April 29

April 29
Events
Pre-1600
801 – An earthquake in the Central Apennines hits Rome and Spoleto, damaging the basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura.
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1521 – Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Västerås.
1601–1900
1760 – French forces commence the siege of Quebec which is held by the British.
1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1826 – The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is discovered by James Dunlop.
1861 – Maryland in the American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.
1901–present
1903 – A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded.
1916 – World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.
1945 – World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy.
1945 – World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor.
1945 – Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1952 – Pan Am Flight 202 crashes into the Amazon basin near Carolina, Maranhão, Brazil, killing 50 people.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1975 – Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the .
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around , killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
1991 – The 7.0 Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
1992 – Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
2004 – The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years of vehicle production.
2011 – The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.
2013 – A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people.
2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing seven people.
2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.
Births
Pre-1600
1469 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509)
1587 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
1601–1900
1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (d. 1679)
1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1745)
1667 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish-English physician and polymath (d. 1735)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (d. 1810)
1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807)
1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (d. 1820)
1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1833)
1780 – Charles Nodier, French librarian and author (d. 1844)
1783 – David Cox, English landscape painter (d. 1859)
1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American publisher and politician, 14th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
1837 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1891)
1842 – Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1899)
1847 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer and conductor (d. 1907)
1848 – Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (d. 1906)
1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and engineer (d. 1912)
1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (d. 1933)
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951)
1863 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (d. 1922)
1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (d. 1930)
1872 – Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (d. 1952)
1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (d. 1950)
1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961)
1880 – Adolf Chybiński, Polish historian, musicologist and academic (d. 1952)
1882 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (d. 1960)
1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (d. 1945)
1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948)
1887 – Robert Cushman Murphy, American ornithologist (d. 1973)
1888 – Michael Heidelberger, American immunologist (d. 1991)
1891 – Edward Wilfred Taylor, British businessman (d. 1980)
1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1894 – Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (d. 1970)
1895 – Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (d. 1970)
1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer and conductor (d. 1967)
1898 – E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (d. 1980)
1899 – Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer and bandleader (d. 1974)
1899 – Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976)
1900 – Amelia Best, Australian politician (d. 1979)
1901–present
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989)
1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 1997)
1908 – Jack Williamson, American author and academic (d. 2006)
1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1997)
1917 – Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (d. 1961)
1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990)
1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1920 – Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (d. 1996)
1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer (d. 2013)
1922 – Parren Mitchell, American politician (d. 2007)
1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (d. 2016)
1923 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director and producer (d. 2010)
1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress (d. 2020)
1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007)
1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (d. 2007)
1926 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1927 – Dorothy Manley, English sprinter (d. 2021)
1927 – Bill Slater, English footballer (d. 2018)
1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (d. 2011)
1928 – Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (d. 2007)
1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1929 – April Stevens, American singer (d. 2023)
1929 – Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (d. 2015)
1929 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (d. 2017)
1931 – Frank Auerbach, British-German painter
1931 – Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1931 – Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (d. 2014)
1932 – David Tindle, English painter and educator
1932 – Dmitry Zaikin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (d. 2013)
1933 – Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1933 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor
1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1934 – Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde
1935 – Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 2020)
1936 – Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist
1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English author (d. 2020)
1938 – Steven Bach, American writer, businessman and educator (d. 2009)
1938 – Bernie Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon (d. 2021)
1939 – Klaus Rinke, German contemporary artist
1940 – George Adams, American musician (d. 1992)
1940 – Peter Diamond, American economist
1941 – Hanne Darboven, German painter (d. 2009)
1942 – Dick Chrysler, American politician
1942 – Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic
1943 – Duane Allen, American country singer
1943 – Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (d. 2018)
1943 – Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic
1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman (d. 2023)
1945 – Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (d. 2009)
1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
1945 – Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1946 – Rodney Frelinghuysen, American politician and lobbyist
1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1947 – Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster
1947 – Jim Ryun, American runner and politician
1948 – Edith Brown Clement, American judge
1950 – Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (d. 2013)
1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer
1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
1951 – Jon Stanhope, Australian politician
1952 – Geraldine Doogue, Australian journalist and television host
1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian
1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach
1952 – Dave Valentin, American flautist (d. 2017)
1953 – Bill Drummond, Brittish musician
1954 – Mo Brooks, American attorney and politician
1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor and producer
1955 – Leslie Jordan, American actor, comedian, writer and singer (d. 2022)
1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor
1957 – Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Samoan politician, 7th Prime Minister of Samoa
1957 – Joseph Morelle, American politician
1958 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (d. 2013)
1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress
1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic
1962 – Polly Samson, English novelist, lyricist and journalist
1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1965 – Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic
1965 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (d. 2017)
1966 – Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist
1968 – Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian politician and diplomat, 4th President of Croatia
1969 – Paul Adelstein, American actor and writer
1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player
1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress
1975 – Garrison Starr, American singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – April Telek, Canadian actress
1976 – Micol Ostow, American author, editor and educator
1976 – God Shammgod, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player
1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager
1977 – David Sullivan, American film and television actor
1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician
1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian
1979 – Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer
1979 – Jo O'Meara, English pop singer
1980 – Bre Blair, Canadian actress
1981 – George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer
1983 – Megan Boone, American actress
1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
1983 – Sam Jones III, American actor
1984 – Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer
1984 – Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player
1986 – Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor
1986 – Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress
1987 – Rob Atkinson, English footballer
1987 – Sara Errani, Italian tennis player
1987 – Andre Russell, Jamaican cricketer
1988 – Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer
1988 – Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete
1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer
1989 – Candace Owens, American political commentator and activist
1990 – James Faulkner, Australian cricketer
1990 – Chris Johnson, American basketball player
1991 – Adam Smith, English footballer
1991 – Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress
1991 – Misaki Doi, Japanese tennis player
1992 – Alina Rosenberg, German paralympic equestrian
1994 – Christina Shakovets, German tennis player
1996 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress
1998 – Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player
1998 – Mallory Pugh, American soccer player
2002 – Sinja Kraus, Austrian tennis player
2007 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess
Deaths
Pre-1600
1109 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot (b. 1024)
1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher and saint (b. 1347)
1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and theologian (b. 1517)
1601–1900
1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné, French soldier and poet (b. 1552)
1658 – John Cleveland, English poet and author (b. 1613)
1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
1707 – George Farquhar, Irish-English actor and playwright (b. 1678)
1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694)
1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English explorer and author (b. 1713)
1833 – William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (b. 1756)
1848 – Chester Ashley, American politician (b. 1790)
1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1768)
1901–present
1903 – Godfrey Carter, Australian businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of Melbourne (b. 1830)
1903 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (b. 1835)
1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847)
1916 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1850)
1917 – Florence Farr, British actress, composer and director (b. 1860)
1922 – Richard Croker, Irish American political boss (b. 1843)
1924 – Ernest Fox Nichols, American educator and physicist (b. 1869)
1925 – Ralph Delahaye Paine, American journalist and author (b. 1871)
1933 – Clay Stone Briggs, American politician (b. 1876)
1933 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (b. 1863)
1935 – Leroy Carr, American singer, songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
1937 – William Gillette, American actor and playwright (b. 1853)
1943 – Joseph Achron, Russian composer and violinist (b. 1886)
1943 – Ricardo Viñes, Spanish pianist (b. 1875)
1944 – Billy Bitzer, American cinematographer (b. 1872)
1944 – Pyotr Stolyarsky, Soviet violinist (b. 1871)
1947 – Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (b. 1867)
1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (b. 1889)
1956 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (b. 1876)
1959 – Kenneth Anderson, English soldier and Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1891)
1966 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (b. 1875)
1966 – Paula Strasberg, American actress and acting coach (b. 1909)
1967 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
1968 – Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident (b. 1932)
1978 – Theo Helfrich, German race car driver (b. 1913)
1979 – Muhsin Ertuğrul, Turkish actor and director (b. 1892)
1979 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (b. 1899)
1982 – Raymond Bussières, French actor, producer and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1992 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910)
1993 – Michael Gordon, American actor and director (b. 1909)
1993 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
1997 – Mike Royko, American journalist and author (b. 1932)
2000 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)
2001 – Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
2002 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1936)
2003 – Janko Bobetko, Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff (b. 1919)
2004 – John Henniker-Major, British diplomat and civil servant (b. 1916)
2005 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927)
2005 – Louis Leithold, American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
2006 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (b. 1908)
2007 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (b. 1978)
2007 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (b. 1940)
2007 – Ivica Račan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
2008 – Gordon Bradley, English-American footballer (b. 1933)
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (b. 1906)
2010 – Avigdor Arikha, French-Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian (b. 1929)
2011 – Siamak Pourzand, Iranian journalist and critic (b. 1931)
2011 – Joanna Russ, American writer, academic and radical feminist (b. 1937)
2012 – Shukri Ghanem, Libyan politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942)
2012 – Joel Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1957)
2012 – Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (b. 1945)
2012 – Kenny Roberts, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2013 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (b. 1992)
2013 – Pesah Grupper, Israeli politician, 13th Israel Minister of Agriculture (b. 1924)
2013 – John La Montaine, American pianist and composer (b. 1920)
2013 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (b. 1958)
2013 – Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (b. 1990)
2014 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (b. 1966)
2014 – Al Feldstein, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
2014 – Bob Hoskins, English actor (b. 1942)
2015 – François Michelin, French businessman (b. 1926)
2015 – Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (b. 1923)
2015 – Calvin Peete, American golfer (b. 1943)
2015 – Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (b. 1922)
2016 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (b. 1948)
2017 – R. Vidyasagar Rao, Indian bureaucrat and activist (b. 1939)
2018 – Luis García Meza, Bolivian general, 57th President of Bolivia (b. 1929)
2018 – Michael Martin, British politician (b. 1945)
2019 – Josef Šural, Czech footballer (b. 1990)
2020 – Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (b. 1967)
2020 – Guido Münch, Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1921)
2021 – Cate Haste, English author (b. 1945)
2022 – Joanna Barnes, American actress and writer (b. 1934)
2023 – Padma Desai, Indian-American development economist (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church)
Hugh of Cluny
Robert of Molesme
Wilfrid II
April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare (United Nations)
International Dance Day (UNESCO)
Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan)
References
External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 29
Days of the year
April