May 29 - Definition and Overview

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

Events

1000-1899

• 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.
• 1886 - Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (ad in the Atlanta Journal).
• 1886 - Putney Bridge opened in west London.

1900-1999

• 1903 - Alexander Obrenovic, king of Serbia assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
• 1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring is premiered in Paris.
• 1914 - Ocean liner Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost.
• 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.
• 1999 - In Jerusalem, Israel, Charlotte Nilsson wins the forty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Take Me To Your Heaven".

Births

1500-1899

• 1594 - Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian general (d. 1632)
• 1630 - King Charles II of England (d. 1685)
• 1736 - Patrick Henry, American patriot (d. 1799)
• 1860 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (d. 1909)
• 1874 - G. K. Chesterton, English novelist (d. 1936)
• 1880 - Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)
• 1893 - Max Brand, American author, war correspondent (d. 1944)
• 1894 - Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (d. 1989)
• 1894 - Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American writer, director (d. 1969)

1900-1999

• 1903 - Bob Hope, comedian, actor (d. 2003)
• 1906 - T.H. White, author (d. 1964)
• 1914 - Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (see also 1953 above) (d. 1986)
• 1914 - Eduard Pestel, scientist and engineer (d. 1988)
• 1915 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (d. 1990)
• 1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
• 1922 - Iannis Xenakis, composer (d. 2001)
• 1933 - John Mayall, musician
• 1933 - Helmuth Rilling, German conductor
• 1933 - Edward Whittemore, writer
• 1938 - Fay Vincent, former commissioner of baseball
• 1939 - Al Unser, race car driver
• 1940 - Farooq Leghari, former President of Pakistan
• 1942 - Kevin Conway, actor
• 1944 - Helmut Berger, actor
• 1946 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (d. 2000)
• 1948 - Anthony Geary, actor
• 1953 - Danny Elfman, composer, musician ("Oingo Boingo")
• 1956 - LaToya Jackson, musician
• 1957 - Jeb Hensarling, American politician
• 1958 - Annette Bening, actress
• 1959 - Rupert Everett, actor
• 1959 - Adrian Paul, actor best known for his role in the television series Highlander
• 1961 - Melissa Etheridge, musician
• 1975 - Melanie Brown, musician, actress
• 1984 - Carmelo Anthony, NBA basketball player

Deaths

1400-1899

• 1453 - Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Byzantine emperor (b. 1404)
• 1500 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer
• 1814 - Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (b. 1763)
• 1892 - Mírzá Husayn-'Alí (Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith) (b. 1817)

1900-1999

• 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, actor (b. 1882)
• 1948 - Dame May Whitty, actress (b. 1865)
• 1951 - Fanny Brice, American singer, comedienne, actress (b. 1891)
• 1953 - Man Mountain Dean, professional wrestler (b. 1891)
• 1979 - Mary Pickford, actress, studio founder (b. 1892)
• 1982 - Romy Schneider, actress (cardiac arrest) (b. 1938)
• 1994 - Erich Honecker, former leader of East Germany, while in exile in Chile (b. 1912)
• 1997 - Jeff Buckley, musician (accidental drowning) (b. 1966)
• 1998 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator (b. 1909)

2000-2099

• 2004 - Sam Dash, chief counsel to Senate Watergate Committee (b. 1925)
• 2004 - Archibald Cox, Jr., Watergate special prosecutor, (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Ascension of Bahá'u'llah
• England: Oak Apple Day

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