May 29

May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). There are 216 days remaining.

Events

• 757 - Paul I succeeds Stephen III as pope
• 1167 - Battle of Legano, in which The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
• 1414 - Council of Constance.
• 1453 - Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
• 1660 - English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England.
• 1677 - Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians.
• 1727 - Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1733 - Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec City.
• 1790 - Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
• 1848 - Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
• 1864 - Emperor Maximilian of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
• 1867 - Austro-Hungarian agreement called Ausgleich ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; on June 8 Emperor Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary
• 1886 - Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal.
• 1886 - Putney Bridge opened in west London.
• 1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring is premiered in Paris.
• 1914 - Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost.
• 1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States (1961–1963), is born.
• 1919 - Observation of shifted star positions during a solar eclipse confirm Albert Einstein's theory of relativity (see Arthur Eddington).
• 1950 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• 1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 1977 - Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
• 1985 - Heysel Stadium disaster: In Brussels, Belgium, 39 football fans die and hundreds are injured during a riot at a European Cup match.
• 1985 - Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia after 14 months.
• 1994 - Herbert Shughart refuses to shake hands with President Bill Clinton following a presentation of posthumous Congressional Medals of Honour to the widows of two soldiers for valour in Somalia. "You are not fit to be president of the United States," said Shughart Senior. "The blame for my son’s death rests with the White House and with you. You are not fit to command." President Clinton replied to Mrs. Shughart, "What’s he jumping on me for? I didn’t kill the kid!" [1][2]
• 1999 - In Jerusalem, Israel, Charlotte Nilsson wins the forty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Take Me To Your Heaven".
• 2004 - World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC
• 2005 - Dan Wheldon wins a history-making 89th Indianapolis 500, in that Danica Patrick finishes fourth (the highest position ever obtained by a female driver) and also becomes the first ever to lead a lap.
• 2005 - France, one of the founders of a united Europe, resoundingly rejects the European Constitution, throwing the idea of a European Union into question and leaving the continent in a state of anxiety and uncertainty (see French referendum on the European Constitution)
• 2005 - London Knights Win the Memorial Cup in Canada.

Births

• 1265 - Dante Alighieri, Florentine poet (d. 1321)
• 1594 - Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian general (d. 1632)
• 1627 - Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer (d. 1693)
• 1630 - King Charles II of England (d. 1685)
• 1660 - Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, English friend of Queen Anne of England (d. 1744)
• 1675 - Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (d. 1715)
• 1716 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (d. 1800)
• 1722 - James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (d. 1773)
• 1736 - Patrick Henry, American patriot (d. 1799)
• 1860 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (d. 1909)
• 1863 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)
• 1874 - G. K. Chesterton, English novelist (d. 1936)
• 1880 - Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)
• 1892 - Alfonsina Storni, Argentine writer (d. 1938)
• 1893 - Max Brand, American author and war correspondent (d. 1944)
• 1894 - Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (d. 1989)
• 1894 - Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-born writer and film director (d. 1969)
• 1897 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)
• 1903 - Bob Hope, British-born comedian and actor (d. 2003)
• 1906 - T.H. White, British author (d. 1964)
• 1913 - Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
• 1914 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (d. 1986)
• 1915 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (d. 1990)
• 1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
• 1920 - John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
• 1922 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer (d. 2001)
• 1933 - Helmuth Rilling, German conductor
• 1933 - Edward Whittemore, American writer
• 1938 - Fay Vincent, baseball commissioner
• 1939 - Al Unser, American race car driver
• 1940 - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan
• 1942 - Kevin Conway, American actor
• 1946 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (d. 2000)
• 1948 - Anthony Geary, American actor
• 1953 - Danny Elfman, American composer and musician (Oingo Boingo)
• 1955 - John Hinckley Jr., American attempted assassin
• 1956 - LaToya Jackson, American musician
• 1957 - Jeb Hensarling, American politician
• 1958 - Annette Bening, American actress
• 1959 - Rupert Everett, English actor
• 1959 - Adrian Paul, English actor
• 1961 - Melissa Etheridge, American musician
• 1962 - John D. LeMay, American actor
• 1963 - Lisa Whelchel, American actress
• 1967 - Noel Gallagher, English musician (Oasis)
• 1975 - Melanie Brown, English musician and actress
• 1984 - Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player

Deaths

• 1259 - King Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)
• 1379 - King Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)
• 1405 - Philippe de Mézières, advisor to Charles V of France
• 1425 - Hongxi Emperor of China (b. 1378)
• 1453 - Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Byzantine Emperor (killed in battle) (b. 1404)
• 1500 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer
• 1546 - David Beaton, Scottish Catholic cardinal
• 1593 - John Penry, Welsh protestant leader (b. 1559)
• 1660 - Frans van Schooten, Dutch mathematician (b. 1615)
• 1691 - Cornelis Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1629)
• 1790 - Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (b. 1718)
• 1796 - Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish politician (b. 1720)
• 1814 - Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (b. 1763)
• 1847 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (b. 1766)
• 1866 - Winfield Scott, American general and presidential candidate (b. 1786)
• 1882 - Vasily Perov, Russian painter (b. 1833)
• 1892 - Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (b. 1817)
• 1903 - Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (b. 1876)
• 1910 - Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (b. 1837)
• 1911 - William S. Gilbert, English dramatist (b. 1836)
• 1935 - Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (b. 1874)
• 1942 - John Barrymore, American actor (b. 1882)
• 1948 - Dame May Whitty, English actress (b. 1865)
• 1951 - Fanny Brice, American singer, comedienne, and actress (b. 1891)
• 1953 - Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (b. 1891)
• 1958 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• 1979 - Mary Pickford, Canadian actress and studio founder (b. 1892)
• 1982 - Romy Schneider, Austrian actress (cardiac arrest) (b. 1938)
• 1989 - John Cipollina, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (b. 1943)
• 1993 - Billy Conn, American boxer (b. 1917)
• 1994 - Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany (b. 1912)
• 1997 - Jeff Buckley, American musician (drowned) (b. 1966)
• 1998 - Barry M. Goldwater, U.S. Senator from Arizona and Presidential candidate (b. 1909)
• 2004 - Archibald Cox, Jr., American Watergate special prosecutor (b. 1912)
• 2004 - Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (b. 1925)
• 2005 - George Rochberg, American composer (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Ascension of Bahá'u'llah
• United Kingdom: Oak Apple Day
• Nigeria: Democracy Day Nigeria returns to democratical form of governance after 16 years of military dictatorship.

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• Today in History: May 29

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May 28 - May 30 - April 29 - June 29 - listing of all days