November 27, 2019

410 years ago
1609

Literature
After spending a year in Acadia, Marc Lescarbot, North America’s first historian, published his three-volume History of New France in Paris.

260 years ago
1759

Born on this date
Franz Krommer. Czech composer. Mr. Krommer was a violinist and organist who wrote more than 300 pieces, including at least nine symphonies, 70 string quartets, and many works for wind ensemble. He died on January 8, 1831 at the age of 71.

210 years ago
1809

Born on this date
Fanny Kemble. U.K. actress and writer. Miss Kemble, a member of a famous acting family, had a successful career on stage spanning four decades, and also wrote plays, poems, and non-fiction. She was married to American planter Pierce Butler from 1834-1849, and spent much time in the United States. Miss Kemble died on January 15, 1893 at the age of 83.

Popular culture
The Berners Street hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London. Mr. Hook had bet his friend Samuel Beazley that he could make any house in London the most talked-about address in the city within a week. He did this by sending thousands of requests for deliveries, visitors, and assistance in the name of Mrs. Tottenham at 54 Berners Street.



180 years ago
1839

Americana
The American Statistical Association was founded in Boston.

160 years ago
1859

Born on this date
William Bliss Baker. U.S. artist. Mr. Baker produced more than 130 paintings, mainly of landscapes. He died at his father's house in Hoosick Falls, New York on November 20, 1886, a week before his 27th birthday, after being injured while ice skating and subsequently catching a cold.

125 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Kōnosuke Matsushita. Japanese industrialist. Mr. Matsushita, nicknamed the "god of management" in Japan, founded the company that became the electronics firm Panasonic in 1918. He died on April 27, 1989 at the age of 94.

120 years ago
1899

Died on this date
Constant Fornerod, 80. President of the Swiss Council of States, 1855; President of the Swiss Confederation, 1857, 1863, 1867. Mr. Fornerod, a member of the Free Democratic Party, was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1855-1867, and held various offices.

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
James Agee. U.S. writer. Mr. Agee won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his novel A Death in the Family (1957). His best-known work of non-fiction was probably Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). Mr. Agee was one of the most influential film critics of the 1940s, and wrote screenplays for The African Queen (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). He was a heavy drinker and smoker, and died of a heart attack on May 16, 1955 at the age of 45, while in a taxi en route to a doctor's appointment.

100 years ago
1919

Defense
The British Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, conducted by Mr. Justice Charles Henry Sargant, issued its report on 11 claims for the invention of the tank; one of the eleven "claimants" was a team of two (thus there were 12 individuals involved). Sir William Tritton and Major W.G. Wilson were jointly awarded £15,000, and were recognized for "designing and producing a concrete practical shape the novel and efficient engine of warfare known as the "Tank";" Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, the Director of Naval Construction, and Chairman of the Landships Committee, and Major-General E.D. Swinton were each awarded £1,000 for their work in advocating the overall concept, setting design specifications, and overseeing the project; Mr. Albert Collinson Nesfield and Lieutenant Robert Francis Macfie were each awarded £500 for the separate and independent "conception, embodiment, and communication of the same set of ideas." The Royal Commission rejected the claims of Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Lewis Maitland Boothby, Commodore M.F. Sueter, Major Thomas Gerard Hetherington — the separate claims of Boothby, Sueter, and Hetherington were rejected on the grounds that the important services that they had rendered came within the scope of their military employmen — and that of Colonel R.E.B. Crompton and his assistant Mr. Lucien Alphonse Legros, on the basis that they had "worked loyally and very hard" at their allotted tasks, they had been well-paid as consulting engineers, and had neither invented nor discovered any of the special features that were ultimately incorporated in the tanks. The Royal Commission expressed sympathy for Australian engineer Lancelot de Mole, whose design, submitted to the British War Office in 1912, had been rejected. The Royal Commission was unable to recommend an award to Mr. de Mole because of the strict terms under which they were bound, but awarded him a sum to cover his expenses.

Academia
Kappa Kappa Psi, the first fraternity exclusively for collegiate band members, was founded on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

80 years ago
1939

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Creeping Man

75 years ago
1944

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I'll Walk Alone--Dinah Shore (5th week at #1)
--Martha Tilton
--Mary Martin
2 Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking)--Evelyn Knight with Camarata and his Orchestra
--Tony Pastor and his Orchestra
--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
3 You Always Hurt the One You Love--The Mills Brothers
4 The Trolley Song--The Pied Pipers
5 Together--Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes
--Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
6 Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s an Irish Lullaby)--Bing Crosby
7 It Had to Be You--Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest
--Betty Hutton
--Artie Shaw and his Orchestra
8 Is You is or is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
--Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five
9 I'm Making Believe--The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald
10 And Her Tears Flowed Like Mine--Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

Singles entering the chart were Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking)/There Goes that Song Again (#44) by Russ Morgan and his Orchestra and Whispering, with versions by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra; and the Benny Goodman Quartet (#45).

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

War
U.S. troops in Germany moved up another 6 miles on the Saar Basin, capturing Merten. All Britons and Americans in the Chinese province of Kweichow were directed to leave as Japanese forces advanced.

Politics and government
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cordell Hull and named Edward Stettinius to succeed him.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the appointment of Major General Patrick Hurley as U.S. Ambassador to China.

Disasters
An explosion of several tons of ordnance at a Royal Air Force ammunition dump in Staffordshire, England killed about 70 people.

Football
Plans were announced in Chicago for the debut in 1945 of the United States Football League, with eight teams and Red Grange as Commissioner.

70 years ago
1949

Defense
U.S. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Omar Bradley denied plans to permit German rearmament in the near future. The U.S. Defense Department established an Office of Military Assistance under General Lyman Lemnitzer to supervise military aid programs.

Politics and government
Conservative Party candidate Laureano Gómez was elected President of Colombia, receiving all but 23 of the 1.1 million votes cast. The Liberal Party withdrew from the election after their candidate, Darío Echandía was the victim of a failed assassination attempt.

The Czechoslovakian Communist Party recalled membership cards and began a purge of "unreliable" members.

Labour
The American Federation of Labor Building and Construction Trades Department filed with the National Labor Relations Board for exemption from the Taft-Hartley Act, claiming that high worker turnover on most construction sites prevented the holding of union representation elections required under the law.

Football
NFL
Pittsburgh (5-4-1) 17 @ Philadelphia (9-1) 34
Washington (3-6-1) 7 @ New York Giants (6-4) 23
New York Bulldogs (1-8-1) 20 @ Los Angeles (7-1-2) 42
Green Bay (2-8) 21 @ Chicago Cardinals (5-4-1) 41

AAFC
Buffalo (5-5-2) 38 @ Baltimore (1-11) 14
New York (8-4) 31 @ San Francisco (9-3) 35

60 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Travellin' Light--Cliff Richard and the Shadows (5th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: Perchance to Dream, starring Richard Conte, John Larch, and Suzanne Lloyd

Died on this date
Rufus Holman, 82. U.S. politician. Mr. Holman, a Republican, was Oregon State Treasurer from 1931-1938, and represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate from 1939-1945. He supported an isolationist foreign policy and opposed liberalization of immigration laws to admit Jews and other persecuted Europeans during World War II, and his views likely contributed to his loss in the 1944 Republican Party primary to Wayne Morse, a candidate of more liberal views. Mr. Holman completely withdrew from politics after the end of his Senate term.

Diplomacy
Sir Leslie Munroe, special United Nations representative on Hungary, reported to the General Assembly that the Hungarian government had "conceded that sentences of death had recently been carried out in connection with alleged crimes against the uprising of 1956."

Protest
30,000 Japanese leftists demonstrating against U.S.-Japanese mutual security pact clashed with Tokyo police and broke into the grounds of the Diet. 200,000 leftists demonstrated elsewhere in Japan.

Politics and government
The Mali Federation of Senegal and Sudan formally informed French President Charles de Gaulle of its intention to become independent while maintaining ties with France.

U.S. Defense Secretary Neil McElroy, in a letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, announced that he was resigning his cabinet post for "urgent" personal reasons.

Labour
Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Philip Ray, in a letter to the United Steel Workers of America, rejected a union suggestion that the government start stockpiling steel in the face of a possible resumption of the steel strike.

50 years ago
1969

On television tonight
Dragnet 1970, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Internal Affairs: Parolee



Terrorism
Arab terrorists threw a hand grenade into the Athens passenger terminal of the Israeli airline El Al, injuring 15 people--none of them Israelis--but fatally injuring a Greek boy. Greek police arrested two men carrying Jordanian passports.

Protest
Representatives of more than 100 tribes who were occupying Alcatraz Island celebrated Thanksgiving with turkeys given by white men. The occupation group demanded that the U.S. government return the island to the Indians and provide money for an Indian cultural centre.

Football
NFL
Minnesota (10-1) 27 @ Detroit (7-4) 0
San Francisco (2-7-2) 24 @ Dallas (8-2-1) 24

AFL
Denver (4-7-1) 17 @ Kansas City (10-2) 31
San Diego (6-6) 21 @ Houston (5-5-2) 17

40 years ago
1979

Diplomacy
Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini attacked plans for a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the Iranian seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran as being part of a U.S. plan with a predetermined conclusion.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen by 1% in October or 13.2% at an adjusted annual rate. Leading the increase was housing costs, which rose 1.5% in October after the October 6 austerity measures of the Federal Reserve Board.

Hockey
NHL
Detroit 5 Montreal 5

30 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): If I Could Turn Back Time--Cher (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Swing the Mood--Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Carlos Arias Navarro, 80. Prime Minister of Spain, 1973-1976. Mr. Arias, a member of the Falange party, took office as Prime Minister on December 31, 1973 after the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco. Mr. Arias was in office when dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, and remained as Prime Minister until his dismissal by King Juan Carlos I on July 1, 1976.

Terrorism
Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727 jetliner en route from Bogotá to Cali, exploded in mid-air over Colombia shortly after takeoff from Bogotá, killing all 107 people on board and 3 people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.

War
FMLN rebels in El Salvador resumed their offensive in San Salvador, and the homes of several American diplomats were seized.

Protest
Millions of workers joined a two-hour general strike in Czechoslovakia.

Politics and government
The Virginia Board of Elections certified Democratic Party candidate Douglas Wilder as the winner of the November 7 gubernatorial election.

25 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Baby Come Back--Pato Banton featuring Ali and Robin Campbell (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Let Me Be Your Fantasy--Baby D (2nd week at #1)

Football
CFL
Grey Cup @ B.C. Place Stadium, Vancouver
British Columbia 26 Baltimore 23

Lui Passaglia kicked a 38-yard field goal on the last play of regulation time to give the Lions the win over the Baltimore Football Club before 55,097 fans. The field goal was Mr. Passaglia's fourth of the game; he also converted both B.C. touchdowns, which came on a 17-yard interception return by Charles Gordon in the 2nd quarter, and a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Danny McManus in the 3rd quarter. Baltimore touchdowns were scored by quarterback Tracy Ham on a 1-yard rush at 8:39 of the 2nd quarter and a 36-yard interception return by Karl Anthony just 35 seconds later. Donald Igwebuike converted both and added 3 field goals. Mr. Anthony was named the game's Most Valuable Player. It was the final game in the 11-year Hall of Fame career of B.C. defensive back Less Browne.



20 years ago
1999

Diplomacy
Implementation of the April 1998 peace settlement in Northern Ireland became increasingly likely after the Ulster Unionist Party agreed to participation by its leaders in the government alongside members of its bitter adversaries in Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. Under the new agreement, the IRA would be required to name a representative to the commission on disarmament, and would have to begin the destruction of its weapons by the end of January.

Politics and government
The Labour Party, led by Helen Clark, won 49 of 120 seats in the House of Representatives in the New Zealand general election. Labour formed a coalition with the Alliance, led by Jim Anderton, who won 10 seats, and with the support of the Green Party, who won 7 seats, were able to form a government, unseating the National Party government of Prime Minister Jenny Shipley. Labour's total was an increase of 12 seats over their total in the most recent election in 1996. The National Party won 39 seats, a decrease of 5.

Health
McCain Foods of Florenceville, New Brunswick said it would refuse to accept genetically engineered potatoes for processing into French fries.

Football
CIAU
Vanier Cup @ SkyDome, Toronto
Laval 14 St. Mary’s 10

Stephane Lefebvre rushed 16 times for 119 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Rouge et Or to victory in front of a SkyDome crowd of 12,595. Laval’s triumph came in just the fourth year of their football program’s existence. Quarterback Mathieu Bertrand marched the Rouge et Or 65 yards in the 1st quarter, and Mr. Lefebvre finished the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run, converted by Michael Gagne. The Huskies got a drive going late in the quarter, and Luis Perez rushed 2 yards for a touchdown, converted by Jay Currie, 9 seconds into the 2nd quarter to tie the game 7-7. Later in the quarter the Rouge et Or were deep in their own end with a second down and 18 yards to go, and Mr. Bertrand connected with slotback Pascal Robitaille for a 50-yard gain. A few plays later, Mr. Lefebvre ran 41 yards for his second touchdown, converted by Mr. Gagne, to give Laval a 14-7 halftime lead. The 2nd half was scoreless except for a 23-yard field goal by Mr. Currie in the 3rd quarter to make the score 14-10. Mr. Currie and Mr. Gagne each missed 2 field goal attempts. Mr. Bertrand left the game after suffering a concussion in the 3rd quarter; he finished with 10 completions in 18 passes for 182 yards, and rushed 4 times for 29. His replacement, Francois Chapdelaine, completed 4 of 8 passes for 50 yards. St. Mary’s quarterback Ryan Jones completed 20 of 32 passes for 251 yards and rushed 10 times for 48. Mr. Perez carried 13 times for 70 yards. Mr. Lefebvre was voted the game’s most valuable player, while Rouge et Or lineman Francesco Pepe-Esposito, who recorded 1 of Laval’s 4 quarterback sacks, was chosen the outstanding defensive player. Jacques Chapdelaine was the winning head coach over Blake Nill.



10 years ago
2009

Died on this date
Al Alberts, 87. U.S. singer and television host. Mr. Alberts, born Al Albertini, co-founded the Four Aces, who achieved success with hit singles such as Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). He hosted the local Philadelphia television program Al Alberts Showcase (1969-2001), showcasing young performers. Mr. Alberts died of kidney failure.

Terrorism
A bomb exploded on the Nevsky Express train between Moscow and St. Petersburg, derailing it and causing 28 deaths and 96 injuries.

Scandal
U.S. golfer Tiger Woods crashed his sport utility vehicle outside his Florida mansion, sparking widespread attention to reports of marital infidelity.