1893
Business
Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh, a Toronto patent attorney, commissioned the Dickson Carriage Works, builder of horse drawn buggies, to make wood and leather bodies for his "Still" electric car; it could go 15 miles between charges. The Still car was the first built in Toronto, and the second car produced in Canada, as an earlier steamer car was built in Quebec in 1867.
110 years ago
1903
Born on this date
Johannes Heesters. Dutch-born German entertainer. Mr. Heesters was an actor and singer who began his career in his native Netherlands at the age of 16, and moved to Germany in 1935. He was a popular star in German films during the Nazi era, and performed on stage for German soldiers and SS personnel in camps and barracks during World War II. Mr. Heesters easily made the transition to postwar popular culture, but his previous Nazi associations ttracted controversy in later years. He made his last stage appearance on October 31, 2011 in Munich, and died on December 24, 2011, 19 days after his 108th birthday, as perhaps the oldest entertainer with the longest career in history. Literature
The Adventure of the Dancing Men by A. Conan Doyle, third in a series titled The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was published in this date's issue of Collier's Weekly in the United States and in the December 1903 issue of The Strand Magazine in the U.K.
80 years ago
1933
Law
National Prohibition in the United States came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment, in effect since early 1920, which had outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. The text of the 21st Amendment reads:
Section 1.70 years ago
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2.
The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
1943
War
Allied air forces began attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow. New German attacks in the bulge west of Kiev forced Soviet forces to abandon several populated places. In their first daylight attack and the first raid on Calcutta in 11 months, Japanese bombers inflicted 500 civilian casualties.
60 years ago
1953
Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Anna (The Baion)--Silvana Mangano
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett (Best Seller--3rd week at #1; Disc Jockey--2nd week at #1; Jukebox--1st week at #1)
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett (3rd week at #1)
2 Ricochet (Rick-O-Shay)--Teresa Brewer
3 Eh, Cumpari--Julius LaRosa
4 Ebb Tide--Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra
5 Istanbul (Not Constantinople)--The Four Lads
6 That's Amore--Dean Martin
7 Changing Partners--Patti Page
8 Many Times--Eddie Fisher
9 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett
10 Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)--Les Paul and Mary Ford
Singles entering the chart were Off Shore by Richard Hayman and his Orchestra (#19, charting with the version by Leo Diamond); Down by the Riverside, with versions by Bing and Gary Crosby and the Four Lads (#29); Tennessee Wig Walk by Bonnie Lou (#34, charting with the version by Russ Morgan and his Orchestra); and South of the Border (Down Mexico Way) by Frank Sinatra and Billy May and his Orchestra (#43).
Died on this date
William Sterling Parsons, 52. U.S. military officer. Rear Admiral Parsons joined the U.S. Navy in 1922, and trained in ordnance and ballistics. He joined the Manhattan Project in 1943 under J. Robert Oppenheimer, and was the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Rear Adm. Parsons remained a close friend and associate of Dr. Oppenheimer after the war, and was disturbed by the revocation of Dr. Oppenheimer's security clearance. Just hours after hearing of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "blank wall" directive denying Dr. Oppenheimer access to classified material, Rear Adm. Parsons began experiencing chest pains, and he died the next day, nine days after his 52nd birthday, while doctors were examining him at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
Jorge Negrete Moreno, 42. Mexican singer and actor. Mr. Negrete began singing opera in Mexico as a child, and continued his operatic career in the United States, using the name Alberto Moreno. He sang on radio in both countries, and appeared in more than 40 movies, helping to formulate the charro film genre. Mr. Negrete was one of the founders and General Secretary (1944-1947, 1949-1953) of the Asociación Nacional de Actores (National Association of Actors) (ANDA), and in 1952-1953 had a dispute with actress Leticia Palma, accusing her of stealing documents regarding her contract violations. She accused him of assault, but a special meeting of ANDA sided with Mr. Negrete, expelling Miss Palma and ending her film career. Mr. Negrete died complications of hepatic cirrhosis while on a business trip to Los Angeles, five days after his 42nd birthday.
50 years ago
1963
Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): She Loves You--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)
At the movies
Charade, starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, and James Coburn, opened in theatres.
40 years ago
1973
Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: I'd Love You to Want Me--Lobo (3rd week at #1)
Died on this date
Jimmy Cannon, 64. U.S. sportswriter. Mr. Cannon was a writer and columnist with the New York Daily News; New York Post; New York Journal-American; and King Features Syndicate. He was known for his coverage of baseball and boxing, and was one probably the most popular sportswriter in New York in the 1940s and '50s.
Protest
As independent truckers continued blockades of key highways in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Delaware, officials of the Teamsters union and representatives of the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, while disavowing the protest action, asked for meetings with U.S. President Richard Nixon to discuss the truckers' grievances. U.S. Transportation Secretary Claude Brinegar appealed for an end to the protest and promised an immediate investigation into allegations of price-gouging, and a review of diesel fuel allocations to truck stops. The truckers were also upset with government-imposed reductions on highway speed limits.
Baseball
The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Tommie Agee to the Los Angeles Dodgers for relief pitcher Pete Richert. The Cardinals had obtained Mr. Agee from the Houston Astros on August 18, but he had hit just .177 with 3 home runs and 7 runs batted in in 26 games with St. Louis, .222 with 11 homers and 22 RBIs in 109 games overall in 1973. Mr. Richert had posted a record of 3-3 with 7 saves and an earned run average of 3.18 in 39 games with the Dodgers in 1973.
30 years ago
1983
Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Uptown Girl--Billy Joel
Space
Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau, Steven Maclean, Kenneth Money, Robert Thirsk, and Bjarni Tryggvason became the first Canadian astronauts chosen for work on the U.S. space shuttle.
Terrorism
At least 14 people were killed and 83 wounded when a bomb exploded in western Beirut.
Politics and government
Argentina's three man ruling junta, consisting of the chiefs of the armed services, dissolved itself, paving the way for the return of civilian government after eight years of military rule.
25 years ago
1988
Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Don't Worry Be Happy--Bobby McFerrin (4th week at #1)
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You--Glenn Medeiros (3rd week at #1)
Diplomacy
Soviet diplomats and Afghan rebels concluded three days of talks in Taif, Saudi Arabia regarding the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan scheduled for completion by mid-February 1989. The participants reportedly discussed the transitional government, safe passage for departing Soviet soldiers, prisoner exchanges and war reparations. The talks were believed to be the first such contact between the U.S.S.R. and the anti-Communist Mujahadeen rebels since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Terrorism
According to a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration report not made public until December 22, a caller in Helsinki warned the U.S. embassy there that a Pan Am plane flying from Frankfurt to the United States would be the target of a bombing attempt within two weeks. The U.S. State Department alerted its personnel, some of whom changed their travel plans. The U.S. public was not warned of the threat, one of many received by the U.S. government.
Disasters
At least 60 students in Yaounde, Cameroon were killed when they were trampled or jumped to their deaths after hearing a false alarm that the school was about to collapse.
20 years ago
1993
Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)--Bitty McLean (2nd week at #1)
#1 single in Austria (Ö3): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (4th week at #1)
#1 single in Switzerland: I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (3rd week at #1)
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Stay (Faraway, So Close!)--U2
Crime
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that preliminary figures showed a decline of 3% in violent crime during the first six months of 1993.
10 years ago
2003
Terrorism
Nearly 50 people were killed and 150 wounded when suicide bombers struck a commuter train travelling near the republic of Chechnya.
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