January 14, 2012

120 years ago
1892

Died on this date
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, 28. The oldest child of the Prince of Wales--the future King Edward VII--was second in line, after his father, to the British throne. Known to his family as "Eddy," he died during an influenza epidemic. Prince Eddy's fiancee, Princess Mary of Teck, married Eddy's younger brother George, who became King George V in 1910. Prince Eddy's character and intellect have been the subjects of speculation by historians; see the Wikipedia entry for more.

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Blood Relation, starring Nina Foch and Franchot Tone

40 years ago
1972

Died on this date
Frederik IX, 72. King of Denmark, 1947-1972. Frederik IX acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Christian X, after having acted as regent from 1942-1943 when King Christian was temporarily incapacitated. King Frederik's reign saw the modernization of Denmark from an agricultural to a welfare state. He died several days after taking ill with flu-like symptoms and then suffering cardiac arrest. Frederik IX was succeeded by his daughter Princess Margrethe, who became Queen Margrethe II.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
Edmonton's Top 10 (CFRN)
1 Comin' in and Out of Your Life--Barbra Streisand
2 I Wouldn't Have Missed it for the World--Ronnie Milsap
3 Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight--Eddie Rabbitt
4 Twilight--Electric Light Orchestra
5 Trouble--Lindsey Buckingham
6 Cool Night--Paul Davis
7 Physical--Olivia Newton-John
8 I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)--Daryl Hall & John Oates
9 Turn Your Love Around--George Benson
10 She's Got a Way--Billy Joel

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): One Love to Give--Stéphanie

Died on this date
Douglas Sirk, 89. German-born U.S. movie director. Mr. Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, fled Nazi Germany in 1937 for Hollywood, where he was best known for melodramatic films such as Magnificent Obsession (1954); All that Heaven Allows (1955); Written on the Wind (1956); and Imitation of Life (1959).

Turgut Demirağ, 65. Turkish film producer, director and screenwriter. Mr. Demirağ produced 64 movies, directed 19, and wrote 19 from 1947-1974. He produced and directed Evvel zaman içinde (1951), Turkey's first full-length animated feature film; unfortunately, the negatives of the film were lost when they were sent to MGM Studios in California for colour printing, and have never been found.

Economics and finance
The United States dollar was valued at 152.77 Japanese yen, the dollar's lowest value since the end of World War II.

20 years ago
1992

Environment
A male and female California condor were released into the wild as the first step toward restoring the birds to their natural habitat. Reduced to 27 in number in 1987, there were now 52. By April 2011, the number had increased to 394, 181 in the wild.

10 years ago
2002

Health
The British government announced that the U.K. was free of foot-and-mouth disease, ending a crisis that had lasted 11 months.