TODAY IN HISTORY: Babe Ruth hits 700th homer

In 100 B.C., Julius Caesar, the most famous general in Roman history, was born.

In 1789, the British ship "Princess Royal" was seized by Spaniards at Nootka, B.C.

In 1837, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to move into Buckingham Palace.

In 1863, the Scottish Reform Act required Scotsmen to wear something under their kilts.

In 1865, a large wooden conduit into the Ottawa River, designed to supply government buildings on Parliament Hill with water, was completed.

In 1930, the first World Cup soccer tournament began in Uruguay. The host country defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final.

In 1934, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hit his 700th home run. He finished his career with 714. His record held up until Hank Aaron surpassed him in 1974. In 2007, Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homer to claim the record and ended the year with 762 before a steroid scandal effectively blackballed him from Major League Baseball.

In 1934, German dictator Adolf Hitler declared his right to kill without benefit of law.

In 1953, the first Stratford Festival was launched at Stratford, Ont. The first season featured two Shakespearean plays – "Richard III," starring Alec Guinness, and "All's Well That Ends Well." The season ran six weeks and was directed by British producer Tyrone Guthrie in a tent theatre on the banks of the Avon River. A permanent building, the Festival Theatre, was opened in 1957. Today, the annual festival performs on three stages.

In 1978, Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II. He moved on to revive the Chrysler Corp. as president and CEO until his retirement in 1992.

In 1982, major league baseball's All-Star Game was played outside the United States for the first time – at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Toronto hosted the game in 1991.

In 2005, NHL players and owners reached an agreement in principle to end the 301-day NHL lockout, the longest labour dispute in professional sports history. It officially ended on July 22 after the players and owners ratified the contract, with the players agreeing to a salary cap.

In 2010, after months of courtroom wrangling, Canwest's newspaper division – home to the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen – confirmed Postmedia Network Canada Corp. as its new owners. Under the arrangement, Postmedia acquired the 11 dailies and 26 community papers for $1.1 billion. In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology for not recusing himself from the government's decision to award a contract to WE Charity to manage a major student-volunteering program. He said his and his family's longtime involvement with the WE organization should have kept him out of the discussions.