28-04-2025
Today in history: Muhammad Ali stripped of heavyweight boxing title
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On this date, April 28, in history:
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In 1220, Bishop Poore laid the first five stones of the famed Salisbury Cathedral in England, one each for himself, Archbishop Stephen Langton, Pope Honorius III, Earl William and Countess Ela of Salisbury.
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In 1559, the English parliament approved the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer.
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In 1789, the mutiny on the Bounty occurred when British Captain William Bligh was cast adrift with 18 loyal crewmen by mutineers led by the ship's mate, Fletcher Christian. The mutineers settled on the isolated Pacific island of Pitcairn. The Bligh party sailed 6,400 kilometres in their open boat to Timor, where they were rescued.
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In 1817, the Rush-Bagot treaty was signed by Canada and the U.S. It limited the number of warships the two countries could maintain on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. In 1871, the Treaty of Washington completed disarmament.
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In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, his mistress, and 16 other Fascists were executed by a partisan firing squad near Milan. Also, the British and U.S. governments received a message from Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler guaranteeing an unconditional German surrender to western Allies but not Russia. Winston Churchill responded that surrender must be to the 'Big Three' — Britain, United States and Russia.
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In 1967, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title after refusing induction into the U.S. army on religious grounds.
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In 1968, Walter Stitch was believed to have become, at the age of 98, the first great-great-great-grandfather in Canada. His great-great-granddaughter gave birth to a son in Halifax.
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In 1969, Charles de Gaulle resigned as president of France when his proposed constitutional reforms were defeated in a referendum.
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In 1986, the Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear accident two days earlier at Chernobyl.
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In 1996, a hockey era ended as the Winnipeg Jets lost their final game. The visiting Detroit Red Wings beat the Jets 4-1 to win their playoff series in six games. The Jets moved to Phoenix for the next season and were renamed the Coyotes. (In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers franchise relocated to Winnipeg and was reborn as the Jets.)
