TODAY IN HISTORY

On this day in 1812

The Russians set fire to Moscow before Napoleon’s triumphant march into the city. Three-fourths of the city was destroyed in the next few days. Napoleon remained in Moscow for about a month while cold and hunger decimated the Grande Armee. Also on this day: In 1868, golf’s first recorded hole-in-one was scored by Scotsman Tom Morris at Prestwick’s 166-yard 8th hole during the Open Championship (known in North America as the British Open).

In 1926, the federal Liberal party, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, defeated the Conservatives under Arthur Meighen in a general election.

In 1936, Canadians Harry Richman and Robert Merrill completed the first Atlantic round-trip by air.

In 1959, the Soviet space probe “Luna 2” became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface.

In 1987, the Toronto Blue Jays hit 10 home runs in an 18-3 romp over the visiting Baltimore Orioles, setting a major league record for most home runs in a nine-inning game. The previous record was eight by the 1939 New York Yankees and equalled by six other teams.

In 1994, the major league baseball season was cancelled after 34 days of a players’ strike. For the first time in 90 years, there was no World Series.

In 1999, nearly three million people from Florida to the Carolinas were forced from their homes ahead of hurricane Floyd in what was considered the biggest evacuation in U.S. history. At least 49 deaths from the Bahamas to New England were blamed on the storm.

In 2009, Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into moviegoers’ hearts with “Dirty Dancing” and then broke them with “Ghost,” died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.