Monday 8 December 2014

December 8, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Michael O'Byrne!

175 years ago
1839


Politics and government
The U.S. Whig National Convention concluded in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with the nomination of former U.S. Senator William Henry Harrison (Ohio) as the party's presidential candidate in the 1840 election. Mr. Harrison narrowly trailed Sen. Henry Clay (Kentucky) after each of the first four ballots, but won on the fifth ballot. Former U.S. Senator John Tyler (Virginia) was nominated on the first ballot as the Whig vice presidential candidate for 1840.

160 years ago
1854


Religion
In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, holding that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.

150 years ago
1864


Died on this date
George Boole, 49
. U.K. mathematician and philosopher. Professor Boole was known for his work in the fields of algebra and logic, and particularly for his book An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities (1854). He died after catching a severe cold as a result of walking for two hours in pouring rain and wearing wet clothes. His wife thought that what caused his illness should resemble what cured it, so she poured buckets of water on him.

125 years ago
1889


Born on this date
Hervey Allen
. U.S. author. Mr. Allen was best known for his novel Anthony Adverse (1933). He had completed the first three novels in a series about colonial America titled The Disinherited when he died of a heart attack on December 28, 1949, 20 days after his 60th birthday.

120 years ago
1894


Born on this date
E. C. Segar
. U.S. cartoonist. Elzie Crisler Segar created several comic strips, but was best known for Thimble Theatre, which he began in December 1919, and which increased in popularity after he introduced the character Popeye in 1929. Mr. Segar died of leukemia and liver disease on October 13, 1938 at the age of 43.

James Thurber. U.S. humourist and cartoonist. Mr. Thurber was known for his short stories and cartoons, published mainly in The New Yorker magazine, from the late 1920s until his death from pneumonia on November 2, 1961 at the age of 66. His stories were collected in books such as My World—And Welcome to It (1942) and The Thurber Carnival (1945).

100 years ago
1914


Died on this date
Maximilian von Spee, 53
. German military officer. Vice Admiral Graf Spee commanded German naval forces in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, and went down with the flagship SMS Scharnhorst.

War
A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeated an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.

70 years ago
1944


War
German forces made strong counterattacks on U.S. forces and held on the Saar front at Dillingen and Saarlautern. The U.S. Army revealed that U.S. motorized columns had to stop at Metz due to a lack of gasoline. ELAS snipers continued to infiltrate areas of Athens from which they had previously been cleared by Greek and British troops.

Politics and government
The British House of Commons voted to support Prime Minister Winston Churchill on his foreign policy.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed a bill that would have changed the date of the end of the Philippine insurrection to 10 1/2 years after the recognized date of 1902.

Economics and finance
The United States Senate approved the freezing of the Social Security tax at 1% for 1945.

Business
A U.S. court in Cincinnati affirmed the conviction of three of the country's largest tobacco companies--American Tobacco Co.; Liggett and Myers Tobacco Co.; and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.--on charges of violating antitrust laws.

Labour
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed the Army to seize and operate the plant of Cudahy Brothers Company, meat packers in Cudahy, Wisconsin, after the company's refusal to obey a National War Labor Board directive granting maintenance of membership and checkoff union dues.

60 years ago
1954


Died on this date
Gladys George, 50
. U.S. actress. Miss George, born Gladys Evans, was known for her starring roles in Valiant is the Word for Carrie (1936) and Madame X (1937), and for supporting roles in Marie Antoinette (1938); The Roaring Twenties (1939); The Maltese Falcon (1941); Flamingo Road (1949); and Detective Story (1951). She died of a cerebral hemorrhage, probably brought on by years of heavy drinking.

50 years ago
1964


On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Detour on a Road Going Nowhere, with guest stars Lee Bowman, Elizabeth Allen, and Phyllis Thaxter

Music
Peter and Gordon and Manfred Mann performed in Edmonton.

40 years ago
1974


Abominations
A plebiscite in Greece resulted in the abolition of that country's monarchy.

Football
NFL
Buffalo (9-4) 10 @ New York Jets (6-7) 20
Chicago (4-9) 21 @ San Diego (4-9) 28
Detroit (7-6) 23 @ Cincinnati (7-6) 19
Green Bay (6-7) 6 @ San Francisco (5-8) 7
Philadelphia (6-7) 20 @ New York Giants (2-11) 7
Pittsburgh (9-3-1) 21 @ New England (7-6) 17
St. Louis (9-4) 0 @ New Orleans (5-8) 14
Houston (6-7) 14 @ Denver (7-5-1) 37
Miami (10-3) 17 @ Baltimore (2-11) 16
Oakland (11-2) 7 @ Kansas City (5-8) 6

30 years ago
1984


Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): I Just Called To Say I Love You--Stevie Wonder (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT Top 30): When The Rain Begins To Fall--Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): When The Rain Begins To Fall--Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Should Have Known Better--Jim Diamond (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: The Power Of Love--Frankie Goes to Hollywood

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Out of Touch--Daryl Hall John Oates

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Feel for You--Chaka Khan
2 Wake Me Up Before You Go Go--Wham!
3 Out of Touch--Daryl Hall John Oates
4 Strut--Sheena Easton
5 The Wild Boys--Duran Duran
6 Purple Rain--Prince and the Revolution
7 Better Be Good to Me--Tina Turner
8 Cool it Now--New Edition
9 Like a Virgin--Madonna
10 We Belong--Pat Benatar

Singles entering the chart were The Heat is On by Glenn Frey (#83); Don't Wait for Heroes by Dennis DeYoung (#89); and Tragedy by John Hunter (#90). The Heat is On was from the movie Beverly Hills Cop (1984).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)--Billy Ocean
2 I Just Called to Say I Love You--Stevie Wonder
3 Wake Me Up Before You Go Go--Wham!
4 The Wild Boys--Duran Duran
5 Out of Touch--Daryl Hall John Oates
6 Better Be Good to Me--Tina Turner
7 Desert Moon--Dennis DeYoung
8 Strut--Sheena Easton
9 All Through the Night--Cyndi Lauper
10 Purple Rain--Prince and the Revolution

Singles entering the chart were Love Light in Flight by Stevie Wonder (#86); Loverboy by Billy Ocean (#89); I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner (#91); Tonight by David Bowie (#92); I Would Die 4 U by Prince and the Revolution (#94); Tragedy by John Hunter (#95); and Tender Years by John Cafferty (#96). I Would Die for U was from the movie Purple Rain (1984). Tender Years was from the movie Eddie and the Cruisers (1983).

Died on this date
Luther Adler, 81
. U.S. actor. Mr. Adler was an actor and director with the Group Theatre in New York City in the 1930s. He appeared in films such as House of Strangers (1949) and D.O.A. (1950), and played Adolf Hitler in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951). Mr. Adler appeared in numerous television programs.

Robert Jay Mathews, 31. U.S. racial activist. Mr. Mathews, a Mormon, led a white separatist organization known as The Order, which committed various robberies in the state of Washington in order to raise money. Mr. Mathews was killed in an intense gunfight with U.S. federal authorities at his house in Freeland, Washington, on Whidbey Island.

25 years ago
1989


Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (2nd week at #1)

Scandal
Recently-ousted Communist Party leader Erich Honecker and former Premier Willi Stoph were among six former East German government officials charged with corruption and abuse of power.

Politics and government
In conversations with the opposition group Civic Forum, the Communists agreed to relinquish power in Czechoslovakia.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had edged upward to 5.3% in November.

20 years ago
1994


Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Old Pop in an Oak--Rednex (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Antônio Carlos Jobim, 67
. Brazilian musician. Mr. Jobim was one of the most prominent songwriters and performers of Bossa Nova music. His most famous composition was Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema).

War
Bosnian Serbs released 55 Canadian hostages, but still held 300 United Nations troops as a means of discouraging NATO strikes on Serb positions.

Crime
12 alternates were named as jury selection was completed for the murder trial of former U.S. football star O.J. Simpson, charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The main jury, selected in November, consisted of eight Negroes, two Hispanics, one white, and one person identified as half white-half Native American. Eight jurors were women. The alternate jurors consisted of seven Negroes, four Hispanics, and one white person.

10 years ago
2004


Diplomacy
The Cusco Declaration was signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

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