December 27, 2018

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Marilyn Draper and Ana!

500 years ago
1518

Died on this date
Mahmood Shah Bahmani II 48 (?). Sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate, 1482-1518. Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, the son of Muhammad Shah Lashkari, succeeded his father on the throne of the first independent Muslim kingdom in South India. He had to deal with unrest among the nobility, especially regional governors. Sultan Mahmood Shah Bahmani II was succeeded by his son Ahmed Shah Bahmani II.

170 years ago
1848

Communications
A telegraph line from Calais, Maine to Saint John, New Brunswick was completed, allowing for dispatches to be sent to Boston, New York, and other major North American centres.

160 years ago
1858

Born on this date
Juan Luis Sanfuentes. 17th President of Chile, 1915-1920. Mr. Sanfuentes, a Liberal Democrat, became Chilean Finance Minister in 1901, and served as President of the Senate from 1906-1909. As a coalition candidate of the Liberal Democratic and Conservative Parties in 1915, he defeated Liberal Alliance candidate Javier Ángel Figueroa by just one electoral vote in a campaign filled with accusations of fraud; the National Congress settled the election with a vote in favour of Mr. Sanfuentes. Mr. Sanfuentes presided over prosperity during his term, but his popularity declined toward the end, after he took a hard line against striking coal miners and trade unionists. He died on July 16, 1930 at the age of 71.

Died on this date
Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, 73. French musician and composer. Mr. Boëly was a pianist, organist, and violist who rejected the music fashions of his time in favour of earlier composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach. Mr. Boëly composed over 300 works, especially chamber music and pieces for piano or organ.

130 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Thea von Harbou. German actress, director, and screenwriter. Miss Harbou was married to director Fritz Lang from 1922-1933, and helped to write the screenplays for films of his such as Metropolis (1927) and Spione (Spies) (1928). The couple divorced in 1933, and Miss Harbou remained loyal to Germany, staying in the country through the years of Nazi rule. She died on July 1, 1954 at the age of 65.

100 years ago
1918

War
The Greater Poland Uprising against German rule began.

80 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Zona Gale, 64. U.S. writer. Miss Gale wrote in various genres, but was best known for her novels and short stories about life in the midwestern United States. She adapted her novel Miss Lulu Bett (1920) into a play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921, making Miss Gale the first woman to achieve the honour. Miss Gale died of pneumonia.

75 years ago
1943

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Tired Captain

Died on this date
Ants Kurvits, 56. Estonian military officer and politician. Major General Kurvits served in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, and commanded the Estonian Defense League from 1918-1921. He commanded the Estonian Border Guard from 1922-1939, serving briefly as Estonian Minister of War in 1924. Maj. Gen. Kurvits was deported to a Soviet prison camp in 1941, following the U.S.S.R. occupation of Estonia, and died in Soviet imprisonment.

War
Defending German paratroopers started to abandon the Italian town of Ortona after a week of fierce fighting with Major-General Christopher Vokes' 1st Canadian Division. Infantry from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada suffered heavy casualties; 1,372 Canadians were killed in taking Ortona and environs. U.S.S.R. troops occupied 30 places near Vitebsk and cut the Vitebsk-polotsk railway near Dvorishche. U.S. Marines consolidated their beachheads on both sides of Cape Gloucester, New Britain Island, and advanced inland.

Diplomacy
The Inter-American Emergency Committee for the Political Defense of the Continent adopted a resolution not to recognize regimes established by force without prior investigation and consultation by all American governments.

Labour
The U.S. Fair Employment Practices Commission asked U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to enforce its order to 16 southeastern railroads and 7 unions to end discrimination against Negroes. U.S. President Roosevelt ordered War Secretary Henry Stimson to take over all railroads as of & P.M. today, as three operating unions continued their refusal to accept his arbitration.

70 years ago
1948

On the radio
The Adventure of the Speckled Band, starring Howard Marion-Crawford as Sherlock Holmes and Finlay Currie as Dr. Watson, on BBC Home Service

Mr. Marion-Crawford played Dr. Watson in the television series Sherlock Holmes (1954-1955).

The Casebook of Gregory Hood, starring Elliott Lewis, on MBS

War
Guerrilla resistance to Dutch occupation of the Indonesian Republic began with scattered attacks on Dutch outposts near Jakarta.

Economics and finance
The U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia signed a commercial agreement in Moscow providing for a sharp reduction in trade between the two countries.

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Tom Dooley--The Kingston Trio (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Io--Domenico Modugno (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): La Paloma--Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra (6th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): When--The Kalin Twins (16th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): It's Only Make Believe--Conway Twitty

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Chipmunk Song--The Chipmunks with David Seville (2nd week at #1)
2 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes--The Platters
3 Tom Dooley--The Kingston Trio
4 To Know Him, is to Love Him--The Teddy Bears
5 One Night--Elvis Presley
6 Beep Beep--The Playmates
7 Problems--The Everly Brothers
8 Lonesome Town--Ricky Nelson
9 I Got Stung--Elvis Presley
10 My Happiness--Connie Francis

Singles entering the chart were Green Chri$tma$ by Stan Freberg (#67); Red River Rose by the Ames Brothers (#70); The Little Drummer Boy by the Harry Simeone Chorale (#71); Let's Love (#73)/You are Beautiful (#89) by Johnny Mathis; (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings by Paul Anka (#75); Blue Hawaii by Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra (#77); May You Always by the McGuire Sisters (#83); Teasin' by the Quaker City Boys (#84); The Hawaiian Wedding Song (#85)/The House of Bamboo (#86) by Andy Williams; Tomorrow by Donnie Owens (#91); Santa and the Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley (#93); Pretty Girls Everywhere by Eugene Church and the Fellows (#95); Merry Christmas Baby by Chuck Berry (#97); and It's Magic by Teddy Randazzo (#100).

Space
U.S. physicist James Van Allen reported the existence of two definite fields of radiation around the Earth: the first was 1,400-3,400 miles up, the second 8,000-12,000 miles above the Earth.

War
A Cuban guerrilla column led by Che Guevara attacked Santa Clara, capital of Las Villas Province, shortly before dawn. Fidel Castro's guerrilla forces also captured the Santiago-Bayamo highway.

Americana
A Gallup Poll reported that for the sixth consecutive year, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower headed the list of the ten living men most admired by Americans.

Economics and finance
The French cabinet announce a 17.55% devaluation of the franc, making it freely convertible if held by traders or persons residing outside the franc zone.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): My Little Lady--The Tremeloes

Edmonton's top 10 (CJCA)
1 Abraham, Martin and John--Dion (3rd week at #1)
2 Little Arrows--Leapy Lee
3 Wichita Lineman--Glen Campbell
4 Magic Carpet Ride--Steppenwolf
5 Cinnamon--Derek
6 Hey Jude--The Beatles
7 Chewy Chewy--Ohio Express
8 Son-of-a Preacher Man--Dusty Springfield
9 If I Can Dream--Elvis Presley
10 Scarborough Fair--Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66

Space
Apollo 8's lunar orbital mission ended successfully as the crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 7:51 A.M. Pacific Standard Time. The crew set a speed record of 24,530 miles per hour in re-entering the earth's atmosphere.





Defense
The People's Republic of China exploded a hydrogen bomb, its second thermonuclear device.

Disasters
27 people were killed when a twin-engine turboprop plane approaching O'Hare International Airoport in Chicago smashed into a hangar in fog and burst into flames.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Merry Xmas Everybody--Slade (3rd week at #1)

Merry Xmas Everybody had previously spent two weeks at #1 in December 1973, when it was originally a hit.

Died on this date
Houari Boumédiène, 46. 2nd President of Algeria, 1976-1978. Mr. Boumédiène, born Mohamed Ben Brahim Boukharouba, was part of the movement that declared independence for Algeria from France in 1962. He served as Defense Minister until 1965, when he led the movement that ousted revolutionary leader Ahmed Ben Bella. Mr. Boumédiène served as chairman of the Revolutionary Council from 1965-1976, when he became President. He died in office of a rare blood disease.

Bob Luman, 41. U.S. musician. Mr. Luman was a country singer-songwriter who had numerous hit singles in the 1960s and '70s. His best-known song was Let's Think About Living (1960), which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Country and Hot 100 charts, and reached #3 on the Australian pop singles chart. Mr. Luman died of pneumonia.

Chris Bell, 27. U.S. musician. Mr. Bell was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Memphis who co-founded the rock group Big Star with Alex Chilton, former lead singer of the Box Tops, in the early 1970s. Big Star failed to achieve commercial success, and neither did Mr. Bell in a subsequent solo career, but his music has influenced subsequent artists. Mr. Bell was killed in a car accident, 16 days before his 28th birthday.

Politics and government
Spain became a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

Journalism
The tabloid newspaper Montréal-Matin ceased publication after 48 years.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 1 Boston 1

30 years ago
1988

Died on this date
Hal Ashby, 59. U.S. movie director. Mr. Ashby won the Academy Award for film editing for In the Heat of the Night (1967) before becoming a director. His movies included Harold and Maude (1971); The Last Detail (1973); Shampoo (1975); Bound for Glory (1976); Coming Home (1978); and Being There (1979). He died of pancreatic cancer.

Disasters
250 people were missing and feared drowned when a river ferry capsized and sank en route to Dhaka, Bangladesh.

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (6th week at #1)

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Delaney Bramlett, 69. U.S. musician. Mr. Bramlett was a singer-songwriter and guitarist who performed in various genres, but was best known for his work in the late 1960s and early '70s with his wife Bonnie and various musicians, performing as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Their single Never Ending Song of Love (1971) remains popular. Mr. Bramlett died of complications following gall bladder surgery.

War
Citing rocket attacks from Palestinian armed groups, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a three-week operation on Gaza.