January 23, 2019

300 years ago
1719

Europeana
The Principality of Liechtenstein was created within the Holy Roman Empire.

230 years ago
1789

Academia
Georgetown College (now Georgetown University), the first Roman Catholic University in the United States, was established in Georgetown, Maryland (now part of Washington, D.C.).

170 years ago
1849

Academia
Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York, becoming the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.

140 years ago
1879

War
In the Anglo-Zulu War, the Battle of Rorke's Drift in Natal, South Africa ended with a British victory, with just over 150 U.K. and colonial troops defeating 3,000-4.000 Zulus.

120 years ago
1899

Born on this date
Glen Kidston. U.K. military officer, auto racing driver, and aviator. Lieutenant Commander Kidston served with the Royal Navy in World War I, and tested submarines in the 1920s. He teamed with Woolf Barnato to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1930, and completed a record breaking flight from Netheravon, Wiltshire to Cape Town, South Africa in April 1931, covering the distance in 6½ days. However, Mr. Kidston was 32 when he was killed on the return journey on May 5, 1931, when his borrowed de Havilland Puss Moth broke up in mid-air while flying through a dust storm over the Drakensberg mountains.

Politics and government
The Malolos Constitution was inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic, with Emilio Aguinaldo sworn in as the first President.

110 years ago
1909

Crime
In what became known as the Tottenham outrage, Jewish Latvian socialist immigrants Paul Helfeld and Jacob Lepidus stole £80 of workers' wages from the Schnurmann rubber factory in Tottenham, North London. A two-hour, six-mile police chase and shootout with the criminals resulted in 23 casualties, and the deaths of Police Constable William Tyler and bystander Ralph Joscelyne, 10. Mr. Lepidus, 25, committed suicide when caught; Mr. Helfeld, 21, shot himself, but didn't die until February 12.

Disasters
The Italian ship Florida rammed the White Star liner Republic off Nantucket, but all but 6 of Republic's 1,600 passengers were saved. Jack Binns, Republic's wireless operator, sent a CQD signal (the predecessor of SOS); it was the first time that radio was used in a major sea rescue.

100 years ago
1919

Born on this date
Ernie Kovacs. U.S. actor and comedian. Mr. Kovacs appeared in several movies, but was best known for his work in television, hosting various programs, and earning a reputation as the most creative visual genius of the "Golden Age of Television" in the 1950s, with a style that influenced programs in later years such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. He was killed in a car accident on his way home from a party on January 13, 1962, 10 days before his 43rd birthday. Mr. Kovacs won a posthumous Emmy Award for a series of specials on ABC during the 1961-62 season.

Frances Bay. Canadian-born U.S. actress. Mrs. Bay, born Frances Goffman in Mannville, Alberta and raised in Dauphin, Manitoba, appeared in plays and radio programs in the 1930s and '40s, but was known for her later work as a character actress, appearing in bit parts in numerous movies and television programs from the mid-1970s until her death on September 15, 2011 at the age of 92.

90 years ago
1929

Died on this date
Laddie Boy, 8. U.S. presidential dog. Laddie Boy was an Airedale Terrier owned by U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1921-1923). Laddie Boy was the first presidential dog to attract national press attention, and was a poster boy for animal welfare issues. After Mr. Harding's death in 1923, First Lady Florence Harding gave Laddie Boy to Secret Service agent Harry Barker. Laddie Boy was a beloved pet of the Barker family until his death.

Baseball
Jacob Ruppert, co-owner of the New York Yankees, announced that in the coming season the team would wear numerals on the backs of their uniforms corresponding with their position in the batting order to help fans identify the players. Babe Ruth got #3 and Lou Gehrig #4. Soon, all teams had numbers on their uniforms.

75 years ago
1944

Died on this date
Edvard Munch, 80. Norwegian painter. Mr. Munch was best known for his painting The Scream (1893).

Luke Fleming, 75. U.S. inventor. Dr. Fleming invented a gas mask used by Allied forces in World War I.

War
The Allies announced that U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower would command U.S. forces in the European theatre, as well as being the supreme Allied commander. Soviet troops wiped out a strong German bridgehead on the east bank of the Volkhov River. Yugoslavian partisans claimed the annihilation of a strong German force and threw back other enemy units with heavy losses in the Livno-Grachovo sector of western Bosnia.

World events
The Portuguese liner Nyassa sailed from Lisbon with 180 Jewish refugees, to pick up 650 more at Cadiz en route to Palestine.

Politics and government
1940 Republican Party U.S. presidential candidate Wendell Willkie said that he would not enter the 1944 California Republican Party primary, where California Governor Earl Warren was a "nominal" candidate.

Hockey
NHL
New York 0 @ Detroit 15

The Red Wings set a record for the most lopsided win in National Hockey League history, and set a record with 37 individual scoring points, as they routed the Rangers at Olympia Stadium. Detroit goalie Connie Dion faced only 9 shots in recording his only NHL shutout, while Ken McAuley played the entire game in goal for New York, setting an individual record for goals against in a game that has been tied (by Doug Soetaert of the Winnipeg Jets in 1982), but not yet beaten. The Red Wings actually scored a 16th goal, but it was ruled that the puck had crossed the goal line after the final buzzer had sounded.

70 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Joe Blythe, 58. U.S. politician. Mr. Blythe was treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.

Politics and government
Japan's third postwar parliamentary election gave an absolute majority in the Diet to Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida's Democratic Liberal Party, as they took 269 of 466 seats in the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party, led by Takeru Inokai, was second with 70 seats, a loss of 62 from the previous election. The Socialist Party, led by Tetsu Katayama, lost 96 seats, dropping to 48, while the Communists, led by Kyuichi Tokuda, increased from 4 seats to 35.

Disasters
The U.S. Air Force inaugurated "Operation Haylift" to drop feed to livestock cut off as a result of a series of blizzards over the west central and mountain states.

Fire destroyed the Regina transit barns, torching most of its 38 buses and streetcars.

Golf
Patty Berg won the Women's Golf Open in Tampa.

Tennis
Frank Kovacs won the men's singles title, and Welby Van Horn and Jim Evert won the men's doubles title at the National Professional Clay Court meet in St. Augustine, Florida.

60 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): The Day the Rains Came--Jane Morgan

Diplomacy
Mexico broke diplomatic relations with Guatemala, following the strafing of Mexican shrimp boats by Guatemalan fighter planes.

Communist Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, in a note to India, repudiated the MacMahon line as a "product of British policy of aggression against the Tibet region of China."

Education
A special three-judge U.S. federal court enjoined state and city officials from closing any Norfolk, Virginia public schools under terms of Virginia's school closure law.

Energy
Scientists with the Soviet-bloc United Institute for Nuclear Research disclosed that they had put the world's largest atom smasher into full operation in Dubna, Russia.

Economics and finance
Finland and the U.S.S.R. began negotiations on a long-term trade pact to replace their current five-year trade accord.

50 years ago
1969

On television tonight
Dragnet 1969, on NBC
Tonight's episode: B.O.D.: DR-27



Labour
A five-day strike of 1,200 teachers began in Jersey City, New Jersey, closing the city's 35 public schools.

Disasters
Tornadoes striking at dawn killed 29 people and injured hundreds along a 40-mile stretch in the hill country of southern Mississippi.

15 miners were killed and 13 injured in an explosion in a gold mine in Weikom, South Africa.

40 years ago
1979

War
Israelis fired on guerrilla bases in Lebanon in the heaviest shelling there since the invasion of March 1978.

Politics and government
U.S. President Jimmy Carter delivered his State of the Union address, urging Congress to help his administration build a "new foundation" for the future by controlling inflation and supporting the projected Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)-II pact with the U.S.S.R.



The Republican National Committee chose Detroit as the site for its 1980 convention; chairman Bill Brock said that the choice emphasized the party's effort to win over urban and Negro voters.

Labour
Railway engineers in the United Kingdom went on their third one-day strike in an eight-day period.

Baseball
Willie Mays, the New York and San Francisco Giants' supreme center fielder who retired in 1973 with 660 home runs and 3,283 hits, was elected to the Hall of Fame; he was elected on the first ballot, with 409 of a possible 432 votes.

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Kokomo--The Beach Boys (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Salvador Dali, 84. Spanish artist. Mr. Dali was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century and was a leading figure in the Surrealist movement.

Crime
The day before he was to be executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison in Starke, U.S. serial murderer Ted Bundy granted an interview to Christian psychologist James Dobson, claiming that his life of crime had begun with an early attraction to pornography. Some, then and since, have questioned Mr. Bundy's sincerity in his last interview, but his comments served as a powerful statement on the evils of pornography.

Disasters
274 people were killed when an earthquake struck the Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

25 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Can See Clearly Now--Jimmy Cliff (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: U Got 2 Let the Music--Cappella

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Things Can Only Get Better--D: Ream (2nd week at #1)

Football
NFL
AFC Championship
Kansas City 13 @ Buffalo 30

Thurman Thomas rushed for 186 yards, caught 3 passes for 22 yards, and scored 3 touchdowns to help the Bills defeat the Chiefs before 76,642 fans at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

NFC Championship
San Francisco 21 @ Dallas 38

Daryl Johnston, Emmitt Smith, and Jay Novacek scored consecutive touchdowns as the Cowboys broke a 7-7 tie to take a 28-7 halftime lead and coasted to victory over the 49ers before 64,902 fans at Texas Stadium in Irving. Mr. Smith opened the scoring in the 1st quarter with a 5-yard touchdown rush.

20 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Jay Pritzker, 76. U.S. businessman. Mr. Pritzker and his brother Donald founded the Hyatt Hotel chain in 1957, and Jay owned Braniff Airlines from 1983-1988.

Diplomacy
Pope John Paul II continued his visit to Mexico City, meeting with heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Mexico.

10 years ago
2009

Died on this date
Robert W. Scott, 79. U.S. politician. Mr. Scott, a Democrat and son of North Carolina Governor W. Kerr Scott, was Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina from 1965-1969 and Governor of North Carolina from 1969-1973. He was known for his preservation of state archives and efforts to increase awareness of North Carolina's history.