Today in History for Nov. 8
In 1308, medieval scholar Duns Scotus died. His given name led to the introduction of the word dunce.
In 1414, in Constance, Switzerland, more than 50,000 people gathered to resolve the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church. The Constance council got rid of three men who all claimed to be pope and elected Martin V as the church's new leader.
In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez reached Mexico City.
In 1623, William Shakespeare's collected works were first published.
In 1656, British astronomer Edmund Halley, who discovered the comet that bears his name, was born. He was the first to predict the return of a comet.
In 1793, the Louvre Palace in Paris was opened as a public museum.
In 1847, British author Bram Stoker was born. His literary legacy is "Dracula," first published in 1897.
In 1873, Winnipeg was incorporated as a city.
In 1887, the gramaphone was patented by American Thomas Edison.
In 1889, Montana became the 41st U.S. state.
In 1889, Oswald J. Smith, founder of the Peoples Church of Toronto, was born. Smith wanted to be a missionary, but was turned down because of health reasons. So he began a church that was heavily focused on mission activities. Smith also wrote several books and composed more than 1,200 hymns. He died in 1986.
In 1900, Margaret Mitchell -- author of "Gone With the Wind" -- was born in Atlanta. She died in a 1949 car crash.
In 1917, Vladimir Lenin became chief commissar and Leon Trotsky was named premier as the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia.
In 1917, The Canadian Press news agency was founded in Toronto.
In 1923, Adolph Hitler staged what became known as the "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich when he and his supporters tried to overthrow the republican government of Germany. The next day, however, police fired on a Nazi procession through the city and the revolt was broken up. He was arrested, tried and convicted of high treason. He served nine months of a five-year sentence, during which time he dictated Mein Kampf.
In 1942, Operation Torch, resulting in an Allied victory, began during the Second World War as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.
In 1943, Charlottetown-born Capt. Fred Peters won the Victoria Cross during the Second World War naval battle at Oran Harbour, North Africa. Five days later, Peters was killed in a plane crash while heading to England to receive his medal.
In 1950, during the Korean conflict, the first jet battle took place as U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.
In 1960, 43-year-old John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon for the presidency of the United States.
In 1961, Conservative John Robarts became premier of Ontario.
In 1965, Pierre Trudeau first won a seat in the House of Commons, as Liberal member for Mount Royal, in a general election. The future prime minister held the seat until 1984.
In 1972, a landmark ruling by a Philadelphia judge cleared Bobby Hull to play for the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association. The star left winger had missed the Jets' first 14 games while the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks challenged his departure.
In 1975, William Eustace, an ironworker, leapt off the top of Toronto's CN Tower and made a successful parachute jump.
In 1988, Republican George Bush defeated Michael Dukakis to become the first vice-president in 152 years to follow his boss to the U.S. presidency. He succeeded Ronald Reagan.
In 1990, the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior" escaped from the Spanish port of El Ferral where it was being held on $140,000 bond. It was in custody because of its interference with Spanish whaling operations.
In 1991, Canada and the European Community imposed economic sanctions on Yugoslavia in an attempt to stop the Balkan Civil War.
In 1995, one of the last paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, "Sous Bois," was sold for $27 million at Sotheby's in New York.
In 1999, Germany's appeal court upheld the 1997 manslaughter conviction against Egon Krenz, the East German leader who ordered guards to kill those who tried to cross the Berlin Wall to the west, and who oversaw its dismantling in 1989.
In 2001, Canada 3000, the country's second-largest airline, ceased operations and cancelled its flights after being granted bankruptcy protection from creditors. It went bankrupt three days later.
In 2001, Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray broke John Diefenbaker's record of 14,388 days of continuous service in the House of Commons. Gray first became an MP in 1962. He retired from Parliament on Jan. 14, 2002.
In 2004, a pregnant mother, Monika Woerlen, and her seven children were killed in a fire at their farmhouse in West Lincoln, Ont.
In 2005, David Bergen won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel "The Time in Between."
In 2006, Democrat Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives -- the first woman in U.S. history to hold the powerful post.
In 2008, CBC reporter Melissa Fung, who was kidnapped by Afghan insurgents at a refugee camp outside Kabul, was released after spending 28 days in captivity.
In 2010, 4.1 million viewers tuned in to watch Conan O'Brien relaunch his TV career with his new TBS show titled simply "Conan." It was looser, quirkier, more like "Late Night," where he thrived for nearly 17 years on NBC, prior to his brief unsuccessful seven-month stint as host of the "The Tonight Show."
In 2010 Angela James and Cammi Granato became the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They accepted their rings along with former NHL'er Dino Ciccarelli and builder Jim Devellano. The late Daryl "Doc" Seaman, one of the founders of the Calgary Flames, was also inducted.
In 2010, Jonathan Duhamel of Boucherville, Que. won the World Series of Poker title and $8.94 million, becoming the first Canadian to take the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event in Las Vegas.
In 2011, the first induction ceremony was held at the new Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary. The inductees were NHL defenceman Ray Bourque, CFL kicker Lou Passaglia, Paralympian Lauren Woolstencroft, triathlete Peter Reid, soccer player Andre Neil and IOC member Dick Pound.
In 2011, Victoria-based author Esi Edugyan won the coveted $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel "Half-Blood Blues," about a group of black jazz musicians trying to survive in Europe during the Second World War.
In 2012, an explosion and fire at the Neptune Technologies & Bioressources plant in Sherbrooke, Que., killed two people and sent 19 others to hospital. A third person died two days later in hospital.
In 2012, Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 140 years in prison for killing six people and shooting 13 others, including greviously wounding former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in a 2011 shooting rampage at a Tuscon shopping centre.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious typhoons on record, slammed into the Philippines with tsunami-like storm surges, flattening entire towns and villages. At least 6,300 people were killed, and more than 1,000 were missing. More than 1.1 million houses were damaged or destroyed and more than 3.8 million people were displaced.
In 2015, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy party to a massive election victory over Myanmar's military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party.
In 2016, brash billionaire Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States, an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice whose campaign was like no other in modern times. His triumph over Hillary Clinton ended eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House.
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
