Downs Tree » Johnnie Lee Thornton (1927-1995)

Day of marriage February 17, 1947

• The temperature on February 17, 1947 was between -11.3 °C and -2.8 °C and averaged -6.8 °C. There was 7.6 hours of sunshine (76%). The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the east. Source: KNMI
• Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from July 3, 1946 to August 7, 1948 the cabinet Beel I, with Dr. L.J.M. Beel (KVP) as prime minister.
• In the year 1947: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 9.5 million citizens.
  • January 1 » The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
  • February 18 » First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to mountains.
  • July 11 » The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.
  • August 7 » Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
  • November 17 » American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.
  • November 18 » The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

Day of death January 26, 1995

• The temperature on January 26, 1995 was between 1.9 °C and 12.2 °C and averaged 7.7 °C. There was 12.5 mm of rain during 11.4 hours. The heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 5 Bft (very strong wind) and was prevailing from the west-southwest. Source: KNMI
• Koningin Beatrix (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from April 30, 1980 till April 30, 2013 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, August 22, 1994 to Monday, August 3, 1998 the cabinet a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabinet-Kok_I" class="extern">Kok I, with W. Kok (PvdA) as prime minister.
• In the year 1995: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 15.4 million citizens.
  • March 25 » WikiWikiWeb, the world's first wiki, and part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham.
  • May 17 » Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.
  • October 26 » Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta.
  • November 13 » Mozambique becomes the first state to join the Commonwealth of Nations without having been part of the former British Empire.
  • November 14 » A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.
  • December 20 » American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50km north of Cali, Colombia killing 159.

Source: Wikipedia

• 1993 » Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905)
• 1993 » Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (b. 1912)
• 1996 » Frank Howard, American football player and coach (b. 1909)
• 1996 » Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1921)
• 1996 » Harold Brodkey, American author and academic (b. 1930)
• 1996 » Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (b. 1932)