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Today December 29th in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1170 – Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,500 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia without firing a shot.
1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 – British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
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.
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1860 – The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 – United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
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.
1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24.
1940 – World War II: In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed Tristar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
1975 – A bomb explodes at La Guardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1989 – Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia. He becomes the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.
1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
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 1.25 million chickens 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 fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
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 (d. 1860)
1808 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
1809 – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)
1816 – Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)
1843 – Elisabeth of Wied (pen name was Carmen Sylva), queen of Romania and writer (d. 1916)
1856 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894)
1859 – Venustiano Carranza, 54th President of Mexico (d. 1920)
1876 – Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d. 1973)
1881 – Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)
1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974)
1899 – Nie Rongzhen, People s Liberation Army Chief of General Staff (d. 1992)
1902 – Nels Stewart, National Hockey League player (d. 1957)
1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
1910 – Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize 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)
1917 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
1920 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995)
1921 – Robert C. Baker, Inventor of the chicken nugget (d. 2006)
1922 – William Gaddis, American writer (d. 1998)
1925 – Pete Dye, American golf course architect
1927 – Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)
1928 – Bernard Cribbins, British actor
1931 – Prince Gu of Korea, Korean royalty (d. 2005)
1932 – Inga Swenson, American actress
1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
1936 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
1937 – Wayne Huizenga, American football team owner
1937 – Barbara Steele, British actress
1938 – Harvey Smith, English showjumper
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
1947 – Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (d. 1998)
1947 – Vincent Winter, British actor (d. 1998)
1948 – Peter Robinson, first minister of Northern Ireland
1949 – Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player
1949 – David Topliss, rugby league player
1950 – Jon Polito, American actor
1951 – Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer
1951 – Georges Thurston, Canadian singer (d. 2007)
1952 – Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
1953 – Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
1953 – Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian
1953 – Stanley Tookie Williams, American author/murderer (d. 2005)
1954 – Roger Voudouris, American singer (d. 2003)
1954 – Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
1956 – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian
1957 – Brad Grey, American film producer
1957 – Paul Rudnick, American screenwriter/playwright
1958 – Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut
1959 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
1959 – Paula Poundstone, American comedian
1960 – David Boon, Australian Cricketer
1960 – Thomas Lubanga, founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots
1961 – Kevin Granata, American associate professor at Virginia Tech, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007)
1961 – Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat)
1962 – Blake Mitchell, American adult actress
1962 – Devon White, Jamaican baseball player
1963 – Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
1963 – Des Foy, British rugby league player
1963 – Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker
1963 – Sean Payton, American football coach
1965 – Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring)
1966 – Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer
1966 – Martin Offiah, former rugby league footballer
1967 – Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
1967 – Chris Barnes, American singer
1967 – Andy Wachowski, American director
1967 – Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor
1969 – Jennifer Ehle, American actress
1969 – Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver
1970 – Aled Jones, Welsh singer
1970 – Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver
1970 – Glen Phillips, American musician (Toad The Wet Sprocket)
1970 – Kevin Weisman, American actor
1971 – Margot Thien, American synchronized swimmer
1972 – Asheru, American rapper
1972 – Jason Kreis, American soccer player
1972 – Jude Law, British actor
1973 – Pimp C, American rapper (UGK) (d. 2007)
1973 – Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager
1974 – Mekhi Phifer, American actor
1974 – Richie Sexson, American baseball player
1975 – Jaret Wright, American baseball player
1976 – Danny R. McBride, American actor, writer, and producer
1976 – Filip Kuba, Czech hockey player, defenseman for the Ottawa Senators
1977 – Katherine Moennig, American actress
1977 – Jimmy Journell, American baseball player
1978 – Matthew Carr, Australian rules footballer
1978 – Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress
1978 – Kieron Dyer, English footballer
1978 – LaToya London, American singer
1979 – Diego Luna, Mexican actor
1979 – Mitsuhiro Ishida, Japanese mixed-martial arts fighter
1979 – Ariel Schrag, American Cartoonist
1981 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
1982 – Dale Morris, Australian rules footballer
1982 – Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Quebec singer
1983 – James Kelly, Australian rules footballer
1983 – Jessica Andrews, American country/pop singer
1986 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and model
1987 – Yuhi Sekiguchi, Japanese racing driver
1988 – Agnes Szavay, Hungarian tennis player
1989 – Nathan Forbes, British footballer
1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan
Deaths
721 – Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
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)
1737 – Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
1785 – Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
1897 – William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)
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)
1953 – Violet MacMillan, American Broadway theatre actress(b. 1887)
1960 – Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
1960 – Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895)
1967 – Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
1968 – Austin Farrer, English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
1970 – Marie Menken, American experimental filmmaker and socialite (b. 1909)
Holidays and observances
1976 – Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)
1980 – Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
1980 – Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1981 – Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)
1986 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1932)
1988 – Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (b. 1940)
1993 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b. 1930)
1995 – Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
1996 – Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)
1998 – Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
1999 – Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)
2001 – Takashi Asahina, Japanese conductor (b. 1908)
2003 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
2003 – Dinsdale Landen, English actor (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, American baseball player (b. 1915)
2005 – Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922)
2007 – Phil O Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
2007 – Kevin Greening, British radio presenter (b. 1962)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1938)
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