TODAY IN HISTORY

Lindbergh baby

In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte captured Venice, which had been independent for 14 centuries.

In 1932, the body of toddler Charles Lindbergh Jr., the kidnapped son of

Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, N.J. Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of kidnapping and murder in 1935 and was sent to the electric chair.

In 1937, King George VI was crowned. His coronation was heard throughout the British Empire on the first worldwide radio broadcast.

In 1942, 1,500 Jews were gassed at Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi German occupied Poland.

In 1943, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during the Second World War.

In 1949, the Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.

In 1961, a Soviet musicologist, writing in an East German paper, claimed Dixieland jazz actually started in the Soviet city of Odessa rather than New Orleans.

In 1970, Montreal was awarded the 1976 Olympic Games. Although the Olympics brought international attention to Canada, they were a financial flop. As well, Canada remains the only host country in history not to win a gold medal.

In 1971, medicare became a truly national program when New Brunswick became the last province to sign on by proclaiming its Health Services Act.

In 1975, Cher and Gregg Allman performed a duet on “Don't Mess Up a Good Thing” on Cher’s TV show. The two were briefly married and had a son, Elijah Blue, together.

In 1981, reggae musician Bob Marley died in Miami of brain and lung cancer. He was 36. Seven months earlier, he had collapsed on stage during a concert in the U.S. Marley and his band, The Wailers, were practically national heroes in their native Jamaica, and they helped spread reggae music around the world. “Legend,” a 1984 greatest hits compilation, has sold an estimated 25 million copies worldwide.

In 2009, Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals won a solid majority and a historic straight third term in office. Voters gave the Liberals 49 seats to the NDP’s 36 in the new legislature. Among those elected in the valley were Bill Barisoff (Penticton) and John Slater (Boundary-Similkameen).

In 2010, a Libyan plane carrying 104 people crashed on approach to Tripoli’s airport, leaving a field scattered with smouldering debris. A nine-year-old Dutch child (Ruben van Assouw) was the only survivor.

In 2011, a German court convicted 91year-old retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of 28,060 counts of acting as an accessory to murder at the Sobibor

Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but remained free pending his appeal. He died March 17, 2012.

In 2012, two small planes collided in midair near St. Brieux, northeast of Saskatoon, killing all five people involved.

In 2017, a ransomware cyberattack, known as “WannaCry,” wreaked havoc around the globe paralyzing tens of thousands of companies, government agencies and other organizations in 150 countries.

In 2019, Kawhi Leonard’s 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer lifted the Toronto

Raptors to a thrilling 92-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers — and into the Eastern Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history. Leonard had 15 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and corralled the ball with four seconds left before the launching the winning basket. The Raptors would next face the Milwaukee Bucks, who dispatched Boston in five games, in the Eastern Conference final.