December 31, 2017

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Mike Matson!

1,825 years ago
192

Died on this date
Commodus, 31. Roman Emperor, 177-192. Lucius Aurelius Commodus was co-Emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177-180, and reigned alone until his assassination. An attempt at poisoning Commodus was unsuccessful, so his wrestling partner Narcissus strangled him in his bath. Pertinax was named Emperor the next day. Commodus turned his reign as Emperor into a cult of personality, and was not mourned.

160 years ago
1857

Canadiana
Queen Victoria approved the choice of Ottawa as the new capital of the united province of Canada; asked to settle rival claims of Québec, Montréal, Toronto and Kingston, each of which had been temporary capital, she followed the advice of George-Étienne Cartier, who wanted a capital where French Canadians could feel at home, and which was further removed from the potential threat of U.S. invasion.

110 years ago
1907

Americana
Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York City hosted its first New Year's Eve celebration.

100 years ago
1917

Born on this date
Wilfrid Noyce. U.K. mountaineer. Mr. Noyce began climbing mountains in the 1930s, and was part of the expedition that was the first to climb Mount Everest in 1953. He was killed on July 24, 1962 at the age of 44 when he and partner Robin Smith were descending from a successful climb of Mount Garma in the Pamirs in central Asia when one of the two slipped on a layer of soft snow over ice, and they fell 4,000 feet.

Evelyn Knight. U.S. singer. Mrs. Knight was popular from the mid-1940s through the early 1950s. Her singles A Little Bird Told Me and Powder Your Face with Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!) both reached #1 on the Billboard chart in 1948. Mrs. Knight dropped out of show business in her late 30s, and died on September 28, 2007 at the age of 89.

90 years ago
1927

Journalism
Automobile magnate Henry Ford's newspaper The Dearborn Independent published its final edition. From its inception in 1920, the Independent became infamous as a vehicle for the spread of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Mr. Ford ceased publication of the paper after recanting his anti-Jewish views.

80 years ago
1937

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Anthony Hopkins! The Academy Award-winning actor was born in Margam, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales.

75 years ago
1942

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Deep in the Heart of Texas--Gene Autry; Horace Heidt and his Orchestra (1st month at #1)

War
The British Army promoted Indian commander Sir Archibald Wavell and Maltese commander Viscount Gort to field marshal, the highest rank. Russian forces took Oblivskaya, 90 miles west of Stalingrad, and Nizhne-Chirskaya, 30 miles to the east. Allied heavy bombers set two large Japanese ships afire and hit a transport at Rabaul, New Guinea.

Crime
A U.S. grand jury in Suffolk County, Massachusetts indicted 10 men from Boston on charges stemming from the November 28 fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, in which 492 people died and hundreds were injured.

70 years ago
1947

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Anniversary Song--Al Jolson; Bing Crosby (2nd month at #1)

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Burton Cummings! The former lead singer and songwriter with the Guess Who, who has also had a successful solo career, was born in Winnipeg.

Died on this date
Albert Grzesinski, 68. German politician. Mr. Grzesinski, born Albert Lehmann, was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and was Minister of the Interior of Prussia from 1926-1930. He was President of the Prussian Police (1922-1924) and President of the Berlin Police (1925-1926, 1930-1932). During his second term as Police President of Berlin, Mr. Grzesinski attempted to have Adolf Hitler deported as an undesirable alien, but German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning refused to sign the order. Mr. Grzesinski was deprived of his position following the Prussian Coup later in 1932, and was stripped of his citizenship after the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. He moved to Switzerland, then France, and finally the United States, and was active in anti-Nazi organizations.

War
Nationalist Chinese forces battled Communists in an effort to retain control over the Manchurian industrial city of Mukden and its rail link with the south, while Communist troops attacked opposite ends of the vital Peking-Hankow railroad.

Defense
General Clifton Cates took office as Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, succeeding General Alexander Vandergrift.

Economics and finance
The French National Assembly completed work on a $7-billion anti-inflation budget for 1948, while the government raised the national minimum wage by 23.5%.

Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science gave its annual $1,000 award to Professor Harrison Brown of the University of Chicago for an analysis of meteorites indicating that most extraterrestrial matter that lands on Earth was once part of a planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

Sport
The U.S. Amateur Athletic Union named sculls champion John Kelly, Jr. as the winner of the James E. Sullivan Trophy for the outstanding amateur athlete of 1947.

60 years ago
1957

Diplomacy
The British government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan rejected Soviet proposals for East-West summit talks and backed North Atlantic Treaty Organization suggestions for talks at the foreign ministers level.

Politics and government
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced his resignation after two small coalition parties rejected plans to expand contacts with West Germany.

Economics and finance
Chase Manhattan Bank ended 1957 with resources totalling $7.8 billion, making it the largest bank in New York City.

Disasters
Reports from flood-ravaged Ceylon indicated that more than 300 inhabitants had died and nearly 400,000 tons of rice (three-quarters of the country's total output) had been lost.

Sport
The U.S. Amateur Athletic Union named sprinting champion Bobby Morrow of Abilene Christian College as the winner of the James E. Sullivan Trophy for the outstanding amateur athlete of 1957.

50 years ago
1967

Died on this date
Rodger Penzabene, 23. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Penzabene wrote lyrics for several Motown hits in the late 1960s, including The End of Our Road for Gladys Knight & the Pips, and You're My Everything for the Temptations. In 1967 Mr. Penzabene found out that his wife, whom he loved very much, was cheating on him. The pain he felt led him to write the lyrics to I Wish it Would Rain and I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You), which became hit singles for the Temptations in 1968. Mr. Penzabene was in tears as he sat in the studio listening to David Ruffin sing I Wish it Would Rain. I Wish it Would Rain was released as a single on December 21, 1967; Rodger Penzabene committed suicide ten days later, and didn't live long enough to see the song hit #1 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart (and #4 on the Hot 100).

War
Shortly after nine American soldiers were killed in a Viet Cong ambush, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in Vietnam began a 36-hour cease-fire.

Football
NFL
Championship
Dallas 17 @ Green Bay 21

Bart Starr's 1-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown in the final seconds gave the Packers their win over the Dallas Cowboys in one of the most famous games in NFL history (see video). Mr. Starr's touchdown finished a 68-yard, four-minute drive. The temperature at game time was -13 F., with an estimated windchill of -46, resulting in the game being nicknamed "The Ice Bowl." 50,861 fans braved the conditions at Lambeau Field. An underground "electric blanket" of heated coils purchased by Vince Lombardi for just such an occasion failed to work, leaving the field rock-hard. The Packers took an early 14-0 lead on two touchdown passes from Starr to Boyd Dowler, before George Andrie returned a Starr fumble for a Dallas touchdown to get the Cowboys back into the game. Danny Villanueva kicked a field goal for the Cowboys to make it 14-10, before Dan Reeves connected on an option pass to Lance Rentzel for a 50-yard score to give the Cowboys a 17-14 lead in the 4th quarter. The game turned out to be the last home game for Vince Lombardi as head coach of the Packers.

AFL
Championship
Houston 7 @ Oakland 40

Daryle Lamonica threw touchdown passes to Dave Kocourek (on a fake field goal) and Bill Miller, Hewritt Dixon rushed 69 yards for another Raider score, and George Blanda added four field goals as the Raiders routed the Oilers before 53,330 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Houston scored on a pass from Pete Beathard to Charley Frazier. John Rauch, the victorious head coach, had led the Raiders to a 13-1 regular season record.



40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Solo Tu--Matia Bazar (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Belfast--Boney M. (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Mull of Kintyre--Wings (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School--Wings (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (3rd week at #1)
2 Blue Bayou--Linda Ronstadt
3 Baby Come Back--Player
4 Sentimental Lady--Bob Welch
5 You Light Up My Life--Debby Boone
6 You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)--Rod Stewart
7 (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again--L.T.D.
8 Slip Slidin' Away--Paul Simon
9 Here You Come Again--Dolly Parton
10 Short People--Randy Newman

Singles entering the chart were Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton (#84); The Loneliest Man on the Moon by David Castle (#90); Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody by Brick (#98); Come Go with Me by the Pockets (#99); and Galaxy by War (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (2nd week at #1)
2 Blue Bayou--Linda Ronstadt
3 Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue--Crystal Gayle
4 Baby, What a Big Surprise--Chicago
5 We're All Alone--Rita Coolidge
6 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
7 You Make Loving Fun--Fleetwood Mac
8 Isn't it Time--The Babys
9 It's So Easy--Linda Ronstadt
10 You Light Up My Life--Debby Boone

Singles entering the chart were Baby Blue by Chilliwack (#90); Sweet Music Man by Kenny Rogers (#91); Ffun by Con Funk Shun (#93); Back to the City by Patsy Gallant (#97); Red Rubber Ball by the Diodes (#98); Never Seem to Get Along by Ronney Abramson (#99); and Reach for It by George Duke (#100).

Music
Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians played at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, the band's first New Year's Eve performance since Mr. Lombardo's death on November 5, 1977.

Diplomacy
Accusing Vietnam of "ferocious and barbarous aggression," the Cambodian government severed relations with its ally and gave Vietnamese until January 7, 1978 to leave the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The action stemmed from fierce border fighting early in December, when Vietnamese forces occupied the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia, after a Cambodian raid into Tay Ninh province that killed or injured 2,000 people.

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 4 @ New York Islanders 2
Atlanta 3 @ Toronto 0

World Junior Championships
Canada 5 CSSR 3

Football
NCAA
Sun Bowl
Stanford 24 Louisiana State 14

Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Southern California 47 Texas A&M 28

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Jerry Turner, 58. U.S. newscaster. Mr. Turner was the anchorman at television station WJZ in Baltimore from 1962 until his death from throat cancer.

Politics and government
Robert Mugabe was sworn in as President of Zimbabwe, replacing Canaan Banana as head of state.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (5th week at #1)

20 years ago
1997

Died on this date
Billie Dove, 94. U.S. actress. Miss Dove, born Bertha Bohny, was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1920s, in movies such as The Black Pirate (1926) and The American Beauty (1927). She retired from acting in 1932.

Floyd Cramer, 64. U.S. musician. Mr. Cramer was a country music pianist who helped to create the "Nashville sound" in the 1950s and '60s. He performed on many of Elvis Presley's recordings before achieving success on his own with singles such as Last Date (1960) and On the Rebound (1961). Mr. Cramer died of lung cancer.

Weather
In the early afternoon, it was above freezing with no snow in Edmonton, and it was so warm that I saw someone raking leaves. In typical Alberta fashion, by evening the snow had moved in, and the windchill had dropped to about -20. The weather stayed that way for a couple of weeks before warming up nicely. We were still better off than people in the eastern parts of Canada and the United States, who suffered through a disastrous ice storm in the early days of 1998.

10 years ago
2007

Died on this date
Bill Idelson, 88. U.S. actor and writer. Mr. Idelson appeared in radio comedy series such as Vic and Sade, and played Herman Glimscher, a recurring character in the television comedy series The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). He also achieved success writing for television, but was less successful in producing several series.