February 27, 2014

420 years ago
1594

Franciana
King Henry IV was crowned at Chartres Cathedral.

200 years ago
1814

Music
Ludwig van Beethoven's Eighth Symphony received its premiere performance in Vienna.

170 years ago
1844

Died on this date
Nicholas Biddle, 58. U.S. banker and politician. Mr. Biddle, a Federalist, sat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1810 and in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1813-1815. He was President of the Second Bank of the United States from 1823-1836, but was opposed by U.S. President Andrew Jackson, who vetoed a bill to recharter the bank in 1832. Mr. Biddle mounted an attempt to defeat Mr. Jackson's campaign for re-election in 1832, but was unsuccessful; Mr. Jackson withdrew federal government money from the bank and distributed it among several state banks, allowing the Second Bank of the United States' charter to expire in 1836, although it continued as a state-chartered bank in Pennsylvania before failing in 1841. Mr. Biddle was hit by several civil suits, which he was still dealing with at the time of his death.

Caribbeana
The Dominican Republic gained its independence from Haiti.

150 years ago
1864

War
The first Northern prisoners in the U.S. Civil War arrived at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

75 years ago
1939

Labour
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sit-down strikes violated property owners' rights, and were therefore illegal.

70 years ago
1944

War
Soviet troops reached two points within 15 miles of Pskov, with the capture of Zamelnichye and Zakhodtsy. A convoy carrying one of the largest contingents of American troops ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean arrived in England.

Economics and finance
U.S. Foreign Economic Administrator Leo Crowley reported that lend-lease shipments to the U.S.S.R. from October 1941-December 1943 totalled 8.4 million tons valued at $4, 243,804,000.

An interim Allied food commission, meeting in Hot Springs, Virginia, completed plans for a permanent organization to guide production and distribution of food on the postwar period.

Sport
U.S. runner Gil Dodds was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as "the amateur athlete who did the most to advance the cause of sportsmanship in 1943."

60 years ago
1954

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Secret Love--Doris Day (Best Seller--1st week at #1); Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher (Disc Jockey--7th week at #1; Jukebox--5th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett (2nd week at #1)
--The Four Aces
--Tony Martin
2 Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher
--Eddie Calvert
3 Secret Love--Doris Day
4 That's Amore--Dean Martin
5 From the Vine Came the Grape--The Gaylords
--The Hilltoppers
6 Changing Partners--Patti Page
7 Till Then--The Hilltoppers
8 Make Love to Me--Jo Stafford
9 The Gang that Sang "Heart of My Heart"--The Four Aces
-- Don Cornell, Alan Dale, and Johnny Desmond
10 Woman (Uh-Huh)--Jose Ferrer
--Johnny Desmond

Singles entering the chart were Wanted by Perry Como (#21); Two Purple Shadows by Jerry Vale (#26); Man, Man is for the Woman Made by the Ames Brothers (#35); Venus De Milo by Bob Manning (#38); Bella Bella Donna by Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra (#39); and Hold 'Em, Joe by Harry Belafonte (#41).

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Glad All Over--The Dave Clark Five (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Anyone Who Had a Heart--Cilla Black

Theatre
The musical What Makes Sammy Run?, based on the novel by Budd Schulberg and starring Steve Lawrence, Robert Alda, Mace Barrett, and Barry Newman, opened at the 54th Street Theatre on Broadway in New York.

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 25.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Kansas City--Les Humphries Singers (2nd week at #1)

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Love Is a Battlefield--Pat Benatar (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Thriller--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)

War
Iraq said that it had begun to blockade Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal, and that its forces had launched air attacks against oil tankers at Kharg. The United States said that it was unable to verify the air attacks.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)--The Proclaimers (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Real Gone Kid--Deacon Blue (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Konrad Lorenz, 85. Austrian zoologist. Dr. Lorenz shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch "for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns." He was one of the founders of ethology, the study of animal behaviour. Dr. Lorenz joined the Nazi party in 1938, and supported Nazi eugenics policies. After World War II, he spent years lying about his Nazi past.

Diplomacy
U.S. President George Bush met with South Korean opposition leaders and addressed the National Assembly in Seoul.

Protest
Riots spread across Venezuela in reaction against government-imposed increases in transportation fares and gasoline prices.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The Heater--The Mutton Birds

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Without You--Mariah Carey (3rd week at #1)

Olympics
The 17th Winter Olympic Games ended in Lillehammer, Norway. Peter Forsberg scored on the seventh shot of a shoot-out to give Sweden a 3-2 win over Canada in the men's hockey final.

10 years ago
2004

Abominations
The first version of a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice was released on the Internet and reported that 10,667 children in the United States had made allegations of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002.

Terrorism
116 people were killed in the bombing of Superferry 14 in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf.