Tuesday 15 January 2008

January 14, 2008

150 years ago
1858


World events
Emperor Napoleon III of France escaped an assassination attempt by Felice Orsini and his accomplices in Paris. The plot was backed by English radicals, leading to anti-English outrage in France.

120 years ago
1888


Died on this date
Stephen Heller, 74
. Hungarian composer. Mr. Heller composed or arranged almost 200 works for piano.

110 years ago
1898


Died on this date
Lewis Carroll, 65
. U.K. author and mathematician. Mr. Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a logician who was best known for his books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872). He died 13 days before his 66th birthday.

80 years ago
1928


At the movies
The Divine Woman, directed by Victor Sjöström, and starring Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson, opened in theatres.





Died on this date
Fred Hoyt
. U.S. aviator. Mr. Hoyt lived in Kansas; on his way from Salt Lake City to Boise, he parachuted from his disabled plane into a mountain canyon, where he froze to death.

60 years ago
1948


Died on this date
Ans van Dijk, 42
. Dutch traitor. Miss van Dijk was a Jewish woman who was arrested in 1943 by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Nazi intelligence service in the Netherlands. She then promised to work with the SD, and while pretending to be a member of the Dutch resistance, betrayed Jews, including family members, and may have been responsible for the deaths of as many as 700 people. Miss van Dijk was arrested on June 30, 1945, and was convicted in 1947 of 23 counts of treason. She was executed by firing squad at Fort Bijlmer in the municipality of Weesperkarspel (now part of Amsterdam), becoming the only Dutch woman to be executed for her activities during World War II.

Politics and government
Colombian President Mariano Ospina Perez completed formation of a new cabinet, head by Conservative Jose Antonio Montalvo.

Two Communist rallies in New York urged support for the third-party U.S. presidential campaign of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace.

Academia
The Association of American Colleges concluded a three-day meeting in Cincinnati by creating a commission to combat discrimination against minority groups in college admissions.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Harry Truman issued his annual economic report to Congress, urging immediate enactment of credit restraints and other anti-inflation measures to prevent an economic downturn.

Iranian Prime Minister Ibrahim Hakimi cancelled a $25-million purchase of surplus U.S. war materiel and a $250-million International Bank loan for an oil field development, claiming that Iran could finance the project from her own resources.

The United States refused to release Yugoslavian assets frozen in New York until the Yugoslavian government of President Marshal Josip Broz Tito agreed to settle $42 million in American business claims on nationalized property.

Labour
American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo was cleared in Chicago of U.S. government charges that he had violated the Lea Act by ordering a strike to force a radio station to hire three unneeded musicians.

The Screen Writers Guild voted against extending financial support to six members indicted for contempt of the United States Congress.

50 years ago
1958


War
Fidel Castro and his Cuban guerrilla army launched a daytime raid on the port city of Manzanillo in southeastern Cuba, attacking trains, setting fire to sugar fields, and taking prisoners.

Defense
The U.S.S.R. Defense Ministry confirmed the ouster of General Aleksei Zhetlov as chief of the armed forces Main Political Administration on grounds of laxness in political indoctrination.

Economics and finance
Spain and Morocco signed an agreement in Rabat providing for replacement of Spanish pesetas by Moroccan francs in areas of Morocco formerly ruled by Spain.

U.S. Representatives Wilbur Mills (Democrat--Arkansas) and Daniel Reed (Republican--New York) introduced bills raising the national debt ceiling from $275 billion to $280 billion, a proposal urged by Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson.

40 years ago
1968


Golf
Johnny Pott won the Bing Crosby Tournament in Pebble Beach, California in a playoff after shooting a 4-round score of 285; first prize money was $16,000.

Football
AFL-NFL
Super Bowl II @ Orange Bowl, Miami
Green Bay 33 Oakland 14

The Packers made it two Super Bowl wins in a row for the National Football League champions when they defeated the Raiders 33-14 before 75,546 fans. Packer quarterback Bart Starr completed a 62-yard bomb to Boyd Dowler for one touchdown, and handed off to Donny Anderson for a 2-yard run for another score. Herb Adderley scored the other Packer TD on a 60-yard interception return in the 4th quarter. Don Chandler converted all 3 Packer touchdowns and added 4 field goals. Bill Miller, who led all receivers with 5 catches for 84 yards, scored both Raider touchdowns on 23-yard passes from quarterback Daryle Lamonica. The Green Bay defense held the great Raider receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Warren Wells to 2 catches for 10 yards, and 1 for 17, respectively. The game marked the end of Vince Lombardi's reign as coach of the Packers; in 9 years, his teams won 5 NFL championships, and the first 2 Super Bowls. He stayed on as general manager, and turned the coaching reigns over to Phil Bengtson, one of his assistants. The AFL champion Raiders, coached by John Rauch, had finished with a record of 13-1.





30 years ago
1978


Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Solo Tu--Matia Bazar (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Belfast--Boney M. (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School--Wings (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Baby Come Back--Player

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Mull of Kintyre--Wings (4th week at #1)
2 Egyptian Reggae--Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
3 If I Had Words--Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir
4 Isn't it Time--The Babys
5 The Clown--BZN
6 Singin' in the Rain--Sheila B. Devotion
7 Lust for Life--Iggy Pop
8 't Smurfenlied--Vader Abraham
9 It's a Heartache--Bonnie Tyler
10 Livin' Without You--Patricia Paay

Singles entering the chart were Tingelingeling by André Van Duin Presenteert Ome Joop en Het Dik Voormekaar Koor (#20); I Can't Stand the Rain by Eruption featuring Precious Wilson (#26); Black Betty by Ram Jam (#29); No More Heroes by the Stranglers (#31); She's Not There by Santana (#33); You Make Loving Fun by Fleetwood Mac (#36); and Brick House by the Commodores (#37).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Baby Come Back--Player
2 How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees
3 You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)--Rod Stewart
4 Short People--Randy Newman
5 We are the Champions--Queen
6 Slip Slidin' Away--Paul Simon
7 (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again--L.T.D.
8 Here You Come Again--Dolly Parton
9 Come Sail Away--Styx
10 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel

Singles entering the chart were Boats Against the Current by Eric Carmen (#96); Le Spank by Le Pamplemousse (#97); Let it Go, Let it Flow by Dave Mason (#98); Our Love by Natalie Cole (#99); and Theme Song from "Which Way is Up?" by Stargard (#100). Theme Song from "Which Way is Up?" was from the movie.

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees (4th week at #1)
2 Blue Bayou--Linda Ronstadt
3 Sentimental Lady--Bob Welch
4 (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again--L.T.D.
5 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
6 Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue--Crystal Gayle
7 Slip Slidin' Away--Paul Simon
8 Here You Come Again--Dolly Parton
9 You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)--Rod Stewart
10 You Make Loving Fun--Fleetwood Mac

Singles entering the chart were The Name of the Game by ABBA (#87); Curious Mind (Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um) by Johnny Rivers (#89); Too Hot Ta Trot by the Commodores (#90); Always and Forever by Little River Band (#91); Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton (#94); Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson (#96); Theme from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by John Williams (#98); Theme from Close Encounters by Meco (#99); and I Don't Want to Be Alone by Ken Tobias (#100).

Died on this date
Harold Abrahams, 78
. U.K. runner and journalist. Mr. Abrahams participated in the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp in four events, but failed to win a medal. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, he won the gold medal in the men's 100-metre run, and the silver medal as the opening runner in the men's 4 x 100-metre relay event. The stories of Mr. Abrahams and Eric Liddell in the 1924 Olympics were the subject of the movie Chariots of Fire (1981). Mr. Abrahams reported on track and field for 40 years, as well as working as a lawyer.

Kurt Gödel, 71. Austro-Hungarian-born U.S. mathematician and philosopher. Dr. Gödel is regarded as one of the most important logicians in history, particularly because of his incompleteness theorems. He fled Austria shortly after the beginning of World War II and made his way to the United States, accepting a position with the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University, and obtaining U.S. citizenship in 1947. In his later years, Dr. Gödel developed an obsessive fear of being poisoned, and refused to eat food that wasn't cooked by his wife Adele. When she was hospitalized for six months in 1977 and was unable to cook for him, he stopped eating, and starved to death. Dr. Gödel weighed only 65 pounds at the time of his death.

Hockey
NHL
Boston 3 @ Montreal 5

20 years ago
1988


Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Never Can Say Goodbye--The Communards

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Georgy Malenkov, 86
. Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier) of the U.S.S.R., 1953-1955. Mr. Malenkov joined the Communist Party in 1920 and became Soviet Premier after the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, but was forced out of office by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1955. He failed in a palace coup attempt against Mr. Khrushchev in 1957, was exiled to Kazakhstan, and expelled from the party in 1961. Mr. Malenkov eventually returned to Moscow and maintained a low profile for the rest of his life.

Hockey
NHL
New York Islanders' defenseman Denis Potvin scored his 300th careeer National Hockey League goal.

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