Tomorrow is Dec. 1, here’s what happened on this day in history

TORONTO — For all you history buffs out there, here’s what happened on December 1 over the years.

In 1680, a comet appeared close to Earth and was clearly visible until the end of February.
In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company, opened in Pittsburgh.
In 1918, the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes united to form what would become Yugoslavia. The name change came in October 1929.
In 1919, millionaire Ambrose Small sold his Canada-wide chain of theatres and then within 24 hours disappeared without a trace. He sold his interests to Trans-Canada Theatres for $1.7 million. After receiving a down payment of $1 million, Small disappeared from his Toronto office. He is thought to have been murdered but the mystery has never been solved.
In 1922, driving on the right-hand side of the road began in New Brunswick.
In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by black communities.
In 1959, 12 countries signed a pact in Washington making Antarctica a scientific preserve.
In 1960, the new terminal building at Montreal International Airport (Dorval) was officially opened.
In 1960, Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings became the NHL’s all-time leading scorer with 1,092 points. (Oct. 15, 1989, Wayne Gretzky registered his 1,851st point to surpass Howe and become the NHL’s all-time leading scorer. Gretzky retired with 2,857 regular season points).
In 1962, for the only time ever, the Grey Cup game failed to finish on the day it started. Fog at Toronto’s CNE Stadium forced the game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats to be suspended in the fourth quarter. The game resumed the next day, but there was no further scoring as the Bombers won 28-27 to win their fourth CFL title in five years.
In 1973, David Ben Gurion, a founder of modern Israel and its first premier, died at the age of 87.
In 1981, a Yugoslav DC-9 airliner crashed into a mountain in fog as it came in to land at the airport in Ajaccio, Corsica, killing all 180 people aboard.
In 1984, John Austin, co-founder of Austin Airways Ltd., Canada’s oldest bush airline, died in Toronto at age 72.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that Canada Post does not have to provide door-to-door delivery.
In 1987, George (Punch) Imlach who managed and coached the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team to four Stanley Cup victories, died in Toronto at age 69.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was named prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to lead a Muslim country in modern times, after her party won a plurality of seats in the parliamentary elections.ia.
In 1989, the Arabian peninsula states of North and South Yemen agreed to merge into a single state. They were united as the Republic of Yemen on May 22, 1990.
In 1992, in Mineola, N.Y., Amy Fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco – her lover’s wife. Fisher served seven years.
In 1998, Exxon agreed to buy Mobil for $73.7 billion.
In 1999, Canadian boxing officials cancelled an entire weight division at the national championships in Campbell River, B.C., rather than allow a young Sikh, Pardeep Nagar, to compete wearing a beard.
In 1999, Northern Ireland began an unprecedented era of self-rule at the stroke of midnight as 25 years of direct administration from Britain ended.
In 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada was sworn in as president of Mexico. He was the first national leader in 71 years who was not from the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary party.
In 2005, South Africa’s highest court approved same-sex marriages.
In 2008, the TSX dropped more than 800 points, its worst plunge since the 1987 crash.
In 2009, record-breaking Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk returned to Earth after spending six months aboard the International Space Station, where one of the goals of the six astronauts was to gather information on the effects of space on the body. Thirsk’s stay on the I.S.S. also marked a pair of firsts – not only was it the longest space stay for a Canadian, but it also marked the first time two Canadians had ever crossed paths in outer space – when astronaut Julie Payette arrived aboard a shuttle.
In 2011, the Maple Leaf flag was hauled down for the last time in Afghanistan’s Kandahar in a quiet ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, marking the end of Canada’s military presence in the province.
In 2012, Enrique Pena Nieto took the oath of office as Mexico’s new president, bringing the Institutional Revolutionary Party back to power after a 12-year hiatus.
In 2014, the tumultuous era of scandal-plagued Rob Ford came to an end as his successor, John Tory, officially took over as mayor of Toronto.
In 2016, former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt pleaded guilty to three fraud-related charges and was incarcerated after defence and Crown lawyers agreed to a six-year prison term. He had to reimburse about $7 million, mostly from Swiss bank accounts, as well as hand over his condominium to the city he headed for 23 years.
In 2017, former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, becoming the first Trump White House official to face criminal charges and admit guilt so far in special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.