TODAY IN HISTORY: Polio epidemic closes schools

In 1818, the Bank of Canada commenced operations in Montreal.

In 1819, Scottish engineer and inventor James Watt died. Watt, who coined the term “horsepower” and is considered to be the father of the industrial revolution, devised the first efficient steam engine and was the first to use such an engine to turn a wheel.

In 1875, Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the 34-km English Channel without a life-jacket.

In 1878, the Saskatchewan Herald, the province’s first newspaper, put out its first issue in Battleford. Because the paper predated any railway in Saskatchewan, then the Northwest Territories, founder Patrick Gammie Laurie transported his first printing press by ox cart on a 72-day trek from Fort Garry.

In 1900, German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche died after prolonged insanity.

In 1919, the first international air service began with Air Transport and Travel’s flight from London to Paris. Only one passenger made the trip on a converted biplane bomber. The trip took two-and-a-half hours and cost 21 pounds.

In 1937, Toronto announced school openings would be delayed because of a polio epidemic sweeping southern Ontario.

In 1939, Britain and Poland signed a treaty of mutual support, days after the German-Soviet non-aggression pact was announced. The Second World War broke out Sept. 1st when Germany invaded Poland.

In 1939, The Wizard of Oz opened across the U.S.

In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the Soviet Union. On the same day, British planes dropped their first bombs on Berlin during the Second World War.

In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to visit Ottawa. Roosevelt and prime ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada and Winston Churchill of Britain had earlier attended the Quebec Conference in Quebec City.

In 1944, Allied forces liberated Paris, ending four years of German occupation during the Second World War. The German commander, Maj. Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz, had defied Adolf Hitler’s order to level the French capital rather than give it up. The surrender set off wild celebrations in the streets.

In 1984, Tory leader Brian Mulroney slammed Liberal Prime Minister John Turner in a televised election debate. Mulroney charged Turner had a choice when presented with a list of patronage appointments from former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The Conservatives went on to a landslide election victory.

In 1986, wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen began the cross-Canada portion of his round-the-world journey. Only $172,000 had been donated for spinal cord research when he reached Canada’s most eastern point, Cape Spear, Nfld. But an outpouring of support from Canadians allowed him to reach his goal of $10 million by the time he returned home to Williams Lake, B.C., on April 2, 1987. Hansen, a world-class competitor in wheelchair sports, was inspired by his friend Terry Fox, an amputee whose run across Canada for cancer research was stopped after he developed cancer again.

In 1999, Dan Miller was sworn in as premier of British Columbia. He was appointed interim leader of the NDP on Aug. 22, after Glen Clark resigned as premier.