Author: Martin D'Anjou

Gay pride events are banned for a century in Moscow.

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes ?zmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000..

U.S. President Clinton admitted to having an improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern.

Montreal catcher Gary Carter the first Expo to reach the 1,000 hit mark, as he hits an infield single against the Atlanta Braves.

The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.

Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel.

Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris, France.

Electric self-starter for automobile patented.

Solymon Merrick patents wrench.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica edges American Tyson Gay to win 100m in world record 9.58s at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin

Bon Jovi release their 3rd album “Slippery When Wet” (Billboard’s top selling album of 1987).

Peter Gabriel quits Genesis.

Punk Rock pioneers The Ramones play their first show in a local New York club named CBGB.

First performance of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Auditorium Theater, Chicago).

Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as Beatles’ drummer, first official concert two days later.

The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.

The first British Empire Games were held at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The event is now called the British Commonwealth Games.

Gold first discovered in Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek, Alaska by George Carmack.

Bank of Canada chartered.

Admiral John Franklin 1786-1847 lays first stone of Rideau Canal locks; on his return down the Ottawa River from the Arctic.

Disney Studios is the first studio to have five films earn over $1 billion each in one year with “Toy Story 4”, “Avengers: Engame”, “Captain Marvel”, “Aladdin” and “The Lion King”.

Scientists genetic study of the apple reveal its origin was in Kazakhstan, published in “Nature Communications”.

“Macarena” single is released by Los del Rio.

750,000 attend Paul Simon’s free concert in Central Park.

“Apocalypse Now”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen, is released (Palme d’Or 1979).

Woodstock rock and roll concert opens.

East German workers began construction of the Berlin Wall.

“The Wizard of Oz” premiered in Hollywood, CA. Judy Garland became famous for the movie’s song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

Procter & Gamble unveils its Crisco shortening.

The dental chair was patented by M. Waldo Hanchett.

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt wins coveted 100m Olympic 100m gold medal in 9.81 at Rio de Janeiro Olympics – first man to win the event 3 times.

Montreal awarded National League baseball franchise; birth of the Expos.

CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat Edmonton Eskimos 29-21 in first Canadian Football League game.

V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II.

Mackenzie King opens Quebec Conference attended by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt; start to discussion and planning of the invasions of Italy and Europe.

VII Summer Olympic Games open in Antwerp, Belgium; first time Olympic Oath voiced, doves released to symbolise peace.

Bell Telephone Company installs first push-button pay phone in a Montreal drugstore; connections made only after 5¢ deposit; made by Northern Electric, today’s Nortel.

Gold was discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Within the next year more than 30,000 people rushed to the area to look for gold.

Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president.

28th Olympic Games opens at Athens, Greece.

South Park’s first episode is aired.

Valery Fabrikant sentenced to life in prison for his murder Aug. 24, 1992 of four Concordia University professors.

“Bonnie and Clyde”, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, is released.

Berlin was divided by a barbed wire fence to halt the flight of refugees. Two days later work on the Berlin Wall began.

Walt Disney’s “Bambi” opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, NY.

The first taxicab started on the streets of New York City.

King Louis XVI of France is formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.

Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. Montreal Expos are having their best season to date, with 74 wins and 40 losses.

The U.S., Canada, and Mexico announced that the North American Free Trade Agreement had been created after 14 months of negotiations.

IBM unveiled its first PC.

French Marshal Philippe Petain gives full support to Nazi Germany.

Henry Ford’s company builds the first Model T car.

Hawaii is formally annexed to US.

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and made the first sound recording.

The town of Chicago is incorporated (population 350).

Start of construction of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital at Quebec.

Airbnb is founded by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk.

Funeral of Pope Paul VI held in the Vatican.

“C’est Chic” 2nd studio album by Chic is released featuring single “Le Freak” (Billboard Album of the Year 1979).

Beatles launch “Apple Records” label.

Elvis Presley releases “Don’t Be Cruel”.

The first major league baseball game to be televised in color was broadcast. The Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves 8-1.

Alcatraz, in San Francisco Bay, received federal prisoners for the first time.

Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

A patent for the sprinkler head was given to Harry S. Parmelee.

Laurent Berman first licensed practicing notary in New France.

Financier Jeffrey Epstein found dead of an apparent suicide in his jail cell in New York, while awaiting trail for sex trafficking charges.

Google announces its restructure as Alphabet, a holding company with Google, YouTube, Android and Chrome as subsidiaries.

Michael Jackson buys ATV Music (every Beatle song) for $47 million.

“Off the Wall” 5th studio album by Michael Jackson is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1980).

Los Angeles premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.

Construction began on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced they would surrender. The only condition was that the status of Emperor Hirohito would remain unchanged.

Alexander Graham Bell makes the world’s first long-distance call from Brantford to the Bell homestead in Paris.

The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.

Completion of the Hotel Dieu hospital at Quebec.

Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) was traded. The trade was at Gretzky’s request. He was sent to the Los Angeles Kings.

U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon formally resigned. Gerald R. Ford took his place, and became the 38th president of the U.S.

Followers led by Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men’s hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.

A.J. Fisher received a patent for the electric washing machine.

The escalator was patented by Nathan Ames.

IXXX Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing, China.

Metallica band member James Hetfield suffers second and third-degree burns during a pyrotechnics explosion on stage at Olympic Stadium, Montreal.

The original US ‘Dream Team’ wins the basketball gold at the Barcelona Olympics 117-85 over Croatia; features superstars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scotty Pippen, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing.

Pete Rose begins 5-ms prison term at Marion (IL) Federal prison camp.

President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.

Michael DeBakey became the first surgeon to install an artificial heart pump in a patient.

Fidel Castro forms the “26th of July Movement”, a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization.

German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.

In Boston, the first Davis Cup series began. The U.S. team defeated Great Britain three matches to zero.

The refrigerator was patented by A.T. Marshall.

Jeanne Mance arrives in New France; the following Spring go up river to found Ville Marie (Montreal), where she also founds the Hôtel Dieu de Montréal.