January 10, 2015

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Olga!

370 years ago
1645

Died on this date
William Laud, 72. English clergyman. Dr. Laud was ordained a deacon and a priest of the Church of England in 1601. He was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, and favoured a High Church policy, in opposition to the Puritans. Dr. Laud was accused by the Long Parliament of treason, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London from 1641 until his trial in 1644. The trial failed to produce a verdict, but a bill of attainder resulted in his conviction, and Dr. Laud was beheaded on London's Tower Hill, despite being granted a pardon by King Charles I.

200 years ago
1815

Diplomacy
The British government banned Americans from settling in Canada.

175 years ago
1840

Died on this date
Elizabeth, 69. U.K. royal family member. Princess Elizabeth, the seventh child and third daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte, was to married Friedrich VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, from 1818 until his death in 1829.

140 years ago
1875

Born on this date
António Machado Santos. Portuguese military officer. 2nd class Commissioner (Second Lieutenant) Santos joined the Portuguese Navy in 1891, and was known as the "Hero of the Rotunda," playing a major role in the October 5, 1910 revolution that toppled the Portuguese monarchy. Commissioner Santos opposed the politicians who took power after the revolution; he established the Reformist Party and took part in an unsuccessful military coup attempt against the government of Prime Minister Afonso Costa in 1913. Commissioner Santos led an unsuccessful revolt in 1916, but helped to suppress a monarchist counter-revolution in northern Portugal early in 1919. He founded the National Republican Federation later in 1919, and was assassinated on Ocotber 19, 1921 at the age of 46 as part of the military insurrection known as Bloody Night.

125 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Pina Menichelli. Italian actress. Miss Menichelli was a stage actress before appearing in numerous movies from 1913-1924, becoming one of Italy's most popular stars. Her first major role was in Il Fuoco (The Fire) (1916). Miss Menichelli retired from acting in 1924, and died on August 29, 1984 at the age of 94.

120 years ago
1895

Died on this date
Benjamin Godard, 45. French composer. Mr. Godard was a violinist who wrote eight operas, five symphonies, and more than 100 songs. His best-known work was the opera Jocelyn (1888). Mr. Godard died of tuberculosis.

75 years ago
1940

War
A German courier plane crashed in Belgium, and Nazi plans for an invasion of Belgium and France fell into Allied hands, prompting immediate concentrations of troops. Finland claimed that encirclement and freezing weather had trapped Soviet troops at Kokkamo. Japanese Army and Navy officials served notice to French officials in Shanghai that they must halt the shipment of arms supplies to China over the Haiphong-Yunnan railroad.

Diplomacy
There was a celebration in Geneva to mark the 20th anniversary of the League of Nations.

Society
The United States House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate the Gavagan anti-lynching bill.

Politics and government
Indian Viceroy Lord Linlithgow said that feuding between political parties was the only factor deterring Britain from granting dominion status to India.

Protest
Mexican labourers went on strike in several states to register opposition to Manuel Avila Camacho, the government-sponsored Mexican presidential candidate.

Economics and finance
Legal experts in Washington said that Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. corporations could invest in Canadian war loans without violating U.S. neutrality laws.

Business
Associated Gas and Electric, which had become the third-largest producer of electricity in the United States in the 1930s, declared bankruptcy, the day after owner Howard C. Hopson was convicted of 17 counts of mail fraud and two of income tax evasion, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

70 years ago
1945

Hit parade
Variety reported that the most popular songs in the United States were:
1 Don't Fence Me In
2 There Goes That Song
3 I'm Making Believe

War
Allied pressure on three sides further reduced the German bulge in Belgium, with indications that German troops were retreating eastward. With the capture of 1,000 more blocks, Soviet troops now controlled 3/4 of Budapest; to the northwest, German counterattacks were smashed. British officials reported that EAM (Greek National Liberation Front) has asked for a truce in the Greek civil war. U.S. forces in the Philippines linked beachheads at Lingayen Gulf and advanced inland.

Defense
U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg (Republican--Michigan) proposed that the U.S.A., U.K., U.S.S.R., France, and China immediately sign a treaty to keep Germany and Japan demilitarized.

Diplomacy
Mexico announced that an Inter-American Foreign Ministers Conference would convene in Mexico City on February 15.

Argentina announced that it would no longer participate in the Pan-American Union as long as it disregarded Argentine rights.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Adolf A. Berle, Jr. to be U.S. Ambassador to Brazil.

Terrorism
The Egyptian government announced that Eliahu Bet-Tsouri, 23, of Tel Aviv, and Eliahu Hakim, 20, of Haifa, both Jews, would go on trial and admit the premeditated murder on November 6, 1944 of Lord Moyne, British Minister resident in the Middle East.

Oil
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the Senate to return the Anglo-American petroleum agreement with a view to drafting a new pact "to remove grounds for misunderstanding."

Economics and finance
U.S. Director of War Mobilization and reconversion James Byrnes ordered as a fuel conservation measure a ban on ornamental and display lighting, except where excess gas and hydroelectric power was available without drawing on the coal supply.

60 years ago
1955

On television tonight
Sherlock Holmes, starring Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford
Tonight's episode: The Case of the Split Ticket



At the movies
Underwater!, starring Jane Russell and Richard Egan, received its world premiere screening at the bottom of a lake at Silver Springs, Florida, with invited guests donning aqualungs and bathing suits. It was most likely the strangest premiere in movie history.

50 years ago
1965

Football
NFL
Pro Bowl @ Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
West 34 East 14

60,598 fans were in attendance.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet--Bachman-Turner Overdrive (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Tränen Lügen Nicht--Michael Holm (3rd week at #1)

Ottawa's Top 30 (CFGO)
1 Kung Fu Fighting--Carl Douglas
2 When Will I See You Again--The Three Degrees
3 Cat's in the Cradle--Harry Chapin
4 One Man Woman/One Woman Man--Paul Anka with Odia Coates
5 Angie Baby--Helen Reddy
6 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds--Elton John
7 You're the First, the Last, My Everything--Barry White
8 Only You--Ringo Starr
9 Never Can Say Goodbye--Gloria Gaynor
10 Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)--Al Green
11 I Can Help--Billy Swan
12 If--Telly Savalas
13 Mandy--Barry Manilow
14 Please Mr. Postman--Carpenters
15 I've Got the Music in Me--Kiki Dee Band
16 Linda Put the Coffee On--Ray Materick
17 Laughter in the Rain--Neil Sedaka
18 Junior's Farm--Paul McCartney & Wings
19 Dancin' Fool--The Guess Who
20 Morning Side of the Mountain--Donny and Marie Osmond
21 Dark Horse--George Harrison
22 My Melody of Love--Bobby Vinton
23 Ride 'Em Cowboy--Paul Davis
24 Ramona--Stampeders
25 Bungle in the Jungle--Jethro Tull
26
27 (Make Me Do) Anything You Want--A Foot in Coldwater
28 Doctor's Orders--Carol Douglas
29 Changes--David Bowie
30 Boogie On Reggae Woman--Stevie Wonder

Economics and finance
The U.S.S.R. cancelled the 1972 trade agreement with the United States, blaming the Trade Reform Act, signed by U.S. President Gerald Ford on January 3, which linked most-favored-nation trade status to freer Soviet emigration policies.

30 years ago
1985

Died on this date
Anton Karas, 78. Austrian musician. Mr. Karas was a zither player and composer in Vienna who was performing at a cafe when he was discovered in 1948 by British movie director Carol Reed, who was in the city filming The Third Man. Mr. Reed thought that Mr. Karas's zither would provide the proper musical atmosphere for the film, so he was hired to provide the score. Third Man Theme was one of the biggest hit singles of 1950, not only for Mr. Karas, but for Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Mr. Karas went on a world tour that included a stop in Montreal, but he preferred to live a quiet life in Vienna, and never had another hit.

Politics and government
Sandinista Daniel Ortega became President of Nicaragua and vowed to continue the transformation to socialism and the alliance with the U.S.S.R. and Cuba. American policy continued to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.

Transportation
The Sinclair C5, an electric tricycle capable of a top speed of 15 miles per hour, drove into a safety row on its first day on the road.

Disasters
Eight people were killed and dozens injured when an explosion demolished Newnham House, a three-storey block of six flats in Putney, south-west London.

25 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (3rd week at #1)

World events
Chinese Premier Li Peng announced that martial law would be lifted in Beijing. In a televised speech, he said that order had been restored and "a great victory has been won in checking the turmoil and quelling the counter-revolutionary rebellion." He presumably said this in Chinese.

Politics and government
A party in the ruling coalition of East Germany confirmed that the government was forming a new secret security agency.

Business
Time Warner was formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.

20 years ago
1995

War
Russia declared a cease-fire in Chechnya, but fighting resumed within hours.

Politics and government
The United States Senate Finance Committee and the full Senate unanimously approved President Bill Clinton's nomination of Robert Rubin as Secretary of the Treasury.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that in 1994 as a whole the prices charged by producers for finished goods had risen by only 1.7%, with an increase in December of 0.2%.

10 years ago
2005

Scandal
CBS issued a damning independent review of mistakes related to the television news program 60 Minutes Wednesday's report on U.S. President George W. Bush's National Guard service. One major mistake was accepting the authenticity of a document supposedly from 1972 that looked as though it came from a word processor in the early 21st century--and did.

Disasters
A mudslide in La Conchita, California killed 10 people, injured many more and closed U.S. Route 101, the main coastal corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco, for 10 days.