October 5: 24Hours debuts; Civic Centre opens; Manitoba's Irish invasion.

October 5, 1964 - Mayor Juba officially opens Winnipeg’s Civic Centre. Architects Green Blankstein Russell submitted the winning design in an international competition. For more about all three Winnipeg's city halls.

October 5, 1899 - The Boissevain Recorder newspaper begins publishing.

October 5, 1905 - The cornerstone is laid for the Point Douglas Presbyterian / Our Lady of Lourdes Church on MacDonald Avenue.

October 5, 1871 – Manitoba is briefly invaded by about 40 Irish-Americans and Métis led by W. B. O’Donoghue. The group crossed at Pembina, N.D. and demanded the surrender of the tiny HBC post inside the border. The invasion ended the following day when members of the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Pembina came to arrest the invaders and return them to the U.S..

Though the invasion was short-lived, some feared that it may be the beginning of Fenian raids seen in Eastern Canada.

For more on the O’Donoghue invasion see Manitoba Historical Society's Unequal Justice and St. Vincent Memories' Witnesses to an Invasion.

October 5, 1970 Winnipeg Free Press

October 5, 1970 - CBC Manitoba's flagship news program '24Hours' debuts.

The show was a 'game changer' in TV news. It took the traditional news program, a man at a desk reading news for 25 minutes, changed it to an hour-long format intermixing traditional news with commentary, in-studio interviews and phone-in sessions.

Ad ca. 1976

The original on-air line-up for 24Hours included Garth Dawley (news presenter), John Harvard and Gerry Haslam (current affairs), Murray Parker (weather). Don Wittman and Bob Picken shared the sports desk. The show ran until 2000.

24 Hours crew ca. 1979 (source)

Other 24Hours alumni include: Mike McCourt, Kevin Evans, Scott Oake, Diana Swain, Ernie Nairn and Sandra Lewis. For assorted 24Hours video clips.