TODAY IN HISTORY: Wright brothers
In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their first airplane at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The brothers used their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop to construct their early aircraft. The "Wright Flyer,” a biplane with two propellers chain-driven by a gasoline motor, flew 35 metres in 12 seconds — enough to convince the brothers that sustained flights were possible. In 1917, Russia’s Bolshevik government announced it was confiscating the property of the Russian Orthodox Church and abolishing religious instruction in schools.
In 1917, Canada’s 13th federal election was won by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden’s pro-conscription coalition.
In 1924, the legislature of British Columbia adopted a resolution opposing further immigration of Asians to Canada.
In 1971, India and Pakistan ended a two-week war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh as a separate country.
In 1975, Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill U.S. President Gerald Ford earlier in the year in Sacramento, Calif.
In 1982, singer Karen Carpenter performed for the last time, singing Christmas carols at the private school attended by her godchildren. Her friends tried to talk her out of the performance because of her poor health. Carpenter died the following Feb. 4 of a heart attack brought on by anorexia nervosa at age 32.
In 1996, 51-year-old Vancouver nurse Nancy Malloy was slain, along with five other aid workers, as they slept at a hospital in Chechnya, Russia. She was the first Canadian Red Cross worker ever killed in the field.
In 1996, rebels seized hundreds of hostages at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru. Most of hostages were freed a few days later but for 71 others, freedom did not come until April 22, 1997, when Peruvian government soldiers stormed the building. One hostage died.
In 2011, Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions for his isolated communist nation dominated world security fears during his 17 years in power, died of a heart attack. He was 69. His 20-something youngest known son, Kim Jong Un, was his successor.
In 2013, 28-year-old Jamaicanative Tessanne Chin won season 5 of NBC’s “The Voice.”