TODAY IN HISTORY:

December 17

1792: The first legislative assembly of Lower Canada opens in Quebec City.

1885: France declares Madagascar a protectorate.

1903: The Wright brothers make the first sustained motorized aircraft flight at 10:35 a.m., piloted by Orville Wright, at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

1933: The first National Football League championship game is played, with the Chicago Bears beating the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

1953: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approves RCA's black and white-compatible colour TV specifications.

1965: The Houston Astrodome opens. The first event is a concert featuring Judy Garland and The Supremes.

1969: The United States Air Force closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

1989: The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, premieres on Fox TV as a full animated series with the episode Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.

2013: Cat Stevens, Hall & Oates, Kiss, Linda Ronstadt and Nirvana are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

2014: Sony Pictures cancels the release of The Interview, starring Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan and James Franco, after a cyber attack on the studio.

2015: Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, is arrested on fraud charges in New York by the FBI.

2018: Astronomers identify the furthest object in the solar system as 2018 VG18 (nicknamed Farout), 120 times further from the sun than Earth.