TODAY IN HISTORY: Joan of Arc burned

In 1416, Jerome of Prague, a Bohemian religious reformer influenced by the doctrinal views of John Wyclif, was burned as a heretic by the Church.

In 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English. Her condemnation was posthumously reversed in 1456 and she was canonized in 1920.

In 1498, Columbus sailed from Spain on his third voyage to the New World.

In 1536, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, his third wife. She was never crowned, but fulfilled his wish for a son.

In 1832, the Rideau Canal was officially opened in Ottawa, linking the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario.

In 1848, the city of Fredericton received its charter.

In 1859, the British government took over British Columbia from the Hudson’s Bay Co. In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered a stampede.

In 1911, the Indianapolis 500 car race was inaugurated. The average speed of the first winner, Ray Harroun, was 119 km/h (74.4 mp/h ).

In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington D.C. in a ceremony attended by U.S. President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.

In 1942, 1,000 British bombers set course for Cologne in the first of the saturation attacks aimed at crippling German war production during the Second World War.

In 1958, unidentified American service members killed in the Second World War and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1961, in one of Canada’s most intense rainstorms, 25 cm fell in one hour at Buffalo Gap, Sask.

In 1966, future country music superstar Anne Murray signed a contract with CBC’s “Singalong Jubilee.” She would be paid $71.50 for each appearance on the TV show, and $99 if she soloed.

In 1972, three Japanese terrorists killed 28 people at Tel Aviv’s Lod Airport.

In 1990, the band Midnight Oil gave a free concert on flatbed trucks outside of an Exxon building in response to the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

In 1996, the federal government won a long battle with Alberta over extra-billing at private clinics. The province agreed to the ban, starting July 1. The dispute had cost the province about $3.6 million in lost transfer payments from Ottawa.

In 2009, Susan Boyle, the dowdy 48year-old internet sensation, settled for a second-place finish in “Britain’s Got Talent,” an ending that didn’t fit the fairy tale. Instead, an exuberant dance troupe called “Diversity” took the US$159,000 prize and performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show. Boyle literally became an overnight sensation when her first performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” surprised and wowed the judges and viewers. The YouTube video of the performance has been viewed over 200 million times.

In 2014, “Gangnam Style” by South Korean rapper PSY became the first YouTube video to reach two billion views.

In 2017, Nova Scotians handed Stephen McNeil’s Liberal party a second consecutive majority government