February 19, 2018

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Lee Morrow!

275 years ago
1743

Born on this date
Luigi Boccherini. Italian composer. Mr. Boccherini wrote over 500 pieces, many of them chamber pieces for strings. He died on May 28, 1805 at the age of 62.

140 years ago
1878

Technology
Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph.

125 years ago
1893

Born on this date
Cedric Hardwicke. U.K. actor. Sir Cedric achieved fame on the London stage before appearing in such movies as Stanley and Livingstone (1939); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); Tom Brown's School Days (1940); The Invisible Man Returns (1940); Suspicion (1941); The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942); The Lodger (1944); Wilson (1944); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945); and Rope (1948). He made many television appearances in the 1950s and '60s before his death on August 6, 1964 at the age of 71.

110 years ago
1908

Exploration
Frederick A. Cook set out from New York for the North Pole in the steamer John R. Bradley.

100 years ago
1918

Born on this date
Forest Evashevski. U.S. football player and coach. Mr. Evashevski played quarterback at the University of Michigan (1938-1940) and the U.S. Navy's pre-flight school at the University of Iowa (1942). He was an assistant coach at three universities, and head coach at Hamilton College (1941); Washington State University (1950-1951); and the University of Iowa (1952-1960), compiling a record of 68-35-6. He was best known for his years at Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to Big Ten championships in 1956, 1958, and 1960, and the national championship in 1958. Mr. Evashevski had a feud with U of I athletic director Paul Brechler, and when Mr. Brechler resigned after the 1959 football season, Mr. Evashevski replaced him, stepping down as head coach after the 1960 season. Mr. Evashevski's time as Iowa's athletic director was characterized by mediocre football records and conflicts with three head coaches, culminating in the firing of both Mr. Evashevski and head football coach Ray Nagel on May 16, 1970, after an investigation of padded expense accounts. Mr. Nagel was rehired several days later, but Mr. Evashevski's career at Iowa was over. He worked briefly as a colour commentator for college football telecasts on ABC, and died of cancer on October 30, 2009 at the age of 91.

90 years ago
1928

Olympics
The University of Toronto Grads, representing Canada, routed Switzerland 13-0 to win the gold medal in hockey at St. Moritz. The Grads didn't give up a goal through the entire tournament.

Auto racing
Captain Malcolm Campbell, British World War I air ace, set a world land speed record on the beach at Daytona, Florida. He drove his 12-cylinder Bluebird one mile with the wind in 16.76 seconds (214.79 mph), and one mile against the wind in 17.39 seconds (199.66 mph). The average for the two miles was a mile in 17.39+ seconds (206.96 mph). Mr. Campbell's feat broke the record of 203.79 miles per hour set by Henry Segrave eleven months earlier, and marked the fourth time that Mr. Campbell had set the record.

75 years ago
1943

War
Soviet forces recaptured seven towns west of Kharkov and 10 more in the Orel Sea area. The Battle of the Kasserine Pass began in Tunisia between U.S. and U.K. forces and German forces commanded by General Erwin Rommel.

Politics and government
The British Labour Party's National Executive Committee rejected the Communist Party's application for affiliation on the grounds that it was out of harmony with the philosophy and objecitves of the Labour Party.

The Puerto Rican legislature narrowly endorsed Governor Rexford Tugwell and asked U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt not to remove him from office until the Puerto Ricans could elect their own chief executive.

Religion
The U.S. Episcopalian publication The Witness reported that 25 bishops favoured unuion with the Presbyterian Church.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Lend-Lease Administration reported that the United States had shipped more than 2.9 million tons of war supplies to the U.S.S.R. under Lend-Lease.

70 years ago
1948

Died on this date
Robert Lamont, 80. U.S. industrialist and politician. Mr. Lamont was President of American Steel Foundries from 1912-1929 and U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the administration of President Herbert Hoover from 1929-1932; he then resigned to become President of the American Iron and Steel Institute from 1932-1934.

Bob Groom, 63. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Groom played with the Washington Nationals (1909-1913); St. Louis Terriers (1914-1915); St. Louis Browns (1916-1917); and Cleveland Indians (1918), compiling a record of 119-150 with an earned run average of 3.10 in 367 games, and batting .128 with no home runs and 35 runs batted in in 369 games. He led the American League in losses (26) in 1909; tied for the Federal League lead in losses (20) in 1914; and tied for the AL lead (19) in losses in 1917. Mr. Groom's best season was 1912, when he was 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA in 43 games. On May 6, 1917, Mr. Groom pitched 2 scoreless innings in the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox to get a save, and then pitched a no-hitter in the second game as the Browns won 3-0. Ernie Koob of the Browns had pitched a no-hitter against the White Sox the previous day, and Messrs. Koob and Groom remain the only teammates to pitch major league no-hitters on consecutive days.

War
A Nuremberg court sentenced Field Marshal Wilhelm List and General Walter Kuntze, German commanders in the Balkans during World War II, to life imprisonment for ordering the execution of hostages in their theatre of operations.

Politics and government
The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence, alleged to be the starting point for a series of armed communist rebellions in various Asian countries, convened in Calcutta.

Economics and finance
The French National Assembly voted to freeze prices at the January 15 level.

60 years ago
1958

War
The French cabinet announced its approval of plans for the establishment of a no-man's-land 15 miles wide on the Algerian side of the Tunisian border in order to halt continued border crossings by Algerian nationalist guerrillas.

The Communist Chinese and North Korean governments announced that all Chinese forces would be withdrawn from Korea by the end of 1958.

Diplomacy
U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of State Robert Murphy, a North African affairs specialist, was named to represent the United States in mediation of the French-Tunisian dispute.

Defense
Japan lodged a formal protest against U.S. plans to hold further nuclear weapons tests on Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Politics and government
State Senator Albert Quie (Republican) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 1st District, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Rep. August Andresen.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board reduced by 0.5% the required reserves that must be held against demand deposits by the 6,400 banks of the Federal Reserve system, making an additional $500 million available for commercial loans.

Scandal
The U.S. House of Representatives Government Operations Committee approved a subcommittee report accusing cigarette manufacturers of deceiving the public by advertising that their higher-priced filter-tip cigarettes provided greater health protection than plain cigarettes.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Hello, Goodbye--The Beatles

Politics and government
The Canadian Liberal Party minority government lost a vote on a tax bill in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Lester Pearson was on vacation in Jamaica at the time, and was forced to return home in order to try to save his government. Progressive Conservative Party leader Robert Stanfield, leader of the official Opposition, wasn't diligent enough in pressing for the government's resignation.

The South African Electoral College selected Jacobus J. Fouche as the country's President to fill the vacancy caused by the death of President-elect Theophilus Doenges.

Asiatica
An international commission ruled on the Rann of Kutch, awarding 300 square miles of the long-disputed uninhabited salt marsh to Pakistan and the remaining 3,200 square miles to India.

Health
The British High Court awarded compensation to 62 children born with thalidomide-induced deformities.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (4th week at #1)

War
Egyptian forces raided Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorization from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces killed 15 Egyptian commandos and destroyed the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.

Golf
Gil Morgan won the Los Angeles Open with a score of 278; first prize money was $40,000.

Hockey
WHA
Birmingham 3 @ Cincinnati 4 (OT)
Indianapolis 3 @ Edmonton 4 (OT)

Darryl Maggs scored at 9:32 of overtime to give the Stingers their win over the Bulls at Riverfront Coliseum. Birmingham forward Frank Beaton startled the Stingers by skating off the ice with the Cincinnati club at the end of the first period instead of with his own team. Mr. Beaton had spotted six police officers near the Bulls' dressing room, and figured that they were there to arrest him for failing to appear in Cincinnati to answer an assault charge two years earlier. Mr. Beaton hid in the Stingers' dressing room, but was quickly discovered and arrested.

Mike Zuke scored 7:08 into overtime to give the Oilers their win over the Racers before 8,971 fans at Edmonton Coliseum.

CHL
Fort Worth 5 @ Tulsa 6

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): My Love is a Tango--Guillermo Marchena

Died on this date
André Frédéric Cournand, 92. French-born U.S. physician and physiologist. Dr. Cournand shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Werner Forssmann and Dickinson Richards "for their discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system."

Olympics
Karen Percy of Banff, Alberta, near Calgary, won the bronze medal in the ladies’ downhill ski event in Calgary.

20 years ago
1998

Politics and government
Andy Thompson (Liberal--Ontario) was suspended from the Canadian Senate without pay for delinquency; the former leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, a Senator since 1967, had attended only 47 times in 14 years--only 12 sessions since 1990--and was living in Mexico.

Olympics
The Canadian 5,000-metre men's short track relay speed skating team of Marc Gagnon, Derrick Campbell, Éric Bédard and François Drolet won a gold medal, and Mr. Bédard won a bronze medal in Nagano in the 1,000-metres. Annie Perreault of Canada won the 500-metres gold medal in Nagano, and teamed up with Isabelle Charest, Tania Vicent and Christine Boudrias to win a bronze medal in the 3,000-metre relay.

10 years ago
2008

Politics and government
An ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; he was succeeded by his brother Raul.