Today in History for Nov. 5:
In 1605, Guy Fawkes was found in the basement of Britain's Parliament Buildings, along with 36 barrels of gunpowder. His arrest foiled a plot to blow up the buildings and kill King James I during the next day's opening of Parliament. Britons mark Guy Fawkes Day each Nov. 5th with bonfires.
In 1803, weekly public markets were established in Toronto, then called York.
1872, suffragette Susan B. Anthony became the first American woman to vote in a presidential election, albeit illegally. She was later convicted by a judge and fined $100, but refused to pay the fine.
In 1873, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald's federal government resigned over evidence some members had accepted money from Canadian Pacific Railway president Sir Hugh Allen in return for the contract to build the line.
In 1895, George B. Selden of Rochester, N.Y., received the first U.S. patent for an "improved Road Engine."
In 1917, in Moscow, following the abdication of Russian Czar Nicholas II, the Orthodox Church Council of 1917-1918 restored the office of patriarch, suppressed by Peter the Great in 1700.
In 1923, Alberta ended seven years of Prohibition.
In 1930, American author Sinclair Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1939, the National Research Council's official time signal was first broadcast on CBC Radio. Listeners all across the country have since used "the beginning of the long dash" to set their clocks to the exact time.
In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt became the only American president to be elected to a third term in office. A later amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars presidents from serving more than two consecutive terms.
In 1956, Canadian Major-General E.L.M. Burns was named the first commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Egypt. Burns held the post for three years.
In 1962, the political committee of the United Nations approved a Canadian-proposed formula for halting above-ground nuclear bomb tests by Jan. 1, 1963.
In 1968, Richard M. Nixon was elected U.S. president, defeating
In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband. In 1924, Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming was elected to serve out the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross.
In 1979, cartoonist Al Capp, creator of the comic strip "Li'l Abner," died.
In 1981, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and nine premiers, all except Quebec's, announced a deal had been reached on patriating the Constitution from Britain. The agreement also included an amending formula and a two-tiered Charter of Rights. The Queen officially proclaimed the Constitution on April 17, 1982.
In 1992, U.S. chess legend Bobby Fischer clinched a $5 million chess match against Russian Boris Spassky, marking a triumphant return after 20 years in self-imposed obscurity.
In 1994, at age 83, former U.S. president Ronald Reagan announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
In 1995, an intruder armed with a knife broke into 24 Sussex Drive and made it as far as the bedroom where Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his wife were sleeping. The intruder came face-to-face with Aline Chretien, who slammed and locked the door, then called security.
In 1996, Russian President Boris Yeltsin had quintuple bypass heart surgery.
In 1996, Quebec Lt-.Gov. Jean-Louis Roux resigned after admitting he wore a Nazi swastika in the Second World War and took part in anti-conscription protests during which Jewish stores were damaged.
In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton won re-election, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate in 52 years to win two consecutive elections.
In 1997, Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer was convicted for a second time of second-degree murder in the 1993 death of his disabled daughter in what he said was mercy killing. His first conviction in 1994 was overturned on appeal. While a judge originally set aside the mandatory sentence, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2001 that Latimer must serve the minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. He was granted full parole on Dec. 6, 2010.
In 1998, in a scientific breakthrough, researchers said they had found a way to grow almost any type of human cell in a laboratory dish. They suggested the technique could eventually be used to repair damaged organs.
In 1999, in a landmark anti-trust case, a U.S. judge ruled Microsoft was a monopolist, and accused it of abusing its power and limiting consumer choice. Parts of the ruling were overturned on appeal and the software giant settled out of court with the U.S. Justice Department two years later.
In 1999, Onex Corp. pulled its $2.2-billion bid to buy Air Canada and Canadian Airlines, after a Quebec Court ruled the takeover offer was illegal.
In 2001, an inquiry ordered by the Manitoba government called for Thomas Sophonow to receive $2.6 million in compensation. Sophonow was tried three times, and convicted twice, before being cleared of the 1981 murder of a Winnipeg teen.
In 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chretien's control over his government suffered a body blow when 56 Liberal MP's, including former finance minister Paul Martin, defied him to support a controversial opposition motion to elect Commons committee chairs by secret ballot, giving the Canadian Alliance a 174-87 victory in the House.
In 2003, 54-year-old Gary Ridgway, who became known as the "Green River Killer," admitted to being the worst serial killer in U.S. history. He pleaded guilty to 48 murders over two decades. He escaped the death penalty in exchange for showing authorities where he buried the bodies of some victims.
In 2003, the NDP led by Premier Lorne Calvert won a fourth term by a slim majority in the Saskatchewan provincial election. Results: NDP 30 seats, Saskatchewan Party 28 and the Liberals were shut out entirely, losing their only seat.
In 2004, Saskatchewan became the seventh jurisdiction in Canada to allow same-sex marriages.
In 2006, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity for a campaign against Shia Muslims in 1982 and sentenced to death by hanging for the killing of 148 people in the town of Dujail. (He was hanged on Dec. 30.)
In 2007, Hollywood film and TV writers went on strike. It ended in February 2008.
In 2007, 20-year-old RCMP officer Doug Scott was shot and killed in the Baffin Island hamlet of Kimmirut after responding to an impaired driving complaint.
In 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 30 in a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood, Texas, army base. (He was convicted by a military jury and sentenced to death in August 2013.)
In 2009, the ball, arguably the most popular plaything of all time, finally earned a place inside a glass case at the National Toy Hall of Fame in New York.
In 2010, Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most volatile volcano, unleashed its most powerful eruption since 1930, sending hot clouds of gas, rocks and debris avalanching down its slopes at highway speeds, smothering entire villages and killing 90 people. Since it first erupted on Oct. 26, it went on to claim 353 lives in the following weeks.
In 2012, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay resigned in the midst of a construction corruption scandal, becoming the highest-profile political casualty of the controversies rocking Quebec.
In 2013, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford revealed he had smoked crack cocaine while in a "drunken stupor" - a shocking about-face after months of denials over drug use. Ford apologized but said he would not resign.
In 2013, the Senate voted to suspend Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau without pay — but with benefits intact — for the remainder of the parliamentary session, amid expense scandals that had engulfed the Prime Minister's Office. (Duffy was acquitted on all charges, RCMP did not lay charges against Wallin and Brazeau's charges were withdrawn.)
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
