December 26, 2020

230 years ago
1790

Law
King Louis XVI of France gave his public assent to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

160 years ago
1860

Soccer
The first ever inter-club English association football match took place between Hallam and Sheffield football clubs in Sheffield.

130 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Percy Hodge. U.K. runner. Mr. Hodge won a gold medal in the men's 3000-metre steeplechase event at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp. He died on December 27, 1967, the day after his 67th birthday.

Konstantinos Georgakopoulos. Prime Minister of Greece, 1958. Mr. Georgakopoulos was a law professor who joined the People's Party in 1928 and was Minister for Education (1936-1938) in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas. Mr. Georgakopoulos was Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior from March 5-May 17, 1958, leading a caretaker government prior to the 1958 general election. He died on July 26, 1973 at the age of 82.

Died on this date
Heinrich Schliemann, 68. German-born archaeologist. Dr. Schliemann was a businessman who lived in several countries, including the United States and Russia, and made enough money to retire at the age of 36 and pursue an interest in archaeology. He has been called the "father of pre-Hellenistic archaeology" for his attempts to unveil the physical remains of the cities mentioned in Homer's epic tales, but he's been criticized for his methods. His use of dynamite at Hisarlik--now believed to be the site of Troy--destroyed layers of archaeological material, and modern archaeologists say that he misidentified the location of Troy. Dr. Schliemann died in Naples several weeks after an operation for a chronic ear infection.

120 years ago
1900

Oddities
A relief crew arrived at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse in Scotland and discovered that the previous crew had disappeared.

110 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Marguerite Churchill. U.S. actress. Miss Churchill appeared in plays on Broadway in New York in the 1920s and '30s, and in two dozen movies from 1929-1936. She was best known as the leading lady in the Western The Big Trail (1930), John Wayne's first starring role. She died on January 9, 2000, two weeks after her 89th birthday.

Imperio Argentina. Argentine-born Spanish actress and singer. Miss Argentina, whose real name was María Magdalena Nile del Río, began her career in her native land in 1916, and was successful on stage and screen there before emigrating to Spain in 1935, where she adopted her professional name as a tribute to her "other country." She continued to perform until the late 1990s, and died on August 22, 2003 at the age of 92.

Aviation
Arch Hoxsey set an altitude record of 11,474 feet before 75,000 spectators in Pasadena, California. He was killed five days later while attempting to break his record.

80 years ago
1940

At the movies
The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor, and starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart, opened in theatres.



Forty Thousand Horsemen, produced, directed, and co-written by Charles Chauvel, and starring Grant Taylor, Chips Rafferty, and Pat Twohill, opened in theatres in Australia.



Theatre
My Sister Eileen, starring Effie Afton, Michael Ames, and Shirley Booth, opened at the Biltmore Theatre in New York. The play was written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, based on stories by Ruth McKenney. Eileen McKenney, 26, the inspiration for her sister's stories, was to have been at the opening, but she and her husband, author Nathanael West, had been killed in a car accident in California on December 22.

Died on this date
Augustus Staley, 73. U.S. businessman. Mr. Staley founded A. E. Staley Manufacturing in Decatur, Illinois, a cornstarch processing company. In 1919 he founded the Decatur Staleys football team, which joined the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League) in 1920. In 1921 George Halas acquired the team and moved them to Chicago, changing the team's name to Bears a year later.

War
According to reports from Belgrade, three German divisions had moved into Italy on troop trains from Austria.
U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg (Republican--Michigan) urged the United States government to send an "inquiry" to belligerents regarding the possibilities of peace.

Defense
The Mexican Senate passed a bill permitting U.S. Army planes to use either the Tejeria or Minatitlan airports for stopovers on flights between the Panama Canal Zone and the United States. The White House released a telegram from 169 prominent educators, clergymen, industrialists, writers, newspapermen, and others pledging "unqualified support" of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to send munitions to the United Kingdom.

Business
U.S. Attorney General Robert Jackson authorized criminal proceedings under the Sherman Antitrust Act against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), NBC, and CBS, charging them with illegally pooling copyighted music to eliminate competition; illegal discrimination against non-member composers; illegal price-fixing; and mutual boycotts.

Disasters
30 people were killed, 5,000 people were left homeless, and $5 million in damage was caused by a flood in Juiz de Fora Brazil, resulting from torrential rains.

75 years ago
1945

Diplomacy
A delegation of the 10-nation Far Eastern Commission left Washington for Japan.

U.S. President Harry Truman named New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as his personal representative with ambassadorial rank at the inauguration of General Eurico Dutra as President of Brazil. Mr. La Guardia's 12 years in office as Mayor were about to end on December 31, 1945.

Crime
A Netherlands Eurasian soldier failed in an assassination attempt against Indonesian Republic Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir.

Economics and finance
The French Constituent Assembly voted its approval of the Bretton Woods agreements, the U.S. Import-Export Bank credit, and devaluation of the franc against the U.S. dollar.

70 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Tip, starring Stanley Ridges and Felicia Montealegre



Defense
The U.S. Army announced the mass production of a new jeep-mounted recoilless rifle capable of destroying any known foreign tank.

Journalism
Full censorship of news dispatches from the U.S. 8th Army in Korea took effect.

Politics and government
32 prominent Americans, including Nobel Prize winners Emily Greene Balch and Thomas Mann, announced the formation of a national committee to work for the repeal of the Internal Security Act of 1950.

60 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Greenfields--The Brothers Four

#1 single in France (IFOP): Itsy Bitsy Petit Bikini--Dalida (8th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Are You Lonesome To-night?--Elvis Presley (5th week at #1)
2 Wonderland by Night--Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra
3 Last Date--Floyd Cramer
4 A Thousand Stars--Kathy Young with the Innocents
5 Exodus--Ferrante and Teicher
6 North to Alaska--Johnny Horton
7 Many Tears Ago--Connie Francis
8 You're Sixteen--Johnny Burnette
9 Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)--Lolita
10 Corinna, Corinna--Ray Peterson

Singles entering the chart were You are the Only One by Ricky Nelson (#63); How to Handle a Woman by Johnny Mathis (#75); (Let's Do) The Hully Gully Twist by Bill Doggett (#80); Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White by Jerry Murad's Harmonicats (#82); Talk to Me Baby by Annette with the Afterbeats (#92); Someday You'll Want Me to Want You by Brook Benton (#93); Angel on My Shoulder by Shelby Flint (#94); Child of God by Bobby Darin (#95); We Have Love by Dinah Washington (#96); Make Someone Happy by Perry Como (#97); There She Goes by Jerry Wallace (#98); Oh, How I Miss You Tonight by Jeanne Black (#99); and Spoonful by Etta and Harvey (#100). Etta and Harvey were Etta James and Harvey Fuqua.

U.S.A. Top 10 (Music Vendor)
1 Wonderland by Night--Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra
--Louis Prima
2 Are You Lonesome To-night?--Elvis Presley
3 Exodus--Ferrante and Teicher
--Mantovani & his Orchestra
4 A Thousand Stars--Kathy Young with the Innocents
5 Last Date--Floyd Cramer
--Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra
6 North to Alaska--Johnny Horton
7 You're Sixteen--Johnny Burnette
8 He Will Break Your Heart--Jerry Butler
9 Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)--Lolita
10 Many Tears Ago--Connie Francis

Diplomacy
Yugoslavian President Tito, addressing the Yugoslav parliament in Belgrade, said that Yugoslavia and the U.S.S.R. had identical views on "the most important issues of the day." He said that present world discord was the fault of "certain bellicose people, especially in the West, who still adhere to the position of power policy in the settlement of international problems and are therefore against the easing of international tension." Marshal Tito brushed aside the charges against Yugoslavia in the recent Moscow Communist manifesto as "a series of the harshest untruths," for which he blamed the Chinese Communists.

Football
NFL
Championship
Green Bay 13 @ Philadelphia 17

67,325 fans at Franklin Field saw the Eagles win their third NFL title and their first in 11 years. Ted Dean rushed 5 yards for the winning touchdown, converted by Bobby Walston, at 5:21 of the 4th quarter to conclude a drive that had begun with his 58-yard return of a kickoff after the Packers had scored their only touchdown of the game on a 7-yard pass from Bart Starr to Max McGee. Paul Hornung gave the Packers a 6-0 lead on field goals of 20 yards in the 1st quarter and 23 yards in the 2nd. Philadelphia quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, playing his final game, connected with Tommy McDonald for a 35-yard touchdown at 8:08 of the 2nd quarter. Mr. Walston converted and added a 15-yard field goal at 11:48 to give the Eagles a 10-6 lead, which held up until the Packers scored their touchdown at 1:53 of the 4th quarter. Green Bay twice passed up chances for field goals--in the 1st and 3rd quarters--and was stopped on fourth-down gambles. The game ended with the Packers scrimmaging from the Eagles’ 22-yard line. Mr. Starr completed a pass to Jim Taylor, but he was stopped on the 9-yard line by Bobby Jackson and Chuck Bednarik. For winning head coach Buck Shaw, it was the final game and the only league championship of his 13-year career as a head coach in professional football. For losing head coach Vince Lombardi, it was the beginning of a string of 6 appearances in the NFL championship game in the next 8 years, and his only loss.





50 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in Rhodesia (Lyons Maid): Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Noël 70--Les Poppys (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Anna--Lucio Battisti (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Paranoid--Black Sabbath (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds (5th week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 It's Only Make Believe--Glen Campbell
2 Lookin' Out My Back Door/Long as I Can See the Light--Creedence Clearwater Revival
3 Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond
4 A Song of Joy--Miguel Rios
5 Look What They've Done to My Song Ma--The New Seekers
6 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family
7 Julie, Do Ya Love Me--Bobby Sherman
8 Joanne--Michael Nesmith & the First National Band
9 Montego Bay--Bobby Bloom
10 (They Long to Be) Close to You--Carpenters

Singles entering the chart were Can't Wait for September by Pyramid featuring Erl Darby (#51); Mr. America by Russell Morris (#53); You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Elvis Presley (#55); The Pushbike Song by the Mixtures (#57); and Mr. President by the Strangers (#60).

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40)
: She Likes Weeds--Tee-Set (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 My Sweet Lord/Isn't it a Pity--George Harrison
2 One Less Bell to Answer--The 5th Dimension
3 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
4 Knock Three Times--Dawn
5 Black Magic Woman--Santana
6 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family
7 Stoned Love--The Supremes
8 Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?--Chicago
9 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
10 No Matter What--Badfinger

Singles entering the chart were I Really Don't Want to Know/There Goes My Everything by Elvis Presley (#56); Temptation Eyes by the Grass Roots (#68); Remember Me by Diana Ross (#74); If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot (#76); 1900 Yesterday by Liz Damon's Orient Express (#78); Watching Scotty Grow by Bobby Goldsboro (#79); Holly Holy by Jr. Walker & the All Stars (#87); I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmonds (#90); Shoes by Brook Benton with the Dixie Flyers (#96); Sweet Mary by Wadsworth Mansion (#98); Way Back Home by the Jazz Crusaders (#99); and I Got to Tell Somebody by Betty Everett (#100).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (2nd week at #1)
2 One Less Bell to Answer--The 5th Dimension
3 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
4 Knock Three Times--Dawn
5 Black Magic Woman--Santana
6 Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?--Chicago
7 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family
8 Stoned Love--The Supremes
9 No Matter What--Badfinger
10 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland

Singles entering the chart were Remember Me by Diana Ross (#53); I Really Don't Want to Know (#57)/There Goes My Everything (#64) by Elvis Presley; Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved Pt. 1 by James Brown (#63); If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot (#69); Goin' Home (Sing a Song of Christmas Cheer) by Bobby Sherman (#70); Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano (#71); He Called Me Baby by Candi Staton (#73); Let Your Love Go by Bread (#76); When I'm Dead and Gone by McGuinness Flint (#77); Problem Child by Mark Lindsay (#83); Holly Holy by Jr. Walker & the All Stars (#85); Church Street Soul Revival by Tommy James (#86); Fresh as a Daisy by Emitt Rhodes (#91); D.O.A. by Bloodrock (#94); One Bad Apple by the Osmonds (#95); (I Can Feel Those Vibrations) This Love is Real by Jackie Wilson (#97); I Dig Everything About You by the Mob (#98); Black Night by Deep Purple (#99); and Fly Little White Dove, Fly by the Bells (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Isn't it a Pity--George Harrison (2nd week at #1)
2 Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?--Chicago
3 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family
4 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
5 Knock Three Times--Dawn
6 Black Magic Woman--Santana
7 No Matter What--Badfinger
8 Be My Baby--Andy Kim
9 Stoned Love--The Supremes
10 Beautiful Second Hand Man--Ginette Reno

Singles entering the chart were Apeman by the Kinks (#74); Santa Claus is Comin' to Town by the Jackson 5 (#76); Watching Scotty Grow by Bobby Goldsboro (#82); (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go by Curtis Mayfield (#84); Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson (#85); Flesh and Blood by Johnny Cash (#86); Groove Me by King Floyd (#93); Amazing Grace by Judy Collins (#94); 1900 Yesterday by Liz Damon's Orient Express (#95); Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues) by Ray Stevens (#96); Band Bandit by Tundra (#98); and Dickens by Leigh Ashford (#99).

Died on this date
Lillian Board, 22. U.K. athlete. Miss Board, who died of cancer, was a middle distance runner, twice winning a European Gold Medal, and winning a Silver Medal in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City in the women’s 400-metre run.

Canadiana
The Québec City suburb of Ste-Foy was incorporated.

Disasters
The Finnish tanker MT Ragny split in half during a storm in the Atlantic Ocean, 600 miles off Cape May, New Jersey, while en route from Freeport, Bahamas to Trondheim. The front of the ship, which had 6 crew members, disappeared in the storm. The stern, with 31 crew members, remained afloat for a few days, and the U.S. Coast Guard vessel USCGC Escanaba rescued those left there from the morning of December 28th. During the rescue operation, one member of the crew of the merchant ship SS Plate, which had reached the scene of the accident for the first time, also drowned when a lifeboat unloaded from Plate crashed in a storm.

21 members of the Panamanian tanker Chryssi’s crew were missing after the sinking ship was abandoned in heavy seas off the U.S. south Atlantic coast.

Football
NFL
AFC divisional playoff
Cincinnati 0 @ Baltimore 17

Baltimore quarterback Johnny Unitas completed touchdown passes of 45 yards to Roy Jefferson in the 1st quarter and 53 yards to Eddie Hinton in the 4th quarter before 49,694 fans at Memorial Stadium. Jim O’Brien added 2 converts and a 44-yard field goal in the 2nd quarter. Mr. Unitas completed just 6 of 17 passes for 145 yards, but Norm Bulaich picked up the slack for the Colts by rushing 25 times for 116 yards. The Colts’ defense limited the Bengals to 7 first downs and 139 yards net offense. It was Cincinnati’s first playoff appearance, having finished first in the Central Division of the American Football Conference in just their third year of play.



NFC divisonal playoff
Detroit 0 @ Dallas 5

Mike Clark kicked a 26-yard field goal with 6:18 remaining in the 1st quarter and George Andrie sacked Detroit quarterback Greg Landry for a safety touch with 4:45 remaining in the 4th quarter as the Dallas defense limited the Lions to 7 first downs and 156 yards in net offense before 69,613 fans at the Cotton Bowl. The Cowboys managed just 231 yards in net offense themselves, but had a superior rushing attack, as Duane Thomas carried 30 times for 135 yards and Walt Garrison added 72 yards on 17 carries. Dallas quarterback Craig Morton, playing with a sore arm, completed just 4 of 18 passes for 38 yards, while Mr. Landry and Bill Munson combined to complete just 7 of 20 for 92 yards. The Detroit rushing attack totalled just 76 yards on 27 attempts.



40 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): När vi två blir en--Gyllene Tider (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Woman in Love--Barbra Streisand (5th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Woman in Love--Barbra Streisand (6th week at #1)
2 Man on the Moon--Ballyhoo
3 Don't Stand So Close to Me--The Police
4 Another One Bites the Dust--Queen
5 Upside Down--Diana Ross
6 Give Me the Night--George Benson
7 The Wanderer--Donna Summer
8 Shine On--Spirits Rejoice
9 Rock Hard--Suzi Quatro
10 Love on the Rocks--Neil Diamond

Singles entering the chart were (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon (#19); and There's a Band Playing on the Radio (Oh Yeah) by Roxy Music (#20).

War
Iraq announced that her forces had invaded Iran’s northwestern province of Kurdistan, which extended the front of the war to the full length of the border between the countries.

A cease-fire was declared in the fighting in Lebanon between Syrian and Jordanian troops.

Disasters
Flooding along the Squamish River in British Columbia after a week of heavy rains caused $13 million in damage; residents were evacuated.

30 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Lassie--Ainbusk (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Nancy Cruzan. U.S. medical patient. Miss Cruzan had suffered permanent brain damage in a car accident in Missouri in 1983, and had been fed through a tube while being hospitalized in a "permanent vegetative state." On June 25, 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, voted 5-4 to reject an appeal from her parents to remove the tube an allow her to die, but a probate court judge in Jasper County, Missouri ruled on December 14 that they had a right to remove the tube because three of Miss Cruzan's co-workers had testified in November that she had once said that she would never want to live under such circumstances. The tube was removed two hours after the court ruling, and it took Miss Cruzan 12 dies to die from court-ordered starvation.

World events
Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei announced that the fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, who had angered Muslims two years earlier with his novel The Satanic Verses, would remain in place.

Americana
The United States Census Bureau released its final figures for the year and reported that the U.S. population in 1990 was 249,632,692--10% higher than the total for 1980. The west, up 22%, led the nation in growth since 1980. The south was up 13.5%, the northeast 3.4%, and the midwest up 1.3%. California would gain seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Florida would gain four seats and Texas three. Among states losing seats, New York led with three.

20 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Jason Robards, Jr., 78. U.S. actor. Mr. Robards, the son of actor Jason Robards, Sr., began his acting career after serving with the U.S. Navy in World War II. He was known for playing real-life characters and for interpreting the works of Eugene O'Neill on stage and screen, and was nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning for his starring performance in The Disenchanted (1958). He won consecutive Academy Awards for his supporting performances in All the President's Men (1976) and Julia (1977), and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning for his starring performance in the made-for-television movie Inherit the Wind (1988). Mr. Robards was a heavy drinker for many years, but eventually overcame the habit. He died of lung cancer.

Crime
Michael McDermott, 42, an employee of an Internet consulting firm in Malden, Massachusetts, went on a rampage, shooting and killing 7 co-workers with a semi-automatic rifle, a semi-automatic pistol, and a shotgun, before sitting in the lobby awaiting arrest.

10 years ago
2010

Died on this date
Salvador Jorge Blanco, 84. President of the Dominican Republic, 1984-1986. Dr. Blanco, whose doctorate was in international law, joined the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in 1964, and held various offices before succeeding Jacobo Majluta Azar as President. Dr. Blanco initiated democratic reforms, but declining economic conditions hurt his efforts, and he was charged with corruption. Dr. Blanco fled to the Venezuelan embassy in 1987, but Venezuela declined his request for asylum. He was interned in a clinic in Santo Domingo after a heart spasm, and was allowed to go to the United States for treatment. Dr. Blanco was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 23 years in prison and a large fine, but the conviction was quashed in 2001 by the Supreme Court, which ruled that his rights had been violated. Dr. Blanco maintained his innocence, and claimed that his prosecution was political persecution by his successor as President, Joaquín Balaguer. Dr. Blanco fell out of bed, hit his head, ans suffered a severe internal hemorrhage, which put him into a coma for 37 days before he died of a heart attack.

Edward Bhengu, 76. South African activist. Mr. Benghu, nicknamed "Sonnyboy," was a founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and was imprisoned numerous times for anti-apartheid activities. He died of liver complications.

Teena Marie, 56. U.S. musician. Teena Marie, born Mary Christine Brockert, played several instruments, and known for her soprano soul vocals in a career spanning more than 30 years. Her biggest hit was Lovergirl (1984), which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Ooo La La La reached #1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart in 1988. Teena Marie suffered a severe concussion in 2004 when hit on the head by a large picture frame in a hotel room, and was prone to seizures thereafter. She died a month after suffering a seizure.