today in history

In 1763, Britain’s King George III issued a proclamation urging subjects to settle in Canada.

In 1860, the Maple Leaf was first used as an official emblem during a visit to Toronto by the Prince of Wales.

In 1892, James Corbett knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 21st round of their heavyweight boxing match in New Orleans. It was the first major title bout to be fought under the Marquess of Queensbury rules.

In 1940, what came to be called “The Blitz’’ began when London suffered the first concentrated night air raid by German planes during the Second World War. In the first three nights, 1,000 people were killed and 3,500 seriously injured. The Royal Air Force prevented invasion during 1940, but the civilian population endured years of bombing before the tide of war turned.

In 2011, in one of the worst air disasters in sports history, a plane carrying members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of Russia’s KHL crashed into the banks of the Volga River moments after takeoff. Forty-three people died in the crash and a player who survived the initial impact died five days later in hospital, leaving the flight engineer as the only survivor. The entire Lokomotiv team perished, including Canadian coach Brad McCrimmon and former NHL players Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei.