January 24, 2014

275 years ago
1739

War
Peshva warrior Chimnaji Appa defeated Portuguese forces and captured Tarapur Fort, India.

75 years ago
1939

Died on this date
Maximilian Bircher-Benner, 71. Swiss physician. Dr. Bircher-Benner ran a sanatorium in Zurich, where he encouraged people to eat raw foods. He was credited with popularizing muesli, a dish based on raw oats, fruits, and nuts.

Disasters
Approximately 28,000 people were killed when the deadliest earthquake in Chilean history struck Chillán, in the south-central part of the country.

70 years ago
1944

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Amateur Mendicant Society

War
Soviet forces continued their advance on the Leningrad front and took Smolkovo, thus severing the rail line to Narva, Estonia. Allied forces in Italy captured Neturno, south of Rome, and nearby Anzio. Allied bombers and fighters attacked Japanese installations in the Admiralty Islands, 240 miles north of New Guinea.

Diplomacy
The United States announced that official recognition would not be given to the Bolivian revolutionary government, and recalled Ambassador Pierre de Lagarde Boal.

Labour
The U.S. District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that newspaper reporters were not "professional" workers and were covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): There's Always Me--Dickie Rock (4th week at #1)

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles
2 Roll Over Beethoven--The Beatles
3 Surfin' Bird--The Trashmen
4 Puppy Love--Barbara Lewis
5 Daisy Petal Pickin'--Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs
6 Don't Talk to Him--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
7 Judy Loves Me--Johnny Crawford
8 Shindig--The Shadows
9 Move Over--Bobby Curtola
10 Forget Him--Bobby Rydell
Pick hit of the week: Don't Talk to Him--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
New this week: Don't Think Twice--Dick & Dee Dee
Combination Coop--The Astronauts
Understand Your Man--Johnny Cash
Secret Love--Kathy Kirby
Stop and Think it Over--Dale & Grace
Glad All Over--The Dave Clark Five

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Number 12 Looks Just Like You, starring Collin Wilcox, Suzy Parker, Richard Long, and Pam Austin

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Beyond the Sea of Death, starring Mildred Dunnock, Diana Hyland, Jeremy Slate, and Abraham Sofaer

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me--The New Seekers featuring Lyn Paul

War
In keeping with the agreement signed with Egypt on January 18, Israeli forces began formal withdrawal from their bridgehead on the western bank of the Suez Canal which they had occupied since the October 24, 1973 cease-fire in the Yom Kippur War.

Scandal
U.S. District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell sentenced Egil Krogh, former head of the White House "plumbers," to six months in prison on a charge of conspiracy against the rights of citizens in the 1971 burglary of the office of the psychiatrist of former Defense Department employee Daniel Ellsberg, who had leaked the "Pentagon Papers," revealing secrets about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, to the media. Mr. Krogh maintained that he alone was responsible for his "terrible mistake" and "repulsive conduct," insisted he had received no specific instruction or authority regarding the burglary from President Richard Nixon, and said he would begin in-depth discussion the following week with Leon Jaworski, the special prosecutor investigating the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and the subsequent cover-up. Mr. Krogh had refused to speak before because he did not want his statements to affect his sentencing.

Crime
Police in Oakland, California charged Russell Little, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army underground terrorist group, with the 1973 murder of Oakland School Superintendent Marcus Foster. Another SLA member, Joseph Remiro, had been charged on January 11 with Mr. Foster's murder.

Oil
Mobil announced that profits in the fourth quarter of 1973 were up 68% over the same period in 1972, mainly because of the embargo imposed by Arab countries after the Yom Kippur War. Other companies reporting similar gains over the same period were Texaco (70%) and Ashland (52%). Only Shell showed a decline (1.5%) over the last quarter, although Shell showed a gain of 27% for the full year of 1973.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): My Oh My--Slade

Television
ABC agreed to pay $386 million for U.S. rights to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, a record sum to that date.

Technology
The first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.

Defense
U.S. President Ronald Reagan went to Capitol Hill in Washington to lobby for keeping U.S. troops in Lebanon. After the meeting, Senator Howard Baker (Republican--Tennessee), the Minority Leader, said that Republican Senators would support the October 1983 resolution allowing Mr. Reagan to keep troops in Beirut for 18 months. House Speaker Tip O'Neill (Democrat--Massachusetts) said that Mr. Reagan had misled Congress about the likelihood of a political solution in Lebanon, and that he now favoured the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Lebanon.

Politics and government
Edmonton's city council gave final approval to replacing the commission board with an aldermanic executive committee. The result was to replace commissioners who knew their departments with politicians who didn't.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the consumer price index had increased 3.8% in 1983, the smallest annual increase since 1972.

25 years ago
1989

Died on this date
George Knudson, 51. Canadian golfer. Mr. Knudson, a native of Winnipeg, was regarded by many as having the best natural swing in golf during the 1960s and 1970s. He won 8 PGA tournaments and at least 19 other tournaments in a career that lasted from 1958-1980, and tied for second place in the 1969 Masters. Mr. Knudson died of lung cancer.

Ted Bundy, 42. U.S. criminal. Mr. Bundy had been convicted of killing a 12-year-old girl from Lake City Florida and two female students from Florida State University, but had actually killed dozens of others. He had fought his death sentence for 10 years, insisting on his innocence. In the last days of his life, Mr. Bundy had confessed to at least 16 other murders, but Florida Governor Bob Martinez had refused to stay his execution in order to learn further details. The day before his death, Mr. Bundy granted an interview to Christian psychologist James Dobson, claiming that his life of crime had begun with an early attraction to pornography. Some questioned the sincerity of Mr. Bundy's statements in the interview. Mr. Bundy was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison in Starke.

Religion
As part of the University of Alberta's Christian Awareness Week, Campus Crusade for Christ speaker Michael Horner debated U of A professor David Wangler on the subject of humanism. The part I remember is where Mr. Horner argued that such values as love and compassion are Christian values, and that humanists took the values from Christianity, but didn't say "Thank you."

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): The Sign--Ace of Base

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (2nd week at #1)
2 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
3 Said I Loved You...But I Lied--Michael Bolton
4 5 Days in May--Blue Rodeo
5 I'll Always Be There--Roch Voisine
6 Hero--Mariah Carey
7 Found Out About You--Gin Blossoms
8 Mary Jane's Last Dance--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
9 Breathe Again--Toni Braxton
10 Because the Night--10,000 Maniacs

Singles entering the chart were Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston (#73); Because of Love by Janet Jackson (#75); Shape of My Heart by Sting (#76); Rubberband Girl by Kate Bush (#79); Swimming in Your Ocean by Crash Test Dummies (#81); Rainbow's Cadillac by Bruce Hornsby (#83); Hey Girl by Michael McDonald (#85); The Wayward Wind by Anne Murray (#87); and Shakey Ground by Elton John and Don Henley (#88).

Scandal
U.S. Federal District Court Judge Thomas Jackson upheld a request from the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee for the diaries of Senator Bob Packwood (Republican--Oregon), who was facing accusations of sexual harassment and other possible misconduct. The subpoena sought access to all entries made from 1989 on. Judge Jackson had taken custody of the diaries in December 1993. after Sen. Packwood had sued to block the subpoena. Judge Jackson held that the subpoena did not unduly violate Sen. Packwood's privacy, since the ethics committee would allow a mediator to examine the diaries to make sure that only information relevant to the investigation would be seen by the investigators.

Politics and government
U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry as his new Secretary of Defense to replace Les Aspin, who had recently resigned. Mr. Perry had served as undersecretary of defense undder President Jimmy Carter and had played a major role in the development of cruise missiles, laser-guided bombs, and stealth aircraft. Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Bobby Ray Inman had been Mr. Clinton's first choice for the position, but he had withdrawn his candidacy on January 14.

10 years ago
2004

Diplomacy
Israel agreed to free 436 prisoners--mostly Palestinians--in exchange for the release of a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.

Terrorism
Pakistan confirmed to the Canadian government that Egyptian-born "Canadian" Said Khadr, an aid worker accused of having ties to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, had been killed in a gun battle with security forces in 2003.