TODAY IN HISTORY

USSR created

In 1809, French troops arrested Pope Pius VII, who had excommunicated Emperor Napoleon I.

In 1854, the Republican Party came into being at a convention in Jackson, Mich.

In 1885, French scientist Louis Pasteur tested an antirabies vaccine on a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog. It worked.

In 1896, the boundaries of Quebec were enlarged to the shores of Hudson Bay, adding 306,765 square kilometres to the province by an order-in-council.

In 1906, Parliament passed the Lord’s Day Observance Act to prohibit work, entertainment, sport and almost all commerce on Sundays. The law remained on the books until the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down in 1985.

In 1917, during the First World War, Arab forces led by British Capt. T. E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks.

In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

In 1928, in New York, the first all-talking picture, Lights of New York opened.

In 1933, the first All-Star baseball game was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. A home run by Babe Ruth led the American League over the National League 4-2.

In 1935, the 14th Dalai Lama was born to a farming family in northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, the child — named Lhamo Dhondup — was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.

In 1950, in Nelson, 195 radical Doukhobors, the Sons of Freedom, were given prison sentences totalling 793 years on numerous charges, including burning schools and conspiracy. After much unrest in the 1950s and 1960s, the fanatical activism died down. Descendants of the original Doukhobors, a sect of Christian Russian dissenters, number about 30,000 across Canada.

In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.

In 1967, the Biafran War erupted as Nigerian forces invaded a region that had declared its independence on May 30. The war ended in 1970.

In 1975, a hailstone weighing 249 grams fell near Wetaskiwin, Alta.

In 1989, Ottawa sold its remaining 57 per cent interest in Air Canada.

In 2000, Kingston’s infamous Prison for Women closed its doors in a private ceremony marking the end of a turbulent history at the 66-year-old institution. The dreary stone facility had been the subject of at least 13 inquiries and commissions.

In 2004, U.S. fighter pilot Major Harry Schmidt, who killed four Canadian troops and wounded eight others when he mistakenly bombed them in Afghanistan, was found guilty of dereliction of duty and fined more than US$5,000.

In 2006, Stephen Harper met with U.S. President George Bush at the White House during his first official visit to the United States as prime minister.

In 2013, a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic, Que., igniting explosions and fires that incinerated the small town’s centre, killing 47 people and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 others.