Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Marina Kosan!
910 years ago
1110
War
Forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem captured the Lebanese city of Sidon.
750 years ago
1270
Died on this date
Theobald II, 31 (?). King of Navarre, 1253-1270. Theobald II acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Theobald I; his mother Margaret of Bourbon and King James I of Aragon acted as regents until 1256, when Theobald II came of age. He died while returning from the Eighth Crusade to Tunis, and was succeeded on the throne by his younger brother Henry I.
275 years ago
1745
War
Charles Edward Stuart's army reached Derby, its furthest point during the Second Jacobite Rising.
225 years ago
1795
Born on this date
Thomas Carlyle. U.K. writer and mathematician. Mr. Carlyle, a native of Scotland, was a historian who espoused the "great man" theory of history in books such as his three-volume The French Revolution: A History (1837); On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841); and the 6-volume History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (1858-1865). He was known in mathematics for the Carlyle circle, a certain circle in a coordinate plane associated with a quadratic equation. Mr. Carlyle died on February 5, 1881 at the age of 85.
175 years ago
1845
Died on this date
Gregor MacGregor, 58. U.K. military officer and con man. General MacGregor, a native of Scotland, served with the British Army (1803-1810); Portuguese Army (1809-1810); Venezuelan Army (1812, 1816-1817, 1839-1845); and New Granadian Army (1813-1815, 1818-1819), fighting for Venezuela and New Granada against Spanish forces. He created a short-lived "Republic of the Floridas" after capturing Amelia Island in 1817, while two operations in New Granada in 1819 ended in disaster. Gen. MacGregor returned to Britain in 1821, claiming to be the "Cazique of Poyais," a colony of British settlers along the Mosquito Coast in Central America. He duped numerous investors and 250 settlers, most of whom died of illness before or shortly after arriving at the non-existent colony. Gen. MacGregor fled to France, was acquitted of fraud in 1826, and returned to England, but was unsuccessful in similar cons in the late 1820s. He returned to Venezuela in 1838, and died there, 20 days before his 59th birthday.
170 years ago
1850
Died on this date
William Sturgeon, 67. U.K. physicist. Mr. Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in 1803, the electric motor in 1832, and the galvanometer in 1836.
110 years ago
1910
Born on this date
Alex North. U.S. composer. Mr. North, born Isadore Soifer, was known for his scores to movies such as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Spartacus (1960); and The Misfits (1961). He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, but never won, and was finally given an Honorary Academy Award in 1986. Mr. North died on September 8, 1991 at the age of 80.
Ramaswamy Venkataraman. 8th President of India, 1987-1992; Vice President of India, 1984-1987. Mr. Venkataraman, a member of the Indian National Congress Party, was an independence activist in the 1940s before being elected to the provisional Parliament in 1950 and the first Parliament in 1952. He held several cabinet posts in the early 1980s before serving as Vice President and President. Mr. Venkataraman died on January 27, 2009 at the age of 98.
100 years ago
1920
Born on this date
Michael Bates. Indian-born U.K. actor. Mr. Bates, an Anglo-Indian, appeared on stage, screen, and television. His movies included Patton (1970) and A Clockwork Orange (1971). Mr. Bates was best known for his co-starring roles in the television comedy series Last of the Summer Wine (1973-1975) and It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974-1977). He died of cancer on January 11, 1978 at the age of 57.
Football
CRU
Grey Cup @ Varsity Stadium, Toronto
University of Toronto 16 Toronto Argonauts 3
A steady rain that stopped half an hour before game time made the field slick. Dunc Munro punted for a single to give the Argonauts a 1-0 lead after the 1st quarter, but Warren Snyder scored a touchdown in the 2nd quarter, converted by Red Mackenzie, to give the Varsity Blues a 6-1 halftime lead. Jo-Jo Stirrett and Mr. Mackenzie scored unconverted touchdowns in the 2nd half, while Mr. Munro punted for singles in each of the 3rd and 4th quarters. It was the last all-Toronto Grey Cup and the fourth and last Grey Cup win for the Varsity Blues. For Mike Rodden, it was his first of 3 Grey Cup wins in the 1920s as a head coach. 10,088 were in attendance.
APFA
Canton (6-3-1) 3 Buffalo (9-1) 7 @ New York
90 years ago
1930
Died on this date
William Baker, 64. U.S. baseball executive. Mr. Baker was New York City Police Commissioner (1909-1910), and resigned after being accused of interfering in gambling investigations. He bought the Philadelphia Phillies in 1913, and National League Park in Philadelphia was popularly known as Baker Bowl in his honour. Mr. Baker was known as a tight-fisted owner, and the Phillies won just one National League pennant (1915) and no World Series championships during his ownership. He died of a heart attack during a league meeting in Montreal, and was succeeded as Phillies' owner by Gerald Nugent.
80 years ago
1940
War
The Greek government claimed that the Italian stronghold of Premedi had been captured, and that Italian troops were retreating from Porto Edda to Khimara, and from Argyrokastron to Tepelini and Klisura in Albania. Indochinese reports said that 20 native policemen had been killed in a new native uprising in western Cochin China during a lull in fighting on the French Indochina-Thailand border.
Politics and government
The Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved and sent to the Senate a bill outlawing Communism.
Defense
The Panama Canal administration opened bids in Washington for the excavation of the third set of locks designed to strengthen the canal against attack.
Oil
pol
The Romanian government seized all pipelines and accessories belonging to oil companies, including U.S. concerns, and announced that it would pay for the property with 3% bonds maturing in 25 years.
Economics and finance
U.S. administrator of export control Russell Maxwell announced that 41 additional types of machine tools would be put under the export licensing control system as of December 10, 1940 because of the "increased pace of the national defense program."
Scandal
11 U.S. corporations, including DuPont and Allied Chemical, were revealed to have been indicted on September 1, 1939 by a federal grand jury in New York on a charge of conspiring to control the supply and prices of nitrate products in violation of antitrust laws.
Education
A New York State joint legislative committee investigating subversive activities in public schools authorized contempt charges against 25 teachers--18 from Brooklyn College--for refusal to testify.
Medicine
Germany announced plans for construction in Marburg of the world's largest research institute on biological immunity.
75 years ago
1945
Died on this date
Thomas Hunt Morgan, 79. U.S. geneticist and biologist. Dr. Morgan was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity."
Richárd Weisz, 66. Hungarian wrestler and weightlifter. Mr. Weisz won numerous national championships in wrestling an weightlifting in the 1900s, and won the gold medal in the 93+-kilogram wrestling competition at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.
War
U.S. Marines in China shelled a village near Anshan after villagers refused to surrender two Chinese gunmen who had killed a Marine and wounded another. Sir Hartley Shawcross, chief U.K. prosecutor at the trial of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg, opened the British case against the Nazis, charging the defendants with planning and waging wars of aggression. 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, the November 26, 1941 message from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Philippine High Commissioner Francis Sayre was introduced; the message warned of war, and indicated possible Japanese movement into Southeast Asia.
Diplomacy
The United States Senate voted 65-7 to approve U.S. participation in the United Nations.
Politics and government
The Austrian Political Council elected Leopold Figl, whose Catholic People's Party had won the November 25 election, as Chancellor to succeed Karl Renner.
The British government of Prime Miniser Clement Attlee announced its decision to send an all-party parliamentary group to discuss with Indian leaders an offer of dominion status.
Society
The Berlin city government banned several books and works of specific authors as Nazi propaganda; the U.S. military government protested that the list was incomplete.
Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing a postwar Navy of 666,000; Navy Secretary James Forrestal announced a naval reorganization stressing aviation.
Protest
Anti-Communist rioters in Istanbul wrecked two newspaper plants and two book stores.
Aviation
A Trans World Airlines Lockheed Constellation set a commercial aviation record of 12 hours 57 minutes on its first flight from Washington to Paris.
Communications
Eight countries at the radio-cable conference in Hamilton, Bermuda signed an executive pact cutting international communications rates.
Religion
Friends of the World Council of Churches received a gift of $1 million from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to help finance "religious reconstruction" in Europe.
Labour
Congress of Industrial Organizations President Philip Murray charged that U.S. President Harry Truman had "appeased" industry, and opposed his fact-finding proposal because it aimed at weakening unions and curtailing the right to strike.
70 years ago
1950
On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Beware This Woman, starring Veronica Lake, Glen Denning, Daniel Reed, and Wolfgang Zilzer
At the movies
Harvey, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, and Charles Drake, opened in theatres in Brazil.
War
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee arrived in Washington to discuss the Korean War with U.S. President Harry Truman. The U.S. 8th Army abandoned Pyongyang in the face of strong Chinese Communist pressure.
French authorities ordered all European women and children out of Tonkin in northern Indochina in response to recent Viet Minh gains.
Politics and government
A conference of Canadian federal and provincial government leaders on taxation opened in Ottawa.
Richard Nixon (Republican--California), elected in November, took his seat in the United States Senate, succeeding Sheridan Downey (Democrat), who had resigned a month before the end of his term in order for Mr. Nixon to achieve seniority over other Senators elected for the first time in 1950.
Academia
The University of Tennessee refused to accept five Negro students despite a ruling by State Attorney General Roy Beeler that they could not legally be barred from attending classes.
Journalism
Cowles Magazines announced that the monthly Flair, which had published its first issue in February 1950, would cease publication with the January 1951 issue.
60 years ago
1960
Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. vetoed the admission of Mauritania, a former French colony which had become fully independent on November 28, to the United Nations. The veto was cast in the Security Council, which had rejected a Soviet demand that it take up simultaneously the admission to the UN of Outer Mongolia.
Religion
Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church and the nation’s most prominent mainline Protestant clergyman, addressed an assembly of the (U.S.) National Council of Churches at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco--the church led by heretic Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike--and proposed a plan to merge four major Protestant bodies: the Methodist Church (9,815,460 members); Protestant Episcopal Church (3,126,662); United Presbyterian Church (3,145,743); and United Church of Christ (2,223,732). Although Dr. Blake stressed that he spoke as an individual and not as an official spokesman of his church, the proposal was acclaimed by some Protestant leaders as a hopeful step toward Protestant unity. Bishop Pike offered his endorsement and commendation, and it became known as the "Blake-Pike proposal." The proposal marked the beginning of what became the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). Later in the day, Billy Graham addressed the assembly, with Bishop Pike at his side.
Football
NFL
Dallas (0-10-1) 31 @ New York (5-3-2) 31
Detroit (5-5) 20 @ Baltimore (6-4) 15
Washington (1-7-2) 16 @ Cleveland (6-3-1) 27
Green Bay (6-4) 41 @ Chicago (5-4-1) 13
Philadelphia (9-1) 20 @ St. Louis (5-5-1) 6
San Francisco (6-4) 23 @ Los Angeles (3-6-1) 7
AFL
Boston (5-7) 14 @ Buffalo (5-6-1) 38
Houston (8-4) 0 @ Dallas (6-6) 24
New York (6-6) 30 @ Denver (4-7-1) 27
Los Angeles (8-4) 41 Oakland (5-7) 17 @ San Francisco
Johnny Unitas threw 2 touchdown passes for the Colts in their loss to the Lions at Memorial Stadium, extending to 47 the record number of consecutive games in which he had thrown a touchdown pass.
Paul Hornung led the Packers with 2 touchdowns, 5 extra points, and 2 field goals to lead the Packers over the Bears at Wrigley Field. The 23 points gave him 152 for the season, breaking the single-season record of 138 set by Don Hutson of the Packers in 1942.
Jack Kemp passed for 3 touchdowns and rushed for 2 of his own to lead the Chargers over the Raiders in the first football game ever played at Candlestick Park.
50 years ago
1970
Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond (3rd week at #1)
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): New World in the Morning--Roger Whittaker (3rd week at #1)
South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond (3rd week at #1)
2 Looky Looky--Giorgio
3 Cha-La-La, I Need You--Shuffles
4 Woodstock--Matthews Southern Comfort
5 Burning Bridges--The Mike Curb Congregation
6 Paranoid--Black Sabbath
7 All the Tears in the World--Dave Mills
8 Black Night--Deep Purple
9 Indiana Wants Me--R. Dean Taylor
10 Like I Do--Barbara Ray and the 5th Association
Singles entering the chart were Ruby Tuesday by Melanie (#19); and You Can Get it if You Really Want by Desmond Dekker (#20).
Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Share the Land/Bus Rider--The Guess Who
2 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
3 Fire and Rain--James Taylor
4 Be My Baby--Andy Kim
5 No Matter What--Badfinger
6 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
7 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me--Elvis Presley
8 My Sweet Lord/Isn't it a Pity--George Harrison
9 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
10 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
Singles entering the chart were For the Good Times by Ray Price (#25); River Deep - Mountain High by the Supremes & Four Tops (#27); Silver Moon by Michael Nesmith & the First National Band (#28); Knock Three Times by Dawn (#29); and Most of All by B.J. Thomas (#30).
Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
2 Share the Land/Bus Rider--The Guess Who
3 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
4 No Matter What--Badfinger
5 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
6 Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?--Chicago
7 My Sweet Lord/Isn't it a Pity--George Harrison
8 Heaven Help Us All--Stevie Wonder
9 Black Magic Woman--Santana
10 Domino--Van Morrison
Singles entering the chart were Raino (LP) by Chilliwack (#27); Games by Redeye (#28); Border Song by Aretha Franklin (#29); and Most of All by B.J. Thomas (#30).
Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family (3rd week at #1)
2 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
3 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
4 Share the Land--The Guess Who
5 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
6 Fire and Rain--James Taylor
7 Fly Little White Dove, Fly--The Bells
8 It's Only Make Believe--Glen Campbell
9 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me--Elvis Presley
10 After Midnight--Eric Clapton
On television tonight
The Interns, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Fever
World events
Spanish dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco imposed martial law in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa. The 16 members of the Basque separatist organization ETA who were being court-martialled on charges of banditry and the 1968 murder of a secret police inspector in Guipuzcoa. ETA had taken credit for the killing but the 16 defendants denied their guilt and asserted that incriminating statements they had made in jail had been obtained through torture.
Scandal
The United States Transportation Department announced that three U.S. Coast Guard officers--Rear Admiral William B. Ellis, First Coast Guard District Commander; Captain Fletcher Brown, his chief of staff; and Commander Ralph Eustis, skipper of the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant had been relieved of duty pending an investigation into the November 23 refusal to permit Lithuanian sailor Simas Kudirka to board the Vigilant in an attempt to obtain U.S. asylum, his beating by Soviet sailors who had been allowed to board the Vigilant, and his forcible return to the Russian trawler Sovietskaya Litva.
Religion
Pope Paul VI continued his Asian tour. He left Djakarta and stopped in Hong Kong, where he conducted a mass, and arrived in Colombo, Ceylon, where he also conducted a mass.
Hockey
NHL
Claude Ruel resigned as coach of the Montreal Canadiens and was replaced by Al MacNeil. Mr. Ruel returned to scouting with the Canadiens.
40 years ago
1980
Died on this date
Stella Walsh, 69. Polish-born U.S. athlete. "Miss" Walsh, born Stanisława Walasiewicz, moved to the United States with "her" parents at the age of 3, but wasn't an American citizen, and was therefore ineligible to compete for the United States in the Olympics. "She" won the gold medal for Poland in the women’s 100-metre dash at the 1932 Summer Olympics at Los Angeles and the silver medal in the same event in the Summer Olympics at Berlin in 1936. "She" eventually settled in the United States, and was shot to death during a robbery attempt at a discount store in Cleveland, after which an autopsy proved that "Miss" Walsh, who had male and female chromosomes, was in fact a man.
Francisco de Sá Carneiro, 46. Prime Minister of Portugal, 1980. Mr. Sá Carneiro was a member of the "Liberal Wing" of the National Assembly from 1969 until he founded the Popular Democratic Party (PPD)--soon renamed the Social Democratic Party (PSD)--in 1974, a month after the Carnation Revolution ended the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. He led the Democratic Allianc coalition to victory in the 1979 general election, and took office as Prime Minister on January 3, 1980. The Democratic Alliance increased its parliamentiary majority in another general election in October 1980, but was killed in a plane crash just four days before the Portuguese presidential election, which saw the re-election of General Ranalho Eanes, who was opposed to the PSD. Mr. Sá Carneiro's partner Snu Abecassis and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa, 37, were also killed in the plane crash. An inquiry in 1995 concluded that ther was evidence of sabotage, and a parliamentary inquiry in 2004 said that there was evidence of a bomb beneath the cockpit.
Don Warrington, 30. Canadian football player. Mr. Warrington, a native of Burnaby, British Columbia, was a running back and receiver with the Simon Fraser University Clansmen in the late 1960s. He played with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in pre-season in 1970 and 1971, but failed to make the team in both years. Mr. Warrington joined the Edmonton Eskimos, playing his first game on September 1, 1971, and was with them through 1980. He was a running back, slotback, and tight end,, nicknamed "Jeep," and playing whatever position was necessary to help the team win. Mr. Warrington played 128 regular season games, rushing for 512 yards on 107 carries; he caught 225 passes for 2,968 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was a member of Grey Cup championship seasons in 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1980, but his 1975 season ended with a knee injury in the ninth game of the season, and he spent the entire 1980 season on the injured list with a hamstring injury. Mr. Warrington played in eight playoff games and five Grey Cups. He announced his retirement just before the 1980 Western Final, and died two days after being injured in a car accident.
Terrorism
The bodies of three Roman Catholic nuns and a lay worker were found in a crude grave 25 miles southeast of San Salvador. Extreme rightist groups were blamed for the killings.
World events
One of China’s "Gang of Four," Chairman Mao Zedong’s widow, Jiang Qing, reversed her previous plea of complete innocence and confessed in court that she had personally directed a special group that had persecuted China’s former head of state, Liu Shaoqi, and his wife.
The Polish Communist Party’s Central Committee asked for an and to labour unrest, pleading for Poles to stay calm and stay on their jobs.
Economics and finance
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board increased from 12% to 13% the basic interest rate that it charged for loans to financial institutions, which caused the nation’s larger banks to raise their prime lending rate from 18½%-19%.
30 years ago
1990
Died on this date
Edward Binns, 74. U.S. actor. Mr. Binns had a distinguished career as a character actor in movies and television programs. His movies included 12 Angry Men (1957); Fail-Safe (1964); and Patton (1970).
World events
Idris Deby, who had entered the Chadian capital of Ndjamena two days earlier--the day after President Hissene Habre had fled into exile in Cameroon--proclaimed himself the new President of Chad.
25 years ago
1995
Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Nirvana--Viva
#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (8th week at #1)
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (6th week at #1)
Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Hand in My Pocket--Alanis Morissette
2 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
3 Runaway--Janet Jackson
4 Until I Hear it from You--Gin Blossoms
5 Fantasy--Mariah Carey
6 Back for Good--Take That
7 I Wish You Well--Tom Cochrane
8 Do You Sleep?--Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
9 Your Little Secret--Melissa Etheridge
10 Blessed--Elton John
Singles entering the chart were One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (#89); I'll Be There in a Minute by Lawrence Gowan (#90); Lie to Me by Bon Jovi (#91); Believe in You by Jude Cole (#94); Wildest Dreams by Tom Cochrane (#95); Circus by Lenny Kravitz (#96); Paranoia by Barstool Prophets (#98); and Fall by Wild Strawberries (#99).
Died on this date
Robert Parrish, 79. U.S. film director and editor. Mr. Parrish and Francis Lyon shared the Academy Award for editing for Body and Soul (1947). Mr. Parrish directed such movies as The Mob (1951) and The Purple Plain (1954), and co-directed Casino Royale (1967).
Gwen Harwood, 75. Australian poetess and playwright. Mrs. Harwood wrote 386 poems and 13 librettos from the late 1950s through the late '80s, receiving numerous Australian awards. Her poems contained recurring themes of the stifled role of young mothers, and often included biblical references and religious allusions.
War
The first North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops landed in the Balkans to begin setting up a peace mission.
Environment
25 countries, including Canada, signed a United Nations treaty on straddling and migratory fish stocks, intended to ease tensions over high seas fishing. Japan and key European Union countries didn't sign the treaty.
20 years ago
2000
Died on this date
Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, 111. U.S. geriatric. Mr. Holcomb, the world’s oldest man, died in Oklahoma.
Henck Arron, 64. Prime Minister of Suriname, 1973-1980; Vice President of Suriname, 1988-1990. Mr. Arron, a banker, joined the National Party of Suriname in 1961, and became party chairman in 1970. He led a coalition to victory in the 1973 general election, and led the final negotiation for the independence of Suriname from the Netherlands, which took place two years later. Mr. Arron was deposed by a military coup in February 1980, and was charged with corruption. He was freed in 1981 after the charges were dropped, and returned to banking before being elected Vice President in 1987, taking office in January 1988 and holding office until being deposed by another military coup on December 24, 1990. Mr. Arron died of cardiac arrest.
10 years ago
2010
Died on this date
Curtis Iaukea, 73. U.S. wrestler and football player. "King Curtis" played tackle at the Univesity of California and with the British Columbia Lions (1958-1959) and Montreal Alouettes (1959). He wrestled professionally from the early 1960s until 1980, holding various heavyweight championship belts with the National Wrestling Alliance, International Wrestling Alliance, and World Wide Wrestling Federation.
8 hours ago
