February 15, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Arlene Carlstrom!

220 years ago
1796

War
The invasion of Ceylon ended with Johan van Angelbeek, the Batavian governor of the island, surrendering Colombo to British forces.

175 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales. 4th President of Brazil, 1898-1902. Dr. Campos Sales, a member of the Republican Party of São Paulo, was Minister of Justice from 1889-1891 and Governor of São Paulo from 1896-1897 before being elected President. He was a federal Senator from 1891-1896 and 1911 until his death on June 28, 1913 at the age of 72.

140 years ago
1876

Born on this date
Carlton Molesworth. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. Molesworth pitched 4 games with the Washington Senators (1895), posting a record of 0-2 with an earned run average of 14.63, batting .143 (1 for 7). He played 17 seasons in the minor leagues (1895-1915), mainly as an outfielder. Mr. Molesworth played with (1906-1911, 1914-1915) and managed (1908-1922) the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association, compiling a record of 1,098-977. He managed the Columbus Senators of the American Association (1923-1925), and then worked as a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates through the 1947 season. Mr. Molesworth died on July 25, 1961 at the age of 85, after several years of declining health.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Mary Jane Croft. U.S. actress. Miss Croft had recurring roles in Lucille Ball's various television comedy series from 1954-1974, and played Miss Enright in the radio (1948-1957) and television (1953-1955) comedy series Our Miss Brooks. She died on August 24, 1999 at the age of 83.

Jack Hanlon. U.S. actor. Mr. Hanlon had a brief career in films, including Our Gang comedies and the Buster Keaton feature The General. Mr. Hanlon had a long career as a furniture mover after leaving acting. He died on December 13, 2012 at the age of 96.

80 years ago
1936

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Louis Hector and Harry West, on MBS
Tonight’s episode: The Copper Beeches

Olympics
Sonja Henie of Norway won the gold medal in women’s figure skating for the third straight Winter Olympic Games, this time at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Cecilia Colledge of England won the silver medal.

75 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Frenesi--Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (9th week at #1)

Diplomacy
The government of Chile took possession of three Danish ships tied up in Talcahuano harbour since the Nazi occupation of Denmark.

The U.S. State Department revealed that Italy had requested the United States to close its consulates in Naples and Palermo.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives Naval Committee approved legislation authorizing expenditures of $400 million on naval bases in the Pacific, including Guam and Samoa.

Labour
The U.S. Office of Production Management announced that the Congress of Industrial Organizations United Auto Workers strike at Allis-Chalmers had been settled.

Aviation
U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administrator Donald H. Connolly said that over 100,000 certified pilots would have been trained under the CAA's program by June 30, 1941.

Track and field
At the New York Athletic Club games, Greg Rice set a world record of 8:53.4 in winning the two-mile run.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
Behind Green Lights, directed by Otto Brower, and starring Carole Landis and William Gargan, opened in theatres.



War
At the trial in Nuremberg of accused Nazi war criminals, Soviet prosecutor Smirnov said that defendant Hans Frank was responsible for the deaths of at least three million Jews. 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, former White House naval aide Lester Schulz testified that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had said "This means war" after reading the decoded Japanese message of December 6, 1941, but he had not mentioned Pearl Harbor.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council agreed that British and French troops should leave Syria and Lebanon, but failed to settle on a timetable.

Politics and government
Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmy Nokrashy Pasha and his cabinet resigned after a week of anti-British student demonstrations in Cairo.

Chinese Communists demanded joint control of Manchuria with the Kuomintang and other parties.

Crime
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King told the House of Commons about Soviet spy ring activities in Canada, explaining measures needed to investigate and detain suspects. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested 21 members of a spy ring who allegedly transmitted atomic and radar secrets to the U.S.S.R.

Defense
U.S. Army and Navy sources revealed that robot aircraft called "drones" would be used to gather data during the atomic bomb tests at Bikini atoll.

Protest
Anti-British demonstrations in India spread to Meerut, after 45 people had been killed and 400 injured in rioting in Calcutta, Bombay, and New Delhi.

Labour
United States Steel and the Congress of Industrial Organizations United Steel Workers agreed on an 18 1/2c hourly wage increase, ending a four-week strike by 150,000 steel workers.

40 years ago
1976

Law
The 1976 Constitution of Cuba was adopted by national referendum.

Olympics
The 12th Winter Olympic games closed at Innsbruck, Austria.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Ti Sento--Matia Bazar

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): A Good Heart--Feargal Sharkey

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going--Billy Ocean

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going--Billy Ocean

#1 single in the U.K.: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going--Billy Ocean

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): How Will I Know--Whitney Houston

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going--Billy Ocean
2 Burning Heart--Survivor
3 I’m Your Man--Wham!
4 How Will I Know--Whitney Houston
5 Kyrie--Mr. Mister
6 That’s What Friends are For--Dionne and Friends (with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
7 Living in America--James Brown
8 Talk to Me--Stevie Nicks
9 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
10 The Sweetest Taboo--Sade

Singles entering the chart were Le Bel Age by Pat Benatar (#78); Something About You by Level 42 (#79); Let Me Be the One by Five Star (#83); The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush (#84); I Like You by Phyllis Nelson (#85); Stereotomy by Alan Parsons Project (#86); Your Love by Outfield (#87); The Men All Pause by Klymaxx (#89); and Saturday Love by Cherrelle with Alexander O’Neal (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going--Billy Ocean
2 I Miss You--Klymaxx
3 That’s What Friends are For--Dionne and Friends (with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
4 Conga--Miami Sound Machine
5 Rock Me Amadeus--Falco
6 Party All the Time--Eddie Murphy
7 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie
8 I’m Your Man--Wham!
9 How Will I Know--Whitney Houston
10 Life in a Northern Town--The Dream Academy

Singles entering the chart were She Sells Sanctuary by the Cult (#73); R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. by John Cougar Mellencamp (#78); Bop by Dan Seals (#87); Secret Lovers by Atlantic Starr (#91); Feel it Again by Honeymoon Suite (#92); What You Need by INXS (#93); It’s All Right (Baby’s Coming Back) by Eurythmics (#95); and Johnny Come Home by Fine Young Cannibals (#96).

Politics and government
The Philippines National Assembly, controlled by President Ferdinand Marcos, proclaimed Mr. Marcos the winner of the February 7 election with 54% of the vote. Meanwhile, U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s special envoy, Philip Habib, arrived in Manila as Mr. Reagan appeared to be shifting away from support for Mr. Marcos.

Protest
Eight police officers were injured and 58 people arrested in a mass demonstration outside the News International printing plant in Wapping, east London.

Disasters
William Rogers, chairman of the U.S. presidential commission investigating the January 28 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which had killed all seven astronauts aboard, released a statement saying that the decision to launch on January 28 "may have been flawed."

Hockey
NHL
Philadelphia 3 @ Montreal 5
Chicago 3 @ Toronto 4

25 years ago
1991

War
For the first time since the beginning of the Gulf War, Iraq offered to pull out of Kuwait, but the offer was tied to agreements that sanctions would be lifted and the issue of reparations dropped. Under Iraq’s proposal, its debts to Allied nations would be forgiven, and Israel would have to withdraw from its occupied territories. U.S. President George Bush rejected the offer as a "cruel hoax," and called on the Iraqi military and citizenry to "tale matters into their own hands" and force dictator Saddam Hussein from power. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said that the Iraqi proposal was a diversion of "malicious intent." Some nations, including Jordan and Iran, said that the Iraqi initiative merited a cease-fire.

A CBS news crew, missing since January 21, was reported held in Baghdad. All western journalists had been told to leave Iraq and Kuwait on January 19, making it difficult to confirm reports of events.

Economics and finance
The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, was signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

Canada joined Mexico and the U.S.A. in talks in Washington on a continental free-trade pact.

The United States Commerce Department reported that the merchandise trade deficit stood at $101 billion in 1990 the lowest amount since 1983. The U.S. Labor Department reported that producer prices had fallen 0.1% in January.

Disasters
More than 122 people were killed when a trailer-truck carrying dynamite overturned in the Thai province of Phang Nga. The dynamite then exploded, killing some of those who had gathered at the scene.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
The Sunshine Boys, starring Woody Allen, Peter Falk, and Sarah Jessica Parker, received its premiere broadcast in Australia. The made-for-television movie was first shown in North America on CBS on December 28, 1997.



Died on this date
Lucio Agostini, 82. Italian-born Canadian musician. Mr. Agostini moved with his family to Montreal when he was 3. He was a cellist with the Montreal Philharmonic Orchestra before beginning a long career as a composer and arranger with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

McLean Stevenson, 78. U.S. actor. Mr. Stevenson was best known for playing Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in the television comedy series M*A*S*H from 1972-1975. He starred in several series after leaving M*A*S*H, with little success.

Tommy Rettig, 54. U.S. actor. Mr. Rettig was best known as one of the stars of the television series Lassie from 1954-1957. He later became a pothead and computer database programmer. Mr. Rettig died of a heart attack.

Politics and government
The Nisga'a Tribal Council initialled an agreement in principle with the governments of Canada and British Columbia; the first modern-day treaty in B.C., which went into effect on May 11, 2000, called for a grant of $190 million and communal ownership of, and self-government over, 1,930 square kilometres of land in the Nass River valley in northwestern B.C.

Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh resulted in a landslide victory for the incumbent caretaker government, amid charges of vote-rigging. The three opposition parties had demanded a boycott of the elections, and there had been violent protests. Voter turnout was only 10%.

Defense
The long-awaited report into the sale of British arms to Iraq in the 1980s was published, and contained strong criticisms of the ministers involved.

Protest
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien throttled protester Bill Clennett, who was disrupting Flag Day ceremonies in Hull, Quebec, launching a small controversy over what was called Mr. Chrétien's "Shawinigan Handshake."



Disasters
At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket carrying an American Intelsat 708 satellite crashed into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.

10 years ago
2006

Olympics
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Canada won a bronze medal in the women's 500-metre short track speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.