TODAY IN HISTORY: Fawcett, Jackson die 4 hours apart

In 1858, B.C.’s first newspaper, “The Victoria Gazette and Anglo-American,” was published.

In 1876, General George Custer's U.S. army regiment was massacred in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana; 263 soldiers, including Custer, died in the engagement with several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Custer made several mistakes that led to the massacre.

In 1950, the Korean War began when 240 North Korean tanks crossed the 38th parallel without warning to invade South Korea. The conflict — which ended July 27, 1953 — saw the forces of the United Nations team with those of South Korea against Chinese Communists. The struggle swept almost the entire length of the peninsula. Of the more than 25,000 Canadians in the UN force, 312 died.

In 1968, two notable firsts accompanied a sweeping victory for Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals in a federal election. Lincoln Alexander became Canada's first Black MP when he won a Hamilton seat for the Conservatives. Len Marchand’s victory in Kamloops, made him the first aboriginal to sit in the House of Commons.

In 1970, royal assent was given to the revised "Canada Elections Act," which lowered the federal voting age from 21 to 18.

In 1973, former White House adviser John Dean told a Senate committee that U.S. President Richard Nixon knew in advance about the plot to cover up political involvement in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters.

In 1999, former British Columbia NDP cabinet minister Dave Stupich pleaded guilty to fraud and running an illegal lottery scheme in the province's "Bingogate" scandal.

In 2004, Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott was awarded the Olympic gold medal, over two years after the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. The expulsion of two Russian cross-country skiers for doping violations upgraded the bronze Scott won in the women's five-km pursuit.

In 2007, Monteral-born professional wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead along with his wife and seven-year-old son in their Atlanta-area home. Investigators later confirmed Benoit killed them before hanging himself in the weight room.

In 2009, Farrah Fawcett, an original cast member of “Charlie’s Angels” whose stunning looks and blinding smile made her a pop icon of the 1970s, died after a three-year battle with anal cancer at age 62. In 2009, pop music superstar Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles as he was preparing for a comeback tour. He was 50. His career peaked in the 1980s, when he was pop music’s premier all-around performer, dominating the charts and dazzling even more on stage with his signature moon walk. His 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” and “Billie Jean” — remains the best-selling album of alltime and won eight Grammy Awards. His death was revealed only four hours after Fawcett’s.

In 2021, ex-Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years for killing George Floyd, whose death sparked a reckoning on race in America. Chauvin had been convicted of second-degree murder. The judge did not impose a sentence for convictions of third-degree murder and manslaughter. The punishment fell short of the 30 years that prosecutors had requested.