Today in History for July 13:
On this date:
In 100 B.C., Julius Caesar, the most famous general in Roman history, was born.
In 1762, Czar Peter III of Russia was dethroned in a coup.
In 1789, the British ship "Princess Royal" was seized by Spaniards at Nootka, B.C.
In 1793, the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat was assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, who was executed four days later.
In 1837, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to move into Buckingham Palace.
In 1863, the Scottish Reform Act required Scotsmen to wear something under their kilts.
In 1865, a large wooden conduit into the Ottawa River, designed to supply government buildings on Parliament Hill with water, was completed.
In 1886, Father Edward Flanagan, American Roman Catholic parish priest and founder of Boys Town, was born. He believed there was "no such thing as a bad boy." In 1922, he organized Boys Town near Omaha, Neb.
In 1930, the first World Cup soccer tournament began in Uruguay. The host country defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final.
In 1934, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hit his 700th home run. He finished his career with 714. His record held up until Hank Aaron surpassed him in 1974. In 2007, Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homer to claim the record and ended the year with 762 before a steroid scandal effectively blackballed him from Major League Baseball.
In 1934, German dictator Adolf Hitler declared his right to kill without benefit of law.
In 1942, a German submarine sank three vessels in the St. Lawrence River.
In 1947, Europe accepted the "Marshall Plan," a U.S.-sponsored program designed to rehabilitate the economies of western and southern European nations after the Second World War.
In 1949, the Vatican threatened excommunication against supporters of anti-Christian or materialistic elements of Communism.
In 1949, the first provincial legislature of Newfoundland opened at St. John's.
In 1953, the first Stratford Festival was launched at Stratford, Ont. The first season featured two Shakespearean plays -- "Richard III," starring Alec Guinness, and "All's Well That Ends Well." The season ran six weeks and was directed by British producer Tyrone Guthrie in a tent theatre on the banks of the Avon River. A permanent building, the Festival Theatre, was opened in 1957. Today, the annual festival performs on three stages.
In 1961, James Coyne resigned as governor of the Bank of Canada because of controversy over his refusal to adopt the Diefenbaker government's fiscal policy. Coyne would not implement the government's expansionist monetary policies and resigned only after the Senate blocked a government bill to fire him.
In 1971, the federal and Ontario governments agreed to establish Pukaskwa National Park, on the north shore of Lake Superior, as a semi-wilderness region.
In 1978, Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II. He moved on to revive the Chrysler Corp. as president and CEO until his retirement in 1992.
In 1982, major league baseball's All-Star Game was played outside the United States for the first time -- at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Toronto hosted the game in 1991.
In 1983, Gabrielle Roy, Canadian novelist and three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for fiction, died at age 74. Born in Manitoba, she later lived in Montreal. Her simple style and focus on human issues made her a popular and influential writer.
In 1991, an Inuit land claim in the Yukon's Mackenzie River delta was settled after 20 years of negotiations.
In 1993, Germany held a farewell ceremony for Canadian soldiers, marking an end of the stationing of Canadian troops in Germany after 42 years of NATO service.
In 1994, Transport Minister Douglas Young unveiled proposals to lease 21 major Canadian airports to local authorities and cut off subsidies to more than 100 smaller regional airports. The plan was designed to save $100 million a year.
In 1995, three Montreal police officers were sentenced to jail terms for beating taxi driver Richard Barnabi into a comatose state in 1993.
In 1995, the longest murder trial in Canadian history, at the time, ended with the conviction of two cocaine addicts in the beating death of Toronto doctor Carolyn Warrick in January 1991.
In 1999, in the first such prosecution in U.S. history, the state of Florida charged former Valujet maintenance company SabreTech Inc. with murder and manslaughter of 110 people in the 1996 crash of a Valujet DC-9 in the Florida Everglades. Three of the company's employees were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, making false statements and mislabelling and mishandling hazardous material.
In 2000, the last of the political hostages in the Fijian parliament in Suva, including Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, were freed after 55 days in confinement.
In 2005, NHL players and owners reached an agreement in principle to end the 301-day NHL lockout, the longest labour dispute in professional sports history. It officially ended on July 22 after the players and owners ratified the contract, with the players agreeing to a salary cap.
In 2005, Edmonton-born Bernard Ebbers, who as CEO of WorldCom Inc. oversaw the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In 2006, a Cormorant search and rescue helicopter crashed off the eastern tip of Nova Scotia during a routine training exercise, killing three men and injuring four others.
In 2007, 62-year-old Conrad Black was found guilty on three counts of mail fraud and one of obstruction of justice at his trial in Chicago. He was acquitted of nine other counts. Three other former executives of Hollinger International Inc., John Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis, were found guilty of three fraud charges.
In 2008, Anheuser-Busch Cos., maker of Budweiser, agreed to be acquired by InBev NV of Stella Artois, for $49.91 billion, forming the world's largest beer maker.
In 2009, the Queen appointed former prime minister Jean Chretien to the exclusive Order of Merit. The honour is restricted to 24 living members, and precious few foreigners.
In 2010, after months of courtroom wrangling, Canwest's newspaper division — home to the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen — confirmed Postmedia Network Canada Corp. as its new owners. Under the arrangement, Postmedia acquired the 11 dailies and 26 community papers for $1.1 billion.
In 2010, George Steinbrenner, the colourful and controversial owner who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died at age 80.
In 2013, a Florida jury acquitted former neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
In 2013, Canadian actor Cory Monteith, who rose to stardom playing the reluctant quarterback-turned-singer Finn Hudson in the hit TV musical series "Glee," was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room from an overdose of heroin and alcohol combined. He was 31.
In 2016, David Cameron officially resigned as British prime minister, the biggest casualty of the Brexit vote. His successor Theresa May was sworn in, months ahead of schedule as her last opponent in the party leadership race dropped out two days earlier.
In 2018, a suicide bombing at an election rally in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province killed 132 people, including a candidate, ahead of the arrest of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif upon his return to Pakistan to face a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.
In 2018, the U.S. Justice Department announced charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking offences during the 2016 presidential election, as part of the ongoing special counsel probe into potential co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In 2019, Simona Halep (HAL'-ehp) won her first Wimbledon title, stunning Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2. The match lasted just 56 minutes, but kept Williams from winning her eighth title. It was the second major title for the seventh-seeded Romanian, who won the French Open last year.
In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology for not recusing himself from the government's decision to award a contract to WE Charity to manage a major student-volunteering program. He said his and his family's longtime involvement with the WE organization should have kept him out of the discussions.
In 2020, actress Kelly Preston died at age 57. John Travolta, Preston's husband of 28 years, confirmed his wife had died after a two-year battle with breast cancer.
In 2021, Saskatchewan's premier said Ottawa rejected his province's plan for replacing the federal carbon price with one of its own. Scott Moe called the federal government's decision arbitrary and political, noting Saskatchewan's plan was similar to other provincial programs already approved. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney agreed, and accused the Trudeau government of penalizing western Canadian resource-producing provinces.
In 2021, Green Party executives moved to freeze $250,000 in funding to leader Annamie Paul's campaign to win a downtown Toronto seat following layoffs of nearly half of the Greens' employees.
In 2021, Canada passed the halfway point in full COVID-19 vaccinations for people who were age 12 and up.
In 2021, the federal Conservatives said payments from the offices of Liberal MPs to Data Sciences -- a company founded by a friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- smacked of nepotism. The party was pushing for a parliamentary ethics committee probe.
In 2023, work resumed at British Columbia ports after a tentative deal was reached to end the strike that had halted cargo movements for 13 days.
In 2024, flamboyant weight-loss guru Richard Simmons died at home of natural causes, one day after his 76th birthday. Simmons mixed laughs and sweat and may be best known for his "Sweatin' to the Oldies" exercise video series. He built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts while making television appearances, writing best-selling books and opening exercise studios.
In 2024, a gunman attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Penn. Trump survived the attempt with minor injuries from a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear. Officials say the shooter, who was killed by Secret Service while in an elevated position near the venue, was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Penn. One rally attendee was killed, and two spectators were critically injured.
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The Canadian Press