Today in history

— In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded after being condemned for plotting against Queen Elizabeth I.

— In 1690, Mohawk natives and French troops attacked Schenectady, N.Y., killing 60 people and capturing 30.

— In 1828, French writer Jules Verne was born. The author of ”From the Earth to the Moon” and ”Around the World in 80 Days” died on March 24, 1905.

— In 1879, Canadian engineer Sandford Fleming advocated adoption of Universal Standard Time during a Toronto speech. Standard Time, which divides the world into 24 equal time zones, took effect Jan. 1, 1885.

— In 1894, Canadian fighter pilot Billy Bishop was born in Owen Sound, Ont. He was the top scoring Canadian and Imperial ace of the First World War, being credited with 72 victories. He was also the first Canadian airman to win a Victoria Cross, for a 1917 solo attack on a German airfield. Bishop died in Florida in 1956.

— In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

— In 1945, the First Canadian Army attacked German positions in the Reichswald during the general Allied offensive into Germany during the Second World War.

— In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II took the oath of accession to the throne, following the death two days earlier of her father, King George VI. She was crowned in a public ceremony in June 1953.

— In 1986, 23 people died when a nine-car Via passenger train and a CN freight train collided head on near Hinton, Alta. The 118-car freight train went through a closed switch. The crews in both trains died in the collision.

— In 1989, 144 people were killed when an Independent Air Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.

— In 1995, Romeo LeBlanc was sworn in as Canada’s 25th governor general, the first Acadian to hold the post.

— In 1998, at the Nagano Olympics, Ross Rebagliati of Whistler, B.C., won the first Olympic men’s snowboarding gold medal.