Seven years ago today: Music icon Prince dies

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On this date, April 21, in history:

In 753 B.C., the city of Rome was founded.

In 1142, controversial French theologian, philosopher and musician Peter Abelard died. He was a monk at the monastery of Cluny. His work when he taught at the University of Paris was called into question by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

In 1664, the governor of New France banned the littering of streets with straw, manure or “anything else.”

In 1785, trial by jury began in Upper Canada (now Ontario) with the adoption of British common law.

In 1816, English writer Charlotte Bronte was born in Thornton, England. The author of Jane Eyre died in 1855.

In 1821, the Bank of Upper Canada was incorporated.

In 1836, an army of Texans defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, capturing General Santa Anna and assuring the independence of Texas.

In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Conn., at age 74.

In 1918, German air ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen — better known as the Red Baron — was shot down and killed over the Western Front during a First World War dogfight with Capt. Roy Brown of Carleton Place, Ont., a flight leader in the 209th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps.

In 1926, the future Queen Elizabeth II was born in London. Her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York, who became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1936. The younger Elizabeth assumed the throne when her father died in 1952.

In 1941, British battleships bombarded the Libyan port of Tripoli during the Second World War.

In 1948, William Lyon Mackenzie King set a record of service as a Commonwealth prime minister — 20 years, 10 months and 10 days. He retired the following November.

In 1951, the Toronto Maple Leafs won their fourth Stanley Cup in five years. They beat the Montreal Canadiens in a five-game final capped by an overtime goal by defenceman Bill Barilko. He died in a light plane crash in northern Ontario four months later but the wreckage was not found until 1962.

In 1956, the Canadian Congress of Labour and the Trades and Labour Congress merged to form the Canadian Labour Congress.

In 1960, Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.

In 1972, the first astronomical observatory on another planetary body was set up on the moon by Apollo 16 astronauts.

In 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon; however, she was later exposed as a fraud. (Canadian Jacqueline Gareau was named the actual winner of the women’s race.)

In 1985, broadcasting legend Foster Hewitt died in Toronto at age 82. He was the radio, and later television, voice of NHL games and international hockey for more than five decades.

In 1986, Prince Edward Island’s Liberals, led by Joe Ghiz, ended seven years of Conservative rule by taking 21 of 32 seats in a provincial election.

In 1990, Pope John Paul II was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people as he visited Czechoslovakia to help celebrate the nation’s peaceful overthrow of Communism.

In 1997, the Ontario legislature passed a bill merging Toronto’s six municipalities and Metro government.

In 1997, the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were shot into orbit.

In 2004, Canada’s parliament voted 153-68 to pass a private member’s resolution endorsing the controversial view that the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman troops was genocide.

In 2005, in a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Paul Martin apologized for the sponsorship scandal. He promised an election within 30 days of Justice John Gomery’s final inquiry report on the sponsorship program. However the opposition parties forced an election earlier than Martin planned, and his Liberals lost to the Conservatives.

In 2005, Spain became the third country in Europe to legalize gay marriage, with parliament also giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children.

In 2010, one of only a few remaining assets of the former Nortel Networks empire was sold, with the Canadian company’s interest in a Korean operation (LG-Nortel Co.Ltd) going to LM Ericsson for US$242 million.

In 2010, Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean delivered an apology for Canada’s part in the world’s failure to respond to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. She was the first top-level Canadian official to visit Rwanda since the atrocity.

In 2011, Prince Charles entered the record books for spending the longest time as heir apparent to the British throne — 59 years, two months and 14 days. King Edward VII held the previous record, waiting to succeed his mother Queen Victoria.

In 2011, Michel Martelly, a popular singer known by the stage name “Sweet Micky,” was officially declared the next president of the earthquake-devastated country of Haiti.

In 2012, Chicago White Sox pitcher Phil Humber pitched a perfect game in a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners, the 21st in major league history.

In 2016, Justice Charles Vaillancourt exonerated suspended Sen. Mike Duffy of all 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery in the Senate expenses scandal. He dismissed 27 counts and found Duffy not guilty in four others and delivered a scathing indictment of the inner workings of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office. Senate officials restored Duffy’s standing after a three-year hiatus from the upper chamber. His first day back was on May 3.

In 2016, music icon Prince, the dazzlingly talented and charismatic singer, songwriter, arranger and multi-instrumentalist who created a gender- and genre-defying blend of rock, pop, funk and soul, died of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl at his Paisley Park estate in suburban Minneapolis. He was 57.

In 2018, Verne Troyer, who played Dr. Evil’s small, silent sidekick Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movie franchise, died at age 49.

In 2018, Oakland A’s lefty Sean Manaea pitched a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox, thanks to a questionable error and an overturned call preserving the gem.

In 2019, A series of Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka at hotels, St. Anthony’s Shrine and two other churches killed at least 290 people and injured 500 others. Thirty-nine of the victims were foreign tourists. Twenty-four suspects were taken into custody in connection with the nine bombings. Sri Lanka’s president gave the military sweeping war-time powers to institute a curfew, arrest and detain suspects and also blocked social media in an attempt to stop the spread of misinformation. Sri Lanka’s defence minister said the explosions were co-ordinated by suspected suicide bombers belonging to a militant Muslim group to create murder, mayhem, and anarchy.

In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 test that lets people collect their own sample at home.

In 2020, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said the province’s emergency alert system wasn’t used during the April 19th mass shooting that began in Portapique because no request was received at the Emergency Management Office from the RCMP. In the end, 22 people were killed, including an RCMP officer, a teacher, two nurses and two correctional officers, who were killed in their home 50 kilometres away. The attacker, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was shot and killed by police after being intercepted at a gas station.

In 2020, Quebec passed the milestone of more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19.

In 2021, there was a conviction of a white former Minneapolis police officer in the murder of George Floyd. Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges against him in the death of the Black man last May, which was caught on video and viewed by millions around the world.

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