December 22, 2012

240 years ago
1772

Education
Construction of the first American schoolhouse west of the Allegheny Mountains was begun in Schoenbrunn, Ohio by Moravian missionaries.

150 years ago
1862

Born on this date
Connie Mack. U.S. baseball player, manager, and owner. Born Cornelius McGillicuddy in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, Mr. Mack was a catcher with the Washington Nationals (1886-1889); Buffalo Bisons (1890); and Pittspurgh Pirates (1891-1896), batting .244 with 5 home runs and 265 runs batted in in 724 games. He managed the Pirates from 1894-1896, then managed the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League, which became the American League--then a minor league--in 1900. In 1901 the American League began to compete as a major league, and Mr. Mack became manager and part-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics, increasing his share of ownership in future deals. Mr. Mack managed the Athletics for a record 50 seasons, winning 9 pennants and 5 World Series (1910; 1911; 1913; 1929; 1930) while compiling a won-lost record of 3,731-3,948 in 53 seasons as a major league manager. Mr. Mack's teams compiled great records from 1910-1914 and 1929-1932, but they also cost him money, and he sold off many of his star players after each run of excellence, resulting in long interludes of failure. Shibe Park, the home of the Athletics from 1909, was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953. Mr. Mack died on February 8, 1956 at the age of 93.

50 years ago
1962

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Pregherò--Adriano Celentano (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Return to Sender--Elvis Presley (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Telstar--The Tornados

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Limbo Rock--Chubby Checker
2 Telstar--The Tornados
3 Bobby's Girl--Marcie Blane
4 Return to Sender--Elvis Presley
5 Big Girls Don't Cry--The 4 Seasons
6 The Lonely Bull--The Tijuana Brass
7 Go Away Little Girl--Steve Lawrence
8 Don't Hang Up--The Orlons
9 Release Me--"Little Esther" Phillips
10 You are My Sunshine--Ray Charles

Singles entering the chart were My Coloring Book, with versions by Sandy Stewart; Kitty Kallen; Barbra Streisand; and George Chakiris (#73); Shake Sherry by the Contours (#77); Lovesick Blues by Frank Ifield (#78); The Cinnamon Cinder by the Pastel Six (#79); Loop de Loop by Johnny Thunder (#80); Little Town Flirt by Del Shannon (#88); I Need You by Rick Nelson (#91); Fly Me to the Moon--Bossa Nova by Joe Harnell and his Orchestra (#94); Chicken Feed by Bent Fabric (#97); Molly by Bobby Goldsboro (#98); and Darkest Street in Town by Jimmy Clanton (#100). I Need You was the B-side of It's Up to You, charting at #44.

On the radio
Saturday Night Theatre, on BBC Home Service
Tonight's episode: A Study in Scarlet, starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley

Go here and here to download the broadcast. This dramatization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel filled a 90-minute time slot, and was not broadcast at the same time as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring and produced by the same people, which was also being broadcast by BBC, and which filled a 30-minute time slot.

Died on this date
Ross McLarty, 71. Australian politician. Sir Ross was the son of a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, and represented Murray-Wellington in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly (1930-1962) as a member of the Nationalist and then the Liberal Party, holding several cabinet posts as well as the office of Premier of Western Australia (1947-1953). He resigned his seat in March 1962 because of poor health.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 12.

Boxing
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (14-2) won a 10-round unanimous decision over Holly Mims (59-24-6) in a middleweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mr. Mims was a late substitute for Gomeo Brennan, who came down with a bad cold the day of the fight, and was excused.



40 years ago
1972

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Ich wünsch' mir 'ne kleine Miezekatze--Wums Gesang

Disasters
The Chilean Air Force found 14 survivors from a plane carrying members of the Uruguayan rugby team that had crashed two months earlier in the Andes Mountains. The survivors had resorted to cannibalism in order to avoid starvation. The incident inspired the book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (1974) by Piers Paul Read, which was adapted into a movie in 1993.

30 years ago
1982

Personal
This blogger finished Christmas exams at the University of Alberta.

10 years ago
2002

Died on this date
Joe Strummer, 50. U.K. musician. Mr. Strummer was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist with the punk rock group the Clash.