Today in history

In 742, Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was born. Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day, 800. During his reign, Charlemagne appointed and deposed bishops, directed a revision of the text of the Bible, instituted changes to the liturgy, set rules for life in the monasteries, and sent investigators to dismiss priests with insufficient learning or piety.

In 1805, one of the greatest children’s storytellers, Hans Christian Andersen, was born in Denmark. His parents were a poor shoemaker and washerwoman who lived in the slums of Odense, in Denmark. His father encouraged in his son a love of stories and theatre. Andersen is best known for his stories “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Little Mermaid.”

In 1834, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty, was born in Colmar, France.

In 1840, Toronto staged a public ox roast to celebrate Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert.

In 1871, the first Dominion census put Canada’s population at 3,689,257.

In 1872, Samuel Morse, who invented the electric telegraph and Morse code, died.

In 1873, what became known as the “Pacific Scandal” erupted in the House of Commons. Liberal MP Lucius Seth Huntington charged that two businessmen gave money to the Conservative government in return for permission to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald was forced out of office later in the year.

In 1902, the world’s first movingpicture theatre opened in Los Angeles.

In 1906, the first session of the Saskatchewan legislature began with Premier Walter Scott presiding over the assembly, which met in the former territorial government building in Regina - a city that would be declared the provincial capital in May. Land for a legislature building was set aside in 1905, but it would not be completed until 1912.

In 1917, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson used the phrase “the world must be made safe for democracy” in asking Congress to declare war against Germany.

In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man called “John” in exchange for Lindbergh’s kidnapped son. The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.

In 1947, cocktail bars first opened in Toronto.

In 1968, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau created Canada’s first modern lottery to help pay the deficit from Expo ‘67.

In 1975, Toronto’s CN Tower became, at the time, the world’s tallest freestanding structure when its height reached 555.33 metres. The tower was built at a cost of $63 million, and weighs over 117,000 metric tonnes. Its

Space Deck, at 447 metres, is the world’s highest public observation gallery. (Note for trivia buffs: construction of the tower was completed Feb. 22, 1974, and the antenna was completed April 2, 1975; the tower opened to the public June 26, 1976 and the official opening took place Oct. 1, 1976.)

In 1977, Charlotte Brew became the first woman to ride in Britain’s Grand National steeplechase race.

In 1982, Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, held by Britain since 1833. The British responded by sending troops who forced the occupiers to surrender on June 14.

In 1991, Rita Johnston became Canada’s first woman premier. She was sworn in as B.C. premier following Bill Vander Zalm’s resignation.

In 1992, New York crime boss John Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering. Known as the “Dapper Don” for his natty attire and the “Teflon Don” because charges couldn’t stick, Gotti was later sentenced to life in prison and died in prison in 2002.

In 1992, Edith Cresson resigned after 10 turbulent months as the first female prime minister of France after election setbacks for the ruling Socialists.

In 1992, a fire at Mohawk Raceway near Guelph, Ont., killed 69 horses, valued at $2 million. It was the worst racetrack fire in Canadian history.

In 1995, the second-longest labour dispute in pro sports history ended when major league baseball’s team owners accepted the players’ offer to return to work. The strike, which began Aug. 12, 1994, forced the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. (The NHL lockout in 2004-05 is the longest labour dispute in pro sports history.)

In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Alberta’s human rights code violated the Charter of Rights by not including sexual orientation.

In 2004, the Tyco case, involving former CEO Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, one of the biggest corporate corruption trials in U.S. history, ended in a mistrial amid reports one juror received a threatening letter. (Kozlowski and Swartz were convicted in a retrial of looting Tyco of more than $600 million in corporate bonuses and loans. Each was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.)

In 2005, Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84, after a 26-year reign as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Polishborn John Paul was the first non-italian Pope in over 450 years.

In 2007, the tiny town of Leaf Rapids in northwestern Manitoba became the first Canadian community to ban plastic bags.

In 2009, G20 countries pledged more than Us$1-trillion to the IMF and the World Bank to assist developing countries severely affected by the economic crisis. They also agreed to rein in the world’s financial system through the creation of international accounting standards, the regulation of debt-ratings agencies and hedge funds, and a clampdown on tax havens and controls on executive pay.

In 2009, Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec agreed for the first time to sell electricity directly through Quebec and into the North American power grid in a breakthrough arrangement. In March 2010, New Brunswick pulled the plug on the deal when Quebec sought unacceptable changes.

In 2012, a 43-year-old nursing student expelled from a small Christian university in Oakland, Calif., and upset about being teased over his poor English skills, opened fire at the school killing six students and a secretary.

In 2015, Al-shabab gunmen rampaged through a university in northeastern Kenya at dawn, killing 148 people with the al-qaida-linked group singling out non-muslim students. Four militants were slain by security forces to end the siege just after dusk.

In 2018, China’s defunct Tiangong 1 space station mostly burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere over the central South Pacific Ocean.

In 2018, Donte Divincenzo’s 31-point effort led Villanova over Michigan 79-62 to win its second NCAA men’s basketball championship in three years.

In 2018, Vancouver Canucks’ superstar twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin announced their retirement following the end of the regular season, departing after a 17-year career that saw them become the team’s career points leaders and the only brothers in NHL history to register 1,000 points each.

In 2018, Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin played in his 1,000th career regular season game.

In 2019, Jody Wilson-raybould and Jane Philpott were kicked out of the Liberal caucus. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement moments after their fellow government MPS gathered on Parliament Hill for an emergency meeting to determine their future with the party. Trudeau said the dissident MPS, both former senior cabinet ministers, risked a civil war within the Liberal party. Wilsonraybould, whose explosive allegations of political interference by the Prime Minister’s Office, wrote to her fellow now former - caucus members earlier in the day in hopes of convincing them to let her stay.

In 2021, Johnson & Johnson said it was expanding its clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 12 and 17. In a statement, the company said it would begin testing 16and 17-year-olds in the United Kingdom and Spain, later adding teenagers in that age group in Canada, the United States and the Netherlands.