November 14, 2015

1,450 years ago
565

Died on this date
Justinian I, 83 (?). Byzantine emperor, 527-565. Justinian I succeeded Justin I as Emperor. Emperor Justinian was known for his attempts to recapture the lost western half of the Roman Empire and for his revision of Roman law. He was succeeded on the throne by his nephew Justin II.

250 years ago
1765

Born on this date
Robert Fulton. U.S. engineer. Mr. Fulton was credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat, and designed the first working submarine, the Nautilus. He also invented some of the world's first naval torpedoes. Mr. Fulton died of tuberculosis on February 24, 1815 at the age of 49.

175 years ago
1840

Born on this date
Claude Monet. French painter. Mr. Monet was a founder of French impressionism; in fact, the name of the school dereives from his painting Impression, Sunrise (1872). Mr. Monet died on December 5, 1926 at the age of 86.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Walter Freeman. U.S. physician. Dr. Freeman was a neurologist and psychiatrist who specialized in lobotomies. He performed as many as 4,000 lobotomies from the mid-1930s through 1967, killing as many as 100 of his patients. Dr. Freeman was banned from surgery after killing his last patient, and died on May 31, 1972 at the age of 76.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
Martha Tilton. U.S. singer. Miss Tilton was the vocalist with Benny Goodman's band in the late 1930s before having several hit singles of her own in the 1940s. She died on December 8, 2006 at the age of 91.

Died on this date
Booker T. Washington, 59. U.S. educator and activist. Mr. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia, but became the leader of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He advocated the improvement of the social conditions of Negroes through education, and was probably the leading Negro figure in the United States from 1890 until his death.

90 years ago
1925

Football
CRU
ORFU
Camp Borden (4-2) 14 @ Hamilton (2-4) 6
Toronto Balmy Beach (5-1) 16 @ University of Toronto II (1-5) 6

80 years ago
1935

Americana
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth.

75 years ago
1940

Died on this date
Hassan Sabry Pasha, 61. Prime Minister of Egypt, 1940. Hassan Pasha held numerous cabinet posts and was also Egypt's Ambassador to the United Kingdom before taking office as Prime Minister on June 28, 1940, succeeding Ali Mahir Pasha. He was giving a speech on the floor of Parliament accepting the Grand Cordon of Mohammed Ali--Egypt's highest honour--from King Farouk, when he suddenly dropped dead. Hassan Pasha was succeeded as Prime Minister by Hussein Sirry Pasha.

War
German planes bombed the English city of Coventry for 10 hours, setting most of the city afire, destroying its 500-year-old cathedral, and causing more than 600 casualties. Communiques claimed that the Greek Army had begun a general advance along the entire Italian front, with British and Greek planes supporting Greek infantry. The United Kingdom announced the appointment of Air Chief Sir Robert Brooks-Popham as supreme commander of British forces in the Far East with headquarters at Singapore.

Diplomacy
U.S.S.R. Premier Vyacheslav Molotov left Berlin with his entire staff 48 hours after his arrival, reportedly without signing any agreement with Germany.

Defense
The naval base at Surabaya, Netherlands East Indies was reportedly being enlarged to hold capital ships.

Baseball
New York Yankees' manager Joe McCarthy signed a three-year contract for a reported $35,000 per year. Mr. McCarthy had managed the team for 10 seasons, winning 5 World Series, including 4 straight from 1936-1939.

70 years ago
1945

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 3 songs (Billboard):
1 It's Been a Long Long Time
2 Till the End of Time
3 It Might as Well Be Spring

Canadiana
Prime Minister Mackenzie King issued an order-in-council confirming the Red Ensign as the official flag of Canada.

War
British Indian troops battled against an estimated 15,000 Indoneasians in their attempt to occupy Surabaya.

Politics and government
U.S.S.R. Premier Vyacheslav Molotov demanded that the unanimity rule be adopted on the Far Eastern Advisory Commission, which would give any member veto power over decisions affecting Japan.

Defense
U.S. Army Ground Forces Commander General Jacob Devers told a U.S. Senate committee that merging the armed forces would help eliminate competition detrimental to the services' functioning.

The U.S. Maritime Commission announced plans to start construction of 11 superliners, costing nearly $25 million each and about one-third faster than present U.S. merchant ships.

Protest
2 people were killed and 57 wounded in riots that broke out in Tel Aviv in protest against the U.S.-U.K. statement on Palestine.

Energy
The Soviet newspaper Izvestia reported that U.S.S.R. scientists had discovered that cosmic rays knocked protons out of lead, which may have a direct bearing on Soviet atomic research.

Medicine
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported the successful treatment of scarlet fever by injecting penicillin into the muscles every three hours for seven days.

Economics and finance
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs Spruille Braden said that every American republic had a fione record of economic cooperation, with one exception--Argentina.

Baseball
Chicago Cubs' first baseman Phil Cavaretta was named the National League's Most Valuable Player for 1945. Mr. Cavaretta led the NL with a .355 batting average, hitting 6 home runs and batting in 97 runs as the Cubs won their first pennant in 10 years. He led the World Series with a .423 batting average, tying for the lead in hits with 11 and hitting the Cubs' only home run and driving in 5 runs as the Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers in 7 games.

60 years ago
1955

Died on this date
Robert E. Sherwood, 59. U.S. playwright and screenwriter. Mr. Sherwood was a film critic in the 1920s and an original member of the Algonquin Round Table before beginning his career as a playwright, with his plays often expressing an anti-war viewpoint. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Idiot's Delight (1936); Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1939); and There Shall Be No Night (1940). Mr. Sherwood began writing screenplays, often uncredited, in 1926; he won an Academy Award for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Mr. Sherwood changed his anti-war views when World War II began; he was a speechwriter for U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was director of the Office of War Information (1943-1945), resulting in his book Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (1948), which won the Pulitzer Prize for History or Biography. Mr. Sherwood died of a heart attack.

50 years ago
1965

War
The Battle of Ia Drang began, the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.

Football
CFL
Eastern Finals
Hamilton 18 @ Ottawa 13 (First game of 2-game, total points series)

The Tiger-Cats defeated the Rough Riders before 20,271 fans at Lansdowne Park despite having just 205 yards net offense. Ottawa head coach Frank Clair was upset about the officiating, including a play where the Rough Riders appeared to have recovered a Hamilton fumble, only to have Hamilton given possession.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Wasted Days and Wasted Nights--Freddy Fender (9th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Lady Bump--Penny McLean (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Dolannes-Melodie--Jean-Claude Borelly (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Paloma Blanca--George Baker Selection

Diplomacy
With the signing of the Madrid Accords with Morocco and Mauritania, Spain abandoned her presence in Spanish Sahara.

30 years ago
1985

Hit parade
Canada's Top 30
1 Part-Time Lover--Stevie Wonder
2 You Belong to the City--Glenn Frey
3 Miami Vice Theme--Jan Hammer
4 We Built This City--Starship
5 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
6 Take on Me--A-Ha
7 Lay Your Hands on Me--Thompson Twins
8 Alive and Kicking--Simple Minds
9 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister
10 One Night Love Affair--Bryan Adams
11 Never--Heart
12 Be Near Me--ABC
13 Oh Sheila--Ready for the World
14 Saving All My Love for You--Whitney Houston
15 Who's Zoomin' Who--Aretha Franklin
16 Sleeping Bag--ZZ Top
17 I'm Goin' Down--Bruce Springsteen
18 Fortress Around Your Heart--Sting
19 One of the Living--Tina Turner
20 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
21 Money For Nothing--Dire Straits
22 Lovin' Every Minute of It--Loverboy
23 Situation Critical--Platinum Blonde
24 Election Day--Arcadia
25 Perfect Way--Scritti Politti
26 One More Colour--Jane Siberry
27 Everything in My Heart--Corey Hart
28 Dancing in the Street--Mick Jagger and David Bowie
29 Lonely Ol' Night--John Cougar Mellencamp
30 Girls are More Fun--Ray Parker, Jr.

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CITV
Tonight’s episode: Act Break, starring James Coco; The Burning Man, starring Piper Laurie; Dealer’s Choice, starring Barney Martin, Garrett Morris, M. Emmet Walsh, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Hedaya

25 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): I've Been Thinking About You--Londonbeat (6th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight’s episode: The Ties that Bind

Died on this date
Sol Kaplan, 71. U.S. composer. Mr. Kaplan wrote scores for numerous films and television programs. The movies he composed for included The Tell-Tale Heart (1941); Tales of Manhattan (1942); Titanic (1953); Salt of the Earth (1954); and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). Mr. Kaplan was blacklisted for a time in the 1950s for refusing to cooperate with anti-Communist investigators.

Diplomacy
Germany and Poland signed a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between the two countries.

Politics and government
Former British Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine announced that he would challenge Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the Conservative Party leadership.

Scandal
Record producer Frank Farian fired the German duo Milli Vanilli and admitted that Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus had not sung the vocals on their album Girl You Know It's True (1989).

Disasters
At least 112 people were killed when a typhoon with 150-mile-per-hour winds struck the central Philippines.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Boombastic--Shaggy (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Jack Finney, 84. U.S. author. Mr. Finney was best known for his novels The Body Snatchers (1955) and Time and Again (1970).

Politics and government
A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forced the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.