March 29
is the
88th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (89th in
Leap years). There are 277 days remaining.
*
537 -
Vigilius is consecrated and enthroned as
Pope, replacing
Silverius.
*
1461 -
Wars of the Roses:
Battle of Towton -
Edward of York defeats
Queen Margaret to become
King Edward IV of England.
*
1638 -
Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in
Delaware, called
New Sweden.
*
1792 -
King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight
masquerade at
Stockholm's
Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by
Gustav IV Adolf.
*
1799 -
New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing
slavery in the state.
*
1806 - Construction authorized of the
Great National Pike, better known as the
Cumberland Road, becoming the first
United States federal highway.
*
1809 - King
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a
coup d'état. At the
Diet of Porvoo,
Finland's
four Estates pledge allegiance to
Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the
Grand Duchy of Finland from
Sweden.
*
1831 -
Great Bosnian uprising:
Bosniak rebel against
Turkey.
*
1847 -
Mexican-American War:
United States forces led by
General Winfield Scott take
Veracruz after a
siege.
*
1849 - The
United Kingdom annexes the
Punjab.
*
1857 -
Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th
Regiment,
Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the
British rule in India and inspires a long-drawn
War of Independence of 1857 also known as the
Sepoy Mutiny.
*
1865 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Appomattox Court House begins.
*
1867 -
Queen Victoria gives
Royal Assent to the
British North America Act which establishes the
Dominion of Canada on
July 1.
*
1871 - The
Royal Albert Hall is opened by
Queen Victoria.
*
1879 -
Anglo-Zulu War:
Battle of Kambula:
British forces defeat 20,000
Zulus.
*
1882 - The
Knights of Columbus are established.
*
1911 - The
M1911 semi-automatic handgun designed by
John Browning becomes the standard-issue handgun in the
United States Army, and is subsequently widely used in
World War I,
World War II, and the
Korean War.
*
1930 -
Heinrich Brüning is appointed
German Reichskanzler.
*
1936 - In
Germany, dictator
Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a
referendum to ratify
Germany's illegal reoccupation of the
Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters. In
1933 all political parties and political liberty had been abolished.
*
1941 -
World War II:
British Royal Navy and
Royal Australian Navy forces intercept those of the
Italian Regia Marina off the
Peloponnesus coast of
Greece in the
Battle of Cape Matapan.
* 1941 - 80% of
American AM radio stations change frequencies under the terms of
NARBA.
*
1945 -
World War II: Last day of
V-1 flying bomb attacks on
England.
*
1951 -
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit
espionage.
*
1961 - The
Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of
Washington, DC to vote in
presidential elections.
*
1966 -
Muhammad Ali deafeats
Canadian George Chuvalo in fifteen rounds in
Toronto,
Canada.
*
1971 -
My Lai massacre:
Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
* 1971 - A
Los Angeles, California jury recommends the
death penalty for
Charles Manson and three female followers.
*
1973 -
Vietnam War: The last
United States soldiers leave
South Vietnam.
*
1974 -
NASA's
Mariner 10 becomes the first
spaceprobe to fly by
Mercury. It was launched on
November 3,
1973.
*
1982 - The
Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the
Royal Assent by
Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the
Queen of Canada to proclaim the
Constitution Act, 1982*
1982 - The long running serial
Search for Tomorrow moves to
NBC after almost 31 years with
CBS and becomes the second soap opera to switch networks since
The Edge of Night moved from
CBS to
ABC-TV on
December 1,
1975.
*
1993 -
Catherine Callbeck becomes
premier of
Prince Edward Island and
Canada's first female
premier.
* 1993 -
Edouard Balladur becomes
Prime Minister of France.
*
1999 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.
*
2002 - Premiere of
Janez Lapajne's first feature film
Rustling Landscapes (
Šelestenje).
*
2004 -
Bulgaria,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Romania,
Slovakia and
Slovenia join
NATO as full members.
* 2004 - The
Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to
ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
*
2006 -
total solar eclipse observed from 08:36 GMT (09:36 BST) to 11:48 GMT (12:48 BST) in Eastern
Brazil, West and North
Africa,
Turkey,
Central Asia and
Mongolia*
1584 -
Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d.
1648)
*
1602 -
John Lightfoot, English churchman (d.
1675)
*
1713 -
John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d.
1789)
*
1769 -
Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal (d.
1851)
*
1790 -
John Tyler, 10th
President of the United States (d.
1862)
*
1824 -
Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (d.
1899)
*
1826 -
Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist and politician (d.
1900)
*
1867 -
Cy Young, baseball player (d.
1955)
*
1873 -
Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (d.
1941)
*
1874 -
Lou Hoover,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1944)
*
1889 -
Warner Baxter, American actor (d.
1951)
*
1891 -
Yvan Goll, French-German writer (d.
1950)
*
1892 -
József Cardinal Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic cardinal (d.
1975)
*
1895 -
Ernst Jünger, German author (d.
1998)
*
1897 -
Ruby Muhammad, American wife of
Elijah Muhammad*
1899 -
Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (d.
1953)
*
1900 -
John McEwen, eighteenth
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1980)
*
1901 -
Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (d.
1981)
*
1902 -
Marcel Aymé, French writer (d.
1967)
* 1902 -
William Walton, English composer (d.
1983)
*
1905 -
Philip Ahn, American actor (d.
1978)
*
1908 -
Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d.
1981)
* 1908 -
Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (d.
1968)
*
1909 -
E. Power Biggs American concert organist
*
1911 -
Brigitte Horney, German actress (d.
1988)
*
1912 -
Hanna Reitsch, German pilot (d.
1979)
*
1913 -
Tony Zale, American boxer (d.
1997)
* 1913 -
R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d.
2000)
*
1916 -
Eugene McCarthy, American politician (d.
2005)
*
1918 -
Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d.
1990)
* 1918 -
Sam Walton, American businessman (d.
1992)
*
1919 -
Eileen Heckart, American actress (d.
2001)
*
1927 -
John McLaughlin, American political commentator
* 1927 -
John Robert Vane, English pharmacologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
2004)
*
1929 -
Lennart Meri,
President of Estonia (d.
2006)
*
1931 -
Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
*
1936 -
Judith Guest, American author
* 1936 -
Mogens Camre, Danish politician
*
1937 -
Billy Carter, Presidential brother (d.
1988)
*
1940 -
Ray Davis, American musician (
P-Funk)
* 1940 -
Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer
*
1941 -
Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist,
Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
*
1943 -
Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
* 1943 -
John Major,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom* 1943 -
Vangelis, Greek musician
*
1944 -
Terry Jacks, Canadian musician, songwriter, and activist
* 1944 -
Denny McLain, baseball player
*
1945 -
Walt Frazier, American basketball player
*
1947 -
Bobby Kimball, American singer (
Toto)
*
1948 -
Bud Cort, American actor
*
1949 -
Michael Brecker, American jazz saxophonist
* 1949 -
John Arthur Spenkelink, American murderer (d.
1979)
*
1952 -
Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
*
1954 -
Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d.
1985)
*
1955 -
Earl Campbell, American football star
* 1955 -
Christopher Lawford, American actor
*
1956 -
Patty Donahue, lead singer of
The Waitresses (d.
1996)
*
1957 -
Christopher Lambert, French actor
*
1959 -
Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
* 1959 -
Perry Farrell, American musician (
Jane's Addiction and
Porno for Pyros)
*
1960 -
Marina Sirtis, English actress
*
1963 -
Elle Macpherson, Australian model
*
1967 -
Brian Jordan, baseball player
* 1967 -
John Popper, American musician (
Blues Traveler)
*
1968 -
Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
*
1971 -
Aaron Lawrence, American pornographic actor
*
1972 -
Rui Costa, Portugal football player
*
1973 -
Marc Overmars, former Dutch football player
*
1976 -
Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
*
1981 -
Jlloyd Samuel, West Indian-born footballer
*
1983 -
Justin Tuck, American football player
*
1984 -
Valentine Rei, Russian television personality
*
1058 -
Pope Stephen IX*
1368 -
Emperor Go-Murakami,
Emperor of Japan (b.
1328)
*
1461 -
Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b.
1421)
*
1578 -
Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b.
1524)
* 1578 -
Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (b.
1527)
*
1625 -
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b.
1549)
*
1628 -
Tobias Matthew, Archbishop of York (b.
1546)
*
1751 -
Thomas Coram, English sea captain and philanthropist
*
1772 -
Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b.
1688)
*
1792 - King
Gustav III of Sweden, (shot) (b.
1746)
*
1800 -
Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (b.
1714)
*
1826 -
Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (b.
1751)
*
1855 -
Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (b.
1799)
*
1873 -
Francesco Zantedeschi, Italian physicist (b.
1797)
*
1888 -
Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (b.
1813)
*
1906 -
Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (b.
1878)
*
1912 - Members of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole:
**
Henry Robinson Bowers (b.
1883)
**
Edgar Evans, Welsh naval officer (b.
1876)
**
Lawrence Oates, English army officer (b.
1880)
**
Sir Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer (b.
1868)
**
Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and naturalist (b.
1872)
*
1934 -
Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b.
1867)
*
1937 -
Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b.
1882)
*
1957 -
Joyce Cary, Irish author (b.
1888)
*
1959 -
Barthelemy Boganda, first
President of the Central African Republic (b.
1910)
*
1970 -
Anna Louise Strong, American communist journalist
*
1971 -
Dhirendranath Datta, Bangladeshi politician (b.
1886)
*
1972 - Lord
J. Arthur Rank, movie theater owner (b.
1888)
*
1980 -
Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b.
1905)
*
1982 -
Carl Orff, German composer (b.
1895)
*
1991 -
Lee Atwater, American politicial consultant (b.
1951)
*
1992 -
Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (b.
1908)
*
1994 -
Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-born playwright (b.
1912)
* 1994 -
Bill Travers, British actor (b.
1922)
*
1995 -
Terry Moore, baseball player (b.
1912)
*
1999 -
Joe Williams, American singer (b.
1918)
*
2001 -
Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (b.
1899)
* 2001 -
John Lewis, American jazz pianist (b.
1920)
*
2003 -
Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b.
1956)
*
2005 -
Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b.
1937)
* 2005 -
Grant Johannesen, American pianist (b.
1921)
* 2005 -
Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (b.
1968)
*Festival of
Ishtar.
*
Youth Day in
Taiwan*
Memorial day and commemoration of the
1947 revolt against French colonisation in
MadagascarLiturgical feasts
*
St. Bertold (d.1179)
*
St. Eustace *
St. Jonas (d. 327)
*
St. Ludolf of Ratzeburg (d.1250)
*
Blessed Hugo (d.1239)
*
BBC: On This Day*
This Day in HistoryMarch 28 -
March 30 -
February 28 - (
February 29) -
April 29 --
listing of all days
