On this date:

In 1547, Ivan the Terrible was crowned the first czar of Russia. In 1642, French settlers were given land in Acadia.

In 1866, clamp-on roller skates were patented.

In 1906, Britain relinquished control of the naval bases at Halifax and Esquimault, B.C., turning them over to Canada.

In 1920, the first meeting of the League of Nations (the forerunner of the United Nations) began in Paris.

In 1920, prohibition began in the United States. It ended in 1933. In 1939, the first “Superman” comic strip by Toronto-born Joe Shuster appeared.

In 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in London.

In 1970, Ottawa announced plans to convert the country from the Imperial to the Metric system of measurement. A special commission was appointed to oversee the introduction of metric, or the International System of Units. In 1970, Moammar Gadhafi became ruler of Libya following a military coup.

In 1979, the Shah of Iran left his country for what became a permanent self-imposed exile. In 2013, Pauline Friedman Phillips, who as Dear Abby dispensed snappy, sometimes saucy advice on love, marriage and meddling mothers-in-law to millions of newspaper readers around the world, died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 94.