December 29, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Christine Gotaas!

170 years ago
1846

Died on this date
Alexander Barrow, 45. U.S. politician. Mr. Barrow, a Whig, spent several years in the Louisiana House of Representatives before representing the state from 1841 until his death. He was the older half-brother of Washington Barrow, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

140 years ago
1876

Disasters
A train derailment caused by the failure of a bridge over the Ashtabula River in Ohio resulted in the deaths of 64 people and injuries to 92 others.



100 years ago
1916

Literature
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, was published in book form for the first time by B.W. Huebsch in New York, after being serialized in the English magazine The Egoist in 1914-1915.

75 years ago
1941

War
A London communique reported a successful six-hour raid on December 27 on the German-occupied islands of Vaagsoe and Maaloy off the Norwegaian coast. Tokyo reports claimed that Japanese troops the previous day had captured Ipoh, the tin mining centre 290 miles north of Singapore. Japanese planes bombed the island fortress of Corregidor, about 30 miles south of Manila guarding the entrance to Manila Bay.

Diplomacy
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King returned to Ottawa from Washington with U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was beginning a visit to the Canadian capital.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry announced that it was recalling the country's Ambassador to Germany.

Politics and government
Mohandas Gandhi resigned as leader of the All-India Congress Party because, he said, the party's working committee had abandoned his principles of civil disobedience and non-violence.

Business
The U.S. Army formally returned the Bendix, New Jersey plant of Air Associates, Inc. to private management after operating it since October 31.

Labour
American Federation of Labor boilermakers routed picketing welders at the California Ship Building Corporation in Los Angeles.

Disasters
Portland, Oregon was shaken by a short, sharp earthquake at 10:30 A.M.

Sport
New York University miler Leslie MacMitchell was named the 1941 winner of the Amateur Athletic Union's James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy as the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.

Auto racing
Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Eddie Rickenbacker announced the cancellation of the Indianapolis 500 for 1942 because of American involvement in World War II. The speedway wasn't reopened, and the Indianapolis 500 wasn't held again, until 1946, the year after the war ended.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
Duel in the Sun, directed by King Vidor, and starring Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, and many others, received its premiere screening in Van Nuys, California.





Terrorism
Irgun Zvai Leumi members kidnapped and flogged four British soldiers in retaliation for the British flogging of an imprisoned Zionist arrested for bank robbery.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. returned to Finland Helsinki's Malm Airport, occupied since the 1944 armistice.

Defense
The U.S. Navy announced the development of the Mark 3 Toss Director, a new bombsight that permitted dive-bombers to project bombs after they had pulled out of their dives.

Politics and government
Delegates from 10 liberal political action groups voted in New York to merge into a new organization, Progressive Citizens of America, with Frank Kingdon and Jo Davidson as co-chairmen.

Labour
The Italian Confederation of Labour called off a general strike in the southern Italian city of Bari after the government agreed to a 3,000-lira weekly subsidy for the unemployed.

60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Just Walking in the Rain--Johnnie Ray (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Smoky--Die Sieben Raben (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): Just Walking in the Rain--Johnnie Ray (8th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Singing the Blues--Guy Mitchell (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Disc Jockey--4th week at #1; Jukebox--3rd week at #1; Top 100--4th week at #1);

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Singing the Blues--Guy Mitchell (5th week at #1)
2 Love Me Tender--Elvis Presley
3 The Green Door--Jim Lowe
4 Blueberry Hill--Fats Domino
5 True Love--Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly
6 Just Walking in the Rain--Johnnie Ray
7 A Rose and a Baby Ruth--George Hamilton IV
8 Hey! Jealous Lover--Frank Sinatra
9 Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody--Jerry Lewis
10 Love Me--Elvis Presley

Singles entering the chart were versions of The Banana Boat Song by Steve Lawrence; the Fontane Sisters; and Sarah Vaughan (#15, charting with the version by the Tarriers); Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafonte (#29); Blue Monday by Fats Domino (#38); Young Love by Sonny James (#40); There You Go by Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two (#45); and Ain't Got No Home by Clarence (Frog-Man) Henry (#46). Blue Monday was from the movie The Girl Can't Help It (1956).

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Stop Stop Stop--The Hollies (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Green, Green Grass of Home--Tom Jones (5th week at #1)

Music
The Beatles were in studio two at Abbey Road in London, where they began recording the song Penny Lane.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K (New Musical Express): When a Child is Born--Johnny Mathis (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Ivo Van Damme, 22. Belgian runner. Mr. Van Damme won silver medals in the men's 800-metre and 1,500-metre runs at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal. He was killed in a car accident.

Hockey
NHL
Boston 8 @ Vancouver 1

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Funkytown--Pseudo Echo (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Geronimo's Cadillac--Modern Talking (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Harold Macmillan,92. Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1957-1963. Mr. Macmillan, a Conservative, sat in the House of Commons from 1924-1929 and 1931-1964. He held various cabinet posts, including Minister of Defence (1954-1955); Foreign Secretary (April-December 1955); and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1955-1957. Mr. Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden as Prime Minister in 1957 and led his Conservative Party to an easy election win in 1959, but resigned in the wake of a scandal involving a relationship between Defense Secretary John Profumo and call girl Christine Keeler. He accepted a peerage as 1st Earl of Stockton in 1984, sitting in the House of Lords until his death.

Andrei Tarkovsky, 54. U.S.S.R. film director. Mr. Tarkovsky's movies included Andrei Rublev (1966); Solaris (1972); and Stalker (1979). He died of lung cancer.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Black or White--Michael Jackson (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Let's Talk About Sex--Salt-N-Pepa (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Black or White--Michael Jackson (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Susan Wright, 44. Miss Wright, a native of Calgary, grew up in Saskatoon, where she began her career. She was best known as a stage actress, appearing frequently at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, and winning two Dora Mavor Moore Awards and an ACTRA Award. Miss Wright appeared in several films and television programs. She and her parents were staying in a house in Stratford owned by actor Brent Carver, who was absent when the others died in a fire.

Football
NFL
NFC Wild Card Playoff
Dallas 17 @ Chicago 13



AFC Wild Card Playoff
New York Jets 10 @ Houston 17



20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Thug Devotion--Mo Thugs (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)--Backstreet Boys (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Verpiss' Dich--Tic Tac Toe (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Scotland (OCC): 2 Become 1--Spice Girls (2nd week at #1)

War
The Guatemalan government and leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity signed a peace accord, ending a 36-year civil war.

Football
NFL
AFC Wild Card Playoff
Indianapolis 14 @ Pittsburgh 42



NFC Wild Card Playoff
Philadelphia 0 @ San Francisco 14

See video.