December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar . There are two days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
1170 – 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 Catholic Church .
1427 – The Ming army begins its withdraw from Hanoi , ending the Chinese domination of Đại Việt .
1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attack Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul .
1778 – American Revolutionary War : 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia .
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.
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 – In accordance with International Boundary delimitation , the United States annexes the Republic of Texas , following the manifest destiny doctrine. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state .
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts .
1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship , HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio .
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation , 300 Lakota killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment .
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty , enthroning 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia .
1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China ; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1916 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , the first novel by James Joyce , was first published as a book by an American publishing house B. W. Huebschis after it had been serialized in The Egoist (1914–15).
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 Liberator .
1940 – World War II : In the Second Great Fire of London , the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England , UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom ", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology .
1959 – The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar ) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport , Florida , killing 101.
1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
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 Unity 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 one million lives.
2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima , Peru , kills at least 291.
2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.
2006 – UK settles its Anglo-American loan , post-WWII loan debt.
2012 – A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashes in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured.
2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others.
Births
765 – Ali al-Ridha , Saudi Arabian 8th of the Twelve Imams (d. 818)
1709 – Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
1721 – Madame de Pompadour , French mistress of Louis XV of France (d. 1764)
1796 – Johann Christian Poggendorff , German physicist and journalist (d. 1877)
1800 – Charles Goodyear , American chemist and engineer (d. 1860)
1808 – Andrew Johnson , American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
1809 – William Ewart Gladstone , English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)
1816 – Carl Ludwig , German physician and physiologist (d. 1895)
1843 – Elisabeth of Wied (d. 1916)
1855 – August Kitzberg , Estonian author and poet (d. 1927)
1856 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes , Dutch-French mathematician and academic (d. 1894)
1874 – François Brandt , Dutch rower and bishop (d. 1949)
1876 – Pablo Casals , Catalan cellist and conductor (d. 1973)
1877 – Max Hess , German-American gymnast (d. 1969)
1879 – Billy Mitchell , American general and pilot (d. 1936)
1881 – Scott Leary , American swimmer (d. 1958)
1881 – Jess Willard , American boxer and actor (d. 1968)
1885 – Roman von Ungern-Sternberg , Austrian-Russian general (d. 1921)
1886 – Norman Hallows , English runner (d. 1968)
1895 – Oswald Freisler , German lawyer (d. 1939)
1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros , Mexican painter (d. 1974)
1899 – Nie Rongzhen , Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (d. 1992)
1902 – Nels Stewart , Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1957)
1904 – Kuvempu , Indian author and poet (d. 1994)
1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer , German theologian and author (d. 1993)
1908 – Magnus Pyke , English scientist and author (d. 1992)
1910 – Ronald Coase , English-American economist, author, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1911 – Klaus Fuchs , German physicist and spy (d. 1988)
1914 – Zainul Abedin , Bangladeshi painter and academic (d. 1976)
1914 – Billy Tipton , American pianist and saxophonist (d. 1989)
1914 – Albert Tucker , Australian painter (d. 1999)
1915 – Bill Osmanski , American football player and coach (d. 1996)
1915 – Robert Ruark , American hunter and author (d. 1965)
1917 – Tom Bradley , American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 38th Mayor of Los Angeles (d. 1998)
1917 – Ramanand Sagar , Indian director and producer (d. 2005)
1919 – Alfred de Grazia , American political scientist and author (d. 2014)
1919 – Roman Vlad , Italian pianist and composer (d. 2013)
1920 – Viveca Lindfors , Swedish actress and singer (d. 1995)
1921 – Robert C. Baker , American chef, invented the chicken nugget (d. 2006)
1921 – Dobrica Ćosić , Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (d. 2014)
1922 – Little Joe Cook , American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1922 – William Gaddis , American author and academic (d. 1998)
1923 – Cheikh Anta Diop , Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (d. 1986)
1923 – Shlomo Venezia , Greek-Italian holocaust survivor and author (d. 2012)
1924 – Joe Allbritton , American businessman and publisher, founded the Allbritton Communications Company (d. 2012)
1925 – Pete Dye , American golfer and architect
1927 – Andy Stanfield , American sprinter (d. 1985)
1928 – Bernard Cribbins , English actor, singer, and director
1929 – Matt Murphy , American guitarist (The Blues Brothers )
1931 – Yi Gu , Japanese-American son of Yi Bangja (d. 2005)
1931 – Stasys Stonkus , Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2012)
1932 – Inga Swenson , American actress and singer
1933 – Samuel Brittan , English journalist and author
1934 – Ed Flanders , American actor (d. 1995)
1935 – Virgil Johnson , American singer (The Velvets ) (d. 2013)
1936 – Mary Tyler Moore , American actress and singer
1936 – Ray Nitschke , American football player and actor (d. 1998)
1937 – Wayne Huizenga , American businessman, founded AutoNation
1937 – Barbara Steele , English actress and producer
1938 – Harvey Smith , English horse rider and sportscaster
1938 – Jon Voight , American actor and producer
1940 – Fred Hansen , American pole vaulter and dentist
1941 – Ray Thomas , English singer-songwriter and flute player (The Moody Blues )
1942 – Rick Danko , Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Band ) (d. 1999)
1942 – Rajesh Khanna , Indian actor, singer, and producer (d. 2012)
1942 – Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga , Honduran cardinal
1943 – Bill Aucoin , American talent manager (d. 2010)
1943 – Molly Bang , American author and illustrator
1946 – Marianne Faithfull , English singer-songwriter and actress
1947 – Richard Crandall , American physicist and computer scientist (d. 2012)
1947 – Ted Danson , American actor and producer
1947 – Leonhard Lapin , Estonian architect and poet
1947 – Cozy Powell , English drummer, songwriter, and producer (Emerson, Lake & Powell , The Jeff Beck Group , Whitesnake , and Black Sabbath ) (d. 1998)
1947 – David Tanner , English rower and coach
1947 – Vincent Winter , Scottish actor, director, and production manager (d. 1998)
1948 – Peter Robinson , Northern Irish politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland
1949 – Syed Kirmani , Indian cricketer and actor
1949 – David Topliss , English rugby player and coach (d. 2008)
1950 – Jon Polito , American actor
1951 – Yvonne Elliman , American singer-songwriter and actor
1951 – Georges Thurston , Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1952 – Gelsey Kirkland , American ballerina and choreographer
1953 – Gali Atari , Israeli singer and actress
1953 – Alan Rusbridger , Zambian-English journalist and academic
1953 – Kate Schmidt , American javelin thrower and coach
1953 – Stanley Williams , American gang leader, co-founded the Crips (d. 2005)
1954 – Albrecht Böttcher , German mathematician and author
1954 – Norihito, Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
1954 – Roger Voudouris , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1956 – Fred MacAulay , Scottish comedian and radio host
1957 – Brad Grey , American screenwriter and producer
1957 – Oliver Hirschbiegel , German actor, director, and producer
1957 – Iain Paxton , Scottish rugby player and coach
1957 – Paul Rudnick , American author and screenwriter
1958 – Nancy J. Currie , American colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1959 – Keith Crossan , Irish rugby player
1959 – Patricia Clarkson , American actress
1959 – Ann Demeulemeester , Belgian fashion designer
1959 – Martin Moran , American actor and author
1959 – Milton Ottey , Jamaican-Canadian high jumper and coach
1959 – Paula Poundstone , American comedian, actress, and author
1960 – David Boon , Australian cricketer and referee
1960 – Katerina Didaskalou , Greek actress
1960 – Thomas Lubanga Dyilo , Congolese militia leader, founded the Union of Congolese Patriots
1961 – Kevin Granata , American engineer and academic (d. 2007)
1961 – Jim Reid , Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Jesus and Mary Chain and Freeheat )
1961 – Richard Horton , English physician and journalist
1962 – Devon White , Jamaican-American baseball player
1963 – Francisco Bustamante , Filipino billiards player
1963 – Des Foy , English rugby player
1963 – Dave McKean , English illustrator, photographer, director, and pianist
1963 – Sean Payton , American football player and coach
1963 – Liisa Savijarvi , Canadian skier
1965 – Dexter Holland , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Offspring )
1965 – Danilo Pérez , Panamanian pianist and composer
1966 – Laurent Boudouani , French boxer
1966 – Stefano Eranio , Italian footballer and coach
1966 – Martin Offiah , English rugby player and sportscaster
1967 – Ashleigh Banfield , Canadian-American journalist
1967 – Chris Barnes , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Six Feet Under , Cannibal Corpse , and Torture Killer )
1967 – Evan Seinfeld , American bass player, actor, and director (Biohazard and Damnocracy )
1969 – Jennifer Ehle , American actress
1969 – Allan McNish , Scottish race car driver
1969 – José Antonio Noriega , Mexican footballer
1970 – Aled Jones , Welsh singer and television host
1970 – Hidetoshi Mitsusada , Japanese race car driver
1970 – Glen Phillips , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Toad the Wet Sprocket and Works Progress Administration )
1970 – Kevin Weisman , American actor
1971 – Um Sang-hyun , South Korean voice actor
1971 – Margot Thien , American swimmer
1972 – Asheru , American rapper
1972 – Jason Kreis , American soccer player and manager
1972 – Jude Law , English actor, director, and producer
1972 – Leonor Varela , Chilean-American actress
1973 – Pimp C , American rapper and producer (UGK ) (d. 2007)
1973 – Theo Epstein , American businessman
1974 – Twinkle Khanna , Indian actress and producer
1974 – Mekhi Phifer , American actor and producer
1974 – Richie Sexson , American baseball player
1974 – Ryan Shore , Canadian composer and producer
1975 – Shawn Hatosy , American actor
1975 – Jaret Wright , American baseball player
1976 – Filip Kuba , Czech ice hockey player
1976 – Danny McBride , American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – Jimmy Journell , American baseball player
1977 – Katherine Moennig , American actress
1978 – Alexis Amore , Peruvian-American porn actress and director
1978 – Jake Berry , English lawyer and politician
1978 – Matthew Carr , Australian footballer
1978 – Pierre Dagenais , Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Kieron Dyer , English footballer and coach
1978 – Danny Higginbotham , English footballer
1978 – Steve Kemp , English drummer (Hard-Fi )
1978 – LaToya London , American singer and actress
1978 – Angelo Taylor , American hurdler and sprinter
1979 – Mitsuhiro Ishida , Japanese mixed martial artist
1979 – Diego Luna , Mexican actor, director, and producer
1979 – Ariel Schrag , American cartoonist and screenwriter
1981 – Shizuka Arakawa , Japanese figure skater and sportscaster
1981 – Shaun Suisham , American football player
1981 – Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko , Estonian footballer
1982 – Alison Brie , American actress and singer
1982 – Gabrielle Destroismaisons , Canadian singer
1982 – Brian Hill , Canadian swimmer
1982 – Dale Morris , Australian footballer
1982 – Norbert Siedler , Austrian racing driver
1983 – Jessica Andrews , American singer-songwriter
1983 – James Kelly , Australian footballer
1983 – Gonzalo Olave , Chilean actor (d. 2009)
1984 – Reimo Tamm , Estonian basketball player
1985 – Wang Ji-hye , South Korean actress
1985 – Alexa Ray Joel , American singer-songwriter and pianist
1986 – Joe Anyon , English footballer
1986 – Kim Ok-bin , South Korean actress and singer
1987 – Yuhi Sekiguchi , Japanese race car driver
1988 – Eric Berry , American football player
1988 – Ágnes Szávay , Hungarian tennis player
1989 – Left Brain , American rapper and producer (Odd Future and MellowHype )
1989 – Jane Levy , American actress
1989 – Kei Nishikori , Japanese tennis player
1990 – Allen Kim , South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (U-KISS and Xing)
1992 – Katsuhiro Suzuki , Japanese actor and model
1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino
1995 – Rina Ikoma , Japanese singer (Nogizaka46 and AKB48 )
1995 – Ross Lynch , American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (R5 )
1998 – Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick , American actor
Deaths
721 – Empress Genmei of Japan (b. 660)
1170 – Thomas Becket , English archbishop (b. 1118)
1563 – Sebastian Castellio , French preacher and theologian (b. 1515)
1565 – Queen Munjeong of Korea (b. 1501)
1634 – John Albert Vasa , Polish cardinal (b. 1612)
1661 – Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant , French poet (b. 1594)
1689 – Thomas Sydenham , English physician and author (b. 1624)
1720 – Maria Margarethe Kirch , German astronomer (b. 1670)
1731 – Brook Taylor , English mathematician and theorist (b. 1685)
1737 – Joseph Saurin , French minister and mathematician (b. 1659)
1785 – Johan Herman Wessel , Norwegian-Danish poet and playwright (b. 1742)
1825 – Jacques-Louis David , French painter and illustrator (b. 1748)
1887 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann , Estonian-Russian linguist and botanist (b. 1805)
1891 – Leopold Kronecker , Polish-German mathematician and academic (b. 1823)
1894 – Christina Rossetti , English poet and hymn-writer (b. 1830)
1897 – William James Linton , English-American painter, author, and activist (b. 1812)
1910 – Reginald Doherty , English tennis player (b. 1872)
1924 – Carl Spitteler , Swiss poet and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke , Austrian author and poet (b. 1875)
1929 – Wilhelm Maybach , German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (b. 1846)
1934 – Alma Tell , American actress (b. 1898)
1937 – Don Marquis , American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1878)
1941 – Tullio Levi-Civita , Italian mathematician and scholar (b. 1873)
1949 – Tyler Dennett , American historian and author (b. 1883)
1952 – Fletcher Henderson , American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1897)
1953 – Violet MacMillan , American actress (b. 1887)
1959 – Robin Milford , English composer (b. 1903)
1960 – Eden Phillpotts , English author and poet (b. 1862)
1967 – Paul Whiteman , American violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1890)
1968 – Austin Farrer , English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
1970 – Marie Menken , American director and painter (b. 1909)
1972 – Joseph Cornell , American artist (b. 1903)
1972 – Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos , Greek priest and missionary (b. 1903)
1976 – Ivo Van Damme , Belgian runner (b. 1954)
1980 – Tim Hardin , American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
1980 – Nadezhda Mandelstam , Russian author and educator (b. 1899)
1981 – Miroslav Krleža , Croatian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893)
1984 – Indus Arthur , American actress and singer (b. 1941)
1986 – Harold Macmillan , English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky , Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1932)
1988 – Mike Beuttler , Egyptian race car driver (b. 1940)
1989 – Süreyya Ağaoğlu , Azerbaijani-Turkish lawyer and jurist (b. 1903)
1993 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan , Armenian actor (b. 1930)
1995 – Lita Grey , American actress (b. 1908)
1996 – Mireille Hartuch , French singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1906)
1998 – Jean-Claude Forest , French author and illustrator (b. 1930)
1999 – Leon Radzinowicz , Polish-English criminologist and academic (b. 1906)
2000 – Adele Stimmel Chase , American artist (b. 1917)
2001 – Takashi Asahina , Japanese conductor (b. 1908)
2001 – Cássia Eller , Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
2002 – Ralph Clanton , American actor (d. 1914)
2003 – Earl Hindman , American actor (b. 1942)
2003 – Dinsdale Landen , English actor (b. 1932)
2003 – Bob Monkhouse , English comedian, actor, and game show host (b. 1928)
2004 – Julius Axelrod , American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
2004 – Ken Burkhart , American baseball player and umpire (b. 1915)
2004 – Liddy Holloway , New Zealand actress and screenwriter (b. 1947)
2005 – Gerda Boyesen , Norwegian-English psychotherapist and author (b. 1922)
2007 – Kevin Greening , English radio host (b. 1962)
2007 – Phil O'Donnell , Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard , American trumpet player and composer (b. 1938)
2009 – Akmal Shaikh , Pakistani-English businessman and drug trafficker (b. 1956)
2009 – "Dr. Death" Steve Williams , American football player and wrestler (b. 1960)
2010 – Avi Cohen , Israeli footballer, manager and chairman of the Israel Professional Footballers Association (b. 1956)
2010 – Bill Erwin , American actor (b. 1914)
2011 – Tyron Perez , Filipino model and actor (b. 1985)
2012 – Mike Auldridge , American singer and guitarist (The Seldom Scene and Chesapeake ) (b. 1938)
2012 – Tony Greig , South African-Australian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1946)
2012 – Roland Griffiths-Marsh , Malaysian-Australian soldier and author (b. 1923)
2012 – Edward Meneeley , American painter and sculptor (b. 1927)
2012 – Paulo Rocha , Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
2012 – Bruce Stark , American cartoonist (b. 1933)
2013 – C. T. Hsia , Chinese-American critic and scholar (b. 1921)
2013 – Benjamin Curtis , American guitarist, drummer, and songwriter (Secret Machines , School of Seven Bells , Tripping Daisy , and UFOFU ) (b. 1978)
2013 – Connie Dierking , American basketball player (b. 1936)
2013 – Wojciech Kilar , Ukrainian-Polish pianist and composer (b. 1932)
2013 – Jagadish Mohanty , Indian author (b. 1951)
2013 – Mike O'Connor , German-American journalist (b. 1946)
2013 – Paul Sally , American mathematician and academic (b. 1933)
2013 – Eero Mäntyranta , Finnish skier and multiple Olympic champion (b. 1937)
2014 – Saiyid Hamid , Indian academic and diplomat (b. 1920)
2014 – Hari Harilela , Indian-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist (b. 1922)
2014 – Odd Iversen , Norwegian footballer (b. 1945)
2014 – Jenny Pat , Hong Kong illustrator and art dealer (b. 1981)
2014 – Juanito Remulla, Sr. , Filipino lawyer and politician, Governor of Cavite (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
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