December 14, 2015

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Wendy Welt!

Married on this date
Happy Anniversary, Eileen and Leo Sasakamoose!

375 years ago
1640

Born on this date
Aphra Behn. English playwright and authoress. Mrs. Behn wrote 19 plays, novels, and poetry, and was one of the first English women to earn a living from writing. She worked as a spy in Antwerp on behalf of King Charles II. Mrs. Behn died on April 16, 1689 at the age of 48 after years of illness and poverty.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
George VI. King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, 1936-1952; Emperor of India, 1936-1947. George VI, the second son of King George V, assumed the throne in December 1936 upon the abdication of his older brother Edward VIII. With his wife and Queen consort Elizabeth he led Britain through World War II. King George developed lung cancer, and died in his sleep at Sandringham House on February 6, 1952 at the age of 56. He was succeeded on the throne by his eldest child, Queen Elizabeth II.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
Dan Dailey. U.S. actor. Mr. Dailey was known for his appearances in musical films such as Mother Wore Tights (1947); When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948); and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). He died on October 16, 1978 at the age of 62.

War
Arthur Ince, a pilot in the British Royal Flying Corps, became the first Canadian to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

75 years ago
1940

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Only Forever--Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra (9th week at #1)

Died on this date
Anton Korošec, 68. Mr. Korošec, a member of the Slovene People's Party, was President of the National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs from October 29-December 1, 1918 and Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from July 28, 1928-January 7, 1929.

Defense
Argentina and Uruguay reached an agreement for joint defense of the River Plate zone against any non-American aggression.

The $31-million U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Hornet was launched at the navy yard in Newport News, Virginia.

Science
Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Glenn Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin McMillan, and Arthur Wahl through deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley.

Transportation
The 6th Avenue Subway in New York City, was officially opened just before midnight by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. The link cost between $700 million and $800 million.

Economics and finance
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau reported that the Treasury's $500-million five-year taxable defense notes had been oversubscribed by more than eight times.

Labour
American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo announced that U.S. Army bands would not be permitted to broadcast from Army posts until he had an opportunity to confer with the War Department.

70 years ago
1945

Theatre
Dream Girl, written by Elmer Rice and starring Betty Field and Wendell Corey, opened at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway in New York.

War
An affidavit introduced at the Nazi war crimes trial in Nuremberg claimed that the Nazis had killed 6 million Jews by August 1944. Four staff members of the United States Senate committee on the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii announced their resignations because of the slow pace of the investigation.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes arrived in Moscow for a summit of foreign ministers of the U.S.A., U.K., and U.S.S.R.

World events
Colombian President Alberto Lleras Camargo was reported to have freed 25 army officers and officials serving prison terms for the July 1944 revolt.

Politics and government
Argentine President Juan Peron, addressing a mass meeting in Buenos Aires, declared himself a candidate for the presidency in the upcoming election.

The United States Senate defeated a temporary 33% salary increase for members of Congress.

Transportation
The U.S. Civil Aviation Board approved British restrictions on flights by American lines from the United States to London to 14 per week.

Journalism
The American Society of Newspaper Editors created a standing committee on world freedom of news.

Economics and finance
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 254-126 to pass a less-sweeping version of the Senate's "full employment" bill; the House version deleted the statement that the government would "assure" jobs for all.

60 years ago
1955

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): L'Homme et l'Enfant--Eddie & Tania Constantine (2nd week at #1)

Diplomacy
Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain joined the United Nations.

Politics and government
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell was elected leader of the British Labour Party on the first ballot, taking 157 votes to 70 for Aneurin Bevan and 40 for deputy and interim party leader Herbert Morrison. Mr. Morrison, who had served as interim leader after the resignation of former Prime Minister Clement Attlee a week earlier, immediately resigned as deputy party leader.

Gwen O'Soup of the Key Nation north of Kamsack, Saskatchewan became the first woman to be elected Chief in Canada.

50 years ago
1965

On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Good Guys and the Bad Guys, with guest stars Earl Holliman, Collin Wilcox, and Bruce Dern

Died on this date
Mack Lee Hill, 25. U.S. football player. Mr. Hill was a running back with the Kansas City Chiefs (1964-1965). He rushed for 576 yards and 4 touchdowns in his rookie season, leading the American Football League with a 5.5-yard average per carry, while catching 19 passes for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns and playing in the AFL All-Star Game. In 1965 he rushed for 627 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 21 passes for 264 yards and 1 touchdown. He suffered a torn ligament in his right knee against the Buffalo Bills on December 12, and died after surgery while still on the operating table.

40 years ago
1975

Died on this date
Arthur Treacher, 81. U.K.-born U.S. actor. Mr. Treacher was known for playing stereotypical English characters, such as butlers, in movies and television programs in a career that lasted almost 40 years.

Music
The Beach Boys performed at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Football
NFL
Buffalo (8-5) 34 @ New England (3-10) 14
New Orleans (2-11) 14 @ New York Giants (4-9) 28
Kansas City (5-8) 14 @ Cleveland (3-10) 40
San Francisco (5-8) 9 @ Atlanta (4-9) 31
Miami (9-4) 7 @ Baltimore (9-4) 10 (OT)
St. Louis (10-3) 34 @ Chicago (3-10) 20
Minnesota (11-2) 10 @ Detroit (7-6) 17
Philadelphia (3-10) 10 @ Denver (6-7) 25
Houston (9-4) 27 @ Oakland (10-3) 26
Green Bay (3-10) 5 @ Los Angeles (11-2) 22

30 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Election Day--Arcadia (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Take on Me--A-Ha

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Nikita--Elton John (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin

#1 single in the U.K.: Saving All My Love for You--Whitney Houston

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Broken Wings--Mr. Mister (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister (2nd week at #1)
2 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
3 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
4 We Built This City--Starship
5 Alive and Kicking--Simple Minds
6 Never--Heart
7 Party All the Time--Eddie Murphy
8 Election Day--Arcadia
9 Sleeping Bag--ZZ Top
10 You Belong to the City--Glenn Frey

Singles entering the chart were Digital Display by Ready for the World (#80); He'll Never Love You (Like I Do) by Freddie Jackson (#87); Day by Day by the Hooters (#89); and The Heart is Not So Smart by El DeBarge with DeBarge (#90).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister
2 We Built This City--Starship
3 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
4 Alive and Kicking--Simple Minds
5 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
6 Tarzan Boy--Baltimora
7 Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire--David Foster
8 Election Day--Arcadia
9 Live is Life--Opus
10 Situation Critical--Platinum Blonde

Singles entering the chart were My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen (#71); So Far Away by Dire Straits (#76); How Will I Know by Whitney Houston (#80); Just a Motion Away by Gino Vannelli (#87); The Sun Always Shines on TV by A-Ha (#92); Everything Must Change by Paul Young (#93); One Vision by Queen (#95); Leader of the Pack by Twisted Sister (#96); and Everyday by James Taylor (#97).

Died on this date
Roger Maris, 51. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Maris, born Roger Maras, was an outfielder with the Cleveland Indians (1957-1958); Kansas City Athletics (1958-1959); New York Yankees (1960-1966); and St. Louis Cardinals (1967-1968), batting .260 with 275 home runs and 850 runs batted in in 1,463 games. He was best known for hitting 61 home runs in 1961, a major league regular season record that stood until 1998. The pursuit of the record by Mr. Maris and teammate Mickey Mantle, who finished the season with 54 homers, was the subject of controversy because the schedule had been lengthened to 162 games in 1961, 8 games more than in 1927, when Babe Ruth had set the record with 60. Mr. Maris was the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1960 and 1961, but injuries impeded his career after 1962. He died of cancer.

Politics and government
Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

25 years ago
1990

At the movies
Havana, written and co-produced by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Lena Olin, Raúl Juliá, and Alan Arkin, opened in theatres.





Died on this date
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 69. Swiss author and playwright. Mr. Dürrenmatt wrote novels, short stories, and essays, but was best known as a dramatist in the genre of epic theatre, political theatre that forces the audience to see the world as it is. His plays included Romulus der Große (Romulus the Great) (1950); and Die Physiker (The Physicists) (1962). Mr. Dürrenmatt died of heart failure, 22 days before his 70th birthday.

Abominations
A probate court judge in Jasper County, Missouri ruled that the parents of Nancy Cruzan, who had reportedly been in a persistent vegetative state since suffering severe brain damage in a 1983 auto accident, had a right to remove Miss Cruzan’s feeding tube because three of her co-workers had testified in November that she had once said that she would never want to live under such circumstances. Two hours after the court ruling, the feeding tube was removed.

World events
The first legal conference of the African National Congress in South Africa in 31 years began, the day after ANC President Oliver Tambo had returned to the country after three decades in exile. The conference brought together 1,600 delegates near Soweto to discuss political strategy.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that producer prices for finished goods had risen 0.5% in November.

The Canadian Wheat Board reported a $1-billion loss, bigger than the total of all losses since the CWB's founding in 1935, selling wheat for $40-50 per tonne less than it paid farmers.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: I Don't Wanna Be a Star--Corona

War
Leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia signed the Dayton Accord in Paris to end more than three years of bitter conflict.

10 years ago
2005

Died on this date
Trevanian, 74. U.S. author. Trevanian was the pen name of Rod Whitaker, a communications professor at the University of Texas. He was known for novels such as The Eiger Sanction (1972); The Loo Sanction (1973); and Shibumi (1979).

Valerie Gignac, 25. Canadian police officer. Constable Gignac was killed by a paroled convict during a gun battle when she responded to a routine call in Laval, Québec; she died during an eight-hour armed standoff that ended with the arrest of the killer.