January 1, 2016

240 years ago
1776

War
Norfolk, Virginia was burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.

210 years ago
1806

Franciana
The French Republican Calendar was abolished.

130 years ago
1886

Law
The Chinese Immigration Act, passed in July 1885, came into effect in Canada. Each person of Chinese origin coming into Canada was required to pay $50 at the point of entry; vessels from China carrying prospective immigrants were also restricted to one immigrant per 50 tons of tonnage.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Charles Bickford. U.S. actor. Mr. Bickford was a character actor in plays, movies, and television programs in a career spanning 56 years. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his supporting performances in The Song of Bernadette (1943); The Farmer's Daughter (1947); and Johnny Belinda (1948). Mr. Bickford died of pneumonia and a blood infection on November 9, 1967 at the age of 76.

110 years ago
1906

Movies
Léo Ouimet opened his Ouimetoscope, Montreal's first specially built movie theatre, and the first permanent film theatre in Canada.

Asiatica
British India officially adopted Indian Standard Time.

100 years ago
1916

War
German troops abandoned Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and began the long march to Spanish Guinea.

75 years ago
1941

Radio
The news division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada was founded, headed by Dan McArthur, with Lorne Greene appointed as the first announcer in the new national news service.

War
The British Royal Air Force bombed Bremen for 3½ hours. South African Prime Minister Jan Christaan Smuts predicted that the United States would enter the European war in order to save Britain from defeat. U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg (Republican--Michigan) was quoted as saying that he would back President Franklin D. Roosevel't policies, "even though I know it is bound to lead us into war," if the United States first exhausted all avenues of peace.

Defense
The National Herrerista Party withdrew its opposition to construction of Pan-American defense bases in Uruguay.

Economics and finance
The French government in Vichy announced a provisional budget of approximately 40 billion francs for the next four months.

The U.S. Federal Reserve presented Congress with a monetary plan to forestall inflation and improve monetary organization.

Americana
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the population of the United States in 1940 was 131,669,275, a gain of nearly 9 million since 1930.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl
Texas A&M 13 Fordham 12

Orange Bowl
Mississippi State 14 Georgetown 7

Rose Bowl
Stanford 21 Nebraska 13

Sugar Bowl
Boston College 19 Tennessee 13

70 years ago
1946

Movies
The New York Film Critics Circle announced their awards for 1945: Best Picture--The Lost Weekend; Best Director--Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend); Best Actor--Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend); Actress--Ingrid Bergman (Spellbound; The Bells of St. Mary's). Miss Bergman also received a Special Award.

War
At his war crimes trial in Nuremberg, former German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop revealed that a week before his April 30, 1945 suicide, German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler had said that his spirit would rise again and "one will see that I have been right." At the hearings of the United States Senate committee on the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, U.S. Army Major General Walter Short, U.S. commander in Hawaii at the time of the attack, revealed that he expected the War Department to "let me know of a crisis." The United Kingdom and India signed a peace treaty with Siam, ending the state of war that had existed since January 25, 1942.

Diplomacy
Upon returning from his fact-finding trip on behalf of U.S. President Harry Truman, Mark Ethridge said that the U.S.S.R. had "made great concessions to the American viewpoint at Moscow," but that neither Bulgaria nor Romania had representative governments in "the Yalta sense."

The United States Senate ratified extension of the U.S.-Mexico sanitation and coffee pacts.

Japanica
In a New Year's Day rescript, Emperor Hirohito declared that he was not a god.

Britannica
In his annual New Year's honours list, King George VI named Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery a viscount and awarded the Order of Merit to former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Politics and government
In legislations for the Indian Central Legislative Assembly, the All-India Congress Party captured 59.6% of the vote, to 27.6% for the Moslem League.

Society
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that birth rates tended to decline with the advance in educational status of husband or wife.

Science
Sun Oil Company and Houdry Process Corporation announced plans for quantity production of the rare Carbon 13, an isotope which could trace "intricate chemical reactions" in the body.

Economics and finance
The French Constituent Assembly approved the national budget for 1946 after President General Charles de Gaulle had threatened to resign over proposed cuts in defense spending.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl
Texas 40 Missouri 27

Orange Bowl
U of Miami 13 Holy Cross 6

Sugar Bowl
Oklahoma A&M 33 St. Mary's 13

Rose Bowl
Alabama 34 Southern California 14

60 years ago
1956

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: A Bullet for Baldwin, starring John Qualen and Sebastian Cabot

Died on this date
Red Baldwin, 61. U.S. baseball player. Earl Phillips Baldwin was a catcher in the minor leagues for 15 seasons from 1916-1931, batting .261 with at least 32 home runs in more than 1,339 games. He spent his entire playing career in the western United States, playing his last 13 seasons among four teams in the Pacific Coast League after having an unsuccessful tryout with the New York Yankees in 1919. Mr. Baldwin's brother-in-law William Lawrence Plummer was a pitcher who was his teammate with the Seattle Indians (1924-1925), and Mr. Baldwin's nephew William Francis Plummer was a catcher for 10 seasons in the major leagues (1968-1978), mostly with the Cincinnati Reds.

Africana
Sudan achieved independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.

Disasters
A New Year event caused panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): The Carnival is Over--The Seekers (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Le Folklore Américain--Sheila (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Plip!--Rita Pavone (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Get Off My Cloud--The Rolling Stones

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): We Can Work it Out/Day Tripper--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out--The Beatles (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Sounds of Silence--Simon & Garfunkel

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 We Can Work It Out--The Beatles
2 I Got You (I Feel Good)--James Brown and the Famous Flames
3 Over and Over--The Dave Clark Five
4 The Sounds of Silence--Simon & Garfunkel
5 Ebb Tide--The Righteous Brothers
6 Taste of Honey--Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
7 As Tears Go By--The Rolling Stones
8 England Swings--Roger Miller
9 Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)--The Byrds
10 Don't Think Twice--The Wonder Who?

Singles entering the chart were Recovery by Fontella Bass (#71); Tell Me Why by Elvis Presley (#78); Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? by Bob Dylan (#85); Don't Mess with Bill by the Marvelettes (#86); Snow Flake by Jim Reeves (#88); Black Nights by Lowell Fulsom (#94); Little Boy (In Grown Up Clothes) by the 4 Seasons (#98); Good Time Music by the Beau Brummels (#99); and California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas (#100).

World events
After a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumed power as President of the Central African Republic.

Canadiana
The British Columbia communities of Castlegar and Creston were incorporated as towns.

Economics and finance
The Canada Pension Plan went into operation, as did the Québec Pension Plan.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl
Louisiana State 14 Arkansas 7

Orange Bowl
Alabama 39 Nebraska 28

Rose Bowl
California at Los Angeles 14 Michigan State 12

Sugar Bowl
Missouri 20 Florida 18

40 years ago
1976

Canadiana
Former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was appointed a Companion of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II.

Oil
Venezuela, chief supplier of oil to the United States, officially nationalized its oil industry.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl
Arkansas 31 Georgia 10

Orange Bowl
Oklahoma 14 Michigan 6

Rose Bowl
California at Los Angeles 23 Ohio State 10

Sugar Bowl
Alabama 13 Pennsylvania State 6

30 years ago
1986

Diplomacy
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and U.S.S.R. leader Mikhail Gorbachev exchanged New Year’s greetings in televised addresses. Mr. Reagan noted the "good beginning" toward better relations in the November 1985 summit, and he said that the American system was "founded on the belief in the sanctity of human life and the rights of the individual." Mr. Gorbachev said that the Soviet people cherished the idea of peace, having suffered so badly during World War II. He said that both nations had a "duty to all mankind" to create a climate conducive to the preservation of peace, and proposed that all nuclear weapons be banned by 2000.

Terrorism
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi warned that any U.S. or Israeli attempt to retaliate for the December 27 raids on airports in Roe and Vienna would bring war to the Mediterranean Sea region.

Caribbeana
Aruba became independent of Curaçao, though it remained in free association with the Netherlands.

Economics and finance
Spain and Portugal were admitted into the European Community.

Health
A Canadian federal law banning all tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines went into effect.

Weather
It was a beautiful, sunny day in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl @ Dallas
Texas A&M 36 Auburn 16

Rose Bowl @ Pasadena
UCLA 45 Iowa 28

Orange Bowl @ Miami
Oklahoma 25 Pennsylvania State 10

Sugar Bowl @ New Orleans
Tennessee 35 Miami (Florida) 7

25 years ago
1991

Abominations
The 7% Goods and Services Tax went into effect in Canada.

Canadiana
Oliver, British Columbia was incorporated as a town.

Hockey
NHL-U.S.S.R. exhibition
Moscow Dynamo 4 @ Toronto 7

This was the first appearance of a Soviet team at Maple Leaf Gardens. Harold Ballard, who had died the previous spring, had always refused to permit any team from the Soviet Union to play there as long as he owned the Maple Leafs.

Football
NCAA
Cotton Bowl @ Dallas
Miami (Florida) 46 Texas 3

Rose Bowl @ Pasadena
Washington 46 Iowa 34

Orange Bowl @ Miami
Colorado 10 Notre Dame 9

Sugar Bowl @ New Orleans
Tennessee 23 Virginia 22

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Die reise--Fraktal 2

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Earth Song--Michael Jackson (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Canada (RPM): Hand in My Pocket--Alanis Morissette (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Arleigh Burke, 94. U.S. military officer. Admiral Burke had a distinguished record of service with the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War, and served as Chief of Naval Operations under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy from 1955-1961.

Arthur Rudolph, 89. German-born U.S. rocket engineer. Mr. Rudolph played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket in Germany during World War II. He was brought to the United States after the war as part of Operation Paperclip, and worked on projects such as the development of the Pershing missile and the Saturn V moon rocket. In the early 1980s, Mr. Rudolph was accused of war crimes in World War II, and he agreed to move to West Germany and renounce his U.S. citizenship in return for not being prosecuted.

Caribbeana
Curaçao gained limited self-government, though it remained within free association with the Netherlands.

10 years ago
2006

Politics and government
The Quebec government reconstituted 30 cities across the province as the result of a referendum held on June 20, 2004.