John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Rocket 500, at 50

Fifty years ago today - on Oct. 19, 1957 - Maurice "Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens reached a milestone that is still pretty incredible: the first player in the NHL to score 500 goals in a career. Richard was 36, and at the time was the oldest player in the league. Here's a radio account from that week.

Daily Dot: Maxwell House

On Aug. 10, 1926, Max House was born. A former lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador and a renowned neurologist, House is perhaps best known for his contributions to developing telemedicine - not only in his home province, but at an international level. He's a charming man to interview (and, yes, his name really is Maxwell House ... albeit with a first name of Arthur).

Daily Dot: Ross Reid

On July 31, 1952, Ross Reid was born. The future St. John's East MP's name comes from two prominent business families - the Reids, who built the Newfoundland Railway; and the Rosses, from New Brunswick. Although he held St. John's East for just one term, much of his adult life has been in politics. He worked in the Prime Minister's Office under Brian Mulroney, and emerged as a candidate for the federal Progressive Conservatives, defeating New Democrat Jack Harris in 1988. Reid became minister of fisheries, briefly, before the Tories were routed in 1993. Reid has been involved in international development work, and more recently has been an influential but largely unseen force in the provincial PC party and government. Earlier this year, he left his position as deputy minister in the office of Premier Danny Williams to devote himself full time to the Tory campaign for the October general election.

Daily Dot: Top of the Pops

On July 30, 2006, Top of the Pops signed off from the BBC, after a 42-year reign. I'm still surprised that TOTP had dwindled to the point that it was irrelevant; clips I've seen over the years were often schlocky and not a little fake (lip synching was definitely OK, even haphazard attempts), but it was an institution. The site is still up, with a spinoff blog still going. Top of the Pops had the good luck to launch as the so-called British Invasion was gearing up. According to this Wikipedia entry, here are the Jan. 1, 1964, opening-show acts, in order: The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, the Dave Clark Five, the Hollies, the Swinging Blue Jeans (you may not remember the name, but you may remember "Hippy Hippy Shake") and, yep, the Beatles. Quite the setlist.

Daily Dot: Student loans

On July 29, 1964, the Canada Student Loans Act passed through parliament. The massive expansion of financing for post-secondary education came about in that era for a number of reasons; surely, though, one of the decisions that most influenced things was the creation of an interest-free student loan program.

Daily Dot: Boycott-free Barcelona

On July 25, 1992, the Barcelona Olympics opened. It marked the first time in two decades that the Olympic Games were held without an organized boycott. Canada did rather well; click here for a recap.

Daily Dot: Vive le Quebec libre

On July 24, 1967 - 40 years ago today - French president Charles de Gaulle touched off a diplomatic row - and a powerful nerve in Quebec - when he said, "Vive le Quebec libre" to a crowd in Montreal. De Gaulle had come to see Expo 67 for himself; the uproar contributed to him cutting his state visit short. Watch CBC coverage of the day here, including de Gaulle's emphatic phrasing. Toronto Life magazine picked the speech as one of the 10 great moments in Toronto history ... which may seem odd, until you remember the exodus that left Montreal for the GTA in the years that followed.

Daily Dot: Andy & Fergie

On July 23, 1986, Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in a royal wedding that was pretty much impossible to ignore that summer. I get a headache reliving it; it all struck me as a bit rich at the time, and I wasn't surprised that the marriage dissolved in a decade or so (although I was surprised that Ferguson later acknowledged she knew the marriage was doomed within days).

Daily Dot: Dalton McGuinty

On July 19, 1955, Dalton McGuinty was born (in Ottawa, refuting the assumption I developed while living there that no one was actually born in Ottawa). The future Ontario premier was an unlikely pick for a run to the top of the political heap. He edged through the middle of the field for the Liberal leadership in 1996 (he was fourth on the first ballot), besting frontrunners like Gerard Kennedy. At that point, Mike Harris's Tories were in ascendancy; McGuinty was plucky enough to hang in and run the clock out on Harris and his successor, Ernie Eves, winning the general election in 2003.

Daily Dot: David Kelly

On July 18, 2003, the body of a man to be confirmed as British scientist David Kelly was found in a wooded area in Oxfordshire. Kelly's death, presumed a suicide, was deeply disturbing, as he had been fingered as a source of a highly controversial BBC News broadcast that said a "sexed-up" intelligence report had been presented about Iraq's weapons. The subsequent Hutton Inquiry report, which was sharply critical of how those remarks got to air, is good reading for any journalist, or anyone concerned about how news gets reported.