January 26, 2013

250 years ago
1763

Born on this date
Charles XIV John, Charles III John. King of Sweden and Norway, 1818-1844. Born Jean Bernadotte in Pau, France, he was a French military officer, serving as Secretary of War and Marshal of the Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte. He was offered the throne of Sweden as heir-presumptive to King Charles XIII, who was old and childless. In Sweden, he was Charles XIV John; in Norway, he was Charles III John. The king, who spoke neither Swedish nor Norwegian, suffered a stroke on his 81st birthday and died on March 8, 1844.

225 years ago
1788

Australiana
Captain Arthur Philip guided 11 ships of the British First Fleet loaded with convicts into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) in New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. The date is annually celebrated as Australia Day.

190 years ago
1823

Died on this date
Edward Jenner, 73. U.K. physician. Dr. Jenner, known as the "father of immunology," was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine in the late 18th century.

175 years ago
1838

Society
The first prohibition law in the United States was passed in Tennessee, making it a misdemeanour to sell liquor in taverns and stores.

150 years ago
1863

War
Masachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew received permission from U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.

120 years ago
1893

Died on this date
Abner Doubleday, 73. U.S. military officer. Mr. Doubleday was a general in the Union army in the U.S. Civil War who fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, South Carolina in 1861, and had a major role in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. He was erroneously credited with having created the game of baseball in Cooperstown, New York in 1839.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Jimmy Van Heusen. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Van Heusen, born Edward Babcock, was kwown for writing the music to Sammy Cahn's lyrics for songs in musical shows and movies. He was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, and won four times for Best Original Song: Swinging on a Star (Going My Way) (1944); All the Way (The Joker is Wild) (1957); High Hopes (A Hole in the Head) (1959); and Call Me Irresponsible (Papa's Delicate Condition) (1963). He also won an Emmy Award with Mr. Cahn for the song Love and Marriage, written for the Producers' Showcase presentation of Our Town. Mr. Van Heusen died on February 6, 1990 at the age of 77.

William Prince. U.S. actor. Mr. Prince appeared in small roles in numerous movies, but was best known for appearing in television soap operas such as Young Dr. Malone (1958-1963); Another World (1964-1965); The Edge of Night (1969); and A World Apart (1970-1971). He died on October 8, 1996 at the age of 83.

70 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Harry H. Laughlin, 62. U.S. eugenicist. Mr. Laughlin was director of the Eugenics Record Office from 1910-1939, and was a key figure in influencing the passage of legislation requiring compulsory sterilization of people deemed "unfit" to have children. The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring passed by Germany's Nazi regime shortly after assuming power in 1933 was based on the model devised by Mr. Laughlin. Ironically, Mr. Laughlin would have qualified for sterilization according to his own standards--he was an epileptic.

60 years ago
1953

Died on this date
Athanase David, 70. Canadian politician and sports executive. A Liberal, Mr. David was a member of the Quebec National Assembly for Terrebonne from 1916-1936 and 1939-1940, and represented Saurel, Quebec in the Senate from 1940-1953. He was president of the Montreal Canadiens from 1930-1935, and was one of the people responsible for reviving the Montreal Royals franchise in baseball's International League and building Delorimier Stadium.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Return to Sender--Elvis Presley (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Tous les Garçons et les Filles--Françoise Hardy (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Speedy Gonzales--Pat Boone (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Junge, komm bald wieder--Freddy Quinn (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Diamonds--Jet Harris and Tony Meehan

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Walk Right In--The Rooftop Singers

U.S. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Go Away Little Girl--Steve Lawrence (2nd week at #1)
2 Walk Right In--The Rooftop Singers
3 Hey Paula--Paul and Paula
4 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes--Bobby Vee
5 Tell Him--The Exciters
6 Telstar--The Tornados
7 Up on the Roof--The Drifters
8 Limbo Rock--Chubby Checker
9 I Saw Linda Yesterday--Dickey Lee
10 It's Up to You--Rick Nelson

Singles entering the chart were What Will Mary Say by Johnny Mathis (#77); Our Winter Love by Bill Pursell (#88); Big Wide World by Teddy Randazzo (#90); Baby, Baby, Baby by Sam Cooke (#92); Hitch Hike by Marvin Gaye (#94); As Long as She Needs Me by Sammy Davis, Jr. (#96); Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya by the Ribbons (#97); Tell Him I'm Not Home by Chuck Jackson (#98); and Settle Down (Goin' Down that Highway) by Peter, Paul and Mary (#100). Baby, Baby, Baby was the B-side of Send Me Some Lovin', which charted at #51.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Ich wünsch' mir 'ne kleine Miezekatze--Wums Gesang (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Edward G. Robinson, 79. Romanian-born U.S. actor. Born Emmanuel Goldenberg in Bucharest, Mr. Robinson became one of the best-known actors in Hollywood history, starring in such movies as Little Caesar (1931); Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939); Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940); The Sea Wolf (1941); Double Indemnity (1944); The Woman in the Window (1944); Scarlet Street (1945); The Stranger (1946); The Red House (1947); Key Largo (1948); Mackenna's Gold (1969); and Soylent Green (1973). He never won an Academy Award for any particular performance, but he died just before he was about to be awarded an Oscar for lifetime achievement.

30 years ago
1983

Died on this date
Paul "Bear" Bryant, 69. U.S. football coach. Mr. Bryant, who had claimed that he'd probably die if he ever retired, died just 41 days after retiring as head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. In 48 seasons as a head coach (Maryland, 1945; Kentucky, 1946-1953; Texas A&M, 1954-1957; Alabama, 1958-1982), Mr. Bryant compiled a record of 323-85-17, including 6 national championships (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979). His total of career wins was a record for U.S. college football head coaches at the time of his retirement, but has since been surpassed.

25 years ago
1988

Theatre
The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Weber opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in New York. As of January 2013, the show is still running, and is Broadway's longest-running show.

20 years ago
1993

Died on this date
Jan Gies, 87. Dutch resistance leader. Mr. Gies and his wife Miep helped hide Anne Frank and her family from Nazi persecution in Amsterdam during World War II.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Hugh Trevor-Roper, 89. U.K. historian. Mr. Trevor-Roper was reputed to be an expert on 17th-century Britain and Nazi Germany, but was exposed as a fool when he vouched for the authenticity of the "Hitler diaries" in the early 1980s, which were exposed as a hoax. Mr. Trevor-Roper mocked Christian belief in the truth of the history recorded in the Bible--a period of history that wasn't his specialty--but he couldn't recognize the fraudulence of documents from a very recent period of history that was his specialty.

Valeriy Brumel, 60. U.S.S.R. high jumper. Mr. Brumel won the men's high jump event in the 1964 Summer Olympic games in Tokyo after winning the silver medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Football
NFL
Super Bowl XXVII @ Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
Tampa Bay 48 Oakland 21

Dwight Smith returned interceptions 44 and 50 yards for touchdowns and Derrick Brooks returned another 44 yards for a touchdown as the Buccaneers defeated the Raiders before 67,603 fans. Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson completed 2 touchdown passes to Keenan McCardell, and Mike Alstott rushed 2 yards for the other Tampa Bay touchdown. Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon threw touchdown passes to Jerry Porter and Jerry Rice, and Eric Johnson returned a blocked punt 13 yards for the other Oakland touchdown. The Raiders opened the scoring with a 40-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski in the 1st quarter, but gave up 34 straight points before rallying with 3 straight touchdowns in the 2nd half. The Raiders attempted 2-point converts on all their touchdowns but were unsuccessful, and the last two interception returns for touchdowns destroyed their comeback.