TODAY IN HISTORY: Conscription

In 1904, Charles Menches of St. Louis is said to have conceived the ice cream cone. The walk-away cone debuted at that year’s St. Louis World’s Fair. The same fair also saw the premiere of another hotweather staple. Richard Blechyden who had a tea concession at the fair, invented and sold iced tea.

In 1942, MPs approved a measure allowing the Canadian government to impose conscription by cabinet order, rather than having to call Parliament into session. The Liberals under William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been elected on a promise not to impose conscription, held a plebescite in April asking voters to release them from that promise. In Quebec, the vote was 72.9 per cent against, while in the rest of Canada, the Yes side won 80 per cent of the votes. King then promised that none of the conscripts would be sent overseas. Due to a manpower shortage in 1944, however, and the pro-conscript mood in his own government, King announced Nov. 22 that they would indeed be sent to war. Only 12,908 conscripted soldiers were actually sent abroad during the Second World War.

In 1977, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, the band’s manager Peter Grant and two bodyguards were arrested for beating up three employees of promoter Bill Graham following a show in Oakland, Calif. The four pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and settled out of court for about $2 million in damages.

In 1982, Karen Baldwin of London, Ont., became the first Canadian chosen Miss Universe.

In 1989, Ringo Starr kicked off his first tour since the breakup of The Beatles with a show in Dallas. Starr began the concert with his 1971 hit “It Don’t Come Easy.”

In 2005, the first team of Canadian troops headed off to Afghanistan as part of a reconstruction mission.

In 2010, up to 3.7 million litres of oil leaked from a pipeline owned by Calgarybased Enbridge Inc. into a creek which then flowed into the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan.