February 25, 2018

1,880 years ago
138

Politics and government
Roman Emperor Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.

1,525 years ago
493

War
King Flavius Odoacer of Italy surrendered Ravenna after a three-year siege and agreed to a mediated peace with Theoderic the Great, King of the Ostrogoths.

375 years ago
1643

Born on this date
Ahmed II. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1691-1695. Ahmed II, the son of Sultan Ibrahim, succeeded his brother Suleiman II. During Sultan Ahmed II's reign, Ottoman military forces suffered military defeats to the Habsburgs. Ahmed II died on February 6, 1695, 19 days before his 52nd birthday, and was succeeded by Mustafa II.

180 years ago
1838

War
Canadian militia routed American republican sympathizers on Fighting Island, in the Detroit River.

175 years ago
1843

Britannica
Lord George Paulet, a Royal Navy officer, obtained the Provisional Cession of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, as King Kamehameha III of Hawaii agreed to cede the islands to the British government.

150 years ago
1868

Politics and government
The Earl of Derby retired as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Conservative Party leader on the advice of his doctor, and was succeeded by Benjamin Disraeli.

110 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Frank G. Slaughter. U.S. surgeon and novelist. Dr. Slaughter was practicing at Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida when he began writing novels that drew on his medical experience. His novels, which sold 60 million copies, included That None Should Die; Surgeon, U.S.A.; and The Scarlet Cord. Several of Dr. Slaughter's novels were made into movies, including The Warrior (released on film as Seminole in 1953); Sangaree; and Doctors' Wives. Dr. Slaughter's last novel, No Greater Love, was published in 1985. He died on May 17, 2001 at the age of 93.

Canadiana
St. Boniface, Manitoba was incorporated as a city.

100 years ago
1918

Born on this date
Bobby Riggs. U.S. tennis player. Mr. Riggs was the number one-ranked player in the world as an amateur in 1939 and as a professional in 1946 and 1947. He was known as a hustler and a gambler, and became famous to a younger generation when he came out of retirement in 1973 to bait the feminist movement, easily beating Margaret Court and then losing to Billie Jean King in what was more of a television event than a legitimate tennis match. Mr. Riggs died on October 25, 1995 at the age of 77.

Barney Ewell. U.S. athlete. Mr. Ewell was a long jumper, but was best known as one of the world's best sprinters in the 1940s, winning numerous championships while at Pennsylvania State University from 1940-1942. He interrupted his athletic and academic career to serve in the military in World War II, but returned to Penn State after the war to finish his education and resume his athletic career. Mr. Ewell won silver medals--barely falling short of gold medals--in the men's 100 and 200 metre runs, and was a member of the gold medal-winning American team in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He competed professionally in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1950s and eventually returned to Pennsylvania, whre he died on April 4, 1996 at the age of 78.

90 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Harry Brooks. U.S. aviator. Mr. Brooks, from Detroit, was flying a Ford one-man airplane from Titusville, Florida to Miami when he fell into the sea off Melbourne, Florida, and was drowned.

Television
Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. became the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.

Crime
Mail robbers got away with $133,000 in currency when they blew open the door of a Grand Trunk Railway car at Evergreen Park in Chicago.

75 years ago
1943

War
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Major General Idwal Edwards said that the Army Air Forces would total 900 squadrons and 2,450,000 men by the end of 1943. Soviet forces recaptured Mingrelsk, 30 miles west of Krasnodar, in their drive on the German Black Sea base at Novorossiisk. U.S. and U.K. troops reoccupied the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia with little Axis resistance. Japanese columns in China were repulsed in their attempt to cross the Yangtze River in Hupeh Province.

Diplomacy
U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace accepted invitations to visit Peru and Chile in March.

Education
The U.S. National Education Association's Department of Higher Education was organized, and asked Congress to appropriate $100 million to "save scores of educational institutions from bankruptcy because of the war."

Labour
Members of the American Federation of Labor International Association of Machinists halted work on Flying Fortresses in the Boeing Aircraft Corporation plants in Seattle and Renton, Washington for three hours to demand National War Labor Board action on wage increases.

70 years ago
1948

Died on this date
John Sorrells, 51. U.S. journalist. Mr. Sorrells was executive editor of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain.

Politics and government
Czech President Eduard Benes agreed to Prime Minister Klement Gottwald's demand for the creation of a Communist-dominated cabinet after the Czech Social Democratic Party signed an agreement to cooperate with the Communists. The action marked the end of the Third Republic.

Academia
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that Negro student Heman Sweatt could not be admitted to the University of Texas law school because the state provided equal segregated facilities.

Economics and finance
A nine-member group of Western European states began work in Rome on a tariff agreement for nations participating in the Marshall Plan.

60 years ago
1958

On television tonight
Telephone Time, hosted by Frank C. Baxter, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Vestris, starring Boris Karloff

This episode served as an unofficial pilot for the series The Veil.



Married on this date
U.S. actress Paulette Goddard and German novelist Erich Maria Remarque were married in Branford, Connecticut.

War
The Saharan Liberation Army charged that poison gas dropped by Spanish and French aircraft had killed 600 civilians in Western Sahara. King Mohammed V of Morocco declared that Morocco intended to recover "our Sahara" from Spanish forces.

Cuban guerrilla leader Fidel Castro, in an interview with Homer Bigart of The New York Times, demanded the evacuation of government troops from Oriente Province as a condition for ending his revolt.

Defense
U.S. Army General Lauris Norstad, Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, claimed that the creation of West German nuclear-armed forces was "absolutely indispensable" for the effective defense of Western Europe. He rejected Polish proposals for the creation of a nuclear-free zone in central Europe.

Politics and government
U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon endorsed Senator William Knowland for the 1958 California Republican Party gubernatorial nomination.

50 years ago
1968

Abominations
135 unarmed citizens of Hà My village in South Vietnam's Quảng Nam Province were killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what came to be known as the Hà My massacre.

Politics and government
Archbishop Makarios was re-elected to a second five-year term as President of Cyprus.

Leopold Sedar Senghor was re-elected to a third term as President of Senegal.

Golf
George Knudson won the Tucson Open with a score of 273; first prize money was $20,000.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): E Dirsi Ciao--Matia Bazar

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

#1 single in Ireland: Take a Chance on Me--ABBA

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Take a Chance on Me--ABBA (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (4th week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 If I Had Words--Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir (5th week at #1)
2 Take a Chance on Me--ABBA
3 She's Not There--Santana
4 Black Betty--Ram Jam
5 It's a Heartache--Bonnie Tyler
6 Mull of Kintyre--Wings
7 Big City--Tol Hansse
8 I Can't Stand the Rain--Eruption featuring Precious Wilson
9 Daddy Cool - The Girl Can't Help It--The Darts
10 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees

Singles entering the chart were Denis by Blondie (#14); Fantasy by Earth, Wind & Fire (#28); City to City by Gerry Rafferty (#33); and It's Only a Matter of Time by Breeze (#34).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (4th week at #1)
2 Emotion--Samantha Sang
3 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
4 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel
5 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
6 Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)--Chic
7 Short People--Randy Newman
8 What's Your Name--Lynyrd Skynyrd
9 We are the Champions--Queen
10 Peg--Steely Dan

Singles entering the chart were We'll Never have to Say Goodbye Again by England Dan & John Ford Coley (#73); Love is Like Oxygen by Sweet (#85); Put Your Head on My Shoulder by Leif Garrett (#86); Fantasy by Earth, Wind & Fire (#87); Let's All Chant by the Michael Zager Band (#88); and It Amazes Me by John Denver (#100).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (2nd week at #1)
2 Short People--Randy Newman
3 We are the Champions--Queen
4 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
5 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel
6 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
7 Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)--Chic
8 Baby Come Back--Player
9 Emotion--Samantha Sang
10 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood--Santa Esmeralda

Singles entering the chart were Hot Legs by Rod Stewart (#86); California by Debby Boone (#87); The Closer I Get to You by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (#91); Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold (#92); Running on Empty by Jackson Browne (#93); Fooling Yourself by Styx (#94); Baby Hold On by Eddie Money (#98); You Really Got Me by Van Halen (#99); and Disco Inferno by the Trammps (#100).

Hockey
NHL
New York Rangers 6 @ Montreal 3

Hardy Astrom was in goal for the Rangers as they upset the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on the national Hockey Night in Canada telecast to end the Canadiens' league-record 28-game unbeaten streak. The game proved to be the high point in the NHL career of Mr. Astrom, whose play for the Colorado Rockies two years later led Colorado head coach Don Cherry to dub Mr. Astrom "The Swedish Sieve," and helped to end Mr. Cherry's coaching career.

CHL
Dallas 3 @ Fort Worth 2
Tulsa 6 @ Salt Lake City 5

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Heatseeker--AC/DC (3rd week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz began a week of meetings with leaders in Middle Eastern capitals.

Politics and government
Roe Tae-woo took office as President of South Korea.

Business
Toronto-based Osler Inc investment dealers were "deemed to be insolvent as of the opening of business" today.

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): I Feel You--Depeche Mode (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Eddie Constantine, 75. U.S.-born French actor. Mr. Constantine, born Edward Constantinowsky, settled in Europe in the 1950s, where he made his name playing secret agent Lemmy Caution in a series of French films. Perhaps his best-known performance was in Alphaville (1965).

Toy Caldwell, 45. U.S. musician. Mr. Caldwell was the lead guitarist and main songwriter with the Marshall Tucker Band rock group from its founding in 1972 until 1983. He died of cardio-respiratory failure resulting from cocaine ingestion.

Music
This blogger, along with a lovely lady from Ottawa, attended a concert at the National Arts Centre in the nation's capital. The National Arts Centre Orchestra was conducted by Franz-Paul Decker, with violinist Scott St. John the featured soloist.

Politics and government
Kim Young Sam took office as President of South Korea, becoming the country's first civilian leader in more than three decades. He promised to end the "dark political night" of corruption and economic blight.

Protest
More than 1,000 Hindu nationalists were arrested in India by riot police while they were demanding the resignation of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

20 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Joe Gallagher, 83. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Gallagher was an outfielder with the New York Yankees (1939); St. Louis Browns (1939-1940); and Brooklyn Dodgers (1940), batting .273 with 16 home runs and 73 runs batted in 165 games. He spent all of the 1941-1945 seasons in the military during World War II, and finished his career with 6 games with the Montreal Royals of the International League in 1946. He also played in the minor leagues from 1936-1939, batting .321 with 54 home runs in 420 minor league games. Mr. Gallagher's best season was 1938, when he played in 152 games with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association, batting .343 with 200 hits, including 24 home runs. Mr. Gallagher made his major league debut with the Yankees against the Boston Red Sox on April 20, 1939, playing right field and batting 0 for 3, reaching first base on an error and making 3 putouts in the same game in which Ted Williams began his Hall of Fame major league career with the Red Sox. Mr. Gallagher coached at Stephen F. Austin and Rice Universities, and died 10 days before his 84th birthday.

W.O. Mitchell, 83. Canadian writer. William Ormond Mitchell, a native of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, was best known for the novel Who Has Seen the Wind (1947) and the radio series Jake and the Kid (1950-1956). He spent his later years in Calgary, and died there 16 days before his 84th birthday.

Music
Sarah McLachlan won the Grammy Award for best female pop vocal for her song Building a Mystery.

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Hans Raj Khanna, 95. Indian judge and politician. Mr. Khanna was a judge on the Supreme Court if India from 1971-1977, but resigned from the bench after being passed over for the post of Chief Justice for authoring a lone dissenting opinion that even a state of emergency didn't entitle the government to abrogate by decree the right to life and liberty. Mr. Khanna served as Minister of Law and Justice in 1979, but resigned after just three days; he campaigned unsuccessfully for President of India in 1982.