TODAY IN HISTORY: Secretariat wins Derby

In 1836, Europe’s first railway began operating in Belgium.

In 1891, New York’s Carnegie Hall, then called the Music Hall, had its opening night with a concert that included works conducted by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Walter Damrosch.

In 1904, Cy Young pitched the American League’s first perfect game as Boston beat Philadelphia 3-0.

In 1908, the first Alberta Music Festival was held in Edmonton. It was the earliest musical competition of its kind in Canada.

In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution.

In 1973, New Brunswick-born jockey Ron Turcotte rode Secretariat to victory in the Kentucky Derby in a record time of one minute, 59.4 seconds.

In 1992, the CBC cancelled “The Tommy Hunter Show” after 27 years as a weekly series. It was North America’s longest-running network music show. Canada’s Country Gentleman, was viewed by the CBC as appealing only to an older audience.

In 2000, Prime Minister Jean Chretien declared British Columbia’s Clayoquot Sound a United Nations protected area.

In 2011, an Ontario court ordered Blockbuster Canada be sold to pay off $70 million in debts racked up by its former U.S. parent. Liquidation sales began at 146 outlets at the end of the month. On Sept. 7, court approved the final windup of the company. Its remaining 253 stores closed Sept. 30.

In 2011, Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of the First World War, died in an Australian nursing home. He was 110. He refused to submit to his place in history, becoming a pacifist who wouldn’t march in parades commemorating wars like the one that made him famous.

In 2015, Rachel Notley led the New Democrats to a historic first victory in the Alberta election. The majority victory toppled the Progressive Conservative dynasty that had been in power since 1971. The NDP took 53 seats while the Wildrose party captured 21 to form the official Opposition. The once-mighty PCs were reduced to 10 seats.