Author: Martin D'Anjou

Airbus Beluga XL, painted to look like the whale, makes its first flight, landing in Toulouse-Blagnac, France.

“Depacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee becomes the most streamed song ever, played 4.6 billion times.

Selena Gomez releases her debut solo studio album “Stars Dance”.

TV drama “Mad Men” debuts starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser on cable network AMC.

26th Olympic Games open in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cincinnati Red Pete Rose is sentence to 5 months for tax evasion.

Canada joins the USA and other nations in protesting the invasion of Afganistan, by boycotting the 22nd Olympiad, opening today in Moscow; 81 other nations and 5,326 competitors attend; until August 3.

XV Summer Olympic Games open in Helsinki, Finland.

Marilyn Monroe acted in her first screen test.

Tom and Jerry first appear under their own names in cartoon “The Midnight Snack” by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

Start of Spanish flu epidemic that will kill over 30,000 people in Canada.

Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.

Louis Riel speaks at a meeting of Metis residents about rights, setting in motion the events now referred to as the Red River Rebellion.

Start of excavation of the Lachine Canal.

The Government of Detroit, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People’s Army.

Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec’s costliest natural disasters ever: the Saguenay Flood.

Romania’s 14-year-old star gymnast Nadia Comaneci, performing on the uneven parallel bars, scores the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history.

Intel is founded in Mountain View, California.

The U.S. and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf (original title was the catchy “Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice”).

First human test of a vaccine against cholera; Ukrainian bacteriologist Waldemar Huffkine risks his life by testing it on himself.

Mexican drug cartel head Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in New York.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Eastern Ukraine by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Montreal Summer Olympic Games in the afternoon, before an enthusiastic crowd of 73,000 at Olympic Stadium.

An Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit. It was the first link up between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

Bomb placed under a ramp at the Montreal Forum explodes, blowing up an equipment truck and destroying 30 speakers belonging to the Rolling Stones.

The Beatles’ animated film “Yellow Submarine” premieres in London.

Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA.

The British royal family adopted the Windsor name.

Premier/pres Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr of Iraq is succeeded by Saddam Hussein.

Apollo 11 launched, carrying 1st men to land on Moon.

Mont Blanc Road tunnel between France & Italy opens.

The largest crowd in sporting history was 199,854. They watched the Uruguay defeat Brazil in the World Cup soccer finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The United States detonated the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, NM.

Dr. Emily Howard Stowe the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.

The District of Columbia, or Washington, DC, was established as the permanent seat of the United States Government.

Jean de Quen discovers Lac St-Jean and route leading into interior; later founds Saguenay missions.

“Stranger Things” debuts on Netflix created by the Duffer Brothers, starring Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was released in theatres in the U.S. It was the sixth movie in the series.

Twitter is launched, becoming one of the largest social media platforms in the world.

Donatella Versace launches her first couture collection for her brother’s Versace label, a year after his murder.

“Die Hard” directed by John McTiernan and starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman is released in the US.

Nude photos of Madonna taken in 1977 appeared in this months Playboy and Penthouse Magazines.

“Honky Chateau” becomes Elton John’s first No. 1 album in the US, includes hit “Rocket Man”.

The spacecraft Mariner IV sent back the first close-up pictures of the planet Mars.

1st commercial jet transport plane built in US tested (Boeing 707).

In Seattle, WA, Pacific Aero Products was incorporated by William Boeing. The company was later renamed Boeing Co.

Manitoba becomes 5th Canadian province and NW Territories created.

Mario Bros. is first released by Nintendo in Japan as an arcade game about an Italian-American plumber.

“Easy Rider”, directed by Dennis Hopper, starring himself, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, is released.

Canadian National Railways opens Central Station in Montreal.

Robert H. Goddard patented liquid rocket-fuel.

Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.

Alvin J. Fellows patented the tape measure.

French Revolution began with Parisians stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside.

Theresa May is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Conservative Party MPs.

The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London, England, United Kingdom and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as other venues such as Sydney, Australia and Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union.

Duran Duran became the first artists to have a No.1 with a James Bond theme when ‘A View To A Kill’, went to the top of the charts.

Montreal Expos host first All-Star Game played outside the US; the National League defeats the American League 4-1, winning for the 11th consecutive year.

US Democratic convention nominates John F. Kennedy as presidential candidate.

Frank Sinatra makes his recording debut, “Our Love”.

1st-ever football World Cup competition begins in Uruguay.

The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Opening of fourth modern Olympic games in London; some Canadian athletes attend; women compete in modern Olympic events for the first time.

The movie “X-Men” premiered in New York.

FIFA World Cup Final, Stade de France, Saint-Denis: Zinadine Zidane scores twice as France wins first World Cup beating Brazil, 3-0.

The Rolling Stones perform their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London, England, United Kingdom.

The Major League Baseball Players Association was organized in Cleveland, OH.

Canada’s first railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence, starts service between Laprairie and St-Jean on the Richelieu.

James Wolfe orders cannon to start firing on Quebec from heights of Lévis.

Last models of Volkswagen’s Beetle car are produced in Pueblo, Mexico, ending production worldwide after 80 years.

Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escapes from Altiplano maximum-security prison west of Mexico City via a specially constructed 1.5 km tunnel from his cell to a nearby house.

Corporal Marcel Lemay, a 31 year old constable, killed during gun battle as 100 members of La Sûreté du Québec attack Mohawk barricades, put up in March to block expansion of a golf course on land they claim was never signed away.

David Bowie releases the single “Space Oddity” 9 days before Apollo 11 lands on the moon.

Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.

Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox.

Founding of the Canadian Professional Golfers Association.

Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, is almost completely destroyed by fire.

Drake surpasses The Beatles record of most singles in Billboard Hot One 100 with seven against their five from his album “Scorpion”.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo joins Italian champions Juventus in a deal worth £99.2m, becoming one of the four most expensive players of all time.

Coldplay release their debut album “Parachutes” (Grammy Award Best Alternative Album 2002).

In Miami, Florida, the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.

Boris Yeltsin sworn in as 1st elected President of the Russian Federation.

French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.

Playboy (and also Penthouse) publish nude pictures of Madonna.

Rolling Stones score their 1st US #1 single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.

The Beatles release “A Hard Day’s Night”, their 3rd studio album.

Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.

Sugar Ray Robinson was defeated for only the second time in 133 fights as Randy Turpin took the middleweight crown.

Canada’s first drive-in movie theatre opens in Hamilton.

George Eastman first demonstrated color motion pictures.