Today in history

On this date:

In 1456, according to tradition, Johann Gutenberg first published the Bible using movable type.

In 1462, the first dated Bible was printed in Latin in Mainz, Germany. It was also the first to contain the names of its printers. They were Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer.

In 1781, British astronomer Sir Walter Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

In 1885, British Columbia passed a law barring Chinese people from entering the province. The federal government disallowed the law 18 days later.

In 1894, a Paris nightclub presented the first professional striptease.

In 1910, Sammy Kaye, one of the most successful bandleaders of all time, was born in Rocky River, Ohio.

In 1914, Canadian writer W.O. Mitchell was born in Weyburn, Sask. The author of “Who Has Seen the Wind” and “Jake and the Kid” died in Calgary in 1998.

In 1916, Manitoba became the first province to vote for prohibition.

In 1927, Canada’s old age pension bill received royal assent.

In 1928, Eileen Vollick of Hamilton, Ont., took her final flying tests and became the first Canadian woman to receive her pilot’s licence. Vollick said after her first flight that she felt “at home” in the cockpit. Instead of taking companies up on their offers to demonstrate their planes, she entered the world of aerobatic flying and skydiving.

In 1953, the Soviet Union vetoed a recommendation by the UN Security Council that Canada’s External Affairs Minister, Lester Pearson, be named UN secretary-general.