January 14, 2019

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Sybil Wilson!

480 years ago
1539

Caribbeana
Spain annexed Cuba.

380 years ago
1639

Politics and government
The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.

125 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Ecaterina Teodoroiu. Romanian soldier and nurse. Sublocotenent Teodoroiu, born Cătălina Toderoiu, was originally a nurse, but persuaded authorities to allow her to serve as a soldier in the Romanian Army during World War I in 1916. She won several decorations for bravery before being killed at the age of 23 on September 3, 1917 by machine gun fire in the Muncelu-Varnița area of Romania.

120 years ago
1899

Journalism
The Fernie (British Columbia) Free Press began publication.

Hockey
CAHL
Montreal Shamrocks (1-1) 4 @ Montreal (1-2) 3
Quebec (0-2) 1 @ Ottawa (2-0) 3

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Joseph Losey. U.S.-born U.K. theatre and film director. Mr. Losey's movies included The Boy with Green Hair (1948); These are the Damned (1963); and Accident (1967). Because of left-wing associations in the 1930s and 1940s, he was investigated by the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee, and settled in London after being blacklisted in the United States. Mr. Losey had a reputation for making movies that were artsy-fartsy talkfests. He died on June 22, 1984 at the age of 75.

Brenda Forbes. U.K.-born U.S. actress. Miss Forbes, born Dorothy Brenda Taylor, was mainly a stage actress; she played Wilson, the maid, in the original production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930). Among her few movies was Mrs. Miniver (1942). Miss Forbes died of cancer on September 11, 1996 at the age of 87.

100 years ago
1919

Born on this date
Andy Rooney. U.S. journalist. Mr. Rooney began his career as a war correspondent in the U.S. Army with Stars and Stripes during World War II. In 1949 he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System, and wrote for entertainers such as Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore, while also writing public affairs programs, and later working with newsman Harry Reasoner. Mr. Rooney quit CBS in a dispute in 1970, but rejoined the network in 1973, writing and producing special programs. He wrote a syndicated newspaper column for many years, but was best known for his brief editorials titled A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney which appeared on the newsmagazine program 60 Minutes from 1978-2011. Mr. Rooney won five Emmy Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement in 2003. He delivered his farewell 60 Minutes commentary on October 2, 2011, and died from complications after an unspecified surgical procedure on November 4, 2011 at the age of 92.

Giulio Andreotti. Prime Minister of Italy, 1972-1973, 1976-1979, 1989-1992. Mr. Andreotti had a political career spanning more than 60 years, and is widely regarded as the most prominent politician of the First Republic (1948-1992). He was a member of the Christian Democratic Party from 1942-1994, holding various cabinet posts in addition to his three terms as Prime Minister. Mr. Andreotti supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization while also promoting closer relations with the U.S.S.R. and Arab states. He served as a Senator for life from 1991 until his death on May 6, 2013 at the age of 94.

War
Armoured trains and the Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, organized and led by Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov, liberated Tartu, Estonia from invading Soviet forces.

Politics and government
Three days of voting in the El Salvador presidential election concluded with the election of National Democratic Party candidate Jorge Meléndez, who was running unopposed.

80 years ago
1939

World events
Norway formally laid claim, on the basis of prior discovery, to the area of Antarctica known as Dronning (Queen) Maud Land.

75 years ago
1944

War
The U.S. Selective Service said that an additional 700,000 recruits must be called up in the first six months of 1944 to meet armed forces requirements. In their White Russian drive, Soviet forces pushed westward 20 miles beyond Mozyr to take Skrygalovo on the south bank of the Pripet River. French units in Italy captured Acquafondata and three nearby heights in the Allied drive on Cassino. U.S. forces took the important hill 660 in the Borgen Bay area of New Britain.

Diplomacy
The Polish government-in-exile in London asked the U.S.A. and U.K. to act as intermediaries in discussions with the U.S.S.R.

Politics and government
Democrats in New Hampshire named a slate of presidential delegates who supported a fourth term for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S. War Relocation Authority announced that the Army had restored the Tule Lake, California Japanese Segregation Center to full civil administration.

Medicine
The British Medical Journal reported the successful use of blood from bullocks and heifers as a substitute for human plasma.

Labour
The three U.S. railroad brotherhoods covering firemen, enginemen, conductors, and switchmen accepted wage terms suggested by U.S. President Roosevelt.

70 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Harry Stack Sullivan, 56. U.S. psychiatrist. Dr. Sullivan was a psychoanalyst who emphasized the importance of interpersonal relationships. His own most interpersonal relationship was with a man 20 years his junior, lasting until Dr. Sullivan's death in Paris.

War
Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong broadcast his conditions for peace over the North Shensi radio, demanding the abolition of the Nationalist government; punishment of Generalissimo Chaing Kai-shek and other leading Nationalists; introduction of a land reform program; and election of a Political Consultative Conference to create a new government.

United Nations observers in Batavia reported the outbreak of large-scale guerrilla resistance in northern and central Java and claimed that Dutch forces were not strong enough to maintain order on the island.

Diplomacy
French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin concluded two days of talks in London after agreeing to support the creation of new political institutions for the Western European Union and insisting on the continued dismantling of German factories for reparations.

Defense
A meeting in Oslo of the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian defense ministers ended without agreement on proposals to join the projected North Atlantic defense organization. The U.S. State Department issued a policy statement reaffirming American willingness to join a North Atlantic security alliance to defend Marshall Plan gains in Western Europe from Communist attempts at subversion.

Politics and government
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously recommended the confirmation of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State, after two days of hearings on Mr. Acheson's views.

Law
U.S. Attorney General Tom Clark urged Congress to enact new anti-espionage laws introducing penalties for unauthorized possession of official secrets, allowing wiretapping in investigation of such cases, and cancelling the statute of limitations in espionage prosecutions.

Crime
New York U.S. federal Judge Harold Medina refused a request by 12 top U.S. Communists that their trial be postponed for 90 days because of the continued illness of Communist Party U.S.A. leader William Z. Foster.

Economics and finance
The United Kingdom and Poland signed a trade agreement providing for a $1-billion exchange of goods over the next five years, the largest deal made by an Eastern European state since World War II.

Business
The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust suit in Newark, New Jersey, demanding that Western Electric Company be separated from American Telephone & Telegraph and split into three competing firms.

60 years ago
1959

Abominations
Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, denying reports that he had ordered a halt to the execution of officials with the government of recently-deposed President Fulgencio Batista, pledged to keep revolutionary courts operating until "all criminals of the Batista regime" were tried.

Politics and government
The Laotian National Assembly granted Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone special powers to reorganize the Laotian government and to govern by decree for one year.

Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim el-Kassim ordered the leftist Iraq Students Union and People's Resistance Force to halt their interference with police authorities and to submit to control of the Iraqi Army.

50 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Eloise--Barry Ryan (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Roy Henry, 83. Canadian insurance agent. Mr. Henry, the maternal grandfather of this blogger, ran his own agency in Edmonton (Roy Henry Insurance) for many years. In 1956 he became the team historian of the Edmonton Eskimos, and was on the team's board of directors; the scrapbooks he compiled are now at the Edmonton City Archives. Mr. Henry remains very much missed by this blogger.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 4, with only Vladimir Shatalov aboard. Its mission was to dock with the two-man spacecraft Soyuz 5--launched the next day--and transfer crews.

War
South Vietnamese Prime Minister Tran Van Huong declared that his country was "confident" that it had the strength to fight the Communists with a diminished American force, and proposed a "gradual, phased withdrawal" of U.S. forces at the rate of 10,000-20,000 men per month, which would, he said, give South Vietnam time "to organize and make ourselves stronger." He added, in an apparent reversal of S.V. policy, that his government was willing to negotiate with the National Liberation Front (NLF), even while fighting was in progress.

The United States was cool in its response to the U.S.S.R. plan for peace between Israel and Lebanon, replying that the Soviet Union and other states should "use all their influence to stop the grave increase of Arab terrorist operations."

Politics and government
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson delivered his final State of the Union message to Congress, stressing the need to continue his Great Society social programs at home while seeking peace abroad.



The U.S. Democratic National Committee, on the recommendation of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, selected Senator Fred Harris (Oklahoma) to succeed the departing Larry O'Brien as chairman.

Crime
Morton Sobell, 51, was released from Lewisburg (Pennsylvania) Federal Penitentiary after serving 17 years and 9 months of his 30-year sentence for conspiracy to commit espionage. He had been convicted in 1951 of participating in a conspiracy with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to steal U.S. atomic bomb secrets on behalf of the U.S.S.R. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953.

Disasters
The accidental explosion of a Zuni rocket aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise near Hawaii began a series of fires and explosions that killed 28 sailors and injured 314 others, while destroying 15 aircraft. The carrier was on its way to Vietnam at the time.

Soccer
English FA
Matt Busby, 59, announced that he would retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season, but would remain as general manager. He had managed the club since 1945, with great success; his most recent achievement was leading Manchester United to the European Cup championship in 1968, becoming the first English club to accomplish the feat.

40 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord--Boney M. (5th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Toronto @ Chicago (postponed, snow)
Pittsburgh 5 @ Buffalo 4

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): C'è da spostare una macchina--Francesco Salvi (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

#1 single in France (SNEP): High--David Hallyday (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Especially for You--Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan (2nd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Can't Stay Away from You--Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
2 First Time--Robin Beck
3 Tonight - Live--Tina Turner (Duet with David Bowie)
4 Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson
5 Two Hearts--Phil Collins
6 Never Trust a Stranger--Kim Wilde
7 Good Life--Inner City
8 The Way to Your Heart--Soulsister
9 Angel of Harlem--U2
10 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart--Marc Almond

Singles entering the chart were Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry (#24); Musica É by Eros Ramazotti (#25); Rag Doll by Aerosmith (#28); Love Bites by Def Leppard (#31); How Can I Fall? by Breathe (#33); and Nights Over New York by Mc Miker G & DJ Sven starring Mc Miker G (#34).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 My Prerogative--Bobby Brown
2 Two Hearts--Phil Collins
3 Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison
4 Don't Rush Me--Taylor Dayne
5 Armageddon It--Def Leppard
6 In Your Room--Bangles
7 Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson
8 I Remember Holding You--Boys Club
9 Put a Little Love in Your Heart--Annie Lennox and Al Green
10 The Way You Love Me--Karyn White

Singles entering the chart were Paradise City by Guns n' Roses (#85); The Love in Your Eyes by Eddie Money (#88); Don't Tell Me Lies by Breathe (#96); and Let's Put the X in Sex by Kiss (#97).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box): Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison (4th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 5 Toronto 3

25 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): It's Alright--East 17

Diplomacy
In Moscow, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement on Ukrainian weapons. Ukraine agreed to deactivate all of its strategic missiles and ship at least 200 warheads to Russia, all within the next 10 months. Russia would dismantle the warheads and return the uranium to Ukraine for civilian uses. Within seven years, Ukraine would send the rest of its warheads to Russia for dismantling. The U.S. agreed to increase its financial aid to Ukraine, which also got pledges from Russia and the U.S. to come to her aid in the event of an outside attack. However, approval of the pact by the Ukrainian parliament remained uncertain. In a separate agreement with Russia, the U.S. would buy, over a period of 20 years, 500 tons of uranium from Soviet weapons, uranium currently worth $12 billion. Messrs. Clinton and Yeltsin said that none of their strategic weapons would be aimed at the territory of any country after May 30, 1994. Mr. Clinton talked with Russian young people at a televised assembly.

Crime
Shane Stant, believed by authorities to have carried out the assault on U.S. women's figure skating champion Nancy Kerrigan on January 6 in Detroit, surrendered in Phoenix.

Britannica
The Duchess of Kent formally converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, becoming the first member of the British royal family to convert to Catholicism in more than 300 years.

Business
Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, announced plans to buy 120 Woolco stores in Canada.

10 years ago
2009

Died on this date
Ricardo Montalbán, 88. Mexican-born U.S. actor. Mr. Montalbán appeared in numerous movies and television programs in a career spanning more than 65 years, but was probably best known for his starring role as Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island (1977-1984). He played the villain Khan Noonien Singh in the Star Trek episode Space Seed (1967), and reprised the role in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Mr. Montalbán died of congestive heart failure.

Business
Toronto-based Nortel Networks filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors.