January 9, 2015

270 years ago
1745

Born on this date
Caleb Strong. U.S. politician. Mr. Strong, a Federalist, assisted in drafting the Massachusetts State Constitution in 1779, served in the Massachusetts State Senate before representing the state in the U.S. Senate (1789-1796, and serving as Governor of Massachusetts (1800-1807, 1812-1816). He came out of retirement for his second term as Governor, and opposed the War of 1812. Mr. Strong died on November 7, 1819 at the age of 74.

130 years ago
1885

Canadiana
The International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was opened.

125 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Kurt Tucholsky. German journalist. Mr. Tucholsky was a satirist, songwriter, and poet who used various pseudonyms. He described himself as a "left-wing democrat" and a pacifist, and warned against the threat of Nazism. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Mr. Tulchovsky was among the first writers and intellectuals whose writings were banned and citizenship revoked. Mr. Tucholsky moved to Paris in 1924 and to Sweden in 1929, where he remained until his death on December 21, 1935 from an overdose of sleeping pills, 19 days before his 46th birthday. He was plagued by chronic illness, and his death was ruled a suicide, but the verdict is disputed by some.

Karel Čapek. Czech author and playwright. Mr. Čapek wrote fiction and non-fiction, in which he expressed his opposition to both Fascism and Communism. He was best known for his science fiction, especially the play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921), which introduced the word "robot." Mr. Čapek suffered from fragile health, and died of pneumonia on December 25, 1938 at the age of 48.

110 years ago
1905

Protest
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was sparked by troops firing on petitioners to Czar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
Anita Louise. U.S. actress. Anita Louise Fremault achieved popularity in the 1930s in movies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935); The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936); Anthony Adverse (1936); Marie Antoinette (1938); and The Little Princess (1939). She played Nell McLaughlin in the television series My Friend Flicka (1956-1957), and thereafter virtually retired from acting. Miss Louise died from a stroke on April 25, 1970 at the age of 55.

75 years ago
1940

War
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt revealed his peace objectives to leaders of the Baptist, Lutheran, and Seventh Day Adventist churches at a meeting in the White House, after their pledge of secrecy. The Soviet 44th Division retreated east of Suomussalmi, Finland after heavy losses, and temperatures of -31 F. stopped the fighting on all fronts. Japan and China issued rival claims of victory in the fighting in the northern part of the Chinese province of Kwangtung.

Scandal
Howard C. Hopson, who, as owner of Associated Gas and Electric, had made the company into the third-largest producer of electricity in the United States in the 1930s, was convicted of 17 counts of mail fraud and two of income tax evasion, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Economics and finance
Chase National Bank President Winthrop Aldrich urged a free gold market to ease the economic impact on the world of the current flow of gold to the United States.

Negotiations for trade agreements between the U.S.A. and Argentina and Uruguay were reported to have broken down.

Politics and government
U.S. Senator Gerald Nye (Republican--North Dakota) declared his support for Sen. Arthur Vandenberg (Michigan) for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the November 1940 election.

Labour
The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the National Labor Relations Board must provide equal protection to a worker whether he was a member of a labour union or not.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that Inland Steel Corporation did not have to recognize the Congress of Industrial Organizations' Steel Workers Organizing Committee as sole bargaining agent.

Sport
Rower Joe Burk was named winner of the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy for performance and sportsmanship as the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States for 1939.

70 years ago
1945

Died on this date
William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough, 89. U.K. politician and sportsman. Mr. Grenfell sat in the House of Commons as a Liberal from 1880-1886 and 1892-1893, and as a Conservative from 1900-1905, when he was made a peer, sitting in the House of Lords for the remainder of his life. He won a silver medal in the team épée fencing event in the Intercalated Games in Athens in 1906, and was an executive with various amateur sports organizations.

Jüri Uluots, 54. Prime Minister of Estonia, 1939-1940; Prime Minister in the duties of the President, 1940-1945. Mr. Uluots, a lawyer and law professor by trade, sat in the Riigikogu (Parliament) from 1920-1926 and 1929-1932. He was Speaker of the Riigivolikogu (lower chamber) from 1938 until taking office as Prime Minister. When Soviet forces invaded and occupied Estonia in 1940 and deported President Konstantin Päts, Mr. Uluots assumed the office of Prime Minister in the duties of the President. He opposed both German and Soviet occupation of Estonia, and proclaimed a new government in September 1944. Soviet forces soon moved back in to occupy the country, and much of the government fled into exile in Stockholm. Mr. Uluots died four days before his 55th birthday, shortly after his arrival in Stockholm, and was succeeded as Prime Minister in the duties of the President by August Rei.

Shigekazu Shimazaki, 36. Japanese military officer. Commander Shimazaki, a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, was in the second wave of planes that attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. He was killed in action near Taiwan as a staff officer of the IJN 3rd Air Fleet, and was posthumously promoted to Rear Admiral.

War
The German bulge in Belgium was further compressed along its perimeter as U.S. forces moved close to La Roche. Retreating German forces in the extreme eastern end of the Italian front halted and dug in on the southern bank of the Reno River. Soviet troops drove to within 3 1/2 miles of the Czech supply and transportation centre of Komarno near the Hungarian border. U.S. troops invaded Luzon, largest of the Philippine Islands, at Lingayen Gulf, establishing five beachheads, and capturing the town of Lingayen and the adjoining airstrip. Australian and New Zealand troops relieved U.S. soldiers on bypassed islands in the Southwest Pacific Ocean to mop up Japanese remnants. Chinese troops on the coast of the province of Kwangtung captured Yamshien and Limchow from the Japanese.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his budget message to Congress, set expenditures for the 1946 fiscal year at $83 billion, almost $17 billion less than for 1945.

Business
In Chicago, U.S. Federal Court Judge Philip Sullivan gave Montgomery Ward & Co. seven days in which to file its answer in the U.S. government's suit to establish its legality of its seizure of the firm's property.

50 years ago
1965

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Feel Fine/She's a Woman--The Beatles (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Vous Permettez Monsieur?--Salvatore Adamo

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Non son degno di te--Gianni Morandi (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Kleine Annabell--Ronny (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): I Feel Fine--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Feel Fine--The Beatles (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Feel Fine--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Feel Fine--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)
2 Come See About Me--The Supremes
3 Mr. Lonely--Bobby Vinton
4 Love Potion No. 9--The Searchers
5 Goin' Out of My Head--Little Anthony and the Imperials
6 The Jerk--The Larks
7 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'--The Righteous Brothers
8 She's a Woman--The Beatles
9 The Wedding--Julie Rogers
10 Any Way You Want It--Dave Clark Five

Singles entering the chart were The Jolly Green Giant by the Kingsmen (#72); Shake by Sam Cooke (#77); Heart of Stone by the Rolling Stones (#78); Use Your Head by Mary Wells (#80); I Go to Pieces by Peter and Gordon (#81); This Diamond Ring by Gary Lewis and the Playboys (#82); Twine Time by Alvin Cash and the Crawlers (#87); and My Girl by the Temptations (#98).

Vancouver's Top 50 (CFUN)
1 I Feel Fine/She's a Woman--The Beatles
2 Come See About Me--The Supremes
3 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'--The Righteous Brothers
4 Goin' Out of My Head--Little Anthony and the Imperials
5 Mr. Lonely--Bobby Vinton
6 Love Potion No. 9--The Searchers
7 Amen--The Impressions
8 Big Brother--Dickey Lee
9 Shaggy Dog--Mickey Lee Lane
10 Downtown--Petula Clark
11 I'll Be There--Gerry and the Pacemakers
12 Anyway You Want It--Dave Clark Five
13 Bucket "T"--Ronny and the Daytonas
14 Dance, Dance, Dance/The Warmth of the Sun--The Beach Boys
15 Willow Weep for Me--Chad & Jeremy
16 Boom Boom--The Animals
17 I Don't Wanna Love You--Cliff Richard
18 Hey-Da-Da-Da-Dow--The Dolphins
19 You'll Always Be the One I Love/You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You--Dean Martin
20 The Jerk--The Larks
21 All Day and All of the Night--The Kinks
22 Leave Me Be--The Zombies
23 Give Him a Great Big Kiss--The Shangri-Las
24 Sha La La--Manfred Mann
25 Saturday Night at the Movies--The Drifters
26 Tokyo Melody--Helmut Zacharias
27 Don't Forget I Still Love You--Bobbi Martin
28 Beatles '65--The Beatles (LP)
29 The "In" Crowd--Dobie Gray
30 Dear Heart--Andy Williams
31 Break Away (From That Boy)--The Newbeats
32 The Wedding--Julie Rogers
33 Meadowlands/Mustang--The Chessmen
34 Is it Because--The Honeycombs
35 Look of Love--Lesley Gore
36 Google Eye--The Nashville Teens
37 Lovin' Place--Gale Garnett
38 No Arms Can Ever Hold You--The Bachelors
39 Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)--Jay and the Americans
40 Do-Wacka-Do--Roger Miller
41 Heart of Stone--The Rolling Stones
42 Have You Looked Into Your Heart--Jerry Vale
43 5 X 5--The Rolling Stones (EP track)
44 Promised Land--Chuck Berry
45 The Name Game--Shirley Ellis
46 That Weepin' Willow Tree--Ray Griff
47 Smile--Betty Everett & Jerry Butler
48 Reach Out for Me--Dionne Warwick
49 The Three Bells--Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
50 (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me--Sandie Shaw
Pick hits of the week: 1 Tell Her No--The Zombies
2 I Go to Pieces--Peter and Gordon

On television tonight
The Outer Limits, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Premonition, starring Dewey Martin and Mary Murphy

Academia
Mirzapur Cadet College, near Mirzapur Upazilla Headquarters in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), formally opened for academic activities.

Disasters
A mountain avalanche killed four drivers on the highway near Hope, British Columbia.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Lonely This Christmas--Mud (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Walton Cruise, 84. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Cruise was an outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals (1914, 1916-1919) and Boston Braves (1919-1924), batting .277 with 30 home runs and 272 runs batted in in 736 games. On May 1, 1920, he tripled in the 6th inning and scored the Braves' run in their 26-inning 1-1 tie with the Brooklyn Robins at Braves Field, which remains the longest major league game ever played.

Pierre Fresnay, 77. French actor. Mr. Fresnay, born Pierre Jules Louis Laudenbach, appeared in such movies as Fanny (1932); The Man who Knew Too Much (1934); La Grande Illusion (1937); and Le Corbeau (1943).

Politics and government
In parliamentary elections in Denmark, the Social Democratic Party, led by Anker Hanrik Jorgensen, captured 54 seats to 42 for the governing Liberal Party of Prime Minister Poul Hartling, but Mr. Hartling refused to resign.

25 years ago
1990

Died on this date
Spud Chandler, 82. U.S. baseball pitcher. Spurgeon Ferdinand Chandler played with the New York Yankees from 1937-1947, compiling a record of 109-43 with an earned run average of 2.84. His winning percentage of .717 is the major league career record for pitchers with at least 100 wins. Mr. Chandler's best season was 1943, when he was 20-4 with an ERA of 1.64, won two games in the World Series, and was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. He was a member of seven teams that won American League pennants, and six World Series championships.

Personal
This blogger began a two-month job with Musee Heritage Museum in St. Albert, Alberta.

Scandal
A judge in Ottawa acquitted New Democratic Party MP Lorne Nystrom of shoplifting; Mr. Nystrom explained that he had put some contact lens cleaning discs in his pocket while distracted.

Economics and finance
The parliament of Armenia voted to integrate the economy of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh into the economy of Armenia.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Song for You--Radio Dee Jay for Christmas

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Zombie--Ororo (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (14th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (10th week at #1)

#1 single in Canada (RPM): On Bended Knee--Boyz II Men

At the movies
This blogger attended a preview screening of Higher Learning, written, directed, and co-produced by John Singleton, and starring Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, and Ice Cube.





Died on this date
Souphanouvong, 85. 1st President of Laos, 1975-1991. Prince Souphanouvong, the "Red Prince," represented the Communist political faction in Laos, serving as figurehead leader of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

Peter Cook, 57. U.K. comedian and actor. Mr. Cook was a member of the troupe Beyond the Fringe with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennett in the 1950s and early 1960s, and teamed up with Mr. Moore to star in the satirical comedy sketch television program Not Only...But Also (1965-1970). His most notable movies, also with Mr. Moore, were The Wrong Box (1966) and Bedazzled (1967). Years of heavy drinking led to his death from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Scandal
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich (Georgia) asked for the resignation of Christina Jeffrey, a supporter whom he had named as House historian, after it was revealed that she had once criticized a school program on the Holocaust for not including the "Nazi point of view" or that of the Ku Klux Klan.

10 years ago
2005

War
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.

Politics and government
Mahmoud Abbas won the election to replace the late Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, and replaced interim president Rawhi Fattouh.

Football
NFL
AFC Wild Card Playoff
Denver 24 @ Indianapolis 49

NFC Wild Card Playoff
Minnesota 31 @ Green Bay 17