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René Lévesque(August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, Canada, (1960 – 1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec (November 25, 1976 – October 3, 1985). He was the first French-Canadian political leader since confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political independence for Quebec. Lévesque was a recipient of the title Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour.The eldest of four children, René Lévesque was born in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Campbellton, New Brunswick and raised 133 km away in New Carlisle, Quebec, in the Gaspé peninsula by his parents, Dominic Lévesque, a lawyer, and Diane Dionne. He was second cousin with French American writer Jack Kerouac's mother. [citation needed] Lévesque attended the Séminaire de Gaspé and the Saint-Charles-Garnier College in Quebec City, both of which were run by the Jesuits. He studied for a law degree at Université Laval in Quebec City, but left the university in 1943 without having completed the degree.He worked as an announcer and news writer at the radio station CHNC in New Carlisle, as a substitute announcer for CHRC during 1941 and 1942, and then at CBV in Quebec City. During 1944–1945, he served as a liaison officer and war correspondent for the U.S. Army in Europe. He reported from London while it was under regular bombardment by the Luftwaffe, and advanced with the Allied troops as they swept back the Nazis through France and Germany. Through the war, he made regular journalistic reports on the airwaves and in print. He was with the first unit of Americans to reach the Dachau concentration camp, and was profoundly touched by what he witnessed.In 1947, he married Louise L'Heureux, with whom he would have two sons and a daughter. Lévesque worked as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French Language sector in the international service. He once more served as a war correspondent for the CBC in the Korean War in 1952. After that war, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Quebec.From 1956 to 1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec for hosting a weekly television news program at the Radio-Canada (the French-language counterpart of the CBC) called Point de Mire. While working for the public television network, he became involved in the 1958 strike, which lasted 68 tumultuous days. Supported by his later bitter political rival, Pierre Trudeau, Lévesque was arrested in 1959, along with 29 other strikers.In 1960, Lévesque entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in the 1960 election as a Liberal Party member. In the government of Jean Lesage, he served as Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works from 1960 to 1961, and Minister of Natural Resources from 1961 to 1965. While in office, he played an important role in the nationalisation of hydroelectric companies, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec, one of the reforms that was part of the Quiet Revolution.From 1965 to 1966 he served as Minister of Family and Welfare. The Liberals lost the 1966 election to the Union Nationale but Lévesque retained his own seat. On October 14, 1967, Lévesque left the Liberal Party after its members refused to discuss the idea of a sovereign Quebec during its convention. He remained as the independent representative of the Montreal-Laurier riding until the 1970 election. After leaving the Liberal Party, he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which later merged with another sovereigntist party, the Ralliement National of Gilles Grégoire, to create the Parti Québécois in 1968. He remained leader of the Parti Québécois from 1968 until his resignation in 1985.

After failing to win a seat in his riding in the 1970 election and the 1973 election, he and his party swept the 1976 election. Lévesque won his own seat in the riding of Taillon. His party assumed power with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote and 71 seats out of 110; René Lévesque became Premier of Quebec ten days later.

The night of Lévesque's acceptance speech included one of his most famous quotations: "I never thought that I could be so proud to be Quebecer."

René Lévesque on election night, 1973.

On February 6, 1977, Lévesque's car fatally struck Edgar Trottier, a homeless man who had been lying on the road. It was alleged that Lévesque had been driving while intoxicated. The incident gained extra notoriety when it was revealed that the female companion in the vehicle was not his wife, but a secretary named Corinne Côté. Lévesque’s marriage ended in divorce (the couple had already been estranged for some time), and in April 1979, he married Côté.

Lévesque's Act to govern the financing of political parties banned corporate donations and limited individual contributions to political parties to $3,000. This key legislation was meant to prevent wealthy citizens and organizations from having a

My Dad hired this Ford Prefect saloon from a family run garage in Oak Street, Wolverhampton, so as to take us on holiday to Saundersfoot, South Wales, in June 1963. It was the second year that he'd hired the same car, having taken us to Portland, Dorset in 1962. I can still remember the car was a sage-green colour with a drop down boot lid, and having to kneel on the seats to see out of its windows. At the time, my mother would have been pregnant with my brother, who would be born in the December of that year. Innocent and happy times for our family, but what else was happening in the world in 1963?

January 1963: The year started with the Big Freeze, the winter of 1962–1963 being one of the coldest winters on record in England and Wales. As temperatures plummeted, lakes and rivers began to freeze over. Since records had begun in 1659, only the winter of 1683–4 had been significantly colder, with 1739–40 being slightly colder than in 1962–3.

In the February, Cliff Richard's 'Summer Hoiliday' hit the big sceen, giving some light relief from the misery of that cold and snowy Winter . The film produced a string of memorable hits: with Summer Holiday, The Next Time, Bachelor Boy and Foot Tapper all reaching number one in the British pop charts during the first three months of 1963.

In March, The infamous American Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay closes; the last 27 prisoners being transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. In Britain, Dr. Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to Britain's rail network, which would have far reaching affects.

April: Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a protest in Birmingham, Alabama for "parading without a permit". 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermaston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. The U.S. nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod; all 129 crewmen die.

May: Dr. No, the first James Bond film, is shown in U.S cinemas, and the Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola.

June: In Saigon, Buddhist monk Thích QuŁng Đéc commits self-immolation, burning to death in public view in protest to the oppression of Buddhists by the Ngo Dinh Diem administration. On the 11th of that month, US President John F. Kennedy makes a historic civil rights speech, in which he promises a Civil Rights Bill, and asks for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves." And in Wales, UK, the Beatles play at the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny.

July: Teenager, Pauline Reade, 16, is abducted in Manchester by the evil Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, who's terrible crimes against children were then unknown to the world. In the USA, ZIP Codes (postcodes) are introduced.

August: On the 8th August, the Ł2.6 million, Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England, which results in the eventual death of the train driver 'Stan Agate'. The 15-member gang, was led by Bruce Reynolds and included Ronnie Biggs, Charlie Wilson, Jimmy Hussey, Roy James, Jimmy White, Tommy Wisbey, Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards. Ł2m was stolen in used Ł1, Ł5 and Ł10 notes, the equivalent of Ł40 million today. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his 'I Have A Dream' speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In Ipswich, the Town's last trolleybus runs to depot, ending 39 years of trolleybus operation.

September: Members of a Ku Klux Klan group bomb the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing 4 and injuring 22. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. It marked a turning point in the U.S. civil-rights movement of the mid-twentieth century and contributed to support for passage of civil rights legislation in 1964. Elsewhere, Malaysia is formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak. In Britain, the University of East Anglia is established in Norwich.

October: Hurricane Flora, one of the worst Atlantic storms in history, hits Hispaniola and Cuba killing nearly 7,000 people. The nuclear test ban treaty, signed on August 5, takes effect. Alec Douglas-Home succeedes Harold Macmillan as British Prime Minister.

November: On Friday, 22nd November, United States President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Sitting just ahead of the President in the open car, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President. The Beatles' second U.K. album, 'With The Beatles' is released. The Dartford Tunnel, running beneath the River Thames is opened to the public.

December: In the United States, the X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled. Also on this date: Chuck Yeager "while testing an NF-104A