Today in History

and Glasgow over the British government’s severe economic measures.

In 1937, more than 1,500 cases of infantile paralysis — polio — with 58 deaths were reported in Canada in an epidemic that began in June.

In 1939, Canada declared war on Germany. Originally it was thought that Canada’s role would be to supply war materiel to Britain, which had declared war seven days earlier, and Prime Minister Mackenzie King took a stand against conscription. But by 1940, 500,000 Canadians had enlisted and when Japan entered the war a year later, King held a plebiscite which allowed him to begin the draft. In total, almost 42,000 Canadian service personnel died in the Second World War.

In 1945, Norwegian premier Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death for collaborating with the Nazis.

In 1955, “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS television. It ran for nearly 20 years until March 31, 1975. It was the second-longest fictional prime-time program in U.S. history. (The Simpsons is first).

In 1960, Halifax International Airport was opened.

In 1976, a British Airways jet collided in mid-flight with an Adria Airlines DC-9 over Zagreb, Yugoslavia, due to an error by air traffic control. The crash claimed 176 lives.

In 1977, the last execution by guillotine took place in Marseilles, France, when Hamida Djandoubi was beheaded for torture and murder. France outlawed capital punishment in 1981.

In 1983, John Vorster, prime minister of white-ruled South Africa from 1966-78, died in Cape Town at age 67.

In 1985, the federal government announced a series of legal, diplomatic and navigational measures to strengthen Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. The steps included the immediate increase in the number of military surveillance flights in the Arctic and signing a cabinet order detailing the waters in the vast Arctic archipelago Canada considers to be internal waters.

In 1989, Hungary granted permission to thousands of East German refugees to cross into Austria despite protests from East German authorities. It helped precipitate the fall of the Berlin Wall two months later and the end of Communist rule throughout Eastern Europe.

In 1999, “HMCS Huron” nabbed a ship carrying 150 to 170 Chinese illegal immigrants in Nootka Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was the fourth such capture in less than two months, increasing the total number of Chinese boat people that summer to more than 600.

In 2000, Tiger Woods won the Canadian Open golf championship at Glen Abbey golf course in Oakville, Ont. He became the second golfer (Lee Trevino in 1971) to win the U.S. Open, the British Open and the Canadian Open in the same year.

In 2000, Ben Wicks, British-born Canadian cartoonist, died at age 73.

In 2000, “Cats” was performed for the last time on Broadway, after an 18-year run.

In 2001, the federal Conservative Party and eight dissident Canadian Alliance MPS formed an unprecedented joint parliamentary unit — the Progressive Conservative Democratic Representative Coalition.

In 2003, Imam Samudra, an Islamic militant, was sentenced to be executed by firing squad after judges found him guilty of being the “intellectual mastermind” behind the 2002 deadly nightclub bombings on Bali island of Indonesia.

In 2003, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, 46, was stabbed in a Stockholm department store. She died the next day. A man was arrested two weeks later and eventually confessed to killing her.

In 2009, provincial court Judge Graydon Nicholas was named New Brunswick’s next lieutenant-governor, making him the first aboriginal person in the province to be named to the post representing the monarch.

In 2010, BCE announced it was buying the rest of the CTV television network it didn’t already own for $1.3 billion. The deal also saw a majority stake in the Globe and Mail pass to the Thomson family, though BCE held on to a 15 per cent stake.

In 2011, an estimated 100,000 people, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, attended a memorial ceremony at the Lokomotiv ice arena honouring the 36 players, coaches and staff of the Russian team that perished in a plane crash on Sept. 7. (Alexander Galimov, the lone player who survived the initial impact, died on Sept. 12.)

In 2013, the minority Quebec government released its proposals for a “values charter” aimed at restricting religious clothing and symbols worn by employees at all government institutions. The proposals set off a storm of controversy. (The bill died after the Parti Quebecois lost the April 2014 election to the Liberal Party.)

In 2013, a court in India convicted four men of the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus, an attack that set off waves of protests and gave voice to years of anger over the treatment of women. They were sentenced to hang but the Supreme Court stayed their executions pending appeals. (There were two other suspects - one was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide while the other was convicted in juvenile court and sentenced to three years in a reform home.)

In 2016, Angelique Kerber won her first U.S. Open title and second career major, defeating Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

In 2017, Raphael Nadal overwhelmed Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to win his third U.S. Open title and 16th major overall.

In 2018, Peter Donat, the Canadian actor who played Agent Fox Mulder’s father in “The X-files” and had roles in TV shows, films and on stage, died at his home in California. He was 90.

(The Canadian Press)