 fans at Anaheim Stadium.



20 years ago
1991

War
Two days after Soviet forces had seized buildings in Latvia and Lithuania, the Soviet military chief of staff pledged that no more soldiers would be sent to the Baltic region.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Israel for its treatment of Palestinians in territories occupied by Israel. In the previous week, at least 10 Arabs had been killed and hundreds injured in violent clashes with Israelis.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that unemployment in December had reached a three-year high of 6.1%, and that more than a million payroll jobs had been lost in the last half of 1990.

The Bank of New England Corporation announced that it had lost $450 million in the fourth quarter of 1990.

Hockey
World Junior Championship
Gold Medal game
Canada 3 U.S.S.R. 2

10 years ago
2001

Economics and finance
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board reduced the discount rate--the rate of interest charged by the Federal Reserve Board to member banks--to 5.5%.