TODAY IN HISTORY

On this day in 2013

Former South African president Nelson Mandela, who became one of the world’s most beloved statesmen and a colossus of the 20th century when he emerged from 27 years in prison to negotiate an end to apartheid, died at age 95. Also in this day:

In 1837, William Lyon Mackenzie, journalist and politician, led a rebel force down Yonge Street from Montgomery’s Tavern hoping to capture Toronto. The force was repelled by Loyalist guards who easily defeated the rebels two days later. Mackenzie fled to the United States for 10 years but returned to Canada after receiving a government pardon. He resumed his journalistic and political careers.

In 1893, the first electric car appeared. Built by Dickson’s Toronto, it could travel about 25 kilometres before getting its batteries recharged.

In 1901, movie producer Walt Disney was born in Chicago. He died Dec. 15, 1966.

In 1968, about 60 windows in the Quebec legislature were broken by snowballs during a demonstration. Thousands of students protested the expected introduction of a bill to safeguard English-language schools in the province. Police estimated 90 per cent of the students were under the age of 16.

In 1999, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau was named the century’s top newsmaker in The Canadian Press survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters.

In 2003, Canadian Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour of joining forces with the Progressive Conservatives for a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada.