January 9, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Olga!

390 years ago
1624

Born on this date
Meishō. Empress of Japan, 1629-1643. Meishō, born Okiko, acceded to the Chrysanthemum throne upon the abdication of her father Go-Mizunoo. She had no children, and abdicated in favour of her brother Go-Kōmyō. Meishō died on December 4, 1696 at the age of 72.

175 years ago
1839

Born on this date
John Knowles Paine. U.S. composer. Mr. Paine was the first American composer to gain fame for large-scale orchestral music, and was the senior member of a group known as the Boston Six. He served as director of the New England Conservatory of Music and taught at Harvard University for many years. Mr. Paine wrote two symphonies and numerous pieces for chorus and orchestra, and for organ. The only piece of Mr. Paine's music I've ever heard is the Prelude to his music for a production of Oedipus Tyrannus at Harvard (1881)--and it's a great piece of music. Mr. Paine died on April 25, 1906 at the age of 67.

War
The State of Maine prepared for war with New Brunswick, as Colonel Jarvis and 800 Maine volunteers occupied the disputed territory of Aroostook.

Technology
The French Academy of Sciences announced the invention of the Daguerreotype photography process.

125 years ago
1889

Disasters
The Niagara Suspension Bridge collapsed at Queenston, Ontario during a winter storm.

120 years ago
1894

Technology
New England Telephone and Telegraph installed the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.

100 years ago
1914

Academia
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically Negro intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University, was founded.

80 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Perry Werden, 68 or 72. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Werden, whose birth year is recorded as 1861 in some sources and 1865 in others, began his career as a pitcher, breaking into the major leagues with the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association in 1884. He posted a 12-1 record with a 1.97 earned run average in 16 games, leading the UA in winning percentage and helping the Maroons win the pennant in the league's only season. An arm injury forced Mr. Werden to move to first base, where he played with the Washington Nationals (1888); Toledo Maumees (1890); Baltimore Orioles (1891); St. Louis Browns (1892-1893); and Louisville Colonels (1897), batting .282 with 26 home runs and 439 runs batted in in 693 major league games. He led the National League in 1893 with 29 triples. Mr. Werden played at least 1,100 games in 18 minor league seasons from 1884-1908. His greatest success and popularity came with the Minneapolis Millers of the Western League (1894-1896, 1899); American League (1900); and American Association (1902). Mr. Werden led the WL with 43 home runs in 1894 and 45 in 1895; his totals were aided by short distances to the outfield walls of Athletic Park in Minneapolis, but his 1895 total stood as a professional baseball record for a single season until Babe Ruth hit 54 homers for the New York Yankees in 1920. Mr. Werden tied for the American League lead in home runs (9) in the AL's only season as a minor league. He was a master of the hidden ball trick and was one of the most colourful and entertaining players of his day, although his hot temper sometimes got the better of him. After years of heaping abuse on umpires as a player, Mr. Werden became an umpire in the American Association (1906-1907); Northern League (1913); and Dakota League (1920-1921). He died of a heart attack.

75 years ago
1939

Died on this date
Johann Strauss III, 72. Austrian composer and conductor. Mr. Strauss was the nephew of Johann Strauss II and grandnephew of Johann Strauss I. His early compositions weren't well-received , so he turned to conducting, becoming the first member of his family to conduct works that were recorded by major recording companies.

75 years ago
1944

Died on this date
Antanas Smetona, 69. 1st President of Lithuania, 1919-1920, 1926-1940. Mr. Smetona was a member of the Lithuanian Democratic Party from 1902-1907, and then joined the Party of National Progress before joining the Lithuanian Nationalist Union in 1924. He was elected President in 1919 by the State Council, but was defeated in an election by the Constituent Assembly in 1920. Mr. Smetona became President again in December 1926 after a coup unseated President Kazys Grinius. He ruled by decree from 1929 until he was forced to flee the country when Soviet forces occupied Lithuania in 1940. Mr. Smetona fled to Germany and was eventually allowed to emigrate to the United States, where he lived as a private citizen until his death in a fire at the house of his son.

War
Allied units in Italy reached to within 4 1/2 miles of Cassino, on the northern end of their 10-mile line. German forces added large reinforcements to their units in an effort to eliminate the Yugoslavian partisans in western and central Bosnia. Soviet offensives continued in Ukraine, with more than 110 localities being captured, including Polonnoye and Alexandrovka.

Diplomacy
Iraq and Syria announced an agreement on questions of unity.

Politics and government
The U.S. Prohibition Party nominated Claude A. Watson as its 1944 U.S. presidential candidate; he called for a fight against "governmental bureaucracy and extravagance and the strongly entrenched liquor power."

Labour
American Federation of Labor President William Green and the Congress of Industrial Organizations' Postwar Planning Committee urged the creation of centralized agencies to plan the reconversion of industry to peacetime activities.

60 years ago
1954

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Pretend--Nat "King" Cole (2nd week at #1)

#1 singles in U.S.A. (Billboard): Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher (Best Seller--2nd week at #1); Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett (Disc Jockey--7th week at #1; Jukebox--6th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher (2nd week at #1)
--Eddie Calvert
2 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett
--The Four Aces
3 Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett
4 Changing Partners--Patti Page
--[Kay Starr]
5 That's Amore--Dean Martin
6 Ricochet (Rick-O-Shay)--Teresa Brewer
7 The Gang that Sang "Heart of My Heart"--The Four Aces
-- Don Cornell, Alan Dale, and Johnny Desmond
8 You Alone (Solo Tu)--Perry Como
9 Ebb Tide--Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra
10 Eh, Cumpari--Julius LaRosa

There were no singles entering the chart.

Hockey
NHL
Bert Olmstead of the Montreal Canadiens tied his teammate Rocket Richard's record of 8 points in a game, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists in a 12-1 rout of the Chicago Black Hawks at the Montreal Forum. Mr. Richard had recorded 5 goals and 3 assists in a 9-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Montreal Forum on December 28, 1944.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (5th week at #1)

Protest
A disturbance in the Panama Canal Zone that began with a dispute over the display of flags at Balboa High School escalated into full-scale rioting between Panamanians and Canal Zone Police, aided by Guardia Nacional forces, and then spread to Panama City, resulting in the deaths of 28 people--including 3 U.S. soldiers--and the burning of buildings containing American-owned businesses. In a classic example of bad timing and misjudgment of the seriousness of the situation, Canal Zone Governor Robert Fleming departed the Canal Zone that afternoon for a meeting in Washington, D.C., and was still en route and over the Caribbean Sea when the rioting began. The anniversary is now commemorated in Panama as a public holiday called Martyrs' Day.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: I'd Love You to Want Me--Lobo (8th week at #1)

Diplomacy
Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka continued his southeast Asian tour with a visit to Bangkok, where 2,000 anti-Japanese students accosted him with signes decrying "economic imperialism."

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Karma Chameleon--Culture Club (4th week at #1)

Politics and government
On the call of King Hussein, the Jordanian parliament convened. Because the parliament included representatives of the West Bank Palestinians, the move was seen as a means of getting Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat to negotiate with Jordan on a Palestinian settlement.

Economics and finance
Dun & Bradstreet Corporation reported that 31,334 businesses in the United States had failed in 1983, up 24% from 1982, and the highest total since 1932.

Scandal
Rita Lavelle, a former official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $10,000 after being convicted on December 1, 1983 of four counts of perjury and obstructing a Congressional investigation. Ms. Lavelle, head of the EPA's toxic waste program until her dismissal on February 7, 1983, had given sworn testimony at Congressional hearings that she had not known that her former employer, Aerojet-General Corp., had dumped hazardous wastes at a California disposal site. She had also testified that she had not dealt with the cleanup of the California site after learning that Aerojet was involved. Witnesses at the trial contradicted her testimony. Ms. Lavelle had also been convicted of perjury for claiming that cleanup projects in three states had not been influenced by political considerations.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Kokomo--The Beach Boys (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

Died on this date
Bill Terry, 90. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. Terry was a first baseman with the New York Giants from 1923-1936 and managed the Giants from 1932-1941. He batted .341 with 154 home runs and 1,078 runs batted in in 1,721 games. He was the last National League player to hit .400, leading the NL with a .401 average in 1930. As a manager, Mr. Terry led the Giants to the World Series championship in 1933, and National League pennants in 1936 and 1937, compiling a record of 823-661 (.555). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a player in 1954.

Economics and finance
Outgoing U.S. President Ronald Reagan submitted his final budget--for fiscal 1990--to the United States Congress. He proposed to spend $1.15 trillion, with a deficit of $92.5 billion. Defense spending would grow 2% faster than inflation. More money was targeted for AIDS, rescuing insolvent savings and loan institutions, and cleaning up contaminated nuclear weapons facilities. The president also proposed elimination of 82 federal programs. All of this hardly mattered, since Vice-President George Bush would be replacing Mr. Reagan as President eleven days hence.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)--Bitty McLean (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (8th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Twist and Shout--Chaka Demus and the Pliers (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Johnny Temple, 66. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Temple was a second baseman with the Cincinnati Reds/Redlegs (1952-1959, 1964); Cleveland Indians (1960-1961); Baltimore Orioles (1962); and Houston Colt .45s (1962-1963), batting .284 with 22 home runs and 384 runs batted in in 1,420 games. A leadoff hitter, he walked almost twice as often as he struck out, and was selected to play in six All-Star games. His best season was 1959, when he hit .311 with 8 home runs and 67 runs batted in. Mr. Temple was popular with fans, but was reportedly unpopular with other players, and was fired by the Reds as a coach in 1964 after getting into a fight with fellow coach Reggie Otero. Mr. Temple fell on hard times after his playing career, losing lots of money in a bad investment, and being charged in 1977 with being involved in a heavy equipment theft ring. He testified against his partners in crime, and disappeared from the public eye.

Defense
Slovakia accepted the proposal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for a limited association with NATO.

Football
NFL
NFC Wild Card Playoff
Minnesota 10 @ New York Giants 17

Rodney Hampton rushed for touchdowns of 51 and 2 yards in the 3rd quarter to enable the Giants to overcome a 10-3 halftime deficit and defeat the Vikings before 75,089 fans at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

AFC Wild Card Playoff
Denver 24 @ Los Angeles Raiders 42

Napoleon McCallum rushed for touchdowns of 26, 2, and 1 yards in the 2nd half as the Raiders broke a 21-21 halftime tie to defeat the Broncos before 65,314 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

10 years ago
2004

War
Recently-captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was declared a prisoner of war, giving him access to the services of the Red Cross.

Disasters
An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalled near the Karaburun Peninsula while on the way to Brindisi, Italy, and exposure to the elements killed 28 people.