January 31, 2021

260 years ago
1761

Born on this date
W.C. Nicholas. U.S. politician. Wilson Cary Nicholas, a Democratic-Republican, represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Delegates (1784-1786, 1788-1789, 1794-1799); represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate (1799-1804); represented Virginia's 21st District in the U.S. House of Representatives (1807-1809); and was Governor of Virginia (1814-1816). He died on October 10, 1820 at the age of 59, leaving an estate that was insolvent.

175 years ago
1846

Americana
After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown united to become the City of Milwaukee.

170 years ago
1851

Technology
Inventor Thomas Turnbull demonstrated his "Audromonon Carriage" to the public in Saint John. New Brunswick's first horseless carriage consisted of three wheels drawn by a crank, with an operational lever on each side of the driver's seat.

Energy
The Hamilton Gas Light Company installed Hamilton, Canada West's first street lamps.

140 years ago
1881

Born on this date
Irving Langmuir. U.S. chemist and physicist. Dr. Langmuir was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry." He invented the gas-filled incandescent lamp and the hydrogen welding technique, and popularized the "concentric theory of atomic structure." Dr. Langmuir died on August 16, 1957 at the age of 76.

130 years ago
1891

Protest
The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution broke out in the northern city of Porto.

120 years ago
1901

Hockey
Stanley Cup challenge
Winnipeg Victoria 2 @ Montreal Shamrocks 1 (OT) (Winnipeg won best-of-three series 2-0)

The winning goal was scored 4 minutes into overtime as the Victorias took the Cup from the defending champion Shamrocks.

100 years ago
1921

Born on this date
Mario Lanza. U.S. singer and actor. A tenor who sang opera and other styles of music, Mr. Lanza, born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza, was a popular and influential entertainer in the 1940s and '50s. In addition to live performances and recordings, he displayed his enormous talent in several movies, most notably The Great Caruso, which was the biggest box office hit of 1951. Mr. Lanza died of a heart attack in Rome on October 7, 1959 at the age of 38 after years of health problems, partially the result of too much food and drink.

John Agar. U.S. actor. Mr. Agar was best known for his 1945 marriage to legendary child star Shirley Temple. He was a heavy drinker and drunk driver, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1950. Mr. Agar appeared in several movies with John Wayne, including Fort Apache (1948); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). He later appeared in such classics as The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) and Attack of the Puppet People (1958). Mr. Agar died of complications from emphysema on April 7, 2002 at the age of 81.

Carol Channing. U.S. actress, singer, and dancer. Miss Channing was mainly known as a star of Broadway musicals in a career that spanned more than 60 years. She was nominated four times for her starring performances, winning for Hello, Dolly! (1964). Miss Channing's movies included Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting performance. She appeared as a guest in numerous television comedy and variety programs. Miss Channing died on January 15, 2019, 16 days before her 98th birthday.

Communications
New Zealand's first regular airmail service began as Captain Euan Dickson flew several hundred letters from Christchurch to Ashburton and Timaru.

90 years ago
1931

Torontonia
The Bank of Commerce building--today's Commerce Court North--opened as the tallest building in the British Commonwealth.

80 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): The Woodpecker Song--Kate Smith; Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (3rd month at #1)

At the movies
Buck Privates, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, opened in theatres.

War
Free French commander General Charles de Gaulle appealed to General Maxim Weygand's African army to help complete the conquest of Italian Libya.

Thai and French officials signed a Japanese-mediated armistice terminating Indochinese border disputes.

Defense
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the federal government was prepared to take over any plant in the country considered necessary in the national defense.

Eight of ten Republican Party members of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee issued a dissenting report on Lend-Lease, urging a $2-billion loan to Britain instead.

Philippines President Manuel Quezon states that the defense of his country rested primarily with the United States.

Crime
Nine leaders of the German-American Bund were sentenced from 12-14 months in prison for violating New Jersey "race hatred" law.

Literature
Richard Wright, author of the novel Native Son (1940), was awarded the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples' Joel Springarn Medal for the highest achievement "in any honorable field of endeavor."

Economics and finance
Four major New York banks disclosed a cooperative plan to speed up financing of defense contracts.

Boxing
Joe Louis (45-1) retained his world heavyweight title with a knockout of Red Burman (73-17-1) at 2:49 of the 5th round at Madison Square Garden in New York.

75 years ago
1946

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time--Les Browne and his Orchestra (1st month at #1)

War
At the hearings of the United States Senate committee on the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Admiral P.N.L. Bellinger, naval air wing commander at Pearl Harbor in 1941, testified that he had not been ordered by Admiral Husband Kimmel to carry out reconnasissance to the north the week before the attack.

Law
Yugoslavia's new constitution came into effect, modelling that of the U.S.S.R., establishing six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Macedonia; Montenegro; Serbia; and Slovenia.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Harry Truman acknowledged at a press conference that the agreement giving southern Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands to the U.S.S.R. was a secret part of the 1945 Yalta agreement, and he promised that other secret Allied agreements would be disclosed "at the proper time."

U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes instructed the U.S. embassy in Warsaw to ask the Polish government to take steps to ensure political rights and free elections.

Politics and government
At the final session of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, Nationalists and Communists approved plans to set up a government; to draft a constitution; and to reorganize the National Assembly.

General Eurico Gaspar Dutra was inaugurated as President of Brazil.

Alfredo Duhalde was installed as acting President of Chile with a promise to form a new cabinet, prompting the Chilean Federation of Labour to end a 24-hour general strike.

Kuang Aphaiwong took office as Prime Minister of Siam, succeeding Seni Pramoj.

Defense
The U.S. War Department announced the creation of the First Experimental Guided Missile Group to perfect robot bombs and aerial guided missiles.

Arrangements for British troops to enter Japan were announced in London and Washington. The force was to be composed of men from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and India.

Economics and finance
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduced the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.

70 years ago
1951

War
U.S. High Commissioner for Occupied Germany John J. McCloy commuted the death sentences of 21 German war criminals to life imprisonment and less, and ordered the release of 33 war criminal prisoners, including Krupp director Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. All other German industrialists in jail in the U.S. zone were also freed for time served.

Diplomacy
United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 was adopted 11-0, resolved to remove the item "Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea" from the list of matters of which the council was seized.

Defense
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was secretly authorized to begin production of the hydrogen bomb.

A new United Services Organizations came into existence in New York, following the merger of the old USO with the Associated Services for the Armed Forces.

Politics and government
Getulio Vargas was inaugurated into a five-year term as President of Brazil. He promised to reduce living costs and improce living standards, while maintaining Brazil's "traditional and permanent relations of friendship and cooperation" with the United States.

Crime
A U.S. federal grand jury in New York indicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, David Greenglass, Morton Sobell, and Anatoli Yakovlev on charges of transmitting atomic secrets to the U.S.S.R. Mr. Yakovlev, a Soviet deputy consul who had left the country, was charged in absentia.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Harry Truman told members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee that he would ask for a $9 billion-$10 billion tax increase in his forthcoming tax message and an additional $6.5 billion rise later.

Disasters
Much of the Duplessis Bridge in Trois-Rivières, Quebec collapsed into the Saint-Maurice River, killing eight people.

60 years ago
1961

Hit parade
#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Seemann--Lolita (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, hosted by John Newland, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Gift, starring Scott Marlowe, Betty Garde, and Mary Sinclair



Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Last Escape, starring Keenan Wynn, Jan Sterling, and Dennis Patrick

Died on this date
Eugene Dennis, 55. U.S. politician. Mr. Dennis, born Francis Xavier Waldron, joined the Communist Party USA in 1926; he fled to the Soviet Union in 1929 in order to avoid criminal charges for his political activities under the California Criminal Syndicalism Act, but returned to the United States in 1935, assuming the name by which he was best known. Mr. Dennis was General Secretary of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA (1945-1959), and Chairman of the National Committee of the party from 1957 until his death from cancer. He was one of 11 Communists convicted in 1949 under the Alien Registration Act, and was in prison from 1951-1955. Mr. Dennis was identified in the Venona project as a source of information for Soviet intelligence in the U.S.A. during World War II.

Music
Fats Domino and his band began a tour of Jamaica. Mr. Domino had a tremendous influence on popular music in Jamaica; his 1959 hit Be My Guest was particularly popular and influential.

Space
The United States launched Mercury-Redstone 2, with a chimpanzee named Ham aboard, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Ham performed well, but there were some technical problems with the mission.



The U.S. Air Force launched Samos 2, an experimental version of a reconnaissance satellite, into a near-circular polar orbit from Point Arguello, California. The satellite carried photographic, telemetry, tracking, and command equipment, and was said to be the forerunner of a system of satellites that could perform photographic missions comparable to those of U-2 planes. Details of its performance were not immediately made public.

Terrorism
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Allen Smith, commander of the Navy’s Caribbean Frontier, went aboard the Portuguese cruise ship Santa Maria, which had been held hostage in the Atlantic Ocean by pirates since January 22, for a conference with the pirates’ leader, former Portuguese army captain Hector Galvao. Adm. Smith said that the pirates had agreed to bring the ship--currently 30 miles off Recife, Brazil--into Recife the next day if Brazil gave "the necessary clearance."

Politics and government
Janio Quadros took office as President of Brazil.

50 years ago
1971

Space
The Apollo 14 crew of Alan Shepard (Commander), Stuart Roosa (Command Module Pilot), and Edgar Mitchell (Lunar Module Pilot) lifted off for the moon from Cape Kennedy, Florida. It was Mr. Shepard’s first space mission since his suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight almost 10 years earlier. It took two hours for the lunar module Antares to dock with the command module Kitty Hawk, but Mr. Roosa completed the linkup on the sixth attempt.







Protest
The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, began in Detroit.

40 years ago
1981

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Anna Dai Capelli Rossi--I Ragazzi Dai Capelli Rossi (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Santa Maria--Roland Kaiser (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: (Just Like) Imagine--John Lennon

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Imagine--John Lennon (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Imagine--John Lennon (4th week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Lola (Live)--The Kinks (4th week at #1)
2 Celebration--Kool & The Gang
3 Runaway Boys--Stray Cats
4 Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)--Tom Browne
5 Shine Up--Doris D and the Pins
6 Mama He's a Soldier Now--Saskia & Serge
7 If You Could Read My Mind - Special U.S. Disco-Mix--Viola Wills
8 My Feet Won't Move--Fruitcake
9 Een barg die hé un krul in de steert--De Aal
10 Amoureux Solitaires/Dis Moi que Tu M'aimes--Lio

Singles entering the chart were Embarrassment by Madness (#30); I Hope I Never by Split Enz (#31); Shake it Up (Do the Boogaloo) by Rod (#32); Fade to Grey by Visage (#35); and Zonder Jou (Dream Away) by Rob de Nijs (#36).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 The Tide is High--Blondie
2 (Just Like) Starting Over--John Lennon
3 Celebration--Kool & The Gang
4 I Love a Rainy Night--Eddie Rabbitt
5 Every Woman in the World--Air Supply
6 Passion--Rod Stewart
7 Love on the Rocks--Neil Diamond
8 9 to 5--Dolly Parton
9 It's My Turn--Diana Ross
10 I Made it Through the Rain--Barry Manilow

Singles entering the chart were Hello Again by Neil Diamond (#32); Rapture by Blondie (#61); What Kind of Fool by Barbra Streisand (Duet with Barry Gibb) (#72); Ain't Even Done with the Night by John Cougar (#81); Dreamer by the Association (#83); Fantastic Voyage by Lakeside (#85); Turn Me Loose by Loverboy (#87); and Don't You Know What Love Is by Touch (#92). Hello Again was from the movie The Jazz Singer (1980).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Tide is High--Blondie
2 (Just Like) Starting Over--John Lennon
3 Celebration--Kool & The Gang
4 Passion--Rod Stewart
5 Love on the Rocks--Neil Diamond
6 Lady--Kenny Rogers
7 9 to 5--Dolly Parton
8 I Love a Rainy Night--Eddie Rabbitt
9 Every Woman in the World--Air Supply
10 Same Old Lang Syne--Dan Fogelberg

Singles entering the chart were Hello Again by Neil Diamond (#36); Rapture by Blondie (#65); What Kind of Fool by Barbra Streisand (Duet with Barry Gibb) (#73); Ain’t Even Done With the Night by John Cougar (#83); Lipstick by Suzi Quatro (#87); Dreamer by the Association (#88); Fantastic Voyage by Lakeside (#89); Don't Stop the Music by Yarbrough & Peoples (#90); Long Time Lovin' You by McGuffey Lane (#92); Cafe Amore by Spyro Gyra (#97); and Don't You Know What Love Is by Touch (#98).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Record World)
1 The Tide is High--Blondie
2 (Just Like) Starting Over--John Lennon
3 Every Woman in the World--Air Supply
4 Celebration--Kool & The Gang
5 Hit Me with Your Best Shot--Pat Benatar
6 Passion--Rod Stewart
7 I Love a Rainy Night--Eddie Rabbitt
8 Another One Bites the Dust--Queen
9 Keep on Loving You--REO Speedwagon
10 9 to 5--Dolly Parton

Singles entering the chart were Hello Again by Neil Diamond (#31); Rapture by Blondie (#52); What Kind of Fool by Barbra Streisand (Duet with Barry Gibb) (#72); Guitar Man by Elvis Presley (#84); Ain't Even Done with the Night by John Cougar (#88); Precious to Me by Phil Seymour (#89); and Somebody's Knockin' by Terri Gibbs (#94).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 (Just Like) Starting Over--John Lennon (4th week at #1)
2 The Tide is High--Blondie
3 Lady--Kenny Rogers
4 Wasn't That a Party--The Rovers
5 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da--The Police
6 Hungry Heart--Bruce Springsteen
7 More Than I Can Say--Leo Sayer
8 Passion--Rod Stewart
9 Woman in Love--Barbra Streisand
10 Tell it Like it Is--Heart

Singles entering the chart were Games People Play by Alan Parsons Project (#39); The Best of Times by Styx (#41); Ah! Leah! by Donnie Iris (#45); Ghost Riders in the Sky by the Outlaws (#46); Miss Sun by Boz Scaggs (#47); and Treat Me Right by Pat Benatar (#50).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CFUN)
1 The Tide is High--Blondie
2 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da--The Police
3 Looking for Clues--Robert Palmer
4 (Just Like) Starting Over--John Lennon
5 Tell it Like it Is--Heart
6 Passion--Rod Stewart
7 Guilty--Barbra Streisand (Duet with Barry Gibb)
8 Love on the Rocks--Neil Diamond
9 Switchin' to Glide--The Kings
10 Teacher Teacher--Rockpile

Singles entering the chart were 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton (#28); and The Best of Times by Styx (#29).

Died on this date
William Gopallawa, 84. Governor-General of Ceylon, 1962-1972; President of Sri Lanka, 1972-1978. Sir William was a municipal politician in Matale before serving as Ceylonese Ambassador to the People's Republic of China (1960-1961) and to the United States (1961-1962). He served as Governor-General until Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972, and then served as the country's only non-executive President.

Labour
The Polish government and the trade union movement Solidarity announced that they had reached an agreement. The government would make three of every four Saturdays non-working days, turn over a weekly hour-long television program to the union leadership, and hold talks with the farmers’ union. In return, workers ended the recent wave of wildcat strikes and protests.

Sport
Canadian speed skater Gaëtan Boucher skated the 1,000 metres in a world record time of 1:13.39 at Davos, Switzerland.

Hockey
NHL
Winnipeg 2 @ Toronto 0

The national Hockey Night in Canada telecast from Maple Leaf Gardens marked the Jets’ second and last road win of the season--both in Toronto in January--and was one of just 9 wins for the team in the entire 1980-81 season. Winnipeg goalie Markus Mattsson earned the Jets’ only shutout of the season.

30 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Do the Bartman--The Simpsons (2nd week at #1)

On the radio
Eddie Keen delivered his last editorial and departed as news director of CHED after nearly 20 years with the Edmonton station.

War
Allied forces recaptured the Saudi town of Al Khafji; 500 Iraqis were taken prisoner and 200 killed or wounded.

Israeli forces completed three days of strikes at a Palestinian refugee camp and other Palestinian targets.

Law
Canada’s proposed abortion law, which would have permitted an abortion if a physician felt a woman’s physical or psychological health was in danger, was defeated on a 43-43 tie vote in the Senate (in contrast to the American Senate, the Canadian Senate has no mechanism for breaking a tie, and a tie vote defeats a bill). The bill had narrowly passed the House of Commons in 1990. Politicians of both parties in the Senate were free to vote their consciences--if they had any--but most Progressive Conservatives voted for the bill while most Liberals voted against it. The bill had been opposed by pro-abortion advocates--who didn’t believe abortion should be covered under the Criminal Code--and by pro-life advocates, who didn’t think the bill was restrictive enough.

25 years ago
1996

Space
Comet Hyakutake was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.

Terrorism
An explosives-filled truck rammed into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing 91 people and injuring 1,400.

War
UNITAS militia members in Angola began to trickle in to United Nations assembly points.

Diplomacy
The United States announced the withdrawal of diplomatic staff from Sudan out of concern for their safety.

20 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Gordon R. Dickson, 77. Canadian-born U.S. author. Mr. Dickson, a native of Edmonton, moved to Minneapolis at the age of 13. He wrote about 80 science fiction novels, including several series, and dozens of short stories in a career spanning 50 years. Mr. Dickson won several awards, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000. He died from complications of severe asthma.

Terrorism
A Scottish court sitting in Camp Zeist, Netherlands convicted Abdel Baset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of murder and sentenced him to life in prison for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. A second Libyan, former airline manager Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted.

Business
George Gillett, Jr. bought 80% of the Montreal Canadiens and 100% of Molson Centre in Montreal for S$275 million; the name of the building was changed to Bell Centre.

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Charles Sellier, 67. U.S. film and television producer and director. Mr. Sellier directed more than 30 feature films and 230 television programs. He founded Sunn Classic Pictures, based in Park City, Utah, in 1971. Mr. Sellier was best known for creating the the movie (1974) and television series (1977-1978) The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and directing the slasher movie Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).