January 13, 2020

180 years ago
1840

Born on this date
Nicholas Flood Davin. U.K.-born Canadian politician and journalist. Mr. Davin, a native of Ireland, moved to Toronto in 1872 and wrote for The Globe before moving west, founding and editing the Regina Leader in 1883. A Conservative, he represented Assiniboia West in the Canadian House of Commons (1887-1900), advocating for provincial status for what eventually became Saskatchewan. In 1878 he was sent by the federal government to the United States to investigate education of Indians. He returned with praise for the American system of concentrating Indians on reservations and giving them industrial education, and in 1879 issued the Davin Report, recommending what became Canada's system of Indian residential schools. Mr. Davin never achieved his goal of becoming a cabinet minister; with his personal and political fortunes on the decline, he fatally shot himself in Winnipeg on October 18, 1901 at the age of 61.

Disasters
The steamship Lexington burned and sank four miles off the coast of Long Island, with the loss of 139 lives.

160 years ago
1860

Died on this date
William Mason, 73. U.S. politician. Dr. Mason, a physician by trade, was a member of the New York State Assembly (1821-1822), and as a Jacksonian, represented New York's 21st District in the U.S. House of Representatives (1835-1837).

130 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Jüri Uluots. Prime Minister of Estonia, 1939-1940; Prime Minister in the duties of the President, 1940-1945. Mr. Uluots, a lawyer and law professor by trade, sat in the Riigikogu (Parliament) from 1920-1926 and 1929-1932. He was Speaker of the Riigivolikogu (lower chamber) from 1938 until taking office as Prime Minister. When Soviet forces invaded and occupied Estonia in 1940 and deported President Konstantin Päts, Mr. Uluots assumed the office of Prime Minister in the duties of the President. He opposed both German and Soviet occupation of Estonia, and proclaimed a new government in September 1944. Soviet forces soon moved back in to occupy the country, and much of the government fled into exile in Stockholm. Mr. Uluots died on January 9, 1945, four days before his 55th birthday and shortly after his arrival in Stockholm, and was succeeded as Prime Minister in the duties of the President by August Rei.

Ballet
Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty was performed for the first time, at the Mariensky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Boxing
Torpedo Billy Murphy (69-15-14-16) knocked out Ike Weir (17-1-6) in the 14th round at California Athletic Club in San Francisco to win the world featherweight title. When Mr. Murphy returned to New Zealand, he was deemed to have forfeited the title.

110 years ago
1910

On the radio
The first public radio broadcast, a live performance of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, took place. It was transmitted by Lee de Forest, with listeners at several locations throughout the city using earphones.

Born on this date
Jack Mercer. U.S. actor. Mr. Mercer was a voice actor in cartoons. He was best known for providing the voices of Popeye (1935-1945, 1947-1984) and Felix the Cat (1958-1961). Mr. Mercer died of stomach cancer on December 4, 1984 at the age of 74.

Hockey
CHA
Ottawa 15 @ All-Montreal 5

80 years ago
1940

War
A Soviet spokesman claimed that Finnish troops were not near the Soviet border and that the Murmansk railroad was functioning normally. British planes scattered propaganda leaflets over Germany.

Diplomacy
British Member of Parliament Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in Chungking, China for a month-long stay to study the war situation.

Economics and finance
The Argentine government of President Roberto María Ortiz openly blamed the United States for causing the breakdown of recent trade negotiations by being unwilling to make concessions at the expense of American producers.

Society
U.S. Immigration Commissioner James Houghteling reported that the United States had admitted 82,998 immigrants during the fiscal year of 1939, the largest number since 1931.

Medicine
Harvard Medical School Professor Hans Zinsser announced the development of a method to mass produce a vaccine to combat European typhus.

75 years ago
1945

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Don't Fence Me In--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Juke Box--5th week at #1)

War
In an effort to cut off the western German forces from Germany, U.S. troops opened a drive on the northern flank in Belgium. Soviet troops opened a winter offensive in south-central Poland under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev. U.S. forces on Luzon Island in the Philippines advanced another 20 miles against little opposition. Allied forces landed on the west coast of Burma, 32 miles below Akyab, getting behind Japanese forces retreating down the coast.

Society
U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle said that 5,000 Japanese-Americans in the Tule Lake, California relocation camp had applied for repatriation to Japan.

Labour
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Army to seize the plants and facilities of Cleveland Illuminating Company to end a strike of 400 coal passers and maintenance men that had hampered war production in the area.

70 years ago
1950

At the movies
Whirlpool, produced and directed by Otto Preminger, and starring Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer, and Charles Bickford, opened in theatres.





Died on this date
Tommy Lee, 46. U.S. automobile dealer and broadcasting executive. Mr. Lee, the son of radio and television magnate Don Lee, inherited his father's Cadillac dealership and broadcasting empire upon the elder Mr. Lee's death in 1934. Tommy Lee had a passion for racing cars on California's dry lakes, but in 1948 was seriously injured when he was T-boned by another driver, leaving him in severe pain. His chauffeur drove him to the Pelissier Building in Los Angeles, ostensibly to see his dentist; however, Mr. Lee took the elevator to the roof on the 12th floor, and jumped to his death.

Diplomacy
Finland and the People's Republic of China formed diplomatic relations.

Cabinet-ranking delegates of Commonwealth countries meeting in Colombo, Ceylon adopted a plan to help Burma and other Southeast Asian countries build up their economies and defeat Communist insurgents.

Crime
United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie asked the UN legal department to study the wiretap charges made by Soviet engineer and UN employee Valentin Gubitchev at his trial in New York. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover claimed that his agency was tapping fewer than 170 telephones in the U.S. for "internal security" reasons.

Religion
13 evangelists of the U.S. Protestant Church of Christ accused Roman Catholic priests of attempting to thwart their missionary work in Italy, and claimed that they had recently been stoned out of Castel Gondolfo, site of the pope's summer residence.

Disasters
The British submarine HMS Truculent collided with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.

50 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Kvällstoppen): En Man i Byrån--Lill Lindfors

#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Venus--The Shocking Blue (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Holley Mims, 40 or 42. U.S. boxer. Mr. Mims was a middleweight who compiled a record of 68-28-6 in a professional career from 1948-1967. He recorded only 13 knockout victories, but was known for his fast hands and boxing skills, and was ranked among the top 10 middleweight contenders for much of his career. Mr. Mims lost close decisions to Sugar Ray Robinson, Joey Giardello, Dick Tiger, and Emile Griffith, handed future World Boxing Association world heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis his first loss as a professional, and lost a decision to top contender Rubin "Hurricane" Carter after accepting the fight on December 22, 1962 as a late substitute when Mr. Carter's scheduled opponent, Gomeo Brennan, came down with a bad cold on the day of the fight. Mr. Mims died from a kidney ailment.

War
Israeli jets raided the suburbs of Cairo for the second time in a week, striking at a major air force supply base about nine miles from the city, as well as at Egypt’s largest military base, farther from the city.

Space
Citing an "austere" budget, Dr. Thomas O. Paine, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said that 50,000 jobs would be cut from NASA programs to save money. Dr. Paine also said that the manned lunar landing programs would be stretched out, but that flights to other planets and work on a manned space station would continue with available funds.

Diplomacy
Swedish Foreign Minister Torsten Nilsson announced Sweden had earmarked $15 million U.S. in aid to North Vietnam in the 1970-71 budget and $45 million over three years.

Society
A three-judge U.S. federal district court panel in Washington, D.C. ordered the Internal Revenue Service to stop giving tax exemptions to segregated private schools in Mississippi that had been set up to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court’s order for the immediate integration of the state’s public school system.

Protest
The first complete study of 1969 student protests, done by the Urban Research Corporation of Chicago, showed that most were non-violent and did not interrupt college routine. The report, which covered 232 campuses, also showed that the New Left was less in evidence than was thought, and that protesters were more concerned with campus conditions than with the Vietnam War.

Disasters
All 30 aboard a DC-3 were killed in a crash after takeoff from Western Samoa’s Faleolo Airport in heavy rain.

40 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Jezebel--Jon Stevens (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Todesengel--Frank Duval (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Andre Kostelanetz, 78. Russian-born orchestra conductor. Mr. Kostelanetz moved to the United States in 1922, and began conducting orchestras on radio. He had his own program, Andre Kostelanetz Presents, in the 1930s, but was best known for the many albums of "easy listening" music that he conducted from the 1940s until his death, 22 days after his 78th birthday, which resulted from pneumonia contracted while on vacation in Haiti, 13 days after conducting a New Year's Eve concert in San Francisco.

World events
More than 100,000 people greeted Patriotic Front leader Joshua Nkomo on his return to Zimbabwe Rhodesia after three years of exile. He returned under the recently negotiated peace accord in order to campaign in the upcoming national election.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose economic sanctions upon Iran. The U.S.A. and some of its allies vowed to continue to seek sanctions.

30 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Love Shack--The B-52's (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Lambada--Kaoma (16th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): That's What I Like--Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (4th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Hélène--Roch Voisine (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (CIN): Hangin' Tough--New Kids on the Block

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 All Around the World--Lisa Stansfield (2nd week at #1)
2 Homely Girl--UB40
3 Eleni--Cees Tol & Thomas Tol
4 Dançando Lambada--Kaoma
5 Lily was Here--David A. Stewart and featuring Candy Dulfer
6 Don't Know Much--Linda Ronstadt featuring Aaron Neville
7 Got to Get--Rob 'n' Raz featuring Leila K
8 Sit and Wait--Sydney Youngblood
9 Get a Life--Soul II Soul
10 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins

Singles entering the chart were Inna City Mamma by Neneh Cherry (#24); In Private by Dusty Springfield (#26); Git on Up by Fast Eddie featuring Sundance (#29); When You Come Back to Me by Jason Donovan (#33); Volare by Gipsy Kings (#34); and The Wall Came Tumbling Down by Bolland & Bolland (#36).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (5th week at #1)
2 Rhythm Nation--Janet Jackson
3 Pump Up the Jam--Technotronic featuring Felly
4 How am I Supposed to Live Without You--Michael Bolton
5 Don't Know Much--Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
6 Everything--Jody Watley
7 This One's for the Children--New Kids on the Block
8 Just Like Jesse James--Cher
9 With Every Beat of My Heart--Taylor Dayne
10 Just Between You and Me--Lou Gramm

Singles entering the chart were I Go to Extremes by Billy Joel (#67); Sacrifice by Elton John (#87); All Nite by Entouch featuring Keith Sweat (#88); Timeless Love by Saraya (#91); and Figure of Eight by Paul McCartney (#92). Timeless Love was from the movie Shocker (1989).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (5th week at #1)

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (5th week at #1)
2 We Didn't Start the Fire--Billy Joel
3 Downtown Train--Rod Stewart
4 Blame it on the Rain--Milli Vanilli
5 With Every Beat of My Heart--Taylor Dayne
6 Don't Know Much--Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
7 Just Between You and Me--Lou Gramm
8 Rhythm Nation--Janet Jackson
9 Just Like Jesse James--Cher
10 Angelia--Richard Marx

Singles entering the chart were Little Salvation by Luba (#80); Opposites Attract by Paula Abdul (Duet with the Wild Pair) (#82); Bring it All Back by Grayson Hugh (#85); Two to Make it Right by Seduction (#88); In the 21st Century by Men Without Hats (#91); and Here We Are by Gloria Estefan (#93).

Politics and government
Before ending his visit to Lithuania, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev expressed a willingness to accept a multiparty system in the U.S.S.R.

Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, became the first elected Negro to take office as Governor of a U.S. state as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

Crime
Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani announced that a colonel, two lieutenants, and five other soldiers had been arrested for the murders of six Jesuit priests and two others in San Salvador in November 1989.

In Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, youths went on a rampage through the Armenian section of town, and 30 people, mostly Armenians, were reported killed.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 6 Calgary 5

25 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Stay Another Day--East 17 (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Love Me for a Reason--Boyzone (3rd week at #1)

Politics and government
Italian President Oscar Scalfaro declined to call new elections, and asked Lamberto Dini to form a cabinet. Mr. Dini had served as treasury minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had resigned on December 22, 1994.

War
The lower house of the Russian Parliament recommended that President Boris Yeltsin seek a political solution in Chechnya, where Russian troops were fighting those from the rebel province.

20 years ago
2000

Politics and government
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he would run for President in the March election.

Crime
Nathaniel Abraham, who was just shy of his 14th birthday, was sentenced to 7 years in a maximum-security juvenile detention centre for a murder that he committed at the age of 11. He was the youngest American ever convicted of murder as an adult, under a law in Michigan that allowed a child of any age to be tried as an adult. Mr. Abraham killed 18-year-old Ronnie Greene.

Economics and finance
The Canadian government announced that it would pay $1 billion over the next two years to help farmers through the latest crisis in agricultural prices. Critics complained that the promised aid wasn’t enough.

Business
Steve Ballmer replaced Bill Gates as the chief executive officer of Microsoft.

10 years ago
2010

Died on this date
Jack Block, 85. U.S. psychologist. Dr. Block taught at the University of California at Berkeley for many years, specializing in personality theory and development. He worked with his wife Jeanne until her death from cancer in 1981; they created a person-centered personality framework, examining personality in terms of two variables: ego-resiliency (the ability to respond flexibly to changing situations) and ego-control (the ability to suppress impulses). Dr. Jack Block was perhaps best known for a study published in The Journal of Research in Personality in 2006, which found that subjects who at 3 years old had seemed thin-skinned, rigid, inhibited and vulnerable tended at 23 to be political conservatives, while 3-year-olds characterized as self-reliant, energetic, somewhat dominating and resilient were inclined to become liberals.

Teddy Pendergrass, 59. U.S. singer. Mr. Pendergrass began his career as a drummer with various groups in Philadelphia before joining Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1970. He soon became the group's lead singer, and they achieved commercial success with hit singles such as If You Don't Know Me by Now (1972) and The Love I Lost (Part I) (1973), epitomizing the "Philadelphia Soul" sound of the early 1970s. Mr. Pendergrass embarked on a solo career in the late 1970s, and was popular not only as a singer but as a sex symbol. He was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in 1982, but made a successful comeback as a recording artist. Mr. Pendergrass battled colon cancer in later years, but finally died of respiratory failure.