World’s laziest man

In 1790, the laziest man in history went to bed and stayed there for the next 70 years. Jeremiah Carlton of England was 19 and the heir to a large fortune when he climbed into bed, thinking he never needed to work again. He died at age 89.

Also on this date in history:

In 1534, Jacques Cartier explored Belle Isle on his second voyage to Canada.

In 1647, the first recorded execution of a supposed witch took place in Massachusetts.

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV promulgated the Codex iuris canonici. Divided into five books and 2,414 regulations, the CIC was the first revision of canon law in the Roman Catholic church in modern times, and went into effect at Pentecost the following year.

In 1936, the Cunard liner Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage. It was withdrawn from service in 1967.In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge, spanning San Francisco Bay, was opened.

In 1957, The Crickets’ first record, “That’ll Be the Day,” featuring Buddy Holly as lead singer, was released by Brunswick Records. Under an arrangement worked out by Norman Petty, Buddy Holly’s first hit under his own name was “Peggy Sue,” also released in 1957.

In 1968, Montreal was awarded a National League baseball franchise at a cost of $10 million. The Expos began play the following April. The franchise moved to Washington for the start of the 2005 season.

In 1977, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced that he and his wife, Margaret, were separating and that he would have custody of their three sons.

In 1992, G7 members, including Canada, approved a $6 billion fund to stabilize the shaky Russian ruble.

In 1993, on the strength of the Mulroney Tory majority, the Commons passed legislation bringing Canada into the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement. The bill was not proclaimed until after the Chretien Liberals won the October 1993 election.

In 1995, actor Christopher Reeve, star of four “Superman” movies, suffered a broken neck in a horse riding accident and was paralyzed from the neck down. He became another kind of hero as a force for spinal cord research. He died on Oct. 10, 2004.

In 1999, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette began an 11-day mission aboard the space shuttle “Discovery.” She was the first Canadian to work on an assembly and re-supply mission for the International Space Station.

In 2000, Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice (Rocket) Richard died in Montreal of cancer at age 78.

In 2006, an 6.3-magnitude earthquake in central Java island (Indonesia) killed at least 5,857 people, injured more than

3,600 others and damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes. Nearly 647,000 people were displaced.

In 2008, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to shut down the controversial safe-injection site in Vancouver’s Eastside neighbourhood at the end of June 2009.

In 2009, Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk blasted off into space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a milestone six-month visit to the International Space Station, a record for a Canadian astronaut.

In 2011, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach tendered his official resignation as leader of the Progressive Conservatives. He was just three years removed from a massive majority election victory but was saddled with a low popularity rating and a surging right-wing rival in the Wildrose Alliance.

In 2012, Victoria native Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro d’Italia, becoming the first Canadian to win one of cycling’s three major tour races.