Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Today in Music History for Feb. 20: In 1941, Quebec singer and songwriter La Bolduc died in Montreal. She was 46.

Today in History for Feb. 23: In A.D. 155, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and an early Church Father who was a disciple of the Apostle John, was martyred.

Today in History for Feb. 18: In 1546, Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died. In 1564, Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Italian Renaissance artist whose works include the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, died in Rome.

Today in History for Feb. 24: In 1446, the earliest known lottery was drawn in Bruges, Belgium.

Today in Music History for Feb. 19: In 1938, Canadian blues legend Dutch Mason, known as ``prime minister of the blues,'' was born in Lunenburg, N.S.

Today in Music History for Feb. 24: In 1897, Emile Berliner took out a Canadian patent on his gramophone talking machine. Manufacturing facilities were set up in Montreal.

Today in Music History for Feb. 18: In 1882, violinist Alfred De Seve, a native of Montreal, appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mendelssohn's ``Concerto in E Minor.'' In 1918, Herbert A.

Today in Music History for Feb. 22: In 1952, bass singer Don Gerrard, a native of Vancouver, made his debut with the Canadian Opera Company as the Speaker in ``The Magic Flute.

Today in History for Feb. 20: In 1666, explorer Rene-Robert La Salle arrived in New France and settled at Montreal. In 1725, the earliest recorded scalps were taken in New Hampshire, when white bounty hunters killed 10 sleeping natives.

Today in History for Feb. 19: In 1377, John Wycliffe went on trial in London's St. Paul's Cathedral after arguing against the sale of indulgences, the worship of saints and the veneration of relics. He was never convicted as a heretic.