January 7, 2018

250 years ago
1768

Born on this date
Joseph I. King of Naples and Sicily, 1806-1808; King of Spain and the Indies, 1808-1813. Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, born Giuseppe Buonaparte, was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily and then as Jose I, King of Spain and the Indies. He abdicated the latter throne after French forces were defeated by a British-led coalition in the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Joseph governed Paris for several years and spent most of the period from 1817-1832 in the United States before returning to Europe and dying in Florence on July 28, 1844 at the age of 76.

240 years ago
1778

Born on this date
Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi. Turkish composer. Dede Efendi wrote hundreds of songs and works in all genres of Turkish classical music. He composed about 500 works, 300 of which survive. Dede Effendi died on November 29, 1846 at the age of 68.

120 years ago
1898

Born on this date
Al Bowlly. Mozambican-born U.K. singer. Mr. Bowlly grew up in Johannesburg and lived in several countries before moving to England in 1928. He became one of the most popular crooners of the early 1930s, but his career suffered after he developed problems with his voice because of a wart in his throat. Mr. Bowlly was killed on April 17, 1941 at the age of 43 when a German parachute mine landed outside his flat in London, and the explosion propelled his bedroom door into him, causing fatal head injuries.

90 years ago
1928

Hockey
NHL
Montreal Canadiens 9 @ Toronto 1

Howie Morenz of the Canadiens scored 3 goals against the Maple Leafs at Mutual Street Arena for his third career NHL hat trick, giving him 100 goals in his National Hockey League career. The Canadiens became the first NHL team to allow 2 goals or fewer in 20 consecutive games.

75 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Nikola Tesla, 86. Serbian-born U.S. inventor. Mr. Tesla was one of the late 19th and early 20th century's most prominent electrical inventors and engineers, and contributed to the development of alternating current.

George Washington Crile, 78. U.S. physician. Dr. Crile performed the first direct blood transfusion in 1905, and developed the nerve-block system of anesthesia. He co-founded Cleveland Clinic in 1921.

War
In an offensive converging on Rostov, Russian forces captured 16 more towns in the lower Don River sector and 5 more in the northern Caucasus. Allied planes bombed Gabes and Kairouan in Tunisia, and Palermo Harbour and Licata in Sicily. Allied bombers sank two troop transports and downed 18 Japanese fighters in repeated attacks on a 10-ship convoy approaching Lae in Huon Gulf.

Law
The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the War Measures Act, passed in 1917, which gave the federal cabinet emergency powers to govern by decree when it perceived the existence of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended." In his statement of reasons, Chief Justice Lyman Duff wrote: "The War Measures Act, in its own words, only requires that the act or thing done, the order or the regulation made, be such that the Governor General in his council of ministers, because (as in the present case) of a real war, judges them necessary or useful for the security, the defense, the peace, the order and the good of Canada."

Economics and finance
Peru announced its adherence to the United Nations declaration in invalidating Axis seizure of property in occupied countries.

Society
Negro soprano Marian Anderson broke the Daughters of the American Revolution's segregation policy when she performed before a full house at Constitution Hall in Washington.

Religion
The New York State Court of Appeals in Albany reversed the conviction of a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses on a charge of selling Bibles and religious tracts without a license, and ruled that it "is not bound by a decision of the" U.S. Supreme Court which upheld a similar decision.

70 years ago
1948

Died on this date
Thomas Mantell, 25. U.S. military aviator. Captain Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, crashed as a result of hypoxia while in a high-altitude pursuit of a supposed unidentified flying object. It has been suggested that the object was a U.S. Navy Skyhook weather balloon; the Skyhook was a secret project, and several were launched that day in Ohio, about 150 miles northeast of Fort Knox, and may have drifted into Kentucky.

Diplomacy
United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie appointed Robert G.A. Jackson of Australia as assistant Secretary-General.

Politics and government
U.S. President Harry Truman delivered his annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress, urging an immediate income tax cut of $40 per person; passage of the European Recovery Program bill; and rapid action on anti-inflation measures.

24 Congress of Industrial Organizations leaders resigned from the New York state executive committee of the American Labor Party, leaving the party under Communist domination. The state executive committee elected Representative Vito Marcantonio chairman, and endorsed former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace for President of the United States in 1948.

The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies voted to oust Communist legislators on all levels of government.

Journalism
United States News magazine announced its merger with World Report.

Economics and finance
The Soviet Council of Ministers condemned the Tatar Autonomous Republic for failing to meet production goals, and demanded a reorganization of the region's administration.

Labour
The French cabinet established eight civil defense "security districts" to guard against labour unrest.

Leftist Vicente Lombardo Toledano was expelled from Mexico's Federation of Labour, which he helped to establish in 1936.

Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. sued 20th Century Fox for $1.4 million and director Edward Dmytryk sued RKO for $1.8 million after they were both dismissed following their convictions on contempt of Congress charges.

60 years ago
1958

Music
The single Don't/I Beg of You by Elvis Presley was released on RCA Victor Records.

Terrorism
A Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Joseph Mendkes, Zeev Ekstein, and Dan Shemer to life imprisonment for the 1957 assassination of Israel Kastner, a Hungarian Jewish leader who had allegedly betrayed Jews to the Nazis.

Diplomacy
Mothers of three Americans held prisoner in the People's Republic of China as spies were admitted to the Chinese mainland to visit their sons.

Defense
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Congress to make an additional $1.37 billion available in the current fiscal year to speed up and expand missile and air defenses.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives formally approved the appointment of Wilbur Mills (Democrat--Arkansas) as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, succeeding the late Jere Cooper.

50 years ago
1968

Space
The U.S.A. launched Surveyor 7, last of the robot moon-landing series. It photographed and analyzed the lunar surface, revealing earth-type basalt and volcanic rock, supporting the theory that the moon was born either with or from the earth.

Adventure
Andes Fortress was climbed for the first time by a British expedition. The peak, one of the Cordillera del Paine group of the Patagonian Andes in Chile, was more than 10,000 feet high.

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson began two days of talks at the LBJ Ranch in Texas, where Mr. Eshkol renewed his country's request that the United States sell weapons to Israel.

Disasters
43 people were killed when a bus plunged into a river near Hamyang, South Korea.

Football
NFL
Playoff Bowl @ Orange Bowl, Miami
Los Angeles 30 Cleveland 6

Roman Gabriel threw touchdown passes of 21 yards to Bernie Casey and 1 yard to Billy Truax, and handed off to Willie Ellison for a 9-yard TD run as the Rams easily beat the Browns before 37,102 fans. Bruce Gossett converted all the Los Angeles touchdowns and added a Playoff Bowl record 3 field goals. Gary Lane, who relieved starter Frank Ryan at quarterback in the 2nd half, handed off to Leroy Kelly for a 1-yard Cleveland touchdown in the 4th quarter. Lou Groza, playing the final game of his 21-year Hall of Fame professional career--all with the Browns--missed 2 field goals and a convert. Mr. Gabriel was named the game's most valuable player.



40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Solo Tu--Matia Bazar (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Belfast--Boney M. (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School--Wings (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Canada (RPM): How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (3rd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Mull of Kintyre--Wings (3rd week at #1)
2 Egyptian Reggae--Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
3 Lust for Life--Iggy Pop
4 't Smurfenlied--Vader Abraham
5 Isn't it Time--The Babys
6 The Clown--BZN
7 Livin' Without You--Patricia Paay
8 A Far L'amore Comincia Tu--Raffaella Carra
9 If I Had Words--Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir
10 Singin' in the Rain--Sheila B. Devotion

Singles entering the chart were It's a Heartache by Bonnie Tyler (#14); The Floral Dance by the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band (#24); Lailola - No Ablas Mas by José e Los Reyes (#30); and Rio by the Dizzy Man's Band (#35).

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

No new singles entered the chart.

Hockey
NHL
Vancouver 4 @ Toronto 6

Football
NCAA
Senior Bowl
North 17 South 14

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys

Died on this date
Trevor Howard, 74. U.K. actor. Mr. Howard appeared in such movies as Brief Encounter (1945); The Third Man (1949); The Heart of the Matter (1953); Von Ryan's Express (1965); and White Mischief (1987).

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Lahja--Klamydia

War
The Bosnian Army executed a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.

Politics and government
The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated, with Jerry Rawlings as President.

20 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Vladimir Prelog, 91. Austro-Hungarian-born Swiss chemist. Dr. Prelog was awarded a share of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research into the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions."

Society
The Canadian government apologized to the nation's indigenous peoples for past acts of oppression and pledged $245 million for counseling and treatment programs.

Scandal
Former National Hockey League Players Association President Alan Eagleson pled guilty in a Toronto courtroom to three counts of fraud involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in Canada Cup money from the 1984, 1987 and 1991 tournaments, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He served six months in the Mimico Correctional Centre; resigned from the Hockey Hall of Fame (after many members threatened to resign); was removed from the Order of Canada and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame; and was disbarred by the Law Society of Upper Canada.

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Alwyn Schlebusch, 90. Vice State President of South Africa, 1981-1984. Mr. Schlebusch, a member of the National Party, represented Kroonstad in the House of Assembly from 1962-1980, and held two cabinet posts before becoming the only person to hold the office of Vice State President, an office that was created when the Senate was abolished in 1981. Mr. Schlebusch chaired the President's Council, which recommended a new constitution. When that constitution came into effect in 1984, the office of Vice State President was abolished.