January 18, 2013

800 years ago
1213

Died on this date
Tamar the Great, 52 (?). Queen of Georgia, 1184-1213. Tamar was the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right. She was proclaimed co-regent by her father King George III in 1178, becoming sole monarch upon his death. Queen Tamar, in turn, made her son co-regent in 1207, and he succeeded to the throne as King George IV upon her death, which was from a "devastating disease."

225 years ago
1788

Australiana
The First Fleet, carrying a load of sheep and 736 convicts, arrived in Botany Bay.

210 years ago
1803

Exploration
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson sent a special message to Congress requesting money to fund the western expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

200 years ago
1813

Born on this date
Joseph Glidden. U.S. farmer. Mr. Glidden, a native of New Hampshire who settled in Illinois, patented barbed wire in 1874. He died on October 9, 1906 at the age of 93.

140 years ago
1873

Died on this date
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 69. U.K. author. Baron Lytton was a novelist second in popularity only to Charles Dickens, but is mainly known today as the inspiration for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, in which this blogger has participated (although not recently).

110 years ago
1903

Radio
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sent a message to King Edward VII in England; it was the first transatlantic radio message originating in the United States.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Danny Kaye. U.S. actor. A man of many talents, Mr. Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminski in Brooklyn. His movies included Wonder Man (1945); The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947); The Inspector General (1949); On the Riviera (1951); Hans Christian Andersen (1952); Knock on Wood (1954); White Christmas (1954); and The Court Jester (1956). He died on March 3, 1987 at the age of 74.

War
The Greek fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Pavlos Koutouriotis, defeated the Ottoman Empire fleet under Captain Ramiz Bey in the Battle of Lemnos withstanding the Ottoman attempt to break the Greek blockade of the Dardanelles during the First Balkan War.

90 years ago
1923

Died on this date
Wallace Reid, 31. U.S. actor. Mr. Reid was a major star of the silent film era, appearing in over 200 movies from 1910 until his death. While filming The Valley of the Giants (1919), Mr. Reid was seriously injured in a train wreck, and was prescribed morphine as a painkiller. He developed an addiction to the drug, and died in a sanitarium.

80 years ago
1933

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Richard Gordon and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: Murder by Proxy

This episode, based on the A. Conan Doyle story The Final Problem, is the oldest extant Sherlock Holmes radio broadcast.

70 years ago
1943

Abominations
The Nazis resumed deportation of Jews from Warsaw to the death camp at Treblinka, Poland, inciting the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland: The Next Time/Bachelor Boy--Cliff Richard and the Shadows (2nd week at #1)

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 From a Jack to a King--Ned Miller
2 The Night has a Thousand Eyes--Bobby Vee
3 Wishing--Barry Boyd
4 Bobby's Girl--Marcie Blane
5 Wild Weekend--The Rebels
6 Walk Right In--The Rooftop Singers
7 Doggie Heaven--Johnny Frye
8 Return to Sender--Elvis Presley
9 Rhythm of the Rain--The Cascades
10 I Saw Linda Yesterday--Dickey Lee

Wishing was recorded with musicians from Rick Nelson's band. Mr. Boyd was a disk jockey with Edmonton radio station CJCA.

On television tonight
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog, starring Inger Stevens, Dan O'Herlihy, and Richard Jaeckel

Died on this date
Hugh Gaitskell, 56. U.K. politician. Mr. Gaitskell was Minister of Fuel and Power (1947-1950) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1950-1951) in the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee. He led the Labour Party from December 14, 1955 until his death, which was the result of heart failure caused by lupus.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland: Long Haired Lover from Liverpool--Little Jimmy Osmond

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club (2nd week at #1)

War
A British committee of inquiry issued a report that concluded that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government could not have foreseen the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands the previous April, and that it could not attach "any criticism or blame" to the government for Argentina's action.

Protest
Feminists in Edmonton demonstrated outside the downtown Eaton's store to protest pornographic material on the new First Choice pay-TV channel, in which Eaton's was indirectly involved.

Olympics
The decathlon and pentathlon gold medals that Jim Thorpe had won in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm were returned to his children, 70 years after Mr. Thorpe had been stripped of them for having once played semi-professional baseball fof $25 per week.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Faith--George Michael

10 years ago
2003

Disasters
A bushfire in Canberra, Australia killed 4 people and destroyed over 500 homes.