January 27, 2016

260 years ago
1756

Born on this date
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Austrian composer. A child prodigy who became one of the most renowned composers in history, Mr. Mozart wrote more than 800 works in various genres. He died in Vienna on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35, after a brief illness.

190 years ago
1826

Religion
The Roman Catholic Church made Upper Canada a separate diocese, with Kingston the bishop's seat.

75 years ago
1941

War
Japanese Prime Minister Prince Fuminaro Konoye told the Diet that there was no sign of a solution to the conflict in China.

Politics and government
Vichy French Prime Minister Marshal Philippe Petain promulgated a new law requiring all Vichy ministers and high officials to personally swear allegiance to him in his presence.

A communique from Rome reported that Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano had returned to active military service.

The United States Senate confirmed the appointment of Frank Walker as Postmaster General.

Diplomacy
Wendell Willkie, 1940 Republican Party candidate for President of the United States, visited British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London.

A regional conference on the River Plate opened in Montevideo.

Defense
The United States Senate passed without dissent a House of Representatives-approved $300-million appropriation to modernize Navy ships against air attack.

Business
U.S. Attorney General William F. Smith filed a civil antitrust action in Trenton, New Jersey against General Electric, Westinghouse Electric, and 10 other concerns on charges of monopolizing the electric light bulb industry.

Science
Dr. Alex Hardlisha of the Smithsonian Institution claimed that larger and broader skulls, lower cheekbones, and dark hair were the physical characteristics that distinguished the nation's "best minds."

70 years ago
1946

War
At the trial in Nuremberg of accused Nazi war criminals, General George Thomas of the German General Staff charged that Reinhard Heydrich had staged the 1939 Munich beer cellar explosion to break up a peace movement in the army.

Politics and government
King Farouk of Egypt intervened to prevent a dissolution of the cabinet after Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmy Nokrashy Pasha threatened to resign over a dispute on the right to appeal to the United Nations against the United Kingdom.

Transjordanian Emir Abdullah Ibn Hussein hailed the British independence plan as putting an end to a Zionist plot to take over the country.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration gave the Federal Housing Administration power to set rent ceilings on housing built with priority aid under the veterans' preference system and on FHA-insured homes.

Labour
Radio Corporation of America signed with the Congress of Industrial Organizations United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers for a 17½c hourly wage increase for 8,000 workers in Camden, New Jersey.

Religion
The World Conference of Churches Provisional Committee announced that it would meet in Geneva from February 20-24 to draft plans for a world assembly of Protestant church representatives.

Science
The U.S.S.R.'s Stalin Prize went to Sergei Vasilov, Igor Tamm, Pavel Cherenkov, and Alya Frank for their work with radiation electrons; and to Konstantin Petrozhak and Georgi Floryov for bringing about the spontaneous fission of uranium in 1943.

60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Sixteen Tons--"Tennessee" Ernie Ford (2nd week at #1)

Music
The single Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One by Elvis Presley was released on RCA Victor Records.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Michelle--The Overlanders

Canadiana
Princess Margaret returned Portland Island to British Columbia for use as provincial park; the island had been British Columbia's gift to Princess Margaret in 1958.

40 years ago
1976

On television tonight
The first episode of Laverne & Shirley, a spinoff from the comedy series Happy Days, was broadcast on ABC.

Politics and government
George H.W. Bush was confirmed by the United States Senate as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Diplomacy
Anne Armstrong was confirmed as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): We Built This City--Starship (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Part-Time Lover--Stevie Wonder (12th week at #1)

Died on this date
Lilli Palmer, 71. German-born U.S. actress. Miss Palmer, born Lilli Peiser, fled Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933, and settled in England, acting in movies there for a decade before moving to the United States, while also returning to Germany to act. She won the Deutscher Filmpreis (Silver) for Best Actress for Teufel in Seide (1956) and Anastasia, die letzte Zarentochter (Anastasia: The Czar's Last Daughter) (1957). Miss Palmer was married to British actor Rex Harrison from 1943-1956.

War
The day after capturing the Ugandan capital of Kampala, the National Resistance Army captured Jinja, the nation’s second largest city, in their civil war aganst government troops. General Tito Okello, who had unseated Milton Obote as President in August 1985, fled to Sudan.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Do the Bartman--The Simpsons

#1 single in Switzerland: Sadeness Part I--Enigma (7th week at #1)

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Sadeness Part I--Enigma (8th week at #1)
2 Keep on Running--Milli Vanilli
3 Unchained Melody--The Righteous Brothers
4 Ice Ice Baby--Vanilla Ice
5 Fantasy--Black Box
6 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight--Robert Palmer and UB40
7 To Love Somebody--Jimmy Somerville
8 Hello Afrika--Dr. Alban featuring Leila K.
9 Crazy for You--David Hasselhoff
10 The Joker--Steve Miller Band

Singles entering the chart were How I Miss You So by P.M. Sampson (#26); and Let's Swing Again by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (#27).

Died on this date
Dale Long, 64. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Long was a first baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1951, 1955-1957); St. Louis Browns (1951); Chicago Cubs (1957-1959); San Francisco Giants (1960); New York Yankees (1960, 1962-1963); and Washington Senators (1961-1962), batting .267 with 132 home runs and 467 runs batted in in 1,013 games. His best season was 1956, when he hit .263 with 27 homers and 91 RBIs. From May 19-28, 1956, Mr. Long homered in 8 straight games, setting a major league record, tied by Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees in 1987 and Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners in 1993. Mr. Long was with the Yankees when they won the World Series in 1962.

War
In an attempt to stop the flow of oil in to the Persian Gulf, the United States bombed installations that controlled the flow of oil from storage facilities.

Football
NFL
Super Bowl XXV @ Tampa Stadium
New York Giants 20 Buffalo 19

Buffalo’s Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal attempt with 4 seconds remaining in regulation time that would have given the Bills their first Super Bowl win.



20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Jesus to a Child--George Michael (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): Knockin'--Double Vision (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Wallonia (Ultratop 40): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (9th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (9th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Ademnood--Linda, Roos & Jessica (8th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (9th week at #1)
2 Exhale (Shoop Shoop)--Whitney Houston
3 Missing--Everything But the Girl
4 Hey Lover--LL Cool J
5 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
6 One of Us--Joan Osborne
7 Breakfast at Tiffany's--Deep Blue Something
8 You'll See--Madonna
9 Before You Walk Out of My Life/Like This and Like That--Monica
10 Be My Lover--La Bouche

Singles entering the chart were Wonderwall by Oasis (#21); Glycerine by Bush (#39); Not Gon' Cry by Mary J. Blige (#59); Feels So Good (Show Me Your Love) by Lina Santiago (#64); and Everybody Be Somebody by Ruffneck featuring Yavahn (#89). Not Gon' Cry was from the movie Waiting to Exhale (1995).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (7th week at #1)
2 Exhale (Shoop Shoop)--Whitney Houston
3 Breakfast at Tiffany's--Deep Blue Something
4 Hey Lover--LL Cool J
5 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
6 Missing--Everything But the Girl
7 One of Us--Joan Osborne
8 Diggin' on You--TLC
9 Before You Walk Out of My Life/Like This and Like That--Monica
10 Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V.

Singles entering the chart were Not Gon' Cry by Mary J. Blige (#45); Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three (#63); Wonderwall by Oasis (#68); Energy by Devone (#73); 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins (#74); and Stayin' Alive by N-Trance (#85).

Died on this date
Ralph Yarborough, 92. U.S. politician. Mr. Yarborough, a Democrat, represented Texas in the United States Senate from 1957-1971, and consistently supported liberal policies. He was riding with U.S. Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the motorcade two cars behind the car carrying President John F. Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally in Dallas when Mr. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

World events
Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara led a military coup that deposed the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.

Germanica
Germany first observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Defense
France conducted its sixth test of a nuclear device, continuing to defy international opinion.

Tennis
Monica Seles won her first Grand Slam title since being stabbed in the back during a 1993 tournament, defeating Anke Huber of Germany in the women's singles final at the Australian Open. It was Miss Seles's fourth Australian title, the third having come three months before the attack.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Johannes Rau, 75. 8th President of Germany, 1999-2004. Mr. Rau, a member of the Social Democratic Party, held various positions before assuming the presidency, including Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978-1998. He died 11 days after his 75th birthday.

Gene McFadden, 56. U.S. singer-songwriter. Mr. McFadden and John Whitehead recorded as McFadden & Whitehead, and reached #1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues singles chart with the song Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now in 1979. They also wrote songs for artist on the Philadelphia International label; their best known composition was probably Backstabbers, a major hit for the O'Jays in 1972. Mr. McFadden died of liver and lung cancer the day before his 57th birthday.

Communications
Western Union discontinued its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.