July 29

July 29 is the 210th day of the year (211th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 155 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1014 – Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion – Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack several months later, on October 6.
• 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad – King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
• 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• 1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
• 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
• 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen – France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
• 1793 – John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there.
• 1830 – Abdication of Charles X of France.
• 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
• 1847 – Cumberland School of Law is founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, one of only 15 law schools to exist in the United States at the end of 1847.
• 1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – in Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
• 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
• 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C..
• 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
• 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
• 1901 – The Socialist Party of America is founded.
• 1907 – Sir Robert Baden Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
• 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
• 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
• 1932 – Great Depression: in Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
• 1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: in Tōngzhōu (China), the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
• 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
• 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad – after a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
• 1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
• 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• 1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: the first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
• 1967 – Vietnam War: off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
• 1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
• 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (aka the "Son of Sam") kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
• 1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
• 1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
• 1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayawardene sign the Indo-Lankan Pact on ethnic issues.
• 1988 – The film Cry Freedom is seized by South African authorities.
• 1993 – The Israeli Supreme Court acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
• 1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad .
• 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.

Births

• 1166 – Henry II, Count of Champagne and King of Jerusalem (d. 1197)
• 1605 – Simon Dach, German poet (d. 1659)
• 1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish Royal Navy Admiral (d. 1845)
• 1797 – Daniel Drew, American financier (d. 1879)
• 1801 – George Bradshaw, English publisher (d. 1853)
• 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist (d. 1859)
• 1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter (d. 1900)
• 1846 – Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (d. 1921)
• 1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (d. 1901)
• 1849 – Max Nordau, Austrian-Hungarian writer and Zionist leader (d. 1923)
• 1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (d. 1946)
• 1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American folklorist (d. 1957)
• 1874 – James Shaver Woodsworth, Canadian politician (d. 1942)
• 1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-born American actress (d. 1949)
• 1878 – Don Marquis, American author (d. 1937)
• 1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and writer (d. 1942)
• 1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator (d. 1945)
• 1884 – Ralph A. Bard, U.S. Navy Undersecretary (d. 1975)
• 1885 – Theda Bara, American film actress (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born American composer (d. 1951)
• 1891 – Bernhard Zondek German-born Israeli gynecologist, developer of first reliable pregnancy test (d. 1966)
• 1892 – William Powell, American actor (d. 1984)
• 1897 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British general (d. 1983)
• 1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
• 1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
• 1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Don Redman, American jazz trumpeter, oboist and pianist (d. 1964)
• 1904 – J. R. D. Tata, France-born Indian aviation pioneer and industrialist (d. 1993)
• 1905 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1905 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish 2nd UN Secretary-General, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (d. 1961)
• 1905 – Thelma Todd, American actress (d. 1935)
• 1905 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet (d. 2006)
• 1906 – Diana Vreeland, French-born American fashion editor (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer and actor (d. 1996)
• 1909 – Chester Himes, American novelist (d. 1984)
• 1911 – Foster Furcolo, 60^th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Archbishop Iakovos of America, Turkish-born Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America (d. 2005)
• 1913 – Erich Priebke, German Nazi war criminal
• 1914 – Irwin Corey, American stand-up comedian
• 1915 – Bruce R. McConkie, American Mormon apostle and writer (d. 1985)
• 1915 – Francis W. Sargent, 64^th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Charlie Christian, American jazz guitarist (d. 1942)
• 1916 – Budd Boetticher, American film director (d. 2001)
• 1917 – Rochus Misch, German courier, bodyguard and telephone operator for Adolf Hitler, the last survivor of the Führerbunker
• 1918 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1968)
• 1920 – Rodolfo Acosta, Mexican actor (d. 1974)
• 1920 – Neville Jeffress, Australian founder of Media Monitors Australia (d. 2007)
• 1921 – Richard Egan, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1923 – Jim Marshall, English founder of Marshall Amplification
• 1923 – Gordon Mitchell, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1924 – Lloyd Bochner, Canadian actor (d. 2005)
• 1924 – Robert Horton, American actor
• 1924 – Elizabeth Short, American waitress, victim in the Black Dahlia case (d. 1947)
• 1925 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer
• 1925 – Ted Lindsay, Canadian hockey player
• 1927 – Harry Mulisch, Dutch novelist, playwright, essayist and poet
• 1929 – Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher
• 1930 – Paul Taylor, American dancer and choreographer
• 1932 – Nancy Kassebaum Baker, United States Senator from Kansas
• 1933 – Lou Albano, American pro wrestling manager (d. 2009)
• 1933 – Colin Davis, British racing driver
• 1933 – Robert Fuller, American actor
• 1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor
• 1936 – Elizabeth Dole, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
• 1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist, Nobel Prize Laureate
• 1938 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-born American journalist (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Jean Rochon, Quebec politician
• 1941 – Jennifer Dunn, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1941 – David Warner, English actor
• 1942 – Tony Sirico, American actor
• 1943 – David Taylor, English snooker player
• 1945 – Mircea Lucescu, Romanian football manager
• 1946 – Ximena Armas, Chilean painter
• 1946 – Neal Doughty, American keyboardist (REO Speedwagon)
• 1946 – Diane Keen, English actress
• 1947 – Dick Harmon, American golf instructor (d. 2006)
• 1949 – Leslie Easterbrook, American actress
• 1949 – Jamil Mahuad, 51st President of Ecuador
• 1950 – Mike Starr, American actor
• 1951 – Dan Driessen, American baseball player
• 1951 – Dean Pitchford, American songwriter, filmmaker and novelist
• 1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Greek politician
• 1953 – Ken Burns, American producer and director
• 1953 – Geddy Lee, Canadian bassist and singer (Rush)
• 1953 – Patti Scialfa, American singer, guitarist and songwriter
• 1953 – Tim Gunn, American television personality
• 1955 – Dave Stevens, American illustrator
• 1955 – Jean-Hugues Anglade, French actor
• 1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxing trainer and commentator
• 1956 – Ronnie Musgrove, 62nd Governor of Mississippi
• 1957 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast
• 1957 – Alessandra Marc, American operatic soprano
• 1959 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
• 1959 – Ruud Janssen, Dutch writer and Fluxus and mail artist
• 1959 – Dave LaPoint, American baseball player
• 1959 – John Sykes, British guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Tygers of Pan Tang)
• 1962 – Vincent Rousseau, Belgian long-distance runner
• 1962 – Scott Steiner, American professional wrestler
• 1963 – Graham Poll, English football referee
• 1963 – Jim Beglin, Irish football commentator
• 1963 – Alexandra Paul, American actress
• 1965 – Chang-Rae Lee, Korean-born American novelist
• 1965 – Luis Alicea, Puerto Rico baseball player and coach
• 1965 – Dean Haglund, Canadian actor
• 1966 – Martina McBride, American country music singer
• 1966 – Richard Steven Horvitz, American comic voice actor
• 1968 – Paavo Lötjönen, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)
• 1970 – John Rennie, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1970 – Andi Peters, British TV presenter
• 1971 – Monica Calhoun, American actress
• 1971 – Bryan Dattilo, American actor
• 1971 – Lisa Ekdahl, Swedish singer and songwriter
• 1972 – Wil Wheaton, American actor
• 1973 – Stephen Dorff, American actor
• 1973 – Wanya Morris, American singer (Boyz II Men)
• 1974 – Josh Radnor, American actor
• 1974 – Afroman, American rapper
• 1975 – Corrado Grabbi, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Lanka de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1977 – Rodney Jerkins, American songwriter and record producer
• 1979 – Karim Essediri, Tunisian footballer
• 1979 – Ronald Murray, American basketball player
• 1980 – Ryan Braun, Canadian baseball player
• 1980 – Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
• 1980 – Rachel Miner, American actress
• 1981 – Fernando Alonso, Spanish Formula 1 Driver
• 1981 – Andrés Madrid, Argentine footballer
• 1981 – Troy Perkins, American soccer player
• 1982 – Janez Aljančič, Slovenian footballer
• 1982 – Jônatas Domingos, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Allison Mack, American actress
• 1983 – Alexei Kaigorodov, Russian hockey player
• 1984 – Chad Billingsley, American baseball player
• 1985 – Besart Berisha, Albanian footballer

Deaths

• 238 – Pupienus, Roman Emperor (b. c. 164 or c. 178)
• 238 – Balbinus, Roman Emperor (b. c. 165)
• 1030 – Olaf II of Norway (b. 995)
• 1095 – King Ladislaus I of Hungary (b. c. 1040)
• 1099 – Pope Urban II (b. 1042)
• 1108 – King Philip I of France (b. 1052)
• 1507 – Martin Behaim, German- or Bohemian-born navigator and geographer at the service of the King of Portugal (b. 1459)
• 1573 – John Caius, English physician and second founder of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (b. 1510)
• 1612 – Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat (b. 1554)
• 1644 – Pope Urban VIII (b. 1568)
• 1752 – Peter Warren, British admiral (b. 1703)
• 1781 – Johann Kies, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1713)
• 1792 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
• 1813 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (b. 1771)
• 1833 – William Wilberforce, English abolitionist (b. 1759)
• 1839 – Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician (b. 1755)
• 1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1791)
• 1856 – Robert Schumann, German composer (b. 1810)
• 1857 – Thomas Dick, Scottish scientific teacher and writer (b. 1774)
• 1887 – Agostino Depretis, Italian statesman (d. 1813)
• 1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853)
• 1900 – King Umberto I of Italy (b. 1844)
• 1913 – Tobias Michael Carel Asser, Dutch jurist, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (b. 1838)
• 1918 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian painter (b. 1863)
• 1934 – Didier Pitre, French-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1883)
• 1938 – Nikolai Krylenko, Russian/Soviet jurist and politician (b. 1885)
• 1950 – Joe Fry, British racing driver (b. 1915)
• 1954 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
• 1964 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (b. 1885)
• 1970 – John Barbirolli, English conductor (b. 1899)
• 1973 – Norm Smith, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1915)
• 1973 – Roger Williamson, English racing driver (b. 1948)
• 1974 – Cass Elliot ("Mama Cass"), American singer (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1941)
• 1974 – Erich Kästner, German poet and children's writer (b. 1899)
• 1976 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)
• 1979 – Herbert Marcuse, German philosopher (b. 1898)
• 1979 – Bill Todman, American television producer (b. 1916)
• 1981 – Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
• 1982 – Harold Sakata, American professional wrestler ("Tosh Togo") and actor (b. 1920)
• 1982 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-born American physicist and inventor (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish director and writer (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
• 1983 – David Niven, English actor (b. 1910)
• 1984 – Fred Waring, American bandleader and inventor (b. 1900)
• 1987 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Indian-born Bengali writer (b. 1894)
• 1990 – Bruno Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1952)
• 1994 – Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
• 1995 – Les Elgart, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1917)
• 1996 – Ric Nordman, Canadian politician (b. 1919)
• 1996 – Jason Thirsk, American bassist (Pennywise) (b. 1967)
• 1996 – Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer (b. 1918)
• 2001 – Edward Gierek, Polish politician (b. 1913)
• 2001 – Wau Holland, German hacker (b. 1951)
• 2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean rebel leader (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress and singer (b. 1923)
• 2007 – Mike Reid, English comedian and actor (b. 1940)
• 2007 – Michel Serrault, French actor (b. 1928)
• 2007 – Tom Snyder, American television personality (b. 1936)
• 2007 – Marvin Zindler, American television reporter (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Ishmeet Singh Sodhi, Indian playback singer (b. 1989)
• 2009 – Gayatri Devi, England-born Indian Maharani of Jaipur (b. 1919)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Lupus of Troyes
  • Martha of Bethany (Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Church)
  • Olaf II of Norway
  • Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix
• National Anthem Day (Romania)
• National Thai Language Day (Thailand)
• Ólavsøka, opening of the Løgting session. (Faroe Islands)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada