Today in History

In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztec Indians.

In 1792, French revolutionaries imprisoned the royal family.

In 1812, General Isaac Brock met Indian Chief Tecumseh to plan a campaign to drive General William Hull back into the United States.

In 1863, John Sandfield Macdonald became prime minister of United Canada with A.A. Dorion. A lawyer who was heavily involved in the Confederation process, Macdonald had also been part of an earlier administration — the Macdonald-sicotte government — since 1862. Macdonald also served later as Ontario’s first premier. He was no relation to Sir John A. Macdonald, although he did work closely with Canada’s first prime minister.

In 1886, Sir John A. Macdonald drove in the last spike of the Esquimault-nanaimo railway in British Columbia.

In 1899, film-maker Alfred Hitchcock was born in London. He died April 29, 1980.

In 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at the age of 90. The English woman’s dedication to helping others began in her youth as she studied nursing and visited hospitals and reformatories in Europe. During the Crimean War, Nightingale went with 34 nurses to the battlefield to help wounded soldiers who had suffered from poor medical care. Her self-sacrificing service made her name synonymous with care and compassion in the nursing field. She was bedridden for the last 54 years of her life.

In 1926, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was born. In 1934, Al Capp’s comic strip “Li’l Abner” made its debut.

In 1942, Walt Disney’s animated feature “Bambi” premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

In 1946, English author and social critic H. G. Wells died in London at age 79. A onetime biology teacher, Wells was best known as the author of scientific romances like “The Time Machine” and “The War of the Worlds.” He also wrote immensely readable short stories. Among his other works is the well-known “Outline of History.”

In 1949, James Cardinal Mcguigan of Toronto ordered that the sacraments be denied to Roman Catholics who read, wrote or distributed the “Canadian Tribune,” the newspaper of the Communist party of Canada.

In 1955, the Canso Causeway, linking Cape Breton Island to the Nova Scotia mainland, was opened. Built at an estimated cost of $22 million, the causeway took three years to complete.

In 1960, the first group of Canadian Army Signallers assigned to UN troops in the Congo left Canada.

In 1960, the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of “Echo 1.”

In 1961, the city of Berlin was divided by a concrete wall as East Germany sealed off the border between the Eastern and Western sectors in a move to control emigration to the West. The wall snaked 166 kilometres around the enclave of West Berlin and was backed by floodlights, barbed wire, trip wires, minefields and scattered guns. On Nov. 9, 1989, East German authorities unexpectedly opened the borders. The wall was then dismantled and the two Germanys were unified.

In 1980, Canadian oceanographer Joseph Macinnis discovered the sunken yet well-preserved wreck of “HMS Breadalbane.” The three-masted, Scottish-built merchant ship had been crushed in ice at Beechey Island in the Arctic Ocean in 1853. It was the world’s northernmost known shipwreck. Macinnis, also a doctor who was born in Barrie, Ont., developed an underwater contained environment in Georgian Bay in 1969 and then designed a transparent undersea refuge. Three years later at Resolute Bay, it became the firstnamed station under ice, including the first under the North Pole.

In 1990, Gilles Duceppe became the first MP elected under the banner of the Bloc Quebecois, a group of independent MPS committed to Quebec sovereignty.

In 1991, the Pentagon said more than 20 per cent of the U.S. soldiers killed in action during the Persian Gulf War died by American hands.

In 1992, a Manitoba court ruled that mandatory Christian prayer in the province’s schools was unconstitutional. Manitoba was Canada’s last bastion of compulsory school prayer.

In 1993, at least 114 people died when a 134-room hotel collapsed in Thailand, 250 kilometres northeast of Bangkok.

In 1995, New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle died of cancer at age 63. Millions idolized No. 7 throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. He hit 536 career home runs, was a three-time MVP in the American League, won the Triple Crown in 1956 and won four A.L. home run titles, accomplishing many of his feats despite gimpy knees. He was the driving force on Yankees teams that won 12 A.L. pennants. His 18 home runs in World Series play is a record that still stands.

In 1999, German tennis great Steffi Graf, 30, announced her retirement after a 17-year stellar career.

In 1999, Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman, who discovered REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in 1953, died at the age of 104 in Los Angeles.

In 2001, Macedonia’s rival political leaders signed a landmark peace accord aimed at ending six months of bloody conflict and clearing the way for NATO troops to disarm ethnic-albanian rebels.

In 2003, the CFL took the first step towards assuming control of the Hamilton Tiger-cats, issuing a notice of default to the struggling football franchise for not paying its players on time.

In 2004, famed TV chef Julia Child died in Montecito, Calif., two days shy of her 92nd birthday. Child is credited with introducing North American cooks to classic French cuisine.

In 2006, the UN Security Council agreed on a resolution sponsored by France and United States to halt the fighting in Lebanon and allowed the deployment of UN and Lebanese forces as the Israelis withdrew.

In 2007, the federal and Quebec governments and the Inuit reached an agreement in principle to create self-government for the province’s 10,000 Inuit. The Regional Government of Nunavik, covering one-third of Quebec, would have its own elected assembly representing Quebec’s 14 remote Inuit communities and a public service responsible for services normally delivered by provinces, such as education and health.

In 2008, three female workers, including two Canadians who worked for a New York-based relief organization, were killed when their vehicle was ambushed by militants south of Kabul in Afghanistan.

In 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, American swimmer Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals. He ended the Beijing Games with an Olympic record eight gold medals for a career gold total of 14. (After the 2016 Rio Games, he had amassed a record 28 career medals, 23 of them gold.)

In 2010, the “MV Sun Sea” carrying 490 Tamil migrants docked at CFB Esquimalt near Victoria, sailing into a vigorous debate about how Canada should treat them and others who may be planning a similar voyage. The ship was intercepted off Vancouver Island on Aug. 12 and boarded by Canadians from a flotilla of vessels and towed to dock.

In 2011, the 102-year-old Stormdale Covered Bridge near Hartland, N.B., was completely destroyed after a stolen truck was parked on the span and set ablaze.

In 2013, a Senate committee ordered Sen. Pamela Wallin to pay back an additional $83,000 in ineligible travel expense claims, on top of the $38,000 she had already repaid. After further reviews, she had to reimburse the Senate a grand total of $138,970.

In 2018, the 2018 class was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, star goaltender Martin Brodeur, winger Martin St. Louis, league trailblazer Willie O’ree, Canadian women’s star Jayna Hefford and Russian great Alexander Yakushev.

In 2018, former football player and professional wrestler Jim (The Anvil) Neidhart, who won two world tag-team titles over his World Wrestling Entertainment career, died in Florida at age 63.

(The Canadian Press)