Today in History for March 14:
In 1361, Icelandic monk Eysteinn Asgrimsson died at the Helgisetre Monastery in Norway. He was the author of "Lilja" (The Lily), which is a survey of Christian history from Creation to the Last Judgment and is considered to be the finest example of pre-Reformation Icelandic poetry.
In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.
In 1843, James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Co. founded Victoria when he landed at Clover Point with 15 men. The company had sent Douglas to formally occupy the southern part of Vancouver Island and build a base for the company when the partition of Oregon Territory became imminent. This was done to strengthen British claims to the whole island and those claims were recognized in the 1846 partition. Douglas was governor of Vancouver Island from 1851-63 and of British Columbia from 1858-64.
In 1864, Sir Etienne Tache and John A. Macdonald formed a government that led to the first Confederation negotiations. Macdonald later became Canada's first prime minister. Tache, described as judicious and fair-minded, died just over a year later, depriving the new government of his talents.
In 1868, Emily Murphy, the British Empire's first female judge, was born in Cookstown, Ont. A prolific writer, she took the pen name Janey Canuck. In 1916, Murphy was appointed police magistrate for Edmonton, and later Alberta. Murphy was among the "Famous Five" women who led the battle to have women declared legal "persons" under the British North America Act. Their 1929 victory before the British Privy Council allowed women to be appointed senators. Murphy died in Edmonton in 1933.
In 1879, scientist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany.
In 1883, German philosopher Karl Marx died in London at age 64.
In 1899, New Brunswick business legend K.C. Irving was born in Buctouche. He died Dec. 13, 1992.
In 1916, women won the right to vote in Saskatchewan.
In 1923, CKCK Regina radio broadcaster Pete Parker made the world's first complete play-by-play of a professional hockey game when the Regina Capitals hosted the Edmonton Eskimos in a Western Canada Professional Hockey League match.
In 1932, inventor-industrialist George Eastman, who founded the Eastman Kodak photography company, committed suicide in Rochester, N.Y. He was 77.
In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for the Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
In 1946, Fred Rose, the only Communist MP in Canadian history, was charged with conspiracy to transmit wartime secrets to the Soviet Union. In 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a clerk in the Soviet Embassy, defected to Canada to give evidence that Rose and others were part of a widespread Soviet spy ring. Rose was among those convicted of espionage. He served four years in prison and then moved back to his native Poland.
In 1950, Albert Guay was sentenced in Quebec City to be hanged for the murder of his wife, who was among 23 people killed when a time-bomb exploded aboard a Canadian Pacific Airlines plane in September, 1949.
In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
In 1959, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker rejected Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood's request for a royal commission on the province's labour problems.
In 1961, Massey College for graduate students was established at the University of Toronto.
In 1964, Jack Ruby was convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy the previous November in Dallas. Ruby was sentenced to death. Both the conviction and death sentence were later overturned, but Ruby died in 1967 before he could be re-tried.
In 1967, the body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 1972, Howard Hughes, the billionaire U.S. recluse, arrived in Vancouver with a staff of about 14 and took over the top floor of a hotel. In June, Hughes was granted a one-year extension to his Canadian visitors permit, once he had assured an immigration officer he would neither look for work nor apply for welfare assistance.
In 1978, for the first time, Statistics Canada reported that unemployment had passed the one-million mark in February.
In 1983, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed for the first time to cut prices in hopes of regaining control of the world oil market.
In 1984, Marc Garneau, Canada's first man in space, was selected to fly aboard a mission of the U.S. space shuttle "Discovery." During his eight-day space mission, Garneau, a career naval officer from Quebec, carried out tests on a space vision system and on space-induced nausea. He returned to space on the space shuttle "Endeavour" in 1996, becoming the first Canadian to fly two shuttle missions.
In 1989, Zita, Austria's last empress and widow of Charles I, the last crowned head of the Hapsburg dynasty, died at the age of 96.
In 1990, the Soviet Congress elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the country's new presidency, one day after greatly expanding the position's powers.
In 1991, Kurt Browning of Carolina, Alta., won his third consecutive men's world championship figure skating title.
In 1991, a British court reversed the convictions of the "Birmingham Six" -- who had spent 16 years in prison for the 1974 bombing of pubs in Birmingham, England -- and ordered them released.
In 1994, the B.C. Social Credit party came close to collapse after half of its six-member caucus quit to join the B.C. Reform party.
In 1995, a record high temperature was recorded in Metro Toronto when the mercury soared to 20.1 C, topping the previous high of 20 degrees set in 1946.
In 1996, the headquarters of Zellers was moved from Montreal to Toronto after parent Hudson's Bay Co. decided to merge Zellers' office operations with those of The Bay. The move meant a loss of 550 jobs in Quebec.
In 1997, Fred Zinnemann, the Oscar-winning director of such movies as "High Noon," "A Man for All Seasons" and "From Here to Eternity," died at age 89.
In 2004, Spanish voters threw out the ruling Popular Party of President Jose Maria Aznar as the Socialist opposition led by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero roared to victory in the national election. The upset came just three days after terrorist bombings in Madrid killed 191 people and injured more than 1,400.
In 2004, President Vladimir Putin was re-elected in Russia's presidential election.
In 2010, Victoria, B.C.-native Steve Nash played in his 1,000th NBA game.
In 2010, Saskatoon's Colette Bourgonje won silver in the women's 10-km sit-ski cross-country at the Vancouver Paralympic Games, becoming the first Canadian to win a Paralympic medal on home turf.
In 2011, former radio talk show host Christy Clark was sworn in as B.C.'s 35th premier.
In 2012, the International Criminal Court convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga of using child soldiers, a verdict hailed as a legal landmark in the fight against impunity for the world's most serious crimes. (He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison.)
In 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached an agreement to form a new coalition government, the first government in decades not to include any ultra-Orthodox parties.
In 2013, physicists confirmed that the elusive subatomic particle discovered in July 2012 was a version of the long-sought Higgs boson or so-called " God particle." It was predicted in 1964 to help fill in our understanding of the creation of the universe, which many theorize occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang.
In 2016, 18-year-old Brooke Henderson became the first Canadian women to crack the top-10 in the Rolex women鈥檚 world golf rankings. (She climbed as high as No. 2)
In 2018, renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by ALS, died at age 76. Hawking wrote so lucidly of the mysteries of space, time and black holes that his book, "A Brief History of Time," became an international bestseller, making him one of science's biggest celebrities since Albert Einstein.
In 2018, Canadian skier Mark McKeever won his second gold medal at the Pyeongchang Paralympic Games, in the men's visually impaired 1.5-km sprint classic, extending his Canadian Winter Paralympic record to 15 career medals; also, Canadian skiers won five bronze medals: Mollie Jepsen in the women's standing giant slalom, Mac Marcoux in the men's visually impaired giant slalom, Alexis Guimond in the men's standing giant slalom, Mark Arendz in men's standings cross-country 1.5-km sprint classic and Natalie Wilkie in women's standings cross-country 1.5-km sprint classic.
In 2018, under pressure from U.S. regulators, Ford recalled nearly 1.4 million Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ cars in North America 鈥� including 62,479 in Canada 鈥� because the steering wheels can detach from the steering column and drivers could lose control.
In 2018, tens of thousands of U.S. students from Maine to Hawaii walked out of their classrooms to demand action on gun violence and school safety in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
In 2020, the Federal Court closed its buildings and offices to visitors in response to the growing novel coronavirus outbreak. Childcare, schools, libraries, jail visits and jury trials were also shut down across the country.
In 2020, the government of Quebec reported a health emergency for the province over the threat of COVID-19. Premier Francois Legault urged everyone 70 years of age and older to stay home until further notice.
In 2020, a woman in her 50s became the first confirmed COVID-19 case reported in Prince Edward Island. In Newfoundland and Labrador, a woman who had recently travelled on a cruise ship was reported to be that province's first presumptive COVID-19 case.
In 2020, Canadian woman and an Italian man who had been kidnapped in December 2018 in Burkina Faso were released in good health. Quebec resident Edith Blais and Italian Luca Tacchetto 鈥� both in their 30s 鈥� had been travelling by car in the southwest of Burkina Faso when all communication with their families abruptly ended on Dec. 15, 2018.
In 2020, the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre in downtown Toronto became the first major Canadian film complex to close in the midst of COVID-19. Cirque du Soleil announced it was temporarily suspending its productions in Las Vegas and around the world.
In 2020, Ontario's chief medical officer of health urged long-term care facilities to bar access to all but ''essential visitors'' over the threat of COVID-19. Dr. David Williams said the safety and well-being of vulnerable residents is a top priority.
In 2021, AstraZeneca defended its COVID-19 vaccine after a number of European countries halted its use due to blood clotting concerns. The company's chief medical officer said a safety review of more than 17 million patients in Europe and the U-K shows the product is safe. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization warned there's a lack of data on efficacy in the 65 and over age group. Unlike many other provinces, Quebec authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65. Both the World Health Organization and Health Canada said there's no science to link the product to blood clots.
In 2021, Barbara Rickles, the widow of comedian Don Rickles, died on what would have been their 56th wedding anniversary. She was 84. Barbara was frequently the butt of her husband's jokes onstage. But by many accounts, the Rickles had one of the happiest marriages in show business, right up to his death in 2017. She helped produce the 2007 Emmy-winning documentary "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.''
In 2022, Tom Brady's retirement lasted all of 40 days. Brady returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd season in the NFL. The seven-time Super Bowl champion announced his decision on Twitter and Instagram, saying he had 鈥渦nfinished business.''
In 2022, the man who invented the GIF died of COVID-19. Stephen Wilhite won a Webby lifetime achievement award in 2013 for inventing the short-video format back in 1987 when he worked at CompuServe. In 2013, he told the New York Times the file had only one pronunciation -- a soft 鈥淕,'' like Jif peanut butter. He said one of his favourites was the '90s-era dancing baby GIF.
In 2024, The Canadian Press learned the federal government quietly ordered a national security review of the popular video app TikTok the previous September. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne's office said the review was never revealed because of confidentiality provisions of the Investment Canada Act.
In 2024, American Paul Alexander, who spent decades using an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, died at the age of 78. He died in a Dallas hospital. Alexander was a child when he began using an iron lung, a cylinder that encased his body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of his lungs.
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The Canadian Press
