December 29
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Events
- 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.
- 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.
Births
- 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 and businessman (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)
- 1876 - Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (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, recipient Bank of Sweden Prize
- 1914 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)
- 1914 - Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d. 1999)
- 1917 - Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, California (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)
- 1946 - Marianne Faithfull, British singer
- 1947 - Ted Danson, American actor
- 1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer
- 1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
- 1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer
- 1954 - Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Prince Norihito of Japan (d. 2002)
- 1957 - Brad Grey, American film & television producer
- 1959 - Patricia Clarkson, American actress
- 1963 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
- 1963 - Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker
- 1965 - Dexter Holland, American singer and guitarist (The Offspring)
- 1967 - Andy Wachowski, American director
- 1967 - Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
- 1967 - Chris Barnes, American singer
- 1970 - Aled Jones, Welsh singer and television presenter
- 1970 - Kevin Weisman, American actor
- 1970 - Glen Phillips, American singer/songwriter (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
- 1978 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress, dancer, and model
- 1978 - Kieron Dyer, British footballer
- 1978 - LaToya London, American singer
- 1979 - Justin Roberts, ECW ring announcer
- 1981 - Angela Via, American singer
- 1981 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
- 1994 - Princess Kako of Japan
Deaths
- 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)
Holidays and observances
- The fourth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
- R.C. Saints - Thomas Becket (optional memorial)
External links
December 28 - December 30 - November 29 - January 29 -- listing of all days
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