January 22, 2020

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Nancy Lear!

180 years ago
1840

New Zealandiana
The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone to found the settlement that would become Wellington. 140 years ago
1880

Born on this date
Jack O'Neill. Canadian-born U.S. baseball player. Mr. O'Neill, a native of Saint John, New Brunswick, was an outfielder with the Boston Americans (1904); Washington Senators (1904); and Chicago White Sox (1906), batting .243 with 2 home runs and 42 runs batted in in 206 games. He played at least 6 seasons in the minor leagues from 1903-1910, although he may have played in the minors as early as 1899. Mr. O'Neill played 2 games at shortstop with the Americans, and on May 21, 1904, made 6 errors during a 13-inning 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Browns; he remained the only major league player of the 20th century to make 6 errors in a single game. He was with the White Sox when they won the World Series in 1906, and played in the third game of the Series, entering as a pinch runner in the 6th inning and scoring the final run on George Rohe's 3-run triple, remaining in the game in right field and making a putout as the White Sox shut out the Cubs 3-0. Mr. O'Neill played with the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association (1907-1910), and was suspended at last once for indifferent play. He died of tuberculosis on July 20, 1920 at the age of 40.

130 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Fred M. Vinson. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Vinson, a Democrat, represented Kentucky's 9th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1924-1929 and 1931-1933, and Kentucky's 8th Congressional District from 1933-1938. He was a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 1938-1943 before serving as Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1943-1945 and Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of President Harry Truman from 1945-1946. Mr. Truman nominated Mr. Vinson to succeed Harlan Fiske Stone as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Mr. Vinson held that position until his death from a heart attack on September 8, 1953 at the age of 63. The major issues that the Supreme Court dealt with during Mr. Vinson's time as Chief Justice were racial segregation, labour unions, Communism, and loyalty oaths.

120 years ago
1900

Died on this date
David Edward Hughes, 68. U.K. inventor. Mr. Hughes, a native of London or Wales who emigrated to the United States at the age of 7, became a professor of music at the University of Kentucky, and invented a printing telegraph system in 1855. He moved back to London in 1857, and invented a form of microphone in 1878, and apparently discovered radio waves a year later, nine years before Heinrich Hertz proved their existence.

100 years ago
1920

Born on this date
Alf Ramsey. U.K. soccer player and manager. Sir Alf played right-back with Southampton (1943-1949) and Totthenham Hotspur (1949-1955); he was with the English national team, and played in the 1950 World Cup. Sir Alf was manager of Ipswich Town (1955-1963) and Birmingham City (1977-1978), but was best known for his tenure as manager of the English national team (1963-1974), which included the World Cup championship in 1966. He died of a heart attack on April 28, 1999 at the age of 79, and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame as a manager in 2002, and again as a player in 2010.

Irving Kristol. U.S. journalist. Mr. Kristol has been called the "godfather of neoconservatism," as the founder of a movement of Trotskyites who advocated permanent revolution, but became disillusioned with Communism. Mr. Kristol supported an anti-Communist foreign policy and opposed the large welfare state proposed by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, while supporting the lesser welfare state promoted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mr. Kristol wrote for various publications over the years, including Commentary (1947-1952) and The Wall Street Journal (1972-1997). He was co-founder of and contributor to Encounter (1953-1958); The Public Interest (1965-2002); and The National Interest (1985-2002). Mr. Kristol died of complications from lung cancer on September 18, 2009 at the age of 89.

80 years ago
1940

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

Literature
Pierre Caille won a French prize of 10,000 francs for his translation of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind.

War
The governments of the United Kingdom and France agreed to combine scientific efforts to expedite development of new weapons systems. The Japanese Army claimed the capture of Shaohing, an important base in the Chinese province of Chekiang.

Diplomacy
The United States demanded that the U.K. modify her treatment of American ships and cargoes in the Mediterranean Sea.

Politics and government
Philippine President Manuel Quezon told the national parliament that independence for the Philippines should not be delayed past 1946.

U.S. Communist Party General Secretary Earl Browder was sentenced to four years in prison for illegally obtaining a U.S. passport. The decision was later appealed.

Labour
The International Labor Office in Geneva announced a meeting for February 3 to discuss the effect of World War II on labour.

75 years ago
1945

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Don't Fence Me In--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (4th week at #1)
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Kate Smith
2 I'm Making Believe--The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald
3 I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do)--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
--Andy Russell
--Frank Sinatra
--Perry Como
4 There Goes that Song Again--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
5 The Trolley Song--The Pied Pipers
--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Judy Garland
6 Rum and Coca-Cola--The Andrews Sisters
7 Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive--Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra
--Artie Shaw and his Orchestra
8 Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s An Irish Lullaby)--Bing Crosby
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
9 Dance with a Dolly (With A Hole In Her Stockin’)--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Evelyn Knight with Camarata and his Orchestra
--Tony Pastor and his Orchestra
10 Evelina--Bing Crosby

Singles entering the chart were the version of I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do) by Perry Como; the version of Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; The Love I Long For, with versions by Harry James and his Orchestra and the Three Suns (#24); Right as the Rain, with versions by Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra and Frankie Carle and his Orchestra (#27); Opus No. 1 by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (#28); and I Had a Little Talk with the Lord by Frankie Carle and his Orchestra (#35).

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

War
U.S. planes unleashed a merciless assault on German troops retreating from the Ardennes. Soviet troops swept through East Prussia, taking Insterburg in the east and Allenstein, Osterode, and Deutsch Eylau in the south. British commando forces carried out their fourth amphibious operation in Burma, landing on the Arkan coast 4 miles southwest of Kangaw to cut the Japanese forces' Myohaung-Taungup escape route.

Politics and government
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated former Vice President Henry Wallace as Secretary of Commerce and former National Youth Administration executive director Aubrey Williams as head of the Rural Electrification Administration. In a move against the nomination of Mr. Wallace, U.S. Senator Walter George (Democrat--Georgia) introduced a bill to remove all lending agencies from the Commerce Department and return them to their status as of September 1940.

The U.S. Republican National Committee adopted a program to establish a full-time national headquarters in Washington to prepare for the 1946 and 1948 election campaigns, and named Mrs. Dudley Hay as secretary.

70 years ago
1950

Died on this date
Alan Hale, Sr., 57. U.S. actor. Mr. Hale, born Rufus Edward Mackahan, appeared in at least 235 films from 1911-1950. He was best known as a character actor in movies for Warner Brothers Pictures in the 1930s and '40s, including 13 movies that starred Errol Flynn. Mr. Hale played Little John in Robin Hood (1922); The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950). He also invented a sliding theatre chair; a hand fire extinguisher; and greaseless potato chip. Mr. Hale died of a liver ailment and viral infection, 19 days before his 58th birthday. He was the father of actor Alan Hale, Jr.

War
The Nationalist Air Force in Taiwan reported that it was holding off an attempted Communist invasion of the island by bombing concentration of ships and junks along the mainland coast.

Nationalist sources charged that Chinese Communists had joined Viet Minh troops fighting French forces in the Vietnamese province of Tonkin.

World events
Soviet authorities were again reported to be stopping train and truck traffic from West Germany to Berlin, in defiance of a protest by the commanders of the Western sectors.

Aviation
Paul Mantz set a transcontinental record for gasoline-powered planes by flying a P-51 from Burbank, California to New York City in 4 hours 52 minutes 38 seconds.

Business
Preston Tucker and seven associates in an unsuccessful $28-million post-World War II venture to manufacture a rear-engine automobile were acquitted in U.S. federal court of mail fraud and conspiracy charges.

60 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (6th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: The Hitch-Hiker, starring Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong

At the movies
David e Golia (David and Goliath), directed by Ferdinando Baldi and Richard Pottier, and starring Orson Welles, Ivo Payer, Hilton Edwards, and Kronos (Aldo Pedinotti), opened in theatres in Italy.





La nave de los Monstruos (The Ship of Monsters), directed by Rogelio A. González, and starring Eulalio González, Ana Bertha Lepe, and Lorena Velázquez, opened in theatres in Mexico City.



Music
The single Tamiami/Candy Kisses by Bill Haley and his Comets was released on Warner Brothers Records; it was the group's first single with the label, after years with Decca Records. Promotional copies of the single were in stereo, and were pressed on gold vinyl.





50 years ago
1970

On television tonight
Dragnet 1970, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Burglary: Helpful Woman



World events
Eight army officers and three civilians were executed in Iraq--following 16 executions the previous day--as the repercussions of an unsuccessful right-wing coup attempt began to spread. In addition, seven Iraqis convicted of spying were hanged.

Aviation
The inaugural transatlantic commercial flight of the Boeing 747, the first of a new generation of jumbo jets, started almost 7 hours late. Engine trouble a few minutes before the scheduled takeoff the night before forced Pan American World Airways to substitute a second plane for the flight from New York to London.

Defense
The French press almost universally condemned the government’s announcement of the previous day that 100 Mirage fighter jets would be sold to Libya. The newspapers felt they had been deceived, and reacted with shock over what they interpreted as a policy of putting oil and trade above morality.

Politics and government
U.S. President Richard Nixon delivered his first State of the Union address, committing himself to achieving world peace, including a "just" settlement of the Vietnam War, saying that the chance for peace was now "far greater" than it was the previous January. He cited talks with the U.S.S.R. and Communist China as examples of the relations required to assure peace for the next generation. Mr. Nixon emphasized an improved quality of life and proposed a $10-billion program to clean up the nation’s waters--but its annual cost would be less than Congress had already authorized. He also called for a stepped-up fight against crime and pollution.



Crime
Paul Gilley, Claude Vealey, and Buddy Martin, arrested in Cleveland the day before, were formally charged with the murders of United Mine Workers of America official Jock Yablonski and his wife and daughter, whose bodies were discovered in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home on January 5.

Disasters
Eight people were killed in a plane crash near Aspen, Colorado.

40 years ago
1980

World events
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov, one of the U.S.S.R.’s best-known dissidents, was arrested and sent from Moscow into internal exile in Gorky, an industrial city 250 miles east of Moscow. He was also stripped of his title Hero of Socialist Labour and all other Soviet awards. The Soviet news agency Tass charged that Dr. Sakharov "has been conducting subversive activities against the Soviet state for a number of years" and "lately embarked on the road of open calls to reactionary circles of imperialist states to interfere in the U.S.S.R.’s internal affairs."

Golf
The PGA's Tournament Policy Board approved plans to create a new Senior PGA Tour for players 50 years of age and over.

30 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kuchibiru Kara Biyaku--Shizuka Kudo

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (8th week at #1)

World events
The Azerbaijani parliament threatened to secede from the U.S.S.R. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, in a televised address, used the John Turner "I had no option" defense to justify the use of Soviet troops to invade the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, which had begun two days earlier.

25 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Here Comes the Hotstepper--Ini Kamoze (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): An Angel--The Kelly Family (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (9th week at #1)

Died on this date
Rose Kennedy, 104. U.S. socialite and political matriarch. Mrs. Kennedy, the daughter of Boston Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and the wife of U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph P. Kennedy, was the mother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.

Terrorism
Near Netanya in central Israel, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blew themselves up at a military transit point, killing 18 Israeli soldiers and a civilian.

20 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Anne Hébert, 83. Canadian authoress and poetess. Mlle. Hébert, a native of St. Catherine de Fossambault, Quebec, won the Governor General's Award for Poetry for Poèmes (1960), and for Fiction for her novels Les enfants du sabbat (1975) and L'enfant chargé des songes (1992). Her other novels included Kamouraska (1970) and Les fous de Bassan (1982). Mlle. Hébert died of bone cancer in Montreal.

Craig Claiborne, 79. U.S. journalist. Mr. Claiborne was the restaurant critic for The New York Times from 1957 until the early 1970s, and the paper's food editor in later years. He pioneered the rating of restaurants on a scale from one to three stars, and was credited with popularizing various ethnic cuisines. Mr. Claiborne died after years of declining health.

Politics and government
The day after a mass protest had forced Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad Witt out of office, General Carlos Mendoza, acting Defense Minister and leader of the three-man junta that had replaced Mr. Mahuad, dissolved the junta in order to allow Vice-President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano to take power and preserve civilian rule. Congress approved Mr. Noboa as President.

War
Russian President Vladimir Putin brought in a new commander of Interior Ministry troops attempting to clear rebels from Grozny, capital of the rebellious republic of Chechnya.

Protest
One million people gathered in Madrid to protest a car-bomb attack that had been blamed on Basque separatists.

Weather
Heavy rain and high seas, backed by gale-force winds, caused major flooding and extensive property damage on the south coast of Newfoundland. The largest of the waves was between 50 and 60 feet travelling at about 55-70 miles per hour. Environment Canada said it was the largest set of waves to strike Newfoundland since the 1929 tsunami in the Burin Peninsula.

10 years ago
2010

Died on this date
James Mitchell, 89. U.S. actor and dancer. Mr. Mitchell was one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers from 1944-1969, and also worked with other choreographers. He appeared in plays, films, and television programs, enjoying his greatest success in soap operas, particularly All My Children, in which he played Palmer Cortlandt from 1979-2008, making a cameo appearance 17 days before his death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by pneumonia.

Louis R. Harlan, 87. U.S. historian. Dr. Harlan was known for his two-volume biography Booker T. Washington: the Making of a Black Leader, 1856–1901 (1972) and Booker T. Washington: the Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915, Volume 2 (1983), winning the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for the latter.

Jean Simmons, 80. U.K.-born actress. Miss Simmons began her career in her native England, and was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting performance in Hamlet (1948). She moved to Hollywood in 1951, appearing in movies such as Angel Face (1953); The Big Country (1958); Elmer Gantry (1960); and Spartacus (1960). She received another Oscar nomination for her starring performance in The Happy Ending (1969). Miss Simmons turned to stage and television in later years, and won an Emmy Award for her supporting performance in the miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983). She died of lung cancer, nine days before her 81st birthday.

Television
Conan O'Brien ended his brief tenure as host of The Tonight Show after accepting a $45-million buyout from NBC to leave the show after only seven months.