January 6, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Sherlock Holmes, Sheila Hellevang, and Johanna Wegner!

320 years ago
1693

Died on this date
Mehmed IV, 51. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1648-1687. Mehmed the Hunter took the Ottoman throne at the age of 6, but handed over most of his executive power to his Grand Vizier. He was deposed in 1687 and imprisoned in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

175 years ago
1838

Communications
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail first demonstrated the telegraph in their laboratory in Morristown, New Jersey. Mr. Vail sent, and Mr. Morse, in another part of the building, received a message reading: "A patient waiter is no loser".

160 years ago
1853

Died on this date
Benjamin Pierce, 11. U.S. accident victim. The third and youngest child of U.S. President-elect Franklin Pierce and his wife Jane--and the only one to live past the age of 4--Benjamin was riding with his parents on a train from Andover, Massachusetts to Boston when an axle broke and the train went over a 15-foot embankment. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce escaped with minor injuries, but Benjamin was crushed by the car and nearly decapitated as the accident's only fatality.

130 years ago
1883

Born on this date
Kahlil Gibran. Ottoman-born U.S. poet, artist, and philosopher. Mr. Gibran, a native of Ottoman Lebanon, moved to the United States with his family when he was 12. He was a prolific painter before achieving greater success as a writer. Mr. Gibran was raised as a Maronite Christian, but was influenced by Islamic Sufi mysticism and the Baháʼí Faith, and believed in the fundamental unity of religions. He expressed his views in his art and books, the best known of which was The Prophet (1923), a collection of 26 prose poetry fables. Mr. Gibran was a heavy drinker who died on April 10, 1931 at the age of 48, from cirrhosis of the liver, while developing tuberculosis in one lung.

120 years ago
1893

Americana
The Washington National Cathedral was chartered by the United States Congress. U.S. President Benjamin Harrison signed the charter.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Edward Gierek. Polish politician. Mr. Gierek joined the Polish United Workers' Party (Communist) in 1948 and worked his way up through the ranks before replacing Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the party in December 1970, and serving as the de facto leader of Poland until he was ousted in September 1980. His reign was marked by a poor economy, which included food shortages, and labour strife, which ultimately forced his dismissal. Mr. Gierek, a coal miner in his youth, died of miner's lung illness on July 29, 2001 at the age of 88.

60 years ago
1953

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Little Camorra, starring William Prince and Mary Sinclair

Politics and government
The first Asian Socialist Conference opened in Rangoon, Burma.

50 years ago
1963

Football
CFL
Steve Owen resigned as head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders after two seasons, shortly after suffering a heart attack. Mr. Owens had coached the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1930-1953, leading them to NFL championships in 1934 and 1938. He came to the Canadian Football League in 1959 as an assistant coach with the Toronto Argonauts and replaced Hamp Pool as head coach early in the season. In a similar scenario the following year, he joined the Calgary Stampeders as an assistant coach and replaced Otis Douglas as head coach early in the season. Mr. Owen was named head coach of the Roughriders on December 29, 1960, and led them to a fourth-place finish in the Western Football Conference in 1961 with a 5-10-1 record. They improved to 8-7-1 in 1962, good enough for third place and a playoff spot. The Roughriders were eliminated in the Western semi-finals, but Mr. Owen was named the winner of the Annis Stukus Trophy as the CFL's Coach of the Year. The Roughriders, fearing that Mr. Owen might not live much longer, reluctantly accepted his resignation.

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me--Mac Davis
2 Popcorn--Hot Butter
3 Ben--Michael Jackson
4 Burning Love--Elvis Presley
5 I Can See Clearly Now--Johnny Nash
6 Too Young--Donny Osmond
7 The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.--Donna Fargo
8 You're a Lady--Peter Skellern
9 Go All the Way--Raspberries
10 Rock Me Baby--Johnny Farnham

Singles entering the chart were You've Got the Gun by Sherbet (#36) and Mama Weer All Crazee Now by Slade (#39).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): You're So Vain--Carly Simon

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 You're So Vain--Carly Simon
2 Me and Mrs. Jones--Billy Paul
3 Clair--Gilbert O'Sullivan
4 It Never Rains in Southern California--Albert Hammond
5 Rockin' Pneumonia-Boogie Woogie Flu--Johnny Rivers
6 Superstition--Stevie Wonder
7 You Ought to Be with Me--Al Green
8 Superfly--Curtis Mayfield
9 Funny Face--Donna Fargo
10 Your Mama Don't Dance--Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina

Singles entering the chart were Living Together, Growing Together by the 5th Dimension (#72); Good Morning Heartache by Diana Ross (#82); My Crew by Rita Coolidge (#92); Jesus was a Capricorn by Kris Kristofferson (#94); But I Do by Bobby Vinton (#97); The Message by Cymande (#98); and Dueling Banjos by Eric Weissberg with Steve Mandel (#100). Living Together, Growing Together was from the movie Lost Horizon (1973); the movie was one of the decade's biggest flops, and brought about the end of the songwriting partnership of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Dueling Banjos was from the movie Deliverance (1972).

#1 single in Canada (RPM): I Am Woman--Helen Reddy (4th week at #1)

Calgary’s Top 10
1 Last Song--Edward Bear
2 It Never Rains in Southern California--Albert Hammond
3 Me and Mrs. Jones--Billy Paul
4 Ben--Michael Jackson
5 I'm Stone in Love with You--The Stylistics
6 Keeper of the Castle--Four Tops
7 Crocodile Rock--Elton John
8 You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio--Joni Mitchell
9 Clair--Gilbert O'Sullivan
10 You're So Vain--Carly Simon
Pick hit of the week: Pieces of April--Three Dog Night

Died on this date
Pauline Henry, 84. U.S.-born Canadian woman. Born Pauline Messenger in Ottumwa, Iowa, she married insurance man Roy Henry and settled in Edmonton, where she died. She was this blogger's maternal grandmother, and is fondly remembered and greatly missed.

Hockey
WHA
All-Star Game @ Le Colisee, Quebec
East 6 West 2

Wayne Carleton of the Ottawa Nationals scored a goal and an assist and was named the game's most valuable player as the Eastern Division won the World Hockey Association's first All-Star Game before 5,435 fans. Danny Lawson of the Philadelphia Blazers and Gary Jarrett of the Cleveland Crusaders also each had a goal and an assist, and Ron Ward of the New York Raiders added 2 assists for the East. Johnny McKenzie, Larry Pleau, and Jim Dorey of the New England Whalers each scored a goal for the East, while Gerry Odrowski and Bobby Hull of the Winnipeg Jets scored the Western Division goals.

30 years ago
1983

World events
Kent Kirk, a Danish trawler owner and member of the European parliament, was arrested for illegally entering British waters in protest against a ban on fishing by non-U.K. boats in British coastal waters.

20 years ago
1993

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: New Years

Died on this date
Dizzy Gillespie, 75. U.S. musician. Mr. Gillespie was one of the world's most famous jazz trumpeters and was one of the founders of the genre of jazz known as bebop.

Rudolf Nureyev, 54. Russian-born dancer. Mr. Nureyev became one of the world's best-known ballet dancers with the Kirov Ballet. He defected to France in 1961, and eventually became an Austrian citizen.

World events
Indian Border Security Force units killed 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu, and Kashmir in reprisal after a BSF patrol had been ambushed.

Labour
National Football League owners consented to a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that granted players unrestricted free agency, while owners were alowed to impose team salary caps.