January 17, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Muhammad Ali and Tanya Sokolova!

125 years ago
1891

Died on this date
George Bancroft, 90. U.S. scholar and politician. Mr. Bancroft was United States Secretary of the Navy from 1845-1846 in the administration of President James K. Polk, and established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He served as U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom from 1846-1849. Professor Bancroft was also known for his multi-volume History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent (1834-1874).

110 years ago
1906

Disasters
Fire destroyed the Blairmore Hotel and adjoining businesses in Blairmore, Alberta.

100 years ago
1916

Golf
The Professional Golfers Association of America was formed at the Taplow Club in New York City. Rodman Wanamaker, a department store magnate, donated the prize money for that year's PGA Championship and the trophy that still bears his name.

80 years ago
1936

Boxing
Joe Louis (24-0) knocked down Charley Retzlaff (57-8-2) twice and finally out just 1:25 into the 1st round of a heavyweight bout before 16,486 fans at Chicago Stadium.



75 years ago
1941

War
Vichy French forces inflicted a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy in the Battle of Ko Chang. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that the United Kingdom needed American weapons, ships, and airplances to defeat the Axis powers.

Defense
U.S. War Secretary Henry Stimson said that Lend-Lease was "very probably" necessary to prevent a British defeat by the Axis powers. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull announced that the United Kingdom had agreed to U.S. establishment of an airbase on the island of St. Lucia in the British West Indies.

Diplomacy
Panamanian Ambassador to the United States Carlos Brin denied that President Arnulfo Arias was a dictator, and declared that Panama was ready to aid in defense of the Panama Canal.

Politics and government
The Chilean Radical, Democratic, and Radical Socialist parties, excluding the Communists, signed a pact to uphold democratic and republican ideals.

Labour
The Congress of Industrial Organizations-Farm Equipment Workers went on strike at the International Harvester Company plant at East Moline, Illinois. protesting what they called a lockout.

Boxing
Fritzie Zivic (104-24-5) retained his world welterweight title with a technical knockout of former champion Henry Armstrong (111-14-7) 52 seconds into the 12th round of a scheduled 15-round bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mr. Armstrong, who was fighting for the first time since losing the title to Mr. Zivic on a unanimous decision on October 4, 1940, later announced his retirement from the ring, but resumed his career in 1942.



70 years ago
1946

War
Dr. Ba Maw, Naingandaw Adipadi (Head of State) during the Japanese occupation of Burma from 1943-1945, surrendered at Allied headquarters in Tokyo. 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, Sens. Homer Ferguson (Republican--Michigan) and Ralph Brewster (Republican--Maine) offered a motion to call former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a witness on British policy toward Japan in 1941.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting. British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin announced to the UN General Assembly that the United Kingdom would place its mandated territories of Tanganyika, the Cameroons, and Togoland under UN trusteeship. The Assembly also approved a motion urging member nations to sever ties with the Spanish regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

Politics and government
Chilean President Juan Antonio Rios stepped down temporarily because of ill health, and was replaced by Alfredo Duhalde.

Defense
The United States Navy and Coast Guard demonstrated the Loran, an electronic instrument that determined the position and windspeed of ships, measuring the difference in arrival time of two radio signals.

Technology
At the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Prof. A.A. Lebedev demonstrated a six-foot electronic microscope capable of 50,000 power magnification.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Export-Import Bank approved a $33-million credit grant to China to help finance the import of American raw cotton and speed reconversion of China's cotton industry.

Labour
U.S. President Harry Truman proposed an 18.5c hourly wage increase to avert a strike in the steel industry, while Labor Secretary L.B. Schwellenbach appointed a fact-finding board to settle the meat industry dispute.

Academia
The American Association of Junior Colleges held its first meeting in Chicago, and reported that 300-500 junior colleges would be opened in the United States during the next 10 years, with facilities for 500,000 students.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): El Mundo (Il Mondo)--Jimmy Fontana (14th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Day Tripper--The Beatles (5th week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)--The T-Bones
2 We Can Work it Out--The Beatles
3 Satin Pillows--Bobby Vinton
4 Yesterday Man--Chris Andrews
5 You Didn't Have to Be So Nice--The Lovin' Spoonful
6 Like a Dribblin' Fram--Race Marbles
7 The Hoochi Coochi Coo--Wes Dakus
8 A Must to Avoid--Herman's Hermits
9 A Young Girl--Noel Harrison
10 Thunderball--Tom Jones

Singles entering the chart were Blue Lipstick by Patrician Anne (#22); Walk on By by Bobby Kris (#33); Where the Sun Has Never Shone by Jonathan King (#34); Hurting Each Other by the Guess Who? (#35); Hurt by the Gentrys (#36); Spread it on Thick by Little Anthony and the Imperials (#37); Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? by Bob Dylan (#38); Breakin' Up is Breakin' My Heart by Roy Orbison (#39); and An Ordinary Guy by Chip Young (#40).

Music
The album Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel was released on Columbia Records.

Disasters
A U.S. B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): La tartaruga-- Bruno Lauzi (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen (8th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Write the Songs--Barry Manilow

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Convoy--C.W. McCall
2 I Write the Songs--Barry Manilow
3 Love Rollercoaster--Ohio Players
4 Do You Know Where You're Going To--Diana Ross
5 Fox on the Run--Sweet
6 Fly Away--John Denver
7 You Sexy Thing--Hot Chocolate
8 I Love Music (Part 1)--O'Jays
9 Walk Away from Love--David Ruffin
10 Saturday Night--Bay City Rollers

Singles entering the chart were This Old Heart of Mine by Rod Stewart (#83); Honey I by George McCrae (#84); Renegade by Michael Murphey (#86); I Need You, You Need Me by Joe Simon (#87); Remember Me by Willie Nelson (#88); Turning Point by Tyrone Davis (#94); Loving Power by the Impressions (#95); Quiet Storm by Smokey Robinson (#97); You by Aretha Franklin (#99); and Since I Fell for You by Charlie Rich (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Fly, Robin, Fly--Silver Convention
2 The Way I Want to Touch You--Captain & Tennille
3 Fox on the Run--Sweet
4 Do You Know Where You're Going To--Diana Ross
5 I Write the Songs--Barry Manilow
6 Saturday Night--Bay City Rollers
7 Sky High--Jigsaw
8 That's the Way (I Like It)--K.C. and the Sunshine Band
9 Over My Head--Fleetwood Mac
10 Let's Do it Again--The Staple Singers

Singles entering the chart were Loving You Baby by Wednesday (#86); Baby Face by Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps (#89); For the Love of You by the Isley Brothers (#91); Yesterday Can't Hurt Me by Evie Sands (#92); Gimme Some by Jimmy "Bo" Horne (#93); Wow by Andre Gagnon (#94); Deep Purple by Donny and Marie Osmond (#95); Only Sixteen by Dr. Hook (#96); Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out by Bruce Springsteen (#97); Chain Gang Medley by Jim Croce (#98); Amazing Grace by Amazing Rhythm Aces (#99); and I Cheat the Hangman by the Doobie Brothers (#100).

Space
NASA launched Canada's $60-million Communications Technology Satellite on a three-stage Delta 2916 rocket from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The world's most powerful satellite, the experimental CTS was built over a four year period at Ottawa's Communications Research Centre, as a joint venture of the Canadian Department of Communications, NASA, and the European Space Agency, and was named Hermes after the Greek god of science. The satellite's power let it provide television and telephone services to communities in the Canadian north and other remote corners of the world. Contact with the satellite was lost in November 1979.

Hockey
WHA
The Ottawa Civics folded, two days after playing their last game, and 15 days after moving to Ottawa from Denver, where they had been known as the Spurs. The team posted a record of 13-21-1 record as the Spurs, and were 1-5-0 as the Civics.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Jeanny--Falco (2nd week at #1)

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Sadeness Part I--Enigma

Died on this date
Olav V, 87. King of Norway, 1957-1991. King Olav V, who succeeded his father Haakon VII on the throne, won a gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam for yachting. He was succeeded by his son Harald V.

War
Under the command of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf, the first planes in the United Nations attack on Iraq left their base in Saudi Arabia at 12:50 A.M. Iraqi time and began striking targets at 2:30 A.M. The first Tomahawk cruise missile was launched toward Baghdad from the deck of the USS Wisconsin. Iraq attacked Israel with eight Soviet-made Scud missiles. Two of the missiles hit Tel Aviv, three hit the Haifa area, and three fell in open fields. Israel began enforcing a sweeping curfew on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; they were restricted to their homes except for a few hours every few days, when they were able to buy food. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein announced in a brief radio message that "the mother of all battles had begun."

Protest
Crowds in the tens of thousands marched in the streets of Paris, London, Rome, Washington, and San Francisco to protest the Gulf War. More than 100,000 organized in Germany on the sixth day of protests there.

Health
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control announced that three patients of deceased Florida dentist David Acers had apparently become infected with the AIDS virus as a result of contact with him. The CDC could not say exactly how the patients had become infected, but Dr. Acer was known to have lapsed in some sanitary procedures and may have infected the patients through contact between their mouths and blood from a cut on his hand, or through contaminated instruments. The American Medical Association and American Dental Association appealed to doctors and dentists to warn patients or give up surgery if they had the virus.

Oil
With the outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf, prices plunged $10.56 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Economics and finance
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114.60, the second-highest done-day point gain ever.

The United States Commerce Department reported that housing construction in 1990 had dropped to its lowest level in eight years.

20 years ago
1996

Died on this date
Barbara Jordan, 59. U.S. politician. Miss Jordan, a Democrat, was a lawyer and civil rights leader before serving in the Texas state Senate from 1967-1973 and representing Texas' 18th District in the United States House of Representatives from 1973-1979. She was the first Negro woman elected to the Texas Senate since the 19th century, and the first southern Negro woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. Miss Jordan died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis and leukemia.

Diplomacy
The Czech Republic applied for membership of the European Union.

Politics and government
The Newfoundland Liberal Party elected former Canadian Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin as party leader, replacing retiring Premier Clyde Wells.

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 3 @ Ottawa 0
Colorado 2 @ Detroit 3

The Canadiens shut out the Senators in the first game ever played at the Palladium, soon to be renamed Corel Centre.

Steve Yzerman scores his 500th career National Hockey League goal to help his Red Wings beat the Avalanche at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Clarence Ray Allen, 76. U.S. criminal. Mr. Allen was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California the day after his 76th birthday for arranging the murders of three people in 1980. He remains the second-oldest person to be executed in the United States since 1976.