December 21, 2015

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Juliette Richard!

875 years ago
1140

War
Forces of King Conrad III of Germany besieged Weinsberg.
125 years ago
1890

Born on this date
H.J. Muller. U.S. geneticist and biologist. Dr. Muller was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the discovery that mutations can be induced by x-rays." He spent his later years warning of the dangers of radiation from nuclear fallout. Dr. Muller died on April 5, 1967 at the age of 76.

Died on this date
Niels Gade, 73. Danish musician, composer, and conductor. Mr. Gade began his career as a concert violinist with the Royal Danish Orchestra; he became assistant conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and succeeded Felix Mendelssohn as chief conductor in 1847. Mr. Gade soon returned to Copenhagen after war broke out between Prussia and Denmark, and directed the Copenhagen Musical Society for the rest of his life, also performing as an organist. His compositions included eight symphonies, cantatas, chamber music, organ and piano pieces, and a violin concerto.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
Werner von Trapp. Austrian-born U.S. singer. Mr. Trapp was a member of the Trapp Family Singers, who inspired the play and movie The Sound of Music. He died on October 11, 2007 at the age of 91.

Joe Mantell. U.S. actor. Mr. Mantell was a character actor in numerous movies and television programs in a career that spanned more than 40 years. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting performance in Marty (1955). Mr. Mantell died on September 29, 2010 at the age of 94.

90 years ago
1925

Society
The Ku Klux Klan advertised in an Edmonton newspaper for members.

80 years ago
1935

Died on this date
Kurt Tucholsky, 45. 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 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.

75 years ago
1940

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Frenesi--Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Died on this date
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 44. U.S. author. Mr. Fitzgerald’s novels, such as This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and The Great Gatsby (1925) are among the most famous works of fiction of the era known as "The Jazz Age." His other novels included Tender is the Night (1934) and the unfinished The Last Tycoon (published posthumously in 1941). In his later years, Mr. Fitzgerald went to Hollywood to attempt a career as a screenwriter, but the only screen credit he received was for Three Comrades (1938), and much of that was rewritten. His time in Hollywood inspired him to write a number of short stories, published from 1939-1941, featuring a screenwriter named Pat Hobby. Years of heavy drinking had weakened Mr. Fitzgerald's constitution, and he had two heart attacks in the later months of 1940, the second of which proved fatal.

Hal Kemp, 36. U.S. musician. Mr. Kemp was a saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader, whose hit singles included When I'm with You and There's a Small Hotel. He died two days after suffering injuries in a car accident.

Defense
A joint board of the United States Army and Navy endorsed a secret plan calling for a strong offensive in the European and Atlantic war and a defensive strategy in the Pacific if the U.S. entered the war. Regular U.S. Army strength passed 400,000 men for the first time since World War I. Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover, speaking in New York, urged "complete" national unity. Referring to William White and Charels Lindbergh, Mr. Hoover said, "It is a sign of a dangerously irresponsible mind in a nation when patriotic men are fiercely denounced as being tools of Great Britain or the tools of Germany." U.S. Office of Production Management Director William Knudsen said that the most important thing now was "the swiftest possible production of the means of defense."

70 years ago
1945

Died on this date
George S. Patton, 60. General Patton commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of World War II, but is best known for his leadership of the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. He died in Germany 12 days after being paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident.

Divorced on this date
U.S. author Ernest Hemingway received a divorce in Havana from U.S. journalist Martha Gellhorn for abandonment.

Movies
The U.S. National Board of Review announced its awards for 1945. The winners were: English Language Film: The True Glory; Director: Jean Renoir (The Southerner); Actor: Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend); Actress: Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce).

Television
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission assigned channels to several licensees, including CBS and NBC in New York City and Radio Corporation of America in Camden, New Jersey.

War
The Inter-Allied Reparations Commission completed plans for payment of reparations by Germany, with the U.S. receiving 28% of German assets abroad and 11.8% of German assets at home. On the basis of reports from four psychiatrists, a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that poet Ezra Pound, who had delivered radio broadcasts on behalf of the Axis cause in Italy during World War II, was insane.

Defense
French Army Inspector General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny reported that the French postwar army would total 500,000 men.

Politics and government
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Japan General Douglas MacArthur announced that further directives to the Japanese government would probably be limited to implementing reforms already ordered.

The United States Congress adjourned the first meeting of its 79th session, having enacted 640 laws.

Education
The U.S. Office of Education and the Surplu Property Administration announced the completion of plans to supply schools and colleges with educational equipment from federal surplus property stocks.

Labour
United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America rejected a 10% wage increase offered by General Electric.

Sport
Associated Press named golfer Byron Nelson as the outstanding male athlete in the United States for 1945, and multi-sport star Babe Didrickson Zaharias as the outstanding female athlete.

60 years ago
1955

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): L'Homme et l'Enfant--Eddie & Tania Constantine (3rd week at #1)

50 years ago
1965

On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: End of the Line, with guest stars Andrew Prine, Barbara Dana, and Crahan Denton

Died on this date
Claude Champagne, 74. Canadian composer. Mr. Champagne, a native of Montreal, wrote numerous choral works, but was perhaps best known as a professor at the McGill University Conservatory.

Music
The single Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?/Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan was released on Columbia Records.

Politics and government
The Syrian government of Prime Minister Yussef Zayyin resigned after less than two months in office amidst a power struggle within the Ba'ath party. President Hamin el-Hafez selected Salah al-Din Bitar to replace Mr. Hayyin.

40 years ago
1975

Hockey
NHL
Washington 2 @ Buffalo 14

The Sabres set a National Hockey League record of 57 individual combined scoring points and scored 5 goals in a span of 4 minutes 57 seconds as they routed the Capitals at War Memorial Auditorium.

Football
NFL
Dallas (10-4) 31 @ New York Jets (3-11) 21
Philadelphia (4-10) 26 @ Washington (8-6) 3
Chicago (4-10) 42 @ New Orleans (2-12) 17
St. Louis (11-3) 24 @ Detroit (7-7) 13
San Diego (2-12) 17 @ Cincinnati (11-3) 47
New England (3-11) 21 @ Baltimore (10-4) 34
Atlanta (4-10) 13 @ Green Bay (4-10) 22
Cleveland (3-11) 10 @ Houston (10-4) 21
Oakland (11-3) 28 @ Kansas City (5-9) 20
New York Giants (5-9) 26 @ San Francisco (5-9) 23

30 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Election Day--Arcadia (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Nikita--Elton John

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Nikita--Elton John (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Saving All My Love for You--Whitney Houston

#1 single in the U.K.: Saving All My Love for You--Whitney Houston (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
2 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister
3 Party All the Time--Eddie Murphy
4 Alive and Kicking--Simple Minds
5 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
6 We Built This City--Starship
7 Election Day--Arcadia
8 Small Town--John Cougar Mellencamp
9 Sleeping Bag--ZZ Top
10 That’s What Friends are For--Dionne and Friends (with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)

Singles entering the chart were Kyrie by Mr. Mister (#55); Caravan of Love by Isley, Jasper, and Isley (#83); Beat's So Lonely by Charlie Sexton (#85); Secret by Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark (#88); and Just Another Day by Oingo Boingo (#90).

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

Singles entering the chart were Living in America by James Brown (#89); Action Speaks Louder by Action (#92); Close My Eyes by Paul Janz (#95); and All of the Dreams by FM (#97).

Football
NFL
Pittsburgh (7-9) 10 @ New York Giants (10-6) 28
Washington (10-6) 27 @ St. Louis (5-11) 16

25 years ago
1990

Died on this date
Kelly Johnson, 80. U.S. aeronautical engineer. Mr. Johnson designed over 40 aircraft, including the the Lockheed U-2 and Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

Politics and government
Quebec reached a five-year agreement with the government of Canada to give the province greater control over immigration. Under the agreement, to take effect on April 1, 1991, the federal government guaranteed that Quebec would receive at least 25% and possibly as much as 30% of all immigrants to Canada. Currently, only 16% of immigrants to Canada settled in Quebec. Under the agreement, Quebec would have exclusive responsibility for selecting immigrants and control over language training services for non-French-speaking immigrants, as well as cultural and economic integration services, which were normally provided by the federal government. As a result, the federal government would provide Quebec with $332 million over five years. Federal Immigration Minister Barbara McDougall said that other provinces were negotiating with the federal government on immigration, and that more agreements were forthcoming.

The Croatian parliament adopted a new constitution for the republic that provided for a referendum on secession from Yugoslavia within 30 days of a two-thirds majority vote by parliament. The Yugoslav defense secretary, a Serb, warned that the military was prepared to counter the "highly aggressive anti-Yugoslav and anti-socialist forces" that were undermining national unity.

Law
Frank Iacobucci, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada since 1988, was appointed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to the Supreme Court of Canada, replacing the retired Bertha Wilson.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (2nd week at #1)

World events
The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

Scandal
Justice Horace Krever ended public sessions of the Krever Commission into Canada's scandal of people contracting HIV from transufsions of tainted blood in the early 1980s. He sent out Section 13 notices to various agencies, including the Red Cross, containing over 300 allegations of misconduct.

10 years ago
2005

Died on this date
Elrod Hendricks, 64. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Hendricks, a native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, was a catcher with the Baltimore Orioles (1968-1972, 1973-1976, 1978-1979); Chicago Cubs (1972); and New York Yankees (1976-1977), batting .220 with 62 home runs and 230 runs batted in in 711 games. He was an outstanding defensive catcher, leading American League catchers in fielding percentage in 1969 and 1975. Mr. Hendricks served as the Orioles' bullpen coach from 1978-2005, but suffered a stroke in April 2005 and died of a heart attack the day before his 65th birthday.

Society
The Supreme Court of Canada ended a ban on swingers' clubs, ruling that group sex among consenting adults was neither prostitution nor a threat to society.