Today in History for Jan. 14:
In 1529, Spanish diplomat and writer Juan de Valdes published his Dialogue on Christian Doctrine. It paved the way for Protestant ideas in Spain.
In 1645, the Company of New France gave up trading rights in Canada to colonists living in the new land.
In 1671, the first snow of the winter fell in Quebec but the ice and snow had nearly all melted away by the middle of March, making it Canada's shortest winter on record. But homesteaders weren't rejoicing at the lack of chill in the air -- they depended on the cold to keep food supplies from spoiling. Many starved because of the short winter.
In 1742, English astronomer Edmond Halley, who observed the comet that bears his name, died at age 85.
In 1784, the United States ratified a peace treaty with England, ending the Revolutionary War.
In 1858, Italian revolutionist Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate French Emperor Napoleon III.
In 1875, Albert Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace -- at that time part of the German Empire. The humanitarian and medical missionary was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.
In 1875, the first issue of the "Halifax Herald" hit the streets.
In 1878, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone to Queen Victoria, who spoke with her friend, Sir Thomas Biddulph.
In 1914, the Ford Motor Company improved efficiency by employing an "endless" chain to transport each chassis along the assembly line.
In 1943, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French General Charles de Gaulle opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.
In 1947, Canada was elected to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
In 1949, the first non-stop trans-Canada flight, from Vancouver to Halifax, was completed.
In 1952, an underground gas explosion at the McGregor coal mine at Stellarton, N.S., killed 19 men.
In 1952, NBC's "Today" show premiered, with Dave Garroway as the host, or "communicator," as he was officially known. It is television's longest-running weekday program.
In 1954, retired baseball great Joe DiMaggio married actress Marilyn Monroe. They divorced nine months later.
In 1964, in her first public statement since the assassination of her husband two months before, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy appeared on TV to thank the 800,000 people who sent her messages of sympathy.
In 1969, 27 people aboard the aircraft carrier "USS Enterprise," stationed off Hawaii, were killed when a rocket warhead exploded, setting off a fire and additional explosions that ripped through the ship.
In 1974, Jules Leger was sworn in as Canada's 21st governor general.
In 1976, the T. Eaton Co. announced the end of its catalogue sales operation, citing losses for more than 10 years, laying off 9,000 employees.
In 1979, FLQ suspect Jean-Pierre Charette returned to Canada after 10 years in Cuba. He was sentenced to jail in March for bombing incidents in 1969.
In 1980, Iran's Revolutionary Council ordered all U.S. journalists expelled from the country because of their 'biased reporting' and demanded that American news organizations in Tehran cease operations immediately.
In 1982, Clifford Robert Olson was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty in Vancouver to 11 counts of first-degree murder. The victims, three boys and eight girls, were aged between nine and 18 and died between November 1980 and August 1981. Olson's family was paid $100,000 by the RCMP after he gave information on the location of the victims' bodies. Olson died of cancer in prison in September 2011.
In 1984, Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's fast food empire, died in San Diego at age 81.
In 1990, "The Canadian," Via Rail's legendary passenger train, made its final trip across Canada after 34 years of service on the world's longest rail line, a 4,645-km route. Along with this, and the shutdown of other trains, 2,716 jobs were gone.
In 1992, the Canadian government announced it would extend patent protection to 20 years for all new, brand-name drugs by multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers -- a move that would restrict the ability of Canada's generic drug manufacturers to enter the marketplace.
In 1994, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, announced plans to buy 120 Woolco stores in Canada.
In 1999, Graham Coughtry, one of Canada's best known and most highly regarded abstract painters, died at age 67.
In 2000, doctors at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital announced they had performed Canada's first gene therapy trial for heart disease as an alternative for patients who cannot undergo surgical bypasses.
In 2001, legendary Canadian sports columnist Jim Coleman died at age 89.
In 2004, Libya ratified a nuclear test ban agreement.
In 2004, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to securities-related charges in the spectacular collapse of the energy trading company. He was given a 10-year jail term.
In 2005, Immigration Minister Judy Sgro resigned from Paul Martin's Liberal cabinet amid influence-peddling allegations that she promised asylum to a Toronto man after he worked on her re-election campaign. She was later cleared.
In 2005, Earl Cameron, who anchored the "CBC National News" from 1959-1966, died at age 89 after a lengthy illness.
In 2009, former telecom giant Nortel Networks filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors.
In 2010, Canadian literary grand dame P.K. Page, long renowned for her poetry and other writing, died in Victoria, B.C., at the age of 93. British-born and Canadian-reared, she was considered among Canada's most esteemed writers. Since her poems were first published in periodicals in the 1930's, she had completed more than a dozen books, spanning poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children's literature.
In 2013, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong confessed to Oprah Winfrey during a taped interview (which aired three days later) that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France. In 2012, he was stripped of all seven Tour titles following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report.
In 2018, Sears Canada, the longtime staple of Canada's retail landscape, shuttered its few remaining stores for good. It declared bankruptcy in 2017 and announced that it would liquidate inventory and lay off 15,000 employees.
In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made some changes to his cabinet - moving Montreal M-P David Lametti to justice and shuffling Vancouver's Jody Wilson-Raybould to Veterans Affairs.
In 2019, a Chinese court sentenced Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death for drug smuggling. Schellenberg was originally convicted in 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of being an accessory to drug smuggling. An appeals court ordered a re-trial following Canada's detention of a Chinese telecom executive at the request of the United States. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would do everything it could to intervene.
In 2020, the Toronto Raptors were awarded the NBA's first-ever Team of the Year Award. The 2019 champions were recognized for their achievements across team business.
In 2020, the Iranian judiciary said arrests were made in its investigation into a missile strike that took down a Ukraine International Airlines jet. President Hassan Rouhani called for a special court to be set up to try those responsible for the plane shootdown.
In 2022, the Australian government revoked tennis star Novak Djokovic's visa for a second time, meaning he faced deportation three days before the start of the Australian Open. Djokovic wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19 and Australia was facing a massive surge in virus cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Djokovic applied for a medical exemption to vaccination rules, arguing that he had immunity from a previous COVID-19 infection, but the Australian government did not deem it valid.
In 2022, Ontario cabinet minister Rod Phillips said he was resigning at the end of the following month. The high-profile long-term care minister said he wouldn't be seeking re-election. Phillips said he was looking forward to returning to the private sector.
In 2023, in a revelation from China, nearly 60,000 COVID-19 and COVID-19-related deaths had been recorded since early December. The data release came amid criticism and complaints that the Chinese government was failing to report on the status of the pandemic. The death toll included 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with COVID-19.
In 2023, former Ontario lieutenant-governor David Onley, who held the post for seven years, died at age 72. Onley, who used a motorized scooter after having polio as a child, was the first visibly disabled person to hold the lieutenant-governor position when he was appointed to the role in 2007. He championed accessibility issues both during and after his term, at one point delivering a blistering indictment of Ontario's efforts to keep up with its own accessibility legislation.
In 2024, Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen proclaimed Frederik X king after his mother Queen Margrethe the Second formally signed her abdication after 52 years. Margrethe is the first Danish monarch to voluntarily relinquish the throne in nearly 900 years.
In 2024, actor Joyce Randolph of the TV show "The Honeymooners" died at the age of 99 of natural causes at her home in New York City. Randolph – who played Ed Norton's sarcastic wife Trixie – was the last surviving main character of the 1950s comedy.
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The Canadian Press