February 19, 2011

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Lee Morrow and Jackie Strip!

200 years ago
1811

War
Outnumbered French forces under Édouard Mortier routed and nearly destroyed Spanish troops at the Battle of the Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.

170 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Elfrida Andrée. Swedish musician and composer. Miss Andrée became the organist at Gothenburg Cathedral in 1867, and was appointed cantor in 1908, holding the positions until her death on January 11, 1929 at the age of 87. She wrote orchestral, chamber, and vocal works, and many works for organ and piano.

130 years ago
1881

Society
Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

100 years ago
1911

Born on this date
Bill Bowerman. U.S. running coach and businessman. Mr. Bowerman, a son of Oregon Governor Jay Bowerman, was track coach at the University of Oregon from 1948-1973, and trained numerous distance runners who won national championships and competed in the Olympic Games. He manufactured his first pair of running shoes in 1960, and four years later, co-founded the running shoe company that became known as Nike. Mr. Bowerman wrote the book Jogging (1966), which helped to inspire running as a national craze. He died on December 24, 1999 at the age of 88.

70 years ago
1941

War
The British government of Prime Minister Winston Churchill revealed that it had received on February 17 a formal Japanese offer to mediate the European war, and that the offer was now being studied.

Abominations
A report from Berlin stated that 10,000 Jews had been rounded up in Vienna the previous week for transportation to eastern Poland.

Politics and government
The Missouri Supreme Court ordered the Democratic-controlled state legislature to seat Forrest Donnell (Republican) as Governor.

Crime
The U.S. Justice Department reported that serious crimes had risen 2.2% in 1940, to a total of 1,517,026.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill raising the federal debt limit from $49 billion to $65 billion.

Business
A U.S. federal grand jury in Philadelphia indicted the American Surgical Trade Association on charges of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by controlling the sale of 95% of all surgical supplies.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) accepted a consent decree, ending the U.S. government's antitrust suits and providing that users of ASCAP-controlled music would pay only for the songs that they actually used.

Disasters
The Danube River overflowed in the northern Bachka and Benat districts of Yugoslavia, flooding 50,000 acres and leaving 1,000 people homeless.

60 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Strange Legacy, starring Robert Stack, Margaret Hayes, Henry Hart, and Joseph Sweeney



Died on this date
André Gide, 81. French author. Mr. Gide was a self-described pederast who wrote more than 50 books of fiction and non-fiction. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight."

Defense
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Senate Foreign Affairs-House of Representatives Armed Services Committee hearing that they opposed a congressional ceiling or ratio system for the use of American troops in Europe.

Politics and government
The Indian Parliament extended by a year the Preventive Detention Act, under which Communists and other suspected subversives may be held without trial.

Crime
Gregorio Hernandez Rivera, sole survivor of the five terrorists who had attempted to assassinate Puerto Rico Governor Luis Muñoz Marín in his mansion on October 30, 1950, pled guilty in San Juan and was sentenced from 14-30 years in prison for attempted murder.

Economics and finance
Canada agreed to provide $25 million for the first year of the six-year Colombo plan foreign aid scheme.

U.S. President Harry Truman, in a policy reversal, submitted a reorganization plan to Congress which abolished the Reconstruction Finance Corporation's present five-man board and replaced it with a single administrator.

50 years ago
1961

Television
The French-language Télé-Métropole station CFTM began broadcasting in Montréal.

World events
Laotian King Savang Vathana said that he had designated the regime of Premier Boun Oum as Laos’ only legal government. The king proclaimed Laos’ neutrality and called on neighbouring Cambodia, Burma, and Malaya to form a commission to help supervise the restoration of peace in Laos, and to end all foreign intervention there. U.S. President John F. Kennedy actively supported the king’s proposal.

Protest
Mounted police in London broke up a demonstration outside the Belgian embassy involving protests against the recent murder of deposed Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.

40 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (4th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Knock Three Times--Dawn (2nd week at #1)
2 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
3 No Matter What--Badfinger
4 Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow--The Dealians
5 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
6 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
7 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
8 Looky Looky--Giorgio
9 Mango Mango--Tidal Wave
10 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family

Singles entering the chart were Apeman by the Kinks (#17); Do It by Neil Diamond (#18); Give Me More by Mick Jade (#19); and Home by Dave Mills (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
2 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
3 Amos Moses--Jerry Reed
4 Sweet Mary--Wadsworth Mansion
5 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
6 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
7 Stay Awhile--The Bells
8 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
9 If You Could Read My Mind--Gordon Lightfoot
10 She's a Lady--Tom Jones

Singles entering the chart were Woodstock by Matthews' Southern Comfort (#26); Chairman of the Board by the Chairmen of the Board (#28); Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) by the Temptations (#29); and Help Me Make it Through the Night by Sammi Smith (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 If You Could Read My Mind--Gordon Lightfoot (2nd week at #1)
2 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
3 If I were Your Woman--Gladys Knight & the Pips
4 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
5 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
6 Born to Wander--Rare Earth
7 Remember Me--Diana Ross
8 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
9 Hang on to Your Life--The Guess Who
10 Band Bandit--Tundra

Singles entering the chart were Chairman of the Board by the Chairmen of the Board (#27); For All We Know by the Carpenters (#28); Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You by Wilson Pickett (#29); and Country Road by James Taylor (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
2 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
3 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
4 Bridget the Midget--Ray Stevens
5 Your Song--Elton John
6 Hello Melinda Goodbye--Five Man Electrical Band
7 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
8 Stay Awhile--The Bells
9 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
10 For All We Know--Carpenters

The B-side of Hello Melinda Goodbye was Signs, which became the group’s biggest hit a few months later.

On television tonight
The Interns, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Casualty

30 years ago
1981

Personal
This blogger attended his first class of the Dale Carnegie course in Edmonton. I don't agree with Mr. Carnegie's advice on getting others to do what you want--it smacks to me of manipulation--but that wasn't emphasized in the classes. If you want to develop the skill of public speaking--which is what the classes are about--I highly recommend the Dale Carnegie course.

War
The U.S. State Department provided embassies of friendly governments in Washington with a memorandum stating that the Marxist insurrection in El Salvador was a textbook case of indirect armed aggression by the Soviets. The guerrilla leaders in El Salvador declared that the United States had sent 100 military advisers to help the ruling junta in the war. The U.S., however, admitted to only 18.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme, acting as a United Nations envoy, met with Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr in an attempt to negotiate an end to the war between Iran and Iraq. There was some hope that the two countries would agree to allow 70 foreign vessels to leave the disputed Shatt al Arab waterway, where they had been trapped since September 1980, but the Iranians seemed united in backing the refusal to enter peace talks before the Iraqis withdrew from Iran.

Religion
Pope John Paul II visited Cebu in the Philippines.

Weather
It was announced that the drought and heat waves in the United States in the summer of 1980 had killed more than 1,300 people.

25 years ago
1986

Diplomacy
The United States Senate voted 83-11 to ratify a United Nations treaty outlawing genocide. The U.S. had signed the treaty in 1984, and 90 nations had subsequently ratified it. Passage in the U.S. had been delayed because some Senators feared that it would compromise national sovereignty, but amendments were added to meet this concern. The International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defined as an international crime any act "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

King Hussein of Jordan abandoned negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization after two weeks of talks intended to revive the Middle East peace process. The king accused PLO leader Yasser Arafat of breaking his word after he had won concessions from the United States. King Hussein said that the United States had been prepared to invite the PLO to a Middle East peace conference if the PLO had accepted United Nations resolutions, renounced terrorism, and agreed to negotiate with Israel.

Politics and government
The United States Senate voted 85-9 to regard the February 7 Philippines presidential election as fraudulent. Embattled Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos threatened to use his powers "to the limit" to prevent turmoil.

Disasters
William Rogers, chairman of the presidential commission investigating the January 28 explosion of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, said that Morton Thiokol Inc., manufacturer of rocket parts, had initially recommended against launching on January 28 because of the cold weather, but then had reversed its recommendation. The panel found that three key NASA officials had not been informed of Morton Thiokol’s initial recommendation not to launch.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 5 @ Edmonton 9

This blogger attended the game at Northlands Coliseum, but left after the 2nd period with the Oilers leading 7-2.

20 years ago
1991

War
U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf said that the Iraqi forces were "on the verge of collapse." Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, chief of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "we are ready now" to attack on the ground.

Politics and government
Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin called for the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He criticized Mr. Gorbachev for wanting to hold on to the old system; for not wanting to grant independence to republics wanting it; and for leading the country to dictatorship under the name of "presidential rule."

10 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Charles Trenet, 87. French singer and songwriter. Mr. Trenet was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. Probably his most famous song was La Mer (1946), which later, with English lyrics, became known as Beyond the Sea.

Stanley Kramer, 87. U.S. movie producer and director. Mr. Kramer began producing movies in the 1940s. He directed 20 of his films--many with a strong social message--including Not as a Stranger (1955); The Defiant Ones (1958); On the Beach (1959); Inherit the Wind (1960); Judgment at Nuremberg (1961); It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963); Ship of Fools (1965); and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Mr. Kramer was nominated for nine Academy Awards as producer and/or director, but won none.

Health
A five-mile exclusion zone was placed around an abattoir in Essex, England after a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was detected.