TODAY IN HISTORY: Oilers win Cup
In 804, the English medieval scholar Alcuin of York died. As an educator, he made beauty, goodness and truth the hallmarks of Charlemagne’s Frankish empire. His great hunger for learning revived the Augustinian tradition of Christian classical education and helped to lay the foundations of Europe’s Christian civilization.
In 1535, French explorer Jacques Cartier left St-Malo on his second voyage to Canada.
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was beheaded for adultery. Henry had married Anne three years before, after divorcing Catherine of Aragon. The divorce led to Henry’s excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. Anne gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I, but did not produce the male heir Henry wanted. Anne was born in 1507 at Blicking Hall, Norfolk, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire, and Lady Elizabeth Howard.
In 1649, following a civil war and the execution of King Charles I, England was declared a Commonwealth under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte created the French Legion of Honour, an order of distinction for civil or military service.
In 1889, doing 12 miles (19.3 kilometres) an hour, Jacob German of New York City became the first person arrested for speeding in an automobile.
In 1910, Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet. In 1935, British soldier-writer T.E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” died in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash six days earlier. He was 46. Lawrence, who was born on Aug. 16, 1888, in Wales, became famous for his exploits as the British military liaison to the Arab Revolt during the First World War.
In 1960, disc jockey Alan Freed was charged with accepting payola — money for playing records. Freed, the deejay who did the most to spread rock ‘n’ roll, was a broken man by the time he came to trial in December 1962. He pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and received a suspended sentence and a $300 fine. Freed, facing new charges of tax evasion, died in January 1965 at age 42.
In 1962, during a Democratic fundraiser at New York’s Madison Square Garden, actress Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday to You” to the guest of honour, U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
In 1976, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones crashed his car into a highway divider about 80 kilometres north of London. He wasn’t hurt, but police seized various substances from the vehicle. Three months later, Richards was charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana.
In 1984, the Edmonton Oilers won their first of five Stanley Cups in seven years. They downed the visiting New York Islanders 5-2 to win the NHL final in five games.
In 1985, Air Canada and the union representing 2,900 striking ticket agents signed an agreement ending a three-week walkout.
In 1986, Kenny Rogers, Bryan Adams, Loverboy and Sheena Easton performed at an Expo ‘86 gala concert in Vancouver. Guests of honour at the $86-a-seat event were Prince Charles and Diana, the Princess of Wales. Adams donated his $100,000 fee to charity.
In 1994, former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died of cancer at her New York home at age 64.
In 1997, for the first time in four years, fishermen dropped their nets for cod off southern Newfoundland. A small commercial fishery re-opened off the south coast and in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence.