December 29
is the 363rd day of the year (364th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining.
*
1170 -
Thomas Becket is slain in his own cathedral by knights eager to please
Henry II of England.
*
1813 -
War of 1812:
British soldiers burn
Buffalo, New York.
*
1835 - The
Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the
Cherokee east of the
Mississippi River to the
United States.
*
1845 -
Texas is admitted as the 28th
U.S. state. (
Republic of Texas and
United States agree to
annexation of
Texas.)
*
1851 - The first American-based
YMCA opens in
Boston, Massachusetts.
*
1860 - The first
British seagoing
iron-clad warship, the
HMS Warrior is launched.
*
1862 -
American Civil War: The
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou ends.
*
1876 - The
Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, 64 injured, 92 dead at
Ashtabula, Ohio.
*
1890 -
Wounded Knee Massacre: The
United States soldiers massacre over 400 men, women and children of the
Great Sioux Nation at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
*
1891 -
Thomas Edison patents the
radio.
*
1911 -
Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the
Republic of China.
*
1913 -
Seligs Polyscope Company releases
The Unwelcome Throne, the first serial
motion picture.
*
1921 -
William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes
Prime Minister of Canada.
*
1930 -
Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in
Allahabad introduces the
Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of
Pakistan.
*
1934 - The first college
basketball game at
New York City's
Madison Square Garden is played between the
University of Notre Dame and
New York University.
* 1934 -
Japan renounces the
Washington Naval Treaty of
1922 and the
London Naval Treaty of
1930.
*
1937 - The
Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called
Ireland with the adoption of a new
constitution.
*
1940 -
World War II: In
The Second Great Fire of London, the
Luftwaffe firebombs
City of London, killing almost 200 civilians.
*
1949 -
KC2XAK of
Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first
Ultra high frequency (UHF)
television station to operate a daily schedule.
*
1963 - 22 people perish in the
Hotel Roosevelt fire, the worst fire to occur in
Jacksonville, Florida since the
Great Fire of 1901.
*
1972 - An
Eastern Air Lines Lockheed "
Tristar" crashed on approach to
Miami International Airport,
Florida, killing 101.
*
1975 - A bomb explodes at
New York City's
LaGuardia Airport killing 11.
*
1979 - Closing night of the
Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the
Hammersmith Odeon; a benefit concert for the citizens of
Cambodia who were victims of dictator
Pol Pot*
1987 -
Yuri Romanenko of
USSR returns to
Earth after 326 days in
space.
*
1989 -
Václav Havel becomes
President of
Czechoslovakia.
* 1989 - Riots break-out after
Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate
Vietnamese
refugees.
* 1989 - On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the
Japanese
Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all-time high of 38,915.87.
*
1992 -
Fernando Collor de Mello, president of
Brazil, tried to resign among corruption charges, but ended up being impeached.
*
1993 - Construction of the
Tian Tan Buddha, the world's tallest outdoor
bronze statue of the seated
Buddha, is completed.
*
1996 -
Guatemala and leaders of
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year
civil war.
*
1997 -
Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's
chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
influenza strain.
*
1998 - Leaders of the
Khmer Rouge apologize for the
1970s genocide in
Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
*
2001 - A massive fire in the historic district of downtown
Lima,
Peru kills at least 274 people.
*
2002 - Cincinnati's
Riverfront Stadium/
Cinergy Field is demolished.
*
1709 - Empress
Elizabeth of Russia (d.
1762)
*
1721 -
Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King
Louis XV of France (d.
1764)
*
1796 -
Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d.
1877)
*
1800 -
Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d.
1860)
*
1808 -
Andrew Johnson, 17th
President of the United States (d.
1875)
*
1809 -
William Ewart Gladstone,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1897)
*
1816 -
Carl Ludwig, German physician (b.
1895)
*
1859 -
Venustiano Carranza, 54th
President of Mexico (d.
1920)
*
1876 -
Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d.
1973)
*
1881 -
Jess Willard, American boxer (d.
1968)
*
1899 -
Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (d.
1992)
*
1908 -
Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d.
1993)
*
1910 -
Ronald Coase, British economist,
Nobel laureate*
1914 -
Billy Tipton, American musician (d.
1989)
* 1914 -
Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d.
1999)
*
1915 -
Bill Osmanski, American football player (d.
1996))
*
1917 -
Tom Bradley, American politician (d.
1998)
*
1927 -
Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d.
1985)
*
1928 -
Bernard Cribbins, British actor
*
1931 - Prince
Gu of Korea (d.
2005)
*
1936 -
Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
* 1936 -
Ray Nitschke, American football player (d.
1998)
*
1937 -
Barbara Steele, British actress
* 1937 -
Wayne Huizenga, owner of the
Miami Dolphins*
1938 -
Jon Voight, American actor
*
1941 -
Ray Thomas, British musician (
The Moody Blues)
*
1942 -
Rick Danko, Canadian musician (
The Band) (d.
1999)
*
1942 -
Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor
*
1946 -
Marianne Faithfull, British singer
*
1947 -
Ted Danson, American actor
*
1949 -
Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player
*
1951 -
Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer
*
1952 -
Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
*
1953 -
Gali Atari, Israeli singer
*
1954 -
Roger Voudouris, American singer
* 1954 -
Prince Norihito of Japan (d.
2002)
*
1957 -
Brad Grey, American film producer
*
1959 -
Patricia Clarkson, American actress
*
1963 -
Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
* 1963 -
Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker
*
1965 -
Dexter Holland, American musician (
The Offspring)
*
1967 -
Andy Wachowski, American director
* 1967 -
Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
* 1967 -
Chris Barnes, American singer
*
1970 -
Aled Jones, Welsh singer
* 1970 -
Kevin Weisman, American actor
* 1970 -
Glen Phillips, American musician (
Toad The Wet Sprocket)
*
1972 -
Evan Seinfeld, American musician (
Biohazard) and actor
* 1972 -
Jason Kreis, American soccer player
* 1972 -
Jude Law, British actor
*
1973 -
Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager
*
1974 -
Richie Sexson, American baseball player
*
1976 -
Katherine Moennig, American actress
*
1977 -
Jimmy Journell, baseball player
*
1978 -
Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress
* 1978 -
Kieron Dyer, British footballer
* 1978 -
LaToya London, American singer
*
1979 -
Justin Roberts, American professional wrestling ring announcer
*
1981 -
Angela Via, American singer
* 1981 -
Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
*
1994 -
Princess Kako of Japan
*
1170 -
Thomas Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b.
1118)
*
1563 -
Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b.
1515)
*
1634 -
John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b.
1612)
*
1661 -
Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b.
1594)
*
1689 -
Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b.
1624)
*
1731 -
Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b.
1685)
*
1785 -
Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b.
1742)
*
1825 -
Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b.
1748)
*
1891 -
Leopold Kronecker, mathematician (b.
1823)
*
1894 -
Christina Rossetti, English poet (b.
1830)
*
1916 -
Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b.
1869)
*
1924 -
Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1845)
*
1926 -
Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b.
1875)
*
1929 -
Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b.
1846)
*
1937 -
Don Marquis, American author (b.
1878)
*
1960 -
Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b.
1862)
*
1967 -
Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b.
1890)
*
1980 -
Tim Hardin, American musician (b.
1941)
* 1980 -
Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b.
1899)
*
1993 -
Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b.
1930)
*
1986 -
Harold Macmillan,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1894)
*
2003 -
Earl Hindman, American actor (lung cancer) (b.
1942)
* 2003 -
Dinsdale Landen, English actor (cancer) (b.
1932)
* 2003 -
Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b.
1928)
*
2004 -
Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1912)
* 2004 -
Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b.
1947)
* 2004 -
Ken Burkhart, Baseball player (b.
1915)
*The fourth
day of Christmas in Western
Christianity.
*
R.C. Saints -
Thomas Becket (optional memorial)
*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: December 29December 28 -
December 30 -
November 29 -
January 29 --
listing of all days
