Today in history

In 1615, the first missionaries to come to Canada, the Recoletts, arrived in Quebec.

In 1740, the Marquis de Sade -- writer, philosopher and revolutionary -- was born in Paris.

In 1835, P.T. Barnum's circus began its first tour of the United States.

In 1847, John A. Macdonald became a cabinet minister.

In 1866, Canadian militia units panicked and lost the ``Battle of Ridgeway'' after 700 Fenians attempted an invasion of the Niagara Peninsula.

In 1882, Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi died at age 75.

In 1897, 61-year-old Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that ``the report of my death was an exaggeration.''

In 1917, fighter pilot Billy Bishop became the first Canadian airman to win a Victoria Cross. The 23-year-old from Owen Sound, Ont., was honoured for a solo attack on a German airfield during the First World War. Bishop was credited with downing 72 German planes during the war.

In 1929, the Guelph, Ont., was hit by a tornado that left the town almost inactive for three years.

In 1941, former New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig died at age 37 of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), now known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The illness had ended his baseball career two years earlier.

In 1946, a national referendum in Italy gave women the right to vote and also rejected the monarchy in favour of a republic.

In 1952, a test pattern on Montreal's Channel 2 ushered in Canadian television.

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in London's Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth was 27 when she assumed the throne 16 months earlier upon the death of her father, King George VI. She had married Philip Mountbatten in 1947 and at the time of her coronation, they had two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Elizabeth's coronation was the first to be televised.

In 1996, Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached his last sermon as head of the Anglican church in southern Africa. Tutu retired to preside over a panel probing human rights abuses in South Africa.

In 1997, Jean Chretien's Liberals won their second straight majority government, taking 155 seats in a federal election. Preston Manning's Reform Party became the official Opposition with 60 seats, all from Western Canada.

In 1997, Timothy Mcveigh was convicted in Denver on 11 charges in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people. He was executed four years later.

In 1998, Tory Senator Michel Cogger was convicted in Montreal of influence peddling. He lobbyed the federal government for a client for two years after his 1986 Senate appointment. Cogger was fined $3,000, put on probation and ordered to do community service. He resigned his Senate seat in September 2000 while continuing to appeal the conviction. Cogger received an absolute discharge from the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2001, meaning he has no criminal record.

In 1999, Japanese women won the right to use birth control pills.

In 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chretien fired Finance Minister Paul Martin, saying they no longer had a viable working relationship. Martin was replaced with Deputy Prime Minister John Manley.

In 2004, Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital's new Institute for Breast Cancer Research was launched, the first of its kind in Canada.

In 2006, 17 suspects, including five under the age of 18, were arrested in Toronto and Mississauga on charges of plotting to attack targets in Ontario in the biggest terrorism-related raid in Canada.

In 2011, Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years in prison for kidnapping, raping and holding Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years. His wife, Nancy, 55, was earlier given a 36-year sentence.

In 2011, the World Health Organization said that a new strain of E. coli bacteria was responsible for a deadly outbreak that eventually left 52 dead and sickened over 4,000 in Europe. Experts traced the bacteria back to vegetable sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany.

In 2012, Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom ``Hogan's Heroes'' and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show ``Family Feud'' died from complications related to esophageal cancer. He was 79.

In 2014, King Juan Carlos, who led Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy but faced damaging scandals amid the nation's financial meltdown, announced he would abdicate in favour of his more popular son, Prince Felipe, who assumed the throne on June 19.