Your American History Reference Guide! - July 29
July 29
July 29 is the 210th day (211th in leap years ) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar , with 155 days remaining.
Events
1014 - Battle of Kleidion : Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts not only a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, but his subsequent savage treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of shock.
1030 - The Battle of Stiklestad : The fall of King Olaf "the Saint" , and start of Danish rule in Norway .
1567 - James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling .
1588 - Battle of Gravelines : The Spanish Armada is defeated by an English naval force under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake 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.
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, DC .
1900 - In Italy , King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian -born anarchist Gaetano Bresci .
1907 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts movement with the first scout camp at Brownsea Island .
1932 - Great Depression : In Washington, DC , US troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army " of World War I veterans.
1945 - The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music .
1947 - After being shut off on November 9 , 1946 for a refurbishment, ENIAC , the world's first all-electronic digital computer , is reactivated after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2 , 1955 .
1948 - After a hiatus of 12 years due to World War II , the first Summer Olympics opened in London , United Kingdom .
1954 - The Fellowship of the Ring , the first part of The Lord of the Rings , is published in the UK.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 - The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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 in the Gulf of Tonkin , fire sweeps the USS Forrestal , in the worst US naval disaster since World War II (134 American servicemen are killed, 62 injured, 21 planes are destroyed and 42 more are damaged).
1976 - In New York City , the "Son of Sam " pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another in the first of a series of attacks that terrorized the city for the next year.
1981 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales .
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
1996 - The controversial child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a US federal court.
2004 - U.S. Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts accepts the Democratic nomination for President of the United States at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts .
Births
1801 - George Bradshaw , English publisher (d. 1853 )
1805 - Alexis de Tocqueville , historian, political scientist (d. 1859 )
1843 - Johannes Schmidt , German linguist (d. 1901 )
1849 - Max Nordau , author, philosopher and Zionist leader (d. 1923 )
1869 - Booth Tarkington , author (d. 1946 )
1871 - Grigori Rasputin , Russian spiritualist (d. 1916 )
1874 - James Shaver Woodsworth , Methodist minister, social worker, politician (d. 1942 )
1876 - Maria Ouspenskaya , actress (d. 1949 )
1878 - Don Marquis , author (d. 1937 )
1883 - Benito Mussolini , Italian dictator (d. 1945 )
1883 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob , Colombian poet and writer (d. 1942 )
1884 - Ralph A. Bard , United States Navy Under Secretary who urged advance warning to Japan before use of the atomic bomb (d. 1975 )
1887 - Sigmund Romberg , composer (d. 1951 )
1892 - William Powell , actor (d. 1984 )
1898 - Isidor Isaac Rabi , physicist and 1944 Nobel laureate (d. 1988 )
1905 - Clara Bow , actress (d. 1965 )
1905 - Dag Hammarskjöld , UN Secretary-General (d. 1961 )
1905 - Thelma Todd , actress (d. 1935 )
1905 - Stanley Kunitz , United States Poet Laureate in 2000
1906 - Diana Vreeland , fashion editor (d. 1989 )
1907 - Melvin Belli , attorney , actor (d. 1996 )
1924 - Lloyd Bochner , Canadian actor
1926 - Don Carter , bowler
1928 - Jane Barbe , voice of the telephone operator recording (d. 2003 )
1930 - Paul Taylor , dancer, choreographer
1932 - Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker , US Senator (1978 -1996 )
1935 - Peter Schreier , German tenor
1938 - Peter Jennings , television news anchor
1941 - David Warner , actor
1942 - Tony Sirico , actor
1943 - David Taylor , English snooker player
1949 - Vida Blue , Major League Baseball player
1953 - Ken Burns , television producer and director
1953 - Geddy Lee , musician (Rush )
1957 - Nelli Kim , Soviet gymnast , five times Olympic Champion
1959 - Ruud Janssen , teacher, writer, artist, active in mail art
1959 - Sanjay Dutt , actor
1965 - Chang-Rae Lee , author
1967 - Matthew C. Henderson , actor, baseball player
1972 - Wil Wheaton , actor
1973 - Stephen Dorff , actor
1974 - Steve-O , musician, actor
1981 - Fernando Alonso , Formula 1 driver
Deaths
238 - Pupienus and Balbinus , Roman emperors , assassinated
1099 - Pope Urban II
1108 - King Philip I of France (b. 1081 )
1507 - Martin Behaim , navigator , geographer (b. 1459 )
1644 - Pope Urban VIII
1833 - William Wilberforce , campaigner against slavery
1844 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart , composer
1856 - Robert Schumann , composer
1890 - Vincent van Gogh , Dutch painter
1900 - King Umberto I of Italy
1951 - Hozumi Shigeto , Japanese author
1954 - Coen de Koning , Dutch speed skater
1970 - John Barbirolli , conductor
1970 - George Szell , Hungarian conductor
1974 - Mama Cass Elliot , musician
1974 - Erich Kästner , German author
1975 - James Blish , science fiction writer
1979 - Bill Todman , game show producer
1982 - Vladimir Zworykin , physicist and inventor
1983 - David Niven , actor
1983 - Raymond Massey , actor
1983 - Luis Buñuel , director
1984 - Fred Waring , band leader, inventor
1990 - Bruno Kreisky , Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911 )
2001 - Edward Gierek , Polish politician
2001 - Henryk Jablonski , Polish president
2001 - Wau Holland , German hacker
2003 - Foday Sankoh , Sierra Leonean rebel leader
2004 - Francis Crick , molecular biologist
2004 - Rena Vlahopoulou , Greek comedienne, actress (b. 1923 )
Holidays and observations
External links
July 28 - July 30 - June 29 - August 29 -- listing of all days