February 1, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Snejka!

450 years ago
1563

Died on this date
Menas. Emperor of Ethiopia, 1559-1563. Menas died either from a fever or was slain while fleeing from the battefield while trying to subdue a threat from the illegitimate son of his brother Yaqob.

300 years ago
1713

War
In the Skirmish at Bender, Ottoman forces captured King Charles VII of Sweden after a seven-hour battle at Bender, which is now in Moldova, but was then in the Ottoman Empire.

280 years ago
1733

Died on this date
Augustus II. King of Poland, 1697-1706, 1709-1733. Augustus the Strong was elected King of Poland with the help of Russia and Austria, but relinquished the throne when Poland was invaded by Sweden. He regained the throne under the auspices of Russia.

220 years ago
1793

War
France declared war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

140 years ago
1873

Born on this date
John O'Brien. U.S. politician. Mr. O'Brien, a Democrat, was elected Mayor of New York in a special election in 1932 after the surprise resignation of Jimmy Walker. Mr. O'Brien was in office for the entire year of 1933, but was defeated by Fiorello La Guardia in his bid for re-election. He died on September 22, 1951 at the age of 78.

120 years ago
1893

Literature
The February 1893 issue of The Strand Magazine contained the short story The Adventure of the Yellow Face, third in a series that was published in book form in 1894 as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Movies
Thomas Edison finished construction of the world's first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.

80 years ago
1933

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

Music
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Concerto for Piano and Orchestra received its premiere performance at Queen's Hall in London. Sir Adrian Boult conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Harriet Cohen was the featured soloist.

70 years ago
1943

War
Japanese forces began evacuating Guadalcanal Island, one of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, almost seven months after landing there.

60 years ago
1953

Disasters
Storms caused by floods from the North Sea contnued to batter the east coast of England and the Netherlands, resulting in 307 deaths in England and 30,000 people left homeless, while 1,800 people were killed in the Netherlands.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland: The Next Time/Bachelor Boy--Cliff Richard and the Shadows (4th week at #1)

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 From a Jack to a King--Ned Miller (2nd week at #1)
2 Rhythm of the Rain--The Cascades
3 Wishing--Barry Boyd
4 Walk Right In--The Rooftop Singers
5 Wild Weekend--The Rebels
6 Hey Paula--Paul and Paula
7 Ruby Baby--Dion
8 The Night has a Thousand Eyes--Bobby Vee
9 Walk Like a Man--The 4 Seasons
10 Two Lovers--Mary Wells

On television tonight
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: To Catch a Butterfly, starring Bradford Dillman, Diana Hyland, and Edward Asner

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland: Long Haired Lover from Liverpool--Little Jimmy Osmond (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
CBS News Special: L.B.J - The Last Interview

Walter Cronkite interviewed former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson at the LBJ ranch in Johnson City, Texas. The interview, on the subject of civil rights for Negroes, took place on January 12, 1973, 10 days before Mr. Johnson's death, and was broadcast 10 days after his death.



30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club (4th week at #1)

World events
About 1,600 U.S. military personnel and 4,000 Honduran soldiers began six days of war games in Honduras near the border of Nicaragua, whose Sandanista government had been the recent target of criticism by Mr. Reagan. The U.S. forces didn't engage in the mock combat, but Nicaragua charged that the games were a training exercise for an invasion of Nicaragua.

Diplomacy
U.S.S.R. leader Yuri Andropov rejected U.S. President Ronald Reagan's proposal that they meet and sign a ban on all intermediate-range, land-based missiles. Mr. Andropov proposed removing all nuclear weapons from Europe. Western European leaders supported Mr. Reagan's proposal, but Mr. Reagan undercut his own offer by saying that he was merely responding to the Soviet peace offensive.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes

Died on this date
Georgy Malenkov, 86. Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the Soviet Union, 1953-1955. Mr. Malenkov was one of the men who filled in the vacuum after the death of Josef Stalin, before Nikita Khruschchev centralized power in his own hands.

Heather O'Rourke, 12. U.S. actress. Miss O'Rourke appeared in all three of the Poltergeist movies. She had Crohn's Disease, and her sudden death from septic shock as a result of a bowel obstruction contributed to the legend that the Poltergeist movies were cursed. Poltergeist III was released four months after her death.

20 years ago
1993

Hockey
NHL
Little Gary Bettman was named Commissioner of the National Hockey League.

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Mongo Santamaria, 85. Cuban-born U.S. musician and bandleader. Mr. Santamaria, a jazz percussionist, was perhaps best known for his recording of the song Watermelon Man, a hit single in 1963.

Disasters
The U.S. space shuttle Columbia, concluding its 16-day mission STS-107, broke up on re-entry over Texas, killing the entire crew. The crew were Rick Husband, 45, Commander; William McCool, 41, Pilot; David Brown, 46, Mission Specialist; Kalpana Chawla, 41, Mission Specialist; Michael Anderson, 43, Payload Commander; Laurel Clark, 41, Mission Specialist; and Ilan Ramon, 48, Payload Specialist.