Tuesday 14 January 2014

January 14, 2014

475 years ago
1539


Caribbeana
Spain annexed Cuba.

375 years ago
1639


Politics and government
The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.

200 years ago
1814


Diplomacy
In the Treaty of Kiel, King Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.

120 years ago
1894


Born on this date
Ecaterina Teodoroiu
. Romanian soldier and nurse. Sublocotenent Teodoroiu, born Cătălina Toderoiu, was originally a nurse, but persuaded authorities to allow her to serve as a soldier in the Romanian Army during World War I in 1916. She won several decorations for bravery before being killed at the age of 23 on September 3, 1917 by machine gun fire in the Muncelu-Varnița area of Romania.

100 years ago
1914


Born on this date
Harold Russell
. Canadian-born U.S. actor. Mr. Russell, a native of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts as a boy. While training paratroopers at Camp MacKall, North Carolina in 1944, TNT that he was holding exploded, resulting in the loss of both hands. Director William Wyler saw Mr. Russell in a training film, and cast him in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), for which he won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. It wasn't certain that he would win the award, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wanted to honour Mr. Russell for inspiring people with disabilities, so he was presented with a special Academy Award for his performance, becoming the only person to win two Oscars for the same performance. Mr. Russell earned a business degree and founded the organization AMVETS. He died on January 29, 2002 at the age of 88.

80 years ago
1934


Music
Charles Previn conducted the Leo Reisman Orchestra in the premiere performance of Variations on "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin at Symphony Hall in Boston.

75 years ago
1939


World events
Norway formally laid claim, on the basis of prior discovery, to the area of Antarctica known as Dronning (Queen) Maud Land.

70 years ago
1944


War
The U.S. Selective Service said that an additional 700,000 recruits must be called up in the first six months of 1944 to meet armed forces requirements. In their White Russian drive, Soviet forces pushed westward 20 miles beyond Mozyr to take Skrygalovo on the south bank of the Pripet River. French units in Italy captured Acquafondata and three nearby heights in the Allied drive on Cassino. U.S. forces took the important hill 660 in the Borgen Bay area of New Britain.

Diplomacy
The Polish government-in-exile in London asked the U.S.A. and U.K. to act as intermediaries in discussions with the U.S.S.R.

Politics and government
Democrats in New Hampshire named a slate of presidential delegates who supported a fourth term for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S. War Relocation Authority announced that the Army had restored the Tule Lake, California Japanese Segregation Center to full civil administration.

Medicine
The British Medical Journal reported the successful use of blood from bullocks and heifers as a substitute for human plasma.

Labour
The three U.S. railroad brotherhoods covering firemen, enginemen, conductors, and switchmen accepted wage terms suggested by U.S. President Roosevelt.

60 years ago
1954


Business
The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form the American Motors Corporation.

50 years ago
1964


On the radio
Baskervilles hund (The Hound of the Baskervilles), starring Ebbe Rode and Helge Kjaerulff-Schmidt, on Danmarks Radio

On television tonight
The Fugitive, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Garden House, with guest stars Robert Webber, Pippa Scott, and Peggy McCay

40 years ago
1974


Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)--Helen Reddy (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Algo Más--Camilo Sesto (8th week at #1)

Scandal
Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, termed as "ludicrous" the allegation published three days earlier in The New York Times secret information from national security adviser Henry Kissinger's office had been leaked to him by a "ring" of military officers, some of them assigned to the National Security Council.

30 years ago
1984


Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): La Donna Cannone--Francesco De Gregori (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (VRT Top 30): You Are--Dolly Parton

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): You Are--Dolly Parton (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Only You--The Flying Pickets (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Pipes of Peace--Paul McCartney

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson (6th week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Union of the Snake--Duran Duran (3rd week at #1)
2 Owner of a Lonely Heart--Yes
3 Say it Isn't So--Daryl Hall-John Oates
4 Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
5 Twist of Fate--Olivia Newton-John
6 Talking in Your Sleep--The Romantics
7 Break My Stride--Matthew Wilder
8 All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie
9 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club
10 Major Tom (Coming Home)--Peter Schilling

Singles entering the chart were Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police (#35); Jump by Van Halen (#47); New Moon on Monday by Duran Duran (#58); Bang Your Head (Metal Health) by Quiet Riot (#64); and This Woman by Kenny Rogers (#71).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Major Tom (Coming Home)--Peter Schilling
2 Union of the Snake--Duran Duran
3 Say Say Say--Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
4 Love is a Battlefield--Pat Benatar
5 Owner of a Lonely Heart--Yes
6 Twist of Fate--Olivia Newton-John
7 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club
8 Cum On Feel the Noize--Quiet Riot
9 All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie
10 Islands in the Stream--Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton

Singles entering the chart were So Bad by Paul McCartney (#36); Think of Laura by Christopher Cross (#41); Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police (#44); Pink Houses by John Cougar Mellencamp (#46); and If I'd Been the One by 38 Special (#50).

Died on this date
Brooks Atkinson, 89
. U.S. theatre critic. Mr. Atkinson was probably the most influential theatre critic of his time, working with The New York Times from 1922-1960, with the exception of much of the 1940s, when he was a foreign correspondent in China and the U.S.S.R. He supported new kinds of theatre, and helped to boost the popularity of Off-Broadway productions. Mr. Atkinson was awarded the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his work in Moscow.

Ray Kroc, 81. U.S. business executive. Mr. Kroc joined the McDonald's restaurant chain in 1954, and bought the company for $2.7 million in 1961, turning it into the world's most successful fast food operation. In 1974 he bought the San Diego Padres baseball team, which seemed on the verge of moving to Washington, and kept the club in San Diego.

Saad Haddad. Lebanese militia leader. General Haddad, who led an Israeli-backed militia in southern Lebanon, died of cancer.

Music
The single Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell, with guest vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson, was released on Motown Records.

Politics and government
Nicaragua announced that presidential and legislative elections would be held in 1985.

25 years ago
1989


Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): C'è da spostare una macchina--Francesco Salvi (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Can't Stay Away from You--Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine

#1 single in France (SNEP): High--David Hallyday (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Especially for You--Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 My Prerogative--Bobby Brown
2 Two Hearts--Phil Collins
3 Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison
4 Don't Rush Me--Taylor Dayne
5 Armageddon It--Def Leppard
6 In Your Room--Bangles
7 Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson
8 I Remember Holding You--Boys Club
9 Put a Little Love in Your Heart--Annie Lennox and Al Green
10 The Way You Love Me--Karyn White

Singles entering the chart were Paradise City by Guns n' Roses (#85); The Love in Your Eyes by Eddie Money (#88); Don't Tell Me Lies by Breathe (#96); and Let's Put the X in Sex by Kiss (#97).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Cash Box): Every Rose Has its Thorn--Poison (4th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 5 Toronto 3

20 years ago
1994


Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): It's Alright--East 17

Diplomacy
In Moscow, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement on Ukrainian weapons. Ukraine agreed to deactivate all of its strategic missiles and ship at least 200 warheads to Russia, all within the next 10 months. Russia would dismantle the warheads and return the uranium to Ukraine for civilian uses. Within seven years, Ukraine would send the rest of its warheads to Russia for dismantling. The U.S. agreed to increase its financial aid to Ukraine, which also got pledges from Russia and the U.S. to come to her aid in the event of an outside attack. However, approval of the pact by the Ukrainian parliament remained uncertain. In a separate agreement with Russia, the U.S. would buy, over a period of 20 years, 500 tons of uranium from Soviet weapons, uranium currently worth $12 billion. Messrs. Clinton and Yeltsin said that none of their strategic weapons would be aimed at the territory of any country after May 30, 1994. Mr. Clinton talked with Russian young people at a televised assembly.

Crime
Shane Stant, believed by authorities to have carried out the assault on U.S. women's figure skating champion Nancy Kerrigan on January 6 in Detroit, surrendered in Phoenix.

Britannica
The Duchess of Kent formally converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, becoming the first member of the British royal family to convert to Catholicism in more than 300 years.

10 years ago
2004


Died on this date
Uta Hagen, 83
. German-born U.S.actress. Miss Hagen, a native of Göttingen who emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 5, was mainly a stage actress, winning Tony Awards for her leading performances in The Country Girl (1951) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1963). Among her few movies were The Boys from Brazil (1978) and Reversal of Fortune (1990).

Ron O'Neal, 66. U.S. actor. Mr. O'Neal was best known as the star of the movie Super Fly (1972).

Space
During a visit to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters in Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said, "Today I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across our solar system." After announcing that the first goal was to get the space shuttles flying again and finish building the international space station, he said:

Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploraion Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014...Our third goal is to return to the moon...Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there...With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.
Terrorism
A mother of two children killed herself and four Israeli security officers in the Gaza Strip, marking the first time that the Palestinian organization Hamas had used a woman as a suicide bomber.

Law
Italy's constitutional court ruled that a law passed in June 2003 giving Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and four other top officials immunity from prosecution was unconstitutional.

World events
The national flag of The Republic of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", was restored to official use after a hiatus of 500 years.

Transportation
The government of Canada announced that it would fund most of a $325,000 study to examine the possibility of building a causeway or tunnel between Labrador and Newfoundland.

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