Today in History for Dec. 3:
On this date:
In 1170, Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, returned to England after six years of exile in France. He would be martyred on Dec. 29 -- killed by soldiers sent by his former friend, King Henry II.
In 1552, Saint Francis Xavier died. The Jesuit priest is considered the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of all time.
In 1557, the first covenant toward organization of the Presbyterian Church was signed in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. state.
In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio opened. It was the first totally co-educational college in the U.S., and the first school to advocate abolition of slavery.
In 1857, English novelist Joseph Conrad was born in Berdychiv, Poland.
In 1887, "Saturday Night" magazine was founded in Toronto by Edmund Ernest Sheppard. The magazine was first published once a week in newspaper format. It went on sale at 6 p.m. on Saturday nights.
In 1892, the Canadian Department of Trade and Commerce was created.
In 1894, "Treasure Island" author Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa at age 44.
In 1917, the Quebec Bridge opened over the St. Lawrence. At nearly one kilometre in length, it’s the world’s longest cantilever span.
In 1919, the Canadian government appropriated $25 million for tenants to buy homes.
In 1921, badminton was organized in Canada under the Canadian Badminton Association.
In 1951, the Canadian and Ontario governments reached an agreement to proceed with power development on the St. Lawrence River.
In 1956, international telex was introduced in Canada.
In 1960, Edmonton International Airport was officially opened.
In 1967, a team of surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa -- headed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard -- performed the first successful human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky, a 53-year-old grocer, lived 18 days with the heart of a 25-year-old woman killed in an auto accident.
In 1970, the "October Crisis" ended when British Trade Commissioner James Cross was released by his FLQ kidnappers in Montreal. Cross was seized from his home in October, and another FLQ cell later kidnapped and murdered Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte on Oct. 17. The kidnappings prompted the federal government to invoke the War Measures Act. Cross’ kidnappers and their families, a total of seven people, received safe conduct and transportation to Cuba. They later moved to France, but eventually returned to Canada.
In 1979, Chang Kuo-tao, 82, last surviving member of the 12 founding members of the Chinese Communist party, died in a Toronto nursing home.
In 1979, Iranians voted overwhelmingly in favour of a constitutional amendment making Ayatollah Khomeini leader of the country for life.
In 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan unveiled his country’s first $1-trillion budget.
In 1987, in a 461-page report presented in the House of Commons, Mr. Justice William Parker, the Chief Justice of the Ontario Supreme Court, ruled that former industry minister Sinclair Stevens broke conflict-of-interest rules 14 times while in the federal cabinet.
In 1989, U.S. President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev concluded a two-day summit aboard the Soviet cruise liner Maxim Gorky in the Mediterranean. Gale and storm-tossed seas forced both leaders to cancel half of their scheduled ship-board talks.
In 1990, Mary Robinson was inaugurated as Ireland’s first woman president.
In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev issued a desperate appeal to the republics to preserve the union, warning of possible warfare among them and catastrophe for the international community.
In 2006, Ed Stelmach was elected Alberta Conservative leader, replacing Premier Ralph Klein.
In 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a landslide re-election victory.
In 2008, breakaway Anglicans from Canada and the U.S. formed a new church in Chicago, The Anglican Church in North America. The new church brought together conservative Anglicans who object to same-sex marriage blessings and gay bishops and offers believers a conservative Anglican theology.
In 2009, Comcast Corp. announced it was planning to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal for US$13.75 billion, giving America's largest cable TV operator control of the TV network, an array of cable channels and a major movie studio.
In 2009, in a surprisingly undiplomatic rebuke, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was publicly chided by his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao at a traditional Chinese welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for taking too long to visit the country.
In 2010, at a climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, Canada joined Russia and Japan to block the extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
In 2010, foreign firefighters and aircraft from a dozen countries poured into Israel in an unprecedented wave of international assistance as the country battled a huge forest fire sweeping through precious northern woodlands that killed at least 42 people and displaced thousands. The fire was doused by Dec. 6, thanks in part to rain.
In 2014, a grand jury in New York City declined to indict a white police officer on criminal charges in the July chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. It triggered protests around the country and sent thousands into New York's streets.
In 2015, a South African appeals court convicted double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius of murder, overturning a lower court's conviction on the lesser charge of manslaughter for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013. In July 2016, he was sentenced to six years in prison, but the prosecution was appealing it as "shockingly too lenient."
In 2015, former British Columbia premier Bill Bennett, an architect of financial restraint in the province and a signatory to Canada's Constitution, died at the age of 83 following a long fight with Alzheimer's disease.
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
