February 21, 2014

210 years ago
1804

Transportation
The first self-propelling steam locomotive, driven by Richard Trevithick, made its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.

190 years ago
1824

Abominations
An 18-year old Saint John, New Brunswick youth was hanged for stealing 25 cents.

140 years ago
1874

Journalism
The Oakland Daily Tribune, founded by Benet A. Dewes and George B. Staniford to represent Republican Party views in Oakland, California, published its first edition.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Jean Tatlock. U.S. psychiatrist and journalist. Dr. Tatlock, in addition to being a psychiatrist, was a member of the Communist Party and was a reporter for their publication Western Worker. She began a romantic relationship with physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1936; the relationship continued for several years, but whether it continued while he was working on the atomic bomb Manhattan Project during World War II is a matter of debate. Dr. Tatlock suffered from severe clinical depression and committed suicide on January 4, 1944 at the age of 29, apparently by kneeling over the edge of her partly-filled bathtub and drowning herself after consuming chloral hydrate. Conspiracy theories abound.

Zachary Scott. U.S. actor. Mr. Scott, who usually played heels, apppeared in movies such as The Mask of Dimitrios (1944); The Southerner (1945); Mildred Pierce (1945); The Unfaithful (1947); Cass Timberlane (1947); Ruthless (1948); and Flamingo Road (1949). He died of a brain tumor on October 3, 1965 at the age of 51.

Baseball
The New York Giants and Chicago White Sox continued their post-season exhibition tour, but their game scheduled to be played in Paris was rained out for the fourth straight day.

90 years ago
1924

At the movies
America or Love and Sacrifice, produced and directed by D.W. Griffith, and starring Neil Hamilton, Carol Dempster, and Lionel Barrymore, opened in theatres.



80 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Augusto César Sandino, 38. Nicaraguan rebel leader. Mr. Sandino led a guerrilla rebellion from 1927-1933 against U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua. He was assassinated by National Guard forces of General Anastasio Somoza García, who seized power in a coup two years later. The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which deposed Gen. Somoza in 1979 and ruled Nicaragua until 1990, was named in honour of Mr. Sandino.

70 years ago
1944

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Doctor Moore Agar

War
Soviet troops fought their way to the outskirts of the iron ore city of Krivoi Rog in the Dnieper bend. Japanese Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Sugiyama and Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Osami Nagano were dismissed, as Prime Minister Hideki Tojo assumed control of the Army, and Admiral Shigetaro Shimade was assigned Adm. Nagano's duties. U.S. forces eliminated all but a few pockets of Japanese resistance on Eniwetok and Parry Islands. U.K. forces in the Arakan area continued to disperse Japanese troops and regain high ground overlooking Ngakyedauk Pass, Burma.

Politics and government
The Oklahoma Democratic state committee endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as President of the United States.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Needles and Pins--The Searchers (2nd week at #1)

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 She Loves You--The Beatles
2 I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles
3 Roll Over Beethoven--The Beatles
4 Kissin' Cousins--Elvis Presley
5 Navy Blue--Diane Renay
6 Don't Talk to Him--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
7 Puppy Love--Barbara Lewis
8 Abigail Beecher--Freddy Cannon
9 Little Girl Blue--Bobby Curtola
10 Please Please Me--The Beatles
Pick hit of the week: Kissin' Cousins--Elvis Presley
New this week: My Heart Belongs to Only You--Bobby Vinton
Always in My Heart--Los Indios Tabajaras
Yutta-Tutta--Vicky Baker
My Boyfriend Got a Beatle Haircut--Donna Lynn
Doesn't Anybody Know My Name--Hank Williams, Jr.
Tell it on the Mountain--Peter, Paul and Mary

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Spur of the Moment, starring Diana Hyland, Robert J. Hogan, Philip Ober, and Marsha Hunt

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Final Escape, starring Stephen McNally, Robert Keith, and Edd Byrnes

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Teenage Rampage--Sweet (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Tim Horton, 44. Canadian hockey player. Mr. Horton, born Myles Gilbert Horton, was a defenseman with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1949-50; 1951-70); New York Rangers (1970-71); Pittsburgh Penguins (1971-72); and Buffalo Sabres (1972-74), scoring 115 goals and 403 assists in 1,446 regular season games and 11 goals and 39 assists in 126 playoff games. He was a first-team NHL All-Star in 1963-64, 1967-68, and 1968-69, and a second team All-Star in 1953-54, 1962-63, and 1966-67. Mr. Horton was a key member of Toronto teams that won four Stanley Cups (1962, 1963, 1964, 1967), and was the team's highest-paid player ($86,000 per season) at the time of his trade to the Rangers in March 1970. In 1964 he opened the first Tim Horton Donuts shop in Hamilton, Ontario; it grew into one of Canada's most famous brand names, but Mr. Horton didn't live to see its greatest success. After earning recognition as the third star in a game against the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens, he had a lengthy meeting with his business partner, where some drinks were consumed. A painkiller Mr. Horton had taken after being hit in the jaw by a puck several days earlier was wearing off, and these factors, plus a lack of sleep, probably impaired his judgment. He decided to drive his Pantera sports car back to Buffalo in the middle of the night, and was estimated to be driving at 100 miles per hour on the highway at about 4:00 A.M. when he crashed the car and was killed. Mr. Horton was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977.

War
The last Israeli soldiers left the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to their truce with Egypt.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger opened a three-day conference with the foreign ministers of 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations with a call for the creation of a new "Western Hemisphere community."

Scandal
In testimony before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Navy Admiral Robert Welander, a former liaison officer between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Security Council, denied having ever "ordered or directed" Yeoman First Class Charles Radford to pilfer highly classified NSC documents. The documents had ended up on the desk of Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Moorer had given secret testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee saying that he had twice recommended that Yeoman Radford be court martialed for leaking the documents to the press in 1971, but that his recommendations had been overruled by civilian authorities. The day before Adm. Welander gave his testimony, Yeoman Radford had testified to the contrary, and stated that he "assumed" and "believed" that Adm. Moorer had received the documents.

Crime
The "American Revolutionary Army," who had kidnapped Atlanta Constitution editorial page editor Reg Murphy from his home the previous day, demanded a ransom of $700,000 and called for the resignation of the nation's top elected officials followed by new elections.

Donald DeFreeze, aka "General Field Marshal Cinque Mtume," leader of the Symbionese Liberation Army, who had kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst from her Berkeley, California apartment on February 4 and later demanded that $230 million worth of free food be given to the poor in exchange for her release, called the offer of $2 million of food from her father, San Francisco Examiner president and editor Randolph Hearst, insufficient, and demanded $4 million more, and threatened to cut off communications if his demands weren't met within 24 hours.

Journalism
California Governor Ronald Reagan was the keynote speaker at a luncheon in Goodman Hall in Jack London Square in downtown Oakland to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of the Oakland Tribune. Former U.S. Senator William F. Knowland, the Tribune's publisher since inheriting the paper from his father in 1966, spoke briefly, but those close to him said that Mr. Knowland seemed oblivious to his surroundings. Two days later, he committed suicide by shooting himself.

Hockey
WHL
During a game in Seattle between the Seattle Totems and the Denver Spurs, Connie Forey of the Spurs attacked referee Malcolm Ashford and broke Mr. Ashford's nose.

Football
CFL
Calgary was awarded the 1975 Grey Cup, the first to be played on the prairies.

WFL
Canadian Minister of Health and Welfare Marc Lalonde, speaking in Regina, said that the government of Canada would do what it had to do to protect the Canadian Football League from any threat posed by a World Football League franchise in Toronto.

The Toronto Northmen named John McVay as the team's first head coach.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): My Oh My--Slade (5th week at #1)

Music
The single Head Over Heels/Good for Gone by the Go-Go's was released on I.R.S. Records.

Died on this date
Mikhail Sholokhov, 78. U.S.S.R. author. Mr. Sholokhov, a Soviet Communist, was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was best known for his four-volume novel And Quiet Flows the Don (1928-1940).

Politics and government
The Sandanista regime of Nicaragua announced that its national election would be moved up to November 4, 1984.

25 years ago
1989

World events
U.S. President George Bush denounced the fatwa--a legal judgment--issued by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against British author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses (1988) was considered disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed. Mr. Bush said that "inciting murder and offering rewards for its perpetration are deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."

Politics and government
Soltan Ali Keshtmand took office as Prime Minister of Afghanistan, replacing Mohammed Hassam Sharq, who had resigned the previous day.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
2 All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting
3 Found Out About You--Gin Blossoms
4 Linger--The Cranberries
5 Streets of Philadelphia--Bruce Springsteen
6 Distant Sun--Crowded House
7 Mr. Jones--Counting Crows
8 Everyday--Phil Collins
9 Will You Be There (In the Morning)--Heart
10 Amazing--Aerosmith

Singles entering the chart were What a Man by Salt-N-Pepa (#67); Junior by John Mellencamp (#80); The Sky is Falling by Junkhouse (#84); Hasn't Hit Me Yet by Blue Rodeo (#86); Hold On by Sarah McLachlan (#87); The Ones You Love by Rick Astley (#88); Everybody Needs a Love by Sheree Jeacocke (#91); Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel) by Billy Joel (#92); Good Again by the Boomers (#93); and Please (You Got That...) by INXS (#94).

Scandal
Aldrich Ames, a longtime counterintelligence officer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and his wife Maria del Rosario Casas Ames were arrested and charged with selling information to the U.S.S.R. and Russia.

Economics and finance
The government of Ontario joined those of Canada, Quebec, and New Brunswick in announcing cuts to taxes on tobacco in an effort to curb cigarette smuggling.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 6 Los Angeles 4