Author: Martin D'Anjou

Hurricane Irma becomes the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin region with winds of 185mph (280km/h).

“The Muppet Show” premieres on television with Mia Farrow as the guest star.

Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attack and take hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 2 die in the attack and 9 die the following day.

TVA opens stations in Montreal, Quebec City and Chicoutimi; Canada’s first French-language private television network.

Gene Mauch appointed first Head Coach of Montreal’s new baseball team, to be called The Expos.

Jerry Lewis’ 1st Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day telethon raises $1 million.

Cassius Clay [Muhammad Ali] beats 3-time European champion Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland by unanimous points decision to win Olympic light heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Rome Games.

“The Huckleberry Hound Show” by Hanna-Barbera featuring Yogi Bear premieres on US TV.

Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” was first published.

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues was formed in Chicago, IL. It was the first organized baseball league.

Great Fire of London ends, leaving 13,200 houses destroyed and 8 dead.

Mother Teresa canonized by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican.

Pauline Marois becomes the first female premier of Quebec.

Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.

Gordie Howe, 69, agrees to suit up for the IHL’s Detroit Vipers in the team’s season opener; will become the only professional hockey player to play in six consecutive decades.

Swimmer Mark Spitz captured his seventh Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay event at Munich, Germany. Spitz was the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

“Gilligan’s Island” aired for the last time on CBS-TV. It ran for 98 shows.

The Ford Motor Company began selling the Edsel. The car was so unpopular that it was taken off the market only two years.

NASCAR?s first paved super speedway, Darlington Raceway hosts Southern 500, first 500-mile event in NASCAR history; winner Johnny Mantz in a Plymouth.

English author Beatrix Potter first writes the story of Peter Rabbit for a 5 year old boy.

George Eastman patents the first roll-film camera & registers “Kodak”.

Apache Chief Geronimo surrenders ending last major US-Indian war.

Microsoft purchases Nokia for $7.2 Billion.

Opening of 8 new stations on the Montreal Metro.

Pope John Paul I officially installed as 263rd supreme pontiff.

Last broadcast of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” on CBS.

First automobile to exceed 300mph, Malcolm Campbell powers Bluebird to 301.129mph at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

The first professional football game was played in Latrobe, PA. The Latrobe YMCA defeated the Jeannette Athletic Club 12-0.

First Labour Day (Fête du Travail) parade in Montreal.

The Revolutionary War between the U.S. and Great Britain ended with the Treaty of Paris.

Major fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro destroys most of its 20 million artifacts.

Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.

NBC-TV canceled “Star Trek.” The show had debuted on September 8, 1966.

San Francisco cable cars replaced by bus service.

Holocaust diarist Anne Frank sent to Auschwitz concentration camp.

“A Trip To The Moon”, the first sci-fi film, released.

Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.

The Great Fire of London broke out. The fire burned for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul’s Cathedral. Only 6 people were killed.

Ex-Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux is approved as new owner of the struggling franchise; Penguins become first club in pro sports history to be owned by a former member of the team.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland Ohio.

The Titanic was found by Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean Louis Michel in a joint U.S. and French expedition. The wreck site is located 963 miles northeast of New York and 453 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast.

Terry Fox abandons Marathon of Hope 135 days and over 5,000 km after it started at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on April 12; cancer has returned and spread to his lungs; hospitalized in Vancouver where he dies the following year.

Last broadcast of “Columbo” starring Peter Falk on NBC.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi deposes King Idris in the Libyan revolution.

V-J Day, formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri marks the end of World War II.

Jews living in Germany are required to wear a yellow star of David.

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan, killing 142,000 people.

Saskatchewan and Alberta became the 8th and 9th provinces of Canada.

Official opening of the Quebec Assembly building; a provincial member earns $800 per session.

Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia.

King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years?the longest of any major European monarch.

French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Hochelaga (Montreal).

62nd Venice Film Festival: “Brokeback Mountain” directed by Ang Lee wins Golden Lion.

Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.

Pentium computer beats world chess champ Garry Kasparov.

Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Cleveland, Ohio on WNCX 98.5 FM.

East and West Germany signed a treaty that meant the harmonizing of political and legal systems.

Great Britain’s Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced that they were separating. The marriage was 16 years old.

1st 33 1/3 album introduced in Dusseldorf.

Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope [kinetographic camera], a device which produces moving pictures.

German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his Navigable Balloon.

Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper’s confirmed victims.

150,000,000 millionth visitor to Eiffel Tower.

The space shuttle Challenger blasted off with Guion S. Bluford Jr. aboard. He was the first black American to travel in space.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono played Madison Square Gardens to raise money for the One to One charity. Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and Roberta Flack also appeared at the event. Several of the performances were later included on Lennon’s, Live in New York City album.

The “Hotline” between Moscow and Washington, DC, went into operation.

End of Montreal streetcar service.

Air France forms from five French airlines.

Ty Cobb made his major league batting debut with the Detroit Tigers.

Hubert Cecil Booth patents vacuum cleaner.

Cristiano Ronaldo makes his debut for Real Madrid, scoring a penalty in their 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruña.

Hurricane Katrina makes 2nd and 3rd landfall as a category 3 hurricane, devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Kills more than 1,836, causes over $115 billion in damage.

Netflix is founded by Marc Randolph and Reed Hasting in Scotts Valley, California as an online DVD rental business.

Mario Lemieux announced that he would be taking a medical leave of absence due to fatigue, an aftereffect of his 1993 radiation treatments. He would sit out the National Hockey Leagues (NHL) 1994-95 season.

The Beatles’ last public concert (Candlestick Park, San Francisco).

George Harrison joins The Quarrymen (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-Peter Best-Stuart Sutcliffe).

During the continuing celebration of the liberation of France from the Nazis, 15,000 American troops marched down the Champs Elysees in Paris.

South cantilever arm of the Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River collapses during construction; over 65 workers killed, 11 injured in Canada’s worst bridge disaster.

The Goodyear tire company is founded.

First Salvation Army service in Canada held at London, On.

Mohawk Indians win first white-Indian lacrosse game in Montreal.

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg arrives in New York after sailing across the Atlantic in an emissions-free voyage.

A divorce decree was issued for Britain’s Charles and Princess Diana. This was the official end to the 15-year marriage.

Michel Tremblay premieres ‘Les Belles-soeurs’; one of first artistic uses of Quebecois French slang – ‘joual’.

1st Subway sandwich shop opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at a civil rights rally in Washington, DC. More than 200,000 people attended.

“American Messenger Company” was started by two teenagers, Jim Casey and Claude Ryan. The company’s name was later changed to “United Parcel Service.”

Mgr. Bourget announces the building of a Roman Catholic Cathedral de Montréal.

Pharmacists John Lea & William Perrins manufacture Worcestershire Sauce.