February 1, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Snejka!

200 years ago
1814

Disasters
Mayon Volcano in the Philippines erupted, killing about 1,200 people.

160 years ago
1854

Disasters
Fire destroyed the Canadian parliament buildings in Quebec City.

130 years ago
1884

Literature
The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
James P. Johnson. U.S. musician and composer. Mr. Johnson was a pioneering stride jazz pianist in New York who bridged the ragtime and jazz eras. He composed in various genres, but was best known for writing songs such as Charleston and I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight). Mr. Johnson died on November 17, 1955 at the age of 61, four years after suffering a paralyzing stroke; he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1973.

John Ford. U.S. film director. Mr. Ford, born John Feeney, was primarily known for directing westerns. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Informer (1935); The Grapes of Wrath (1940); How Green was My Valley (1941); and The Quiet Man (1952). Mr. Ford died on August 31,1973 at the age of 79 after years of declining health.

110 years ago
1904

Transportation
Dominion Railway Commission was founded in Ottawa; it was given the power to fix rates, regulate operations and settle disputes for railways in Canada.

100 years ago
1914

Baseball
The New York Giants and Chicago White Sox continued their post-season exhibition tour, playing a 3-3 tie in Cairo in a game called after 10 innings because of darkness. New York outfielder Jim Thorpe was the star, leading off the game with a home run and adding 2 more hits, each driving in a run.

90 years ago
1924

Diplomacy
The United Kingdom recognized the U.S.S.R.

80 years ago
1934

Crime
Supreme Court of Alberta Justice John Robert Boyle sentenced Lamont-area farmer Danko Marchuk to three years in Prince Albert Penitentiary for perjury because of his testimony at a debt trial on November 21, 1933.

70 years ago
1944

Died on this date
Piet Mondrian, 71. Dutch artist. Mr. Mondrian was known for a style of painting that he termed neoplasticism--a white ground, upon which was painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors. He eventually settled in New York City, where he died of pneumonia.

Raymond Clapper, 51. U.S. journalist. Mr. Clapper was a political reporter with several newspapers, as well as with United Press, and eventually Scripps-Howard Newspapers. He also appeared on radio, first with the National Broadcasting Company and then with the Mutual Broadcasting System. Mr. Clapper was covering the U.S. invasion of the Marshall Islands when the plane in which he was an observer collided with another plane; both planes crashed into a lagoon, leaving no survivors.

War
Soviet units took the communications centre of Kingisepp, eight miles east of the Estonian frontier. Allied troops in Italy north and west of Cassino breached the German Gustav line over several miles, while American forces pushed to within a mile of Cassino from the rear. Chinese troops captured the village of Taihpa Ga in the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma.

Business
The New York Times announced that it had made an arrangement to buy, subsequent to Federal Communications Commission approval, the Interstate Broadcasting Company in New York, which operated radio station WQXR.

Disasters
An earthquake destroyed most of Gerede, Turkey and caused heavy damage elsewhere in the Ankara area.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (6th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Si Je Chante--Sylvie Vartan (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Che m'importa del mondo--Rita Pavone

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Das kannst du mir nicht verbieten--Bernd Spier (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Needles and Pins--The Searchers

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)
2 There! I've Said it Again--Bobby Vinton
3 Louie Louie--The Kingsmen
--[Paul Revere and the Raiders]
4 You Don't Own Me--Lesley Gore
5 Surfin' Bird--The Trashmen
6 Hey Little Cobra--The Rip Chords
7 Out of Limits--The Marketts
8 Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um--Major Lance
9 Popsicles and Icicles--The Murmaids
10 Anyone Who Had a Heart--Dionne Warwick

Singles entering the chart were Stop and Think it Over by Dale & Grace (#64); Dawn (Go Away) by the 4 Seasons (#70); Good News by Sam Cooke (#72); Please Please Me by the Beatles (#73); I Love You More and More Every Day by Al Martino (#75); Can Your Monkey Do the Dog by Rufus Thomas (#86); Abigail Beecher by Freddy Cannon (#89); Stranger in Your Arms by Bobby Vee (#90); Shimmy Shimmy by the Orlons (#92); Roberta by Barry and the Tamerlanes (#93); Bye Bye Barbara by Johnny Mathis (#94); Tous les Chemins (All The Roads) by the Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire) (#97); Big-Town Boy by Shirley Matthews and the Big Town Girls (#99); and Here Comes the Boy by Tracey Dey (#100).

Economics and finance
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson announced that the Royal Mint would stop manufacturing halfpenny coins at the end of February 1964, and that it would cease to be legal tender in 1984.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Sorrow--David Bowie (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I'd Love You to Want Me--Lobo (12th week at #1)

Asiatica
Kuala Lumpur was declared a Federal Territory of Malaysia.

Economics and finance
In his annual Economic Message to Congress, U.S. President Richard Nixon predicted severe inflation with little or no economic growth in the months immediately ahead, but predicted better times in the second half of the year. He stated that, despite continued inflation, he would continue a policy of progressive removal of wage controls to restore the flexibility needed for efficiency and expansion in a period of economic strain.

Law
Dianne Loney, 18, of Edmonton, was awarded $350,000 in damages as the result of an auto accident in October 1970 that had left her paralyzed from the chest down, with limited use of her arms. Alberta Supreme Court Justice M.E. "Ted" Manning wrote a 56-page judgment, giving Miss Loney the largest sum awarded in Canada to that date in such a case. Mr. Justice Manning praised Miss Loney for her demeanour in court.

Disasters
A fire in the 25-storey Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil killed 189 and injured 293. The fire, which burned for 25 minutes, was caused by a short circuit in an air conditioner.

30 years ago
1984

War
Walid Jumblat, leader of Lebanon's Druze Muslims, said that peace talks with Lebanese President Amin Gemayel were a waste of time and that a decisive battle in Lebanon was inevitable. Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution calling for "prompt and orderly" withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Lebanon. White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the action "aids and abets" the enemies of peace in Lebanon, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan said he would ignore the resolution.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Ronald Reagan submitted a budget for fiscal 1985 (with the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1984) to Congress of $925.5 billion, a deficit of $180.4 billion. The budget called for an increase in military spending of $33 billion, 14.5% more than the defense outlays for fiscal 1984.

Religion
As part of Christian Awareness Week at the University of Alberta, Campus Crusade for Christ speaker Michael Horner delivered his first of three noon hour lectures at SUB Theatre. His topic was Faith and the Intellect.

Basketball
NBA
David Stern, the National Basketball Association's former legal counsel, was named to succeed Larry O'Brien as the league's commissioner.

Bernard King scored 50 points for the second consecutive game as he led the New York Knickerbockers to a 105-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden in New York.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Good Life--Inner City (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss (2nd week at #1)

Austria's top 10 (Ö3)
1 First Time--Robin Beck
2 Twist in My Sobriety--Tanita Tikaram
3 Stop!--Sam Brown
4 Kiss--The Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones
5 Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss
6 Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin
7 Tango Korrupti--Rainhard Fendrich
8 Never Trust a Stranger--Kim Wilde
9 Put a Little Love in Your Heart--Annie Lennox and Al Green
10 Orinoco Flow--Enya

Singles entering the chart were Twist in My Sobriety; Put a Little Love in Your Heart; Big Fun by Inner City (#17); Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson (#23); and Y tu by Peter Kent and Luisa Fernandez (#27).

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Pottery Will Get You Nowhere

Died on this date
Elaine de Kooning, 70. U.S. artist. Mrs. de Kooning was married to artist Willem de Kooning, and became an abstract expressionist and figurative expressionist painter herself, but was perhaps better known for writing and teaching about art in the post-World War II period.

Politics and government
Former U.S. Senator John Tower, President George Bush's nominee to be Secretary of Defense, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he did not have a drinking problem.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the index of leading economic indicators had risen 0.6% in December 1988.

20 years ago
1994

Crime
Jeff Gillooly, ex-husband of U.S. women's figure skating champion Tonya Harding, pled guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon to a charge of racketeering in the January 6 assault on Nancy Kerrigan, the defending champion, who was forced to withdraw from the 1994 championships after being clubbed on the leg after a practice. Mr. Gillooly testified that Ms. Harding had helped to plan the assault.

Business
There were angry clashes in the British House of Commons over the sale of Rover, the U.K.'s last major auto manufacturer, to the German firm BMW.

10 years ago
2004

Science
Scientists created two new elements: Ununtrium (Element 113) and Ununpentium (Element 114).

Politics and government
About one-third of Iran's parliamentarians resigned in protest against a move by the Guardian Council to bar more than 3,600 reformist candidates from running in parliamentary elections.

Popular culture
Janet Jackson's breast was exposed in a "wardrobe malfunction" during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in U.S. broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.

Disasters
251 people were trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_during_the_Hajj#Failures_in_crowd_control

Football
Super Bowl XXXVIII @ Reliant Stadium, Houston
New England 32 Carolina 29

Adam Vinatieri's 41-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining in regulation time gave the Patriots the win over the Panthers before 71,525 fans in a game in which all the scoring took place in the 2nd and 4th quarters. New England quarterback Tom Brady, who completed 32 of 48 passes for 354 yards and 3 touchdowns, was named the game's most valuable player.