February 5, 2014

1,225 years ago
789

Africana
Idris I reached Volubilis and founded the Idrisid dynasty, ceding Morocco from the Abbasid caliphate and founding the first Moroccan state.

125 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Recep Peker. Prime Minister of Turkey, 1946-1947. Mr. Peker, a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP), held various cabinet posts in a parliamentary career of almost 30 years. Despite being Prime Minister during a period of multi-party rule, he opposed a multi-party system, and supported an authoritarian one-party state. Mr. Peker died on April 1, 1950 at the age of 61.

Academia
Catholic Oblate College of Ottawa became Ottawa College.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
William S. Burroughs. U.S. author. Mr. Burroughs, a bisexual heroin addict who was convicted of culpable homicide for killing his wife, was a prominent member of the Beat Generation, and was best known for his novels Junkie (1953) and Naked Lunch (1959). He died on August 2, 1997 at the age of 83.

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin. U.K. physiologist. Dr. Hodgkin shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane." Dr. Hodgkin died on December 20, 1998 at the age of 84.

80 years ago
1934

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Hank Aaron and Don Cherry!

Economics and finance
The Standard Exchange refused to comply with a new Ontario provincial Act forcing them to amalgamate with the Toronto Stock Exchange. The two remained in separate buildings until the new TSE Ticker Palace opened in 1937.

75 years ago
1939

Politics and government
Generalísimo Francisco Franco became the 68th "Caudillo de España," or Leader of Spain.

70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?)--Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra with Eugenie Baird (Best Seller--2nd week at #1); Shoo-Shoo Baby--The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra (Jukebox--4th week at #1)

War
The U.S.S.R. reported that Soviet troops over the past several days had penetrated 85 miles into Poland, taking 200 inhabited places. U.S. forces completed their occupation of Kwajalein, Ebeye, and Loi in the Marshall Islands.

Politics and government
Several hundred Lithuanian descendants petitioned U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to restore Lithuania to its status as an independent nation--a status which it held prior to the Soviet invasion and occupation in 1940.

Oil
The Petroleum Reserves Corporation of the United States announced that it would build a pipeline across Arabia from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.

Track and field
Gil Dodds won the one-mile run at the Melrose Games in New York in a time of 4:10.6, finishing three yards ahead of Bill Hulse.

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Calvert (5th week at #1)

Canadiana
The most northerly group of Canada's Arctic islands, discovered by William Baffin in 1616 and not seen again until 1818, were named after Queen Elizabeth.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Titi à la neige--Tweety & Sylvester

Crime
A Long Island, New York jury deliberated for 55 minutes before acquitting Dr. Vincent Montemarano of murder in the death of Eugenia Bauer, a cancer patient at Nassau County Medical Center who was terminally ill. The case was originally characterized as a "mercy killing," but the prosecution argued that the killing was a "murder of convenience." Dr. Montemarano was accused of injecting a fatal dose of potassium chloride into Ms. Bauer to avoid returning later in the evening to pronounce her dead. The trial was highly emotional, and two prosecution witnesses broke down on the stand. The defense never conceded that the injection had taken place, and sought to prove that Ms. Bauer could have died from a number of causes.

Politics and government
Democratic party candidate John Murtha, a veteran of the Vietnam War, defeated Republican candidate Harry Fox in a U.S. House of Representatives by-election in Pennsylvania's 12th District, ending 24 years of Republican victories in the riding.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Thriller--Michael Jackson

#1 single in Switzerland: Jenseits von Eden--Nino de Angelo (2nd week at #1)

Space
A target balloon released from the U.S. space shuttle Challenger as part of mission STS-41-B exploded when inflated.

Politics and government
Lebanese Prime Minister Shafig al-Wazzan, a Muslim, and his nine-member cabinet resigned.

Hockey
NHL
Edmonton 2 @ Washington 9

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Angel of Harlem--U2 (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Joe Raposo, 51. U.S. composer. Mr. Raposo was best known for writing scores and songs for children's television programs, especially Sesame Street and The Electric Company. He died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, three days before his 52nd birthday.

War
The last Soviet troops departed the Afghan capital of Kabul, ending the U.S.S.R.'s nine-year military involvement in Afghanistan.

World events
Two days after being deposed in a military coup, former Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, 76, fled into exile in Brazil.

Skiing
Karen Percy of Canada won a silver medal in the Women's World Alpine Championship; at Vail, Colorado.

Hockey
NHL
New Jersey 4 Edmonton 2

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Give It Up--Cut 'N' Move

#1 single in Italy: The Rhythm of the Night--Corona

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Saturday Night--Whigfield (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): La solitudine--Laura Pausini

#1 single in France (SNEP): Happy Nation--Ace of Base

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Ik wil niet dat je liegt/Waarheen waarvoor--Paul de Leeuw (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Things Can Only Get Better--D: Ream (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (3rd week at #1)
2 Hero--Mariah Carey
3 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
4 Breathe Again--Toni Braxton
5 The Sign--Ace of Base
6 All that She Wants--Ace of Base
7 Said I Loved You...But I Lied--Michael Bolton
8 Again--Janet Jackson
9 Please Forgive Me--Bryan Adams
10 Shoop--Salt-N-Pepa

Singles entering the chart were Bump n' Grind by R. Kelly (#59); Laid by James (#76); If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) by MeShell Ndegeocello (#85); and Sound of Da Police by KRS-One (#93).

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (3rd week at #1)
2 Breathe Again--Toni Braxton
3 Hero--Mariah Carey
4 All that She Wants--Ace of Base
5 Said I Loved You...But I Lied--Michael Bolton
6 Again--Janet Jackson
7 Please Forgive Me--Bryan Adams
8 Can We Talk--Tevin Campbell
9 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
10 Shoop--Salt-N-Pepa

Singles entering the chart were Understanding by Xscape (#17); The Sign by Ace of Base (#28); Choose by Color Me Badd (#29); So Much in Love by All-4-One (#34); Having a Party by Rod Stewart with Ronnie Wood (#45); Life (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love) by Haddaway (#47); Goody Goody by Lisette Melendez (#48); Will You Be There (In The Morning) by Heart (#49); Always on My Mind by SWV (#51); Now and Forever by Richard Marx (#53); Whatta Man by Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue (#58); I'm in the Mood by Ce Ce Peniston (#60); Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (#61); Cannonball by the Breeders (#63); I Love Music by Rozalla (#67); Stay by Eternal (#68); Betcha'll Never Find by Chantay Savage (#69); (Lay Your Head On My) Pillow by Tony Toni Tone (#70); U Send Me Swingin' by Mint Condition (#77); Dunky Butt (Please Please Please) by 12 Gauge (#78); Funk Dat/Why is It? by Sagat (#81); Give it Up by Goodmen (#84); I'm in Love by Lisa Keith (#86); Dirty Dawg by NKOTB (#87); and We Ain't Goin' Out Like That by Cypress Hill (#89).

Music
This blogger and a female acquaintance were in attendance at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to see the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in concert. Michael Morgan was the guest conductor, violinist Corey Cerovsek was the guest soloist.

War
68 people were killed and 200 injured when a mortar bomb fired from the hills overlooking Sarajevo exploded in the city's main market square.

Crime
Byron De La Beckwith was sentenced to life in prison for the 1963 murder of Negro civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi. Mr. Beckwith had been tried twice in 1964 for the murder, but two juries composed entirely of white people had deadlocked. On the basis of new evidence, Mr. Beckwith was tried again, and a jury of eight Negroes and four whites convicted him.

Hockey
NHL
Detroit 4 @ Toronto 3

10 years ago
2004

World events
Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captured the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.