TODAY IN HISTORY:

Jerry Lee marries cousin

In 1792, 22-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven paid the equivalent of 19 cents for his first lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn in Vienna. Beethoven is viewed as one of the most important transitional figures between the Classical and Romantic eras of musical history.

In 1894, Canada’s fourth prime minister, Sir John Thompson, died in office. He was in England and suffered a fatal heart attack at age 49. He had just been made a member of the Imperial Privy Council by Queen Victoria. A former Nova Scotia premier, he was prime minister for only two years.

In 1899, a patent for the golf tee was granted to George Grant.

In 1925, the first motel — the Motel Inn — opened in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

In 1949, Nancy Hodges was named Speaker of the British Columbia legislature, becoming the first woman speaker of the Commonwealth.

In 1957, 22-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, in a wedding chapel at Hernando, Miss. They married without her parents’ consent. The marriage lasted 13 years, but caused great harm to Lewis’ career. The negative reaction forced him to abandon a British tour in 1958, and he was without a major hit single for nearly a decade.

In 1970, Roy Spencer, father of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Brian Spencer, was shot and killed by the RCMP outside a TV station in Prince George. Spencer had forced the station off the air at gunpoint because it was not carrying a game between Toronto and the Chicago Blackhawks. Brian, who was in his rookie season, was to be interviewed that night. (Brian Spencer, who played 10 seasons in the NHL, was shot and killed in June 1988, in Florida under mysterious circumstances.)

In 1984, the Ontario government ended “happy hours” in Ontario bars serving cutrate drinks.

In 1985, a U.S. DC-8 crashed and exploded on a hillside shortly after taking off from Gander, Nfld. The disaster claimed the lives of 250 U.S. military personnel and eight crew members, the worst air crash on Canadian soil.

In 2001, Stockwell Day resigned as leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day later entered the ensuing leadership contest but was defeated by ex-Reform MP Stephen Harper in the March 20, 2002, vote.

In 2003, Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the Free Willy movies, died in the Norwegian fjord that he’d made his home.

In 2003, Paul Martin was sworn in as Canada’s 21st prime minister.

In 2015, Canada was among 193 countries to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change.