TODAY IN HISTORY: Canada’s 3rd PM takes office

In 1502, the Sainte-Chapelle in Chambery, France was completed for the Duke of Savoy to house the much disputed, but often venerated Shroud of Turin, a cloth in which Jesus Christ was reputedly wrapped following His Crucifixion.

In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland. She escaped almost a year later, but ended up imprisoned again.

In 1858, as he accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

In 1891, Sir John Abbott became Canada's third prime minister, remaining in office for 17 months. He was the first Canadian-born prime minister, and the first senator to become PM. Abbott was 72 when he died in 1893.

In 1894, the Edmonton Bulletin reported there could be oil in Alberta.

In 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

In 1904, the novel Ulysses, by James Joyce, takes place on this day. It is celebrated internationally as Bloomsday after the novel's main character, Leopold Bloom.

In 1929, 62-year-old Otto Funk completed a 183day, 6,600-km walk from San Francisco to New York. He was said to have played his violin every step of the way.

In 1956, the BBC aired the first live TV broadcast from a submarine at sea.

In 1959, actor George Reeves, TV’s Superman, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bedroom of his Beverly Hills, Calif., home. He was 45.

In 1963, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

In 1972, the Churchill Falls hydro-electric project in Labrador was officially opened.

In 1972, Clifford Irving, author of a bogus biography of billionaire Howard Hughes, was sentenced in New York to 2.5 years for grand larceny.

In 1976, six South Africans died when riots broke out in the black township of Soweto over the mandatory use of the Afrikaans language in schools. The revolt spread to other black townships, causing at least 575 deaths over the next nine months. The day began with a march by 10,000 students. Police said students started the violence by throwing stones, but a witness said police started it by throwing a tear gas canister into the crowd without warning.

In 1981, Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, became the first non-American to be awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. Taylor received the medal from President Ronald Reagan for sheltering and engineering the escape of six Americans from Iran in 1980, during the hostage crisis.

In 1984, John Turner was elected Liberal Party leader, defeating Jean Chretien.