Today in History for Jan. 24:
In 1076, Germany's Henry IV convened the synod of Worms to secure the deposition of Pope Gregory VII. It charged the pontiff with serious crimes and called upon Rome to depose him. Henry was later excommunicated.
In 1556, the most deadly earthquake of all time struck China's Shaanxi province. It killed 830,000 people.
In 1573, English poet and preacher John Donne, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, was born. One of the greatest English poets, he is known for such famous lines as "No man is an island," "For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee," and "Death be not proud."
In 1742, Charles VII was elected Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the Austrian Succession.
In 1797, the first session of the Assembly of Lower Canada opened and dealt with agreements with Upper Canada.
In 1848, the Reform party, led by Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, won a general election in Canada.
In 1848, James Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California -- a discovery that led to the Gold Rush of 1849.
In 1885, the CPR telegraph was completed from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In 1903, the boundary between Alaska and Canada was settled by an international commission. The decision, largely in favour of American interests, enraged the Canadian public.
In 1908, the first Boy Scout troop was organized by a British soldier, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. For his work in organizing the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements, he received a peerage in 1929. He died in 1941.
In 1924, the Soviet city of Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in honour of revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, who had died a few days before. It reverted to its original name of St. Petersburg after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
In 1935, the New Jersey-based Krueger Brewing Company began test-marketing the first canned beer -- cream ale -- in Richmond, Va.
In 1946, Canada was appointed to the UN Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1952, longtime diplomat Vincent Massey was appointed the first Canadian-born governor general.
In 1965, former British prime minister Winston Churchill died at the age of 90.
In 1972, Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was discovered on the Pacific island of Guam. He stayed hidden in the jungle for more than 27 years, believing the Second World War was still going on.
In 1974, the New Brunswick Supreme Court found K.C. Irving Ltd. and three subsidiary publishing companies guilty of establishing a monopoly of English-language daily newspapers in the province. The companies were fined a total of $150,000. It was the first prosecution of newspapers under the federal Combines Investigation Act.
In 1978, a crippled Soviet satellite, Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor aboard, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over the Northwest Territories. Debris from the satellite was found scattered near the eastern tip of Great Slave Lake. The Soviet Union later paid $3 million to cover the cleanup costs.
In 1979, after a 30-year absence, Coca Cola went on sale in China under the name Ke Kou Ke Lo.
In 1981, millions of Polish workers boycotted their jobs in support of a demand by the Solidarity trade union for a five-day work week. It was part of an increasing number of job actions to protest rising food prices, economic reforms, free elections and to demonstrate a growing resistance to the Communist government. By the end of the year, the government declared martial law, outlawed Solidarity and arrested its leaders.
In 1984, Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh PC.
In 1988, Ben Johnson became the first Canadian track athlete to be named The Associated Press athlete of the year. A few months later, at the Seoul Summer Olympics, Johnson tested positive for steroids and was stripped of his 100-metre gold medal.
In 1989, confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida's electric chair.
In 1989, George Knudson, considered the best pro golfer in Canadian history, died of cancer. He was 51.
In 1990, federal sports minister Jean Charest was forced to resign following revelations he'd telephoned a judge about to rule on a case involving the Canadian Track and Field Association (now Athletics Canada).
In 1995, O.J. Simpson's murder trial opened in Los Angeles. He was found not guilty in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, ending a sensational trial that had riveted the American public. (However, Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial).
In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the zero-calorie artificial fat Olestra. It warned Olestra could cause side-effects such as diarrhea, but concluded the fake fat was safe for most people to eat in snack foods.
In 2000, Chicago businessman Michael Heisley bought the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies for $160 million. He moved the team to Memphis in 2001.
In 2002, Canadian broadcaster, journalist and author Peter Gzowski died in Toronto of lung disease. He was 67.
In 2005, a fierce blizzard left much of Atlantic Canada buried under heavy snow, the third blizzard to hit the East Coast in a week. Halifax got 95 cm of snow. More than 60 cm of snow fell in Newfoundland before turning to freezing rain -- causing power outages to thousands of customers.
In 2006, Pittsburgh Penguin star Mario Lemieux retired for the second and last time from the NHL.
In 2008, Cpl. Etienne Gonthier, 21, based in Valcartier, Que., became the 78th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since the Canadian mission began in 2002.
In 2008, French bank Societe Generale announced it had uncovered a C$7.14 billion fraud by a single futures trader whose scheme of fictitious transactions was discovered as stock markets began to stumble. (In 2010, Jerome Kerviel was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to repay what the bank lost. In 2016, a French court cut the civil damages to C$1.2 million)
In 2011, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame announced its newest inductees, Tom Henke, Allan Simpson and the late George "Dandy" Wood.
In 2011, a suicide bomber killed 36 people and wounded more than 180 others at the international arrivals hall at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.
In 2013, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence declared an end to a 44-day hunger strike spent on Victoria Island near Parliament Hill without winning her demand for a meeting with both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston.
In 2015, legendary Canadian figure skater Toller Cranston died at his home in Mexico from an apparent heart attack. He was 65. The six-time Canadian senior men's champion won a bronze medal at the 1974 world championships and 1976 Olympics but is best known for bringing new artistry to the sport.
In 2018, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie was forced to resign after an investigation found he acted inappropriately and breached the legislature's policy on workplace sexual harassment.
In 2022, the families of American diplomats and embassy staff in Ukraine were ordered to leave the country, and non-essential staff were being allowed to leave as well amid growing fears of a Russian invasion. The State Department stressed the embassy in Kyiv would remain open and that this was not considered an evacuation, nor an easing of U.S. support for Ukraine. However, officials were warning all Americans against travel to Ukraine as well as to Russia.
In 2022, a convoy of truckers was on its way from B.C. to Ottawa to protest the federal government's cross-border travel COVID vaccine mandate. They did not have the support of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which argued this type of demonstration wasn't a safe or effective way of resisting the policy. The alliance said the vast majority of truckers were vaccinated against COVID and that it strongly disapproved of any protests on public roadways, highways and bridges.
In 2022, Nunavut was the latest jurisdiction to sign a child-care deal with the federal government, leaving Ontario as the lone holdout. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $66-million agreement with the territory's premier, PJ Akeeagok. Trudeau said the deal means Nunavut's daycare fees will be $10 per day by March 2024, and the estimated savings for families in Iqaluit will be about $14,000 a year.
In 2024, a military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed in a Russian region near Ukraine, killing all 74 people aboard. The Russian military accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane. Russian state news agency R-I-A Novosti, citing the Russian Defence Ministry, reported that the POWs were being transported to the border region for a prisoner exchange.
In 2024, five players from Canada's 2018 world junior team took leaves of absence from their professional hockey clubs amid a report that five members of that roster have been asked to surrender to police in London, Ont., to face sexual assault charges Over the previous four days, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils and Alex Formenton – who played in Switzerland – were all granted indefinite leave.
In 2024, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday died at the age of 89 at his home in New Mexico. Momaday's debut novel "House Made of Dawn," is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature.
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The Canadian Press