December 25, 2014

200 years ago
1814

Religion
Anglican minister Rev. Samuel Marsden held the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.

125 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Lila Bell Wallace. Canadian-born U.S. publisher. Mrs. Wallace, born Lila Bell Acheson in Virden, Manitoba, co-founded Reader's Digest with her husband DeWitt in 1922. She died on May 8, 1984 at the age of 94.

110 years ago
1904

Born on this date
Bill Akers. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Akers was an infielder with the Detroit Tigers (1929-1931) and Boston Braves (1932), batting .261 with 11 home runs and 69 runs batted in in 174 games. He played at least 834 games in 11 seasons in the minor leagues (1924-1934), hitting at least 72 homers. Mr. Akers later served as an Arkansas State Trooper and earned several decorations with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. He died on April 13, 1962 at the age of 57.

75 years ago
1939

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Three Garridebs

70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I'm Making Believe--The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald
2 The Trolley Song--The Pied Pipers
--Judy Garland
--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
3 Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking)--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Evelyn Knight with Camarata and his Orchestra
--Tony Pastor and his Orchestra
4 Don't Fence Me In--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
5 Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s an Irish Lullaby)--Bing Crosby
6 Together--Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes
--Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
7 Let Me Love You Tonight (No Te Importe Saber)--Woody Herman and his Orchestra
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
8 I'll Walk Alone--Dinah Shore
--Martha Tilton
--Mary Martin
9 You Always Hurt the One You Love--The Mills Brothers
10 I Dream of You--Andy Russell

Singles entering the chart were Confessin' (That I Love You) by Ella Fitzgerald with the Song Spinners (#21); Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra (#22); Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (#27); I'm in a Jam (With Baby), with versions by the Andrews Sisters; and Hal McIntyre and his Orchestra (#33); If You are But a Dream by Frank Sinatra (#34); and Sweet and Lovely by Bing Crosby (#42).

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

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation tested its new International Service with a Christmas broadcast from Sackville, New Brunswick in both English and French to Canadian troops in Europe.

Died on this date
George Steer, 35. S.A.-born U.K. journalist and author. Mr. Steer began his career in his native South Africa before moving to England. He served with The Times of London as a correspondent in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and Spanish Civil War before World War II, and the Winter War between the U.S.S.R. and Finland (1939-1940), taking anti-Fascist positions. Mr. Steer was sent back to Ethiopia in June 1940 as an officer with the British Army's Intelligence Corps during the British campaign to restore Emperor Haile Selassie to the Ethiopian throne. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but was killed in the crash of a jeep which he was driving to a Christmas party in Burma.

War
Canadian Army troops in Italy captured the Adriatic coast city of Ravenna. U.S. forces attacked toward Grandmeuil and established a defensive line in the Werpin-Armoninies area. Verdennes was recovered and Celles was seized. Soviet forces in Hungary cut out the last westward rail lines from Budapest as they closed their arc to 9 miles. U.S. forces in the Philippines took Palompon, the last Japanese stronghold on Leyte Island, ending the Leyte-Samar operation. 6 of 25 escaped German prisoners from the Papago Park Prison in Arizona were recaptured.

Diplomacy
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden arrived in Athens in an effort to settle the Greek civil war.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced January 1945 allocations of 1.8 million tires for civilian passenger cars and 216,000 tires for small buses and trucks.

60 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Sh-Boom--The Crew-Cuts (4th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Mr. Sandman--The Chordettes (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Disc Jockey--3rd week at #1; Jukebox--2nd week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Mr. Sandman--The Chordettes (3rd week at #1)
--The Four Aces
2 Let Me Go Lover--Joan Weber
3 Teach Me Tonight--The DeCastro Sisters
4 Papa Loves Mambo--Perry Como
5 I Need You Now--Eddie Fisher
6 The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane--The Ames Brothers
--Archie Bleyer
7 This Ole House--Rosemary Clooney
8 Shake, Rattle and Roll--Bill Haley and his Comets
9 Hey There--Rosemary Clooney
--Sammy Davis, Jr.
10 Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)--Eddie Fisher

Singles entering the chart were (My Baby Don’t Love Me) No More by the DeJohn Sisters (#21); (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays by Perry Como (#22); Old Shoes by Frankie Laine (#28); On the Alamo by the Norman Petty Trio (#31); My Love Song to You by Bob Manning (#33); The Song from Desiree (We Meet Again), with versions by Paul Weston and his Orchestra and Johnny Desmond (#37); Sincerely by the McGuire Sisters (#38); Star Dust Mambo by Richard Maltby and his Orchestra (#45); and Ole Pappy Time, with versions by June Valli and Stuart Hamblen (#48). The Song from Desiree (We Meet Again) was originally from the movie Désirée (1954).

Died on this date
Johnny Ace, 25. U.S. singer. Mr. Ace, born John Marshall Alexander, Jr., was a popular rhythm and blues singer, with a string of hit records from 1952-1955, including My Song (1952) and Pledging My Love (1955). He was performing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas, when, during a break between sets, he began playing with a revolver, and playfully pointed it at others without firing, before pointing it at his own head, saying he knew which chamber was loaded. He was mistaken, and the world lost a great artist.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Feel Fine--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: I'm Leaving It (All) Up to You--Donny and Marie Osmond (8th week at #1)

On the radio
A Study in Scarlet, starring Robert Powell and Dinsdale Landen, on BBC 4

To download the program, click on the links for parts 1 and 2.

Disasters
About 65 people were killed and 90% of the town of Darwin, Australia was destroyed when struck by Cyclone Tracy.

Crime
Marshall Fields, dressed in Arab clothing and claiming to be the Messiah and to be laden with explosives, drove his Chevrolet Impala through the Northwest Gate of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff. U.S. President Gerald Ford and his family were absent at the time.

30 years ago
1984

Basketball
NBA
New Jersey 120 @ New York 114

Bernard King of the Knickerbockers set a team single-game scoring record with 60 points in their loss to the Nets at Madison Square Garden.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Love Shack--The B-52's

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Pump Up the Jam--Technotronic featuring Felly (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Frederick F. Houser, 84. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Houser, a Republican, was a member of the California State Assembly (1931-1933, 1939-1943), and ran three unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives (1932, 1934, 1936). He was Lieutenant Governor of California (1943-1947), and sat on the California Superior Court (1947-1966).

Betty Garde, 84. U.S. actress. Miss Garde appeared, usually in minor roles, in plays, movies, radio, and television programs in a career spanning more than 40 years. She performed in several radio programs directed by Orson Welles.

Robert Pirosh, 79. U.S. movie director and screenwriter. Mr. Pirosh co-wrote the screenplays for the Marx Brothers comedies A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), and won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Battleground (1949). He was nominated for another Academy Award for the screenplay for Go for Broke! (1951), which was the first movie that he directed.

Nicolae Ceausescu, 71. President of Romania, 1967-1989. Mr. Ceausescu and his wife Elena, 70, his chief deputy in the government, were given a brief trial by a military tribunal on charges of genocide, abuse of power, and theft, and they were both executed by a firing squad at an undisclosed location.

Billy Martin, 61. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. Martin was an infielder--mostly playing for second base--with seven major league teams from 1950-1961, batting .257 with 64 home runs and 333 runs batted in in 1,021 games. He was best known for his years with the New York Yankees (1950-1953, 1955-1957), when he played with five World Series championship teams. He made a diving catch of a pop fly in the seventh game of the 1952 World Series to help save the game, and was the most valuable player of the 1953 World Series, batting .500 (12 hits in 24 at bats in a 6-game series). Mr. Martin managed five different major league teams from 1969-1988, compiling a record of 1,253-1,1013. He managed the Yankees five different times, leading them to the American League pennant in 1976 and the World Series championship in 1977. Mr. Martin won divisional titles with three of the other teams he managed, but he had a habit of wearing out his welcome; drinking and fighting often proved his undoing. Mr. Martin was killed in a vehicle crash; he and a friend had both been drinking, and Mr. Martin was apparently the passenger in the pickup truck when it skidded off an icy road, careened 300 feet down an embankment, crashed into a culvert, and stopped at the foot of his driveway. He wasn't wearing a seat belt, and the resulting injuries proved fatal.

Football
NFL
Cincinnati (8-8) 21 @ Minnesota (10-6) 29

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: George--Headless Chickens (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Hey Süßer--Lucilectric (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Stay Another Day--East 17 (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Zail Singh, 78. 7th President of India, 1982-1987. Mr. Singh had been a member of the National Congress Party and had held several cabinet posts before being named President by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He died several weeks after suffering serious injuries in a car accident.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Gennadi Strekalov, 64. U.S.S.R. cosmonaut. Mr. Stekalov, an engineer, was a member of the crew of the Soviet space missions Soyuz T-3 (1980); Soyuz T-8 (1983); Soyuz T-10-1 (1983); Soyuz T-11 (1984); Soyuz TM-10 (1990); and Soyuz TM-21/STS-71 (1995), living aboard the space stations Salyut-6, Salyut-7, and Mir, and logging 268 days in space. He and Vladimir Titov narrowly escaped death when their Soyuz TM-10-1 spacecraft used the launch escape system to shoot to safety when their rocket exploded on the launch pad.

Space
The Cassini orbiter released the Huygens probe toward Saturn's moon Titan.