This Day in History
October 29

Copyright © 2006-2012 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
URL: http://thisdayinhistoryinfo.info/
(this URL will automatically re-direct to the file containing a single day's events)



What happened in history on this day: October 29?

On October 29 in ...

  • 1268 - Death of Konradin (Konrad der jüngere), beheaded in the marketplace in Naples, Italy (born in Wolfstein, Germany).
  • 1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London.
  • 1652 - Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth.
  • 1682 - William Penn lands in what will become Pennsylvania.
  • 1727 - Severe earthquake in New England.
  • 1740 - Birth of James Boswell Scotland, Samuel Johnson's biographer.
  • 1747 - Dutch treasure ship Reygersdahl sinks off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa.
  • 1787 - The opera "Don Giovanni" is produced (Prague).
  • 1811 - First Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans.
  • 1833 - First US college fraternity to have a fraternity house founded.
  • 1859 - Birth of Charles Ebbets (namesake of Ebbets Field, Brooklyn).
  • 1863 - International Committee of the Red Cross founded (Nobel Prize 1917, 1944, 1963).
  • 1867 - A hurricane at the British Virgin Islands sinks Royal Mail Ship Rhone, destroys Derwent and Wye, and damages Conway, Solent, and Tyne, with loss of 166 from two of the ships.
  • 1875 - Birth of Marie, queen consort of Ferdinand I of Romania (1914-27).
  • 1882 - Birth of Jean Giraudoux in Bellac, France; playwright (Églantine, Provinciales).
  • 1884 - Birth of Bela Lugosi; horror actor (Dracula, Body Snatcher).
  • 1885 - George B McClellan, Union army general, dies at age 58.
  • 1889 - Stanley Park dedicated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  • 1891 - Birth of Fanny Brice; singing comedienne (Ziegeld Follies, Baby Snooks).
  • 1894 - First election of the Hawaiian Republic.
  • 1897 - Birth of Hope Emerson in Hawarden, Iowa, USA; actress (I Married Joan, Peter Gunn).
  • 1897 - Birth of Paul Joseph Goebbels; Nazi propagandist.
  • 1901 - Leon Czolcosz, assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed.
  • 1906 - Birth of Fredric Brown; American writer (US Army in Transition).
  • 1911 - Joseph Pulitzer, American newspaperman, dies in Charleston, South Carolina.
  • 1917 - Birth of Henry Carlsson in Sweden; soccer player (Olympic-gold-1948).
  • 1920 - Edward Barrow is named New York Yankees' general manager.
  • 1921 - Birth of Ed Kemmer in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Buzz Corey - Space Patrol).
  • 1921 - Birth of William Henry Mauldin; American political cartoonist (Pulitzer Prize - 1945, 1959).
  • 1922 - Birth of Neal Hefti in Hastings, Nebraska, USA; orchestra leader (Kate Smith Show).
  • 1923 - Runnin' Wild (introducing the Charleston dance) opens on Broadway.
  • 1923 - The republic of Turkey is declared, with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as first president.
  • 1925 - Birth of Geraldine Brooks in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Faraday and Company, Dumplings, Act of Murder).
  • 1929 - "Black Tuesday" New York stock market crashes, triggers "Great Depression".
  • 1930 - First football game in eastern Canada played under floodlights.
  • 1932 - French liner Normandie is launched.
  • 1934 - Birth of Robert E Hughes in New York City, New York, USA; orchestra leader (Rich Little Show).
  • 1937 - Birth of Michael Ponti in Freiburg, Germany; pianist (Boston Competition, 1964).
  • 1940 - Secretary of War Henry L Stimson draws first number (158) in first peacetime military draft in US history.
  • 1942 - 16,000 Jews killed in Pinsk, Russia.
  • 1942 - Alaska highway completed.
  • 1942 - Branch Rickey named president / general manager of Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • 1945 - First ball-point pen goes on sale in USA, at Gumbel's of New York, for US$12.50. Nearly 10,000 are sold on the first day.
  • 1945 - Birth of Melba Moore in New York City, New York, USA; singer/actress (Ellis Island).
  • 1946 - The Allied Control Council of Germany issues Directive No. 42, closing the border between the Soviet and Western zones.
  • 1947 - Birth of Richard Dreyfuss in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Jaws, Nuts).
  • 1947 - Frances Cleveland Preston, former first lady (USA), dies in Baltimore, Maryland at age 83.
  • 1948 - Birth of Kate Jackson in Birmingham, Alabama, USA; actress (Rookies, Charlie's Angels).
  • 1950 - CBS premieres The Jack Benny Program comedy variety show.
  • 1950 - Wally Triplett averages 735 yards on three kickoff returns.
  • 1953 - Birth of Denis Potvin in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; New York Islanders' defenseman (Norris trophy).
  • 1956 - Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, NBC News, team up.
  • 1956 - Israeli Defense Force crosses Egyptian territory in the Sinai.
  • 1956 - International zone of Tangier returned to Morocco.
  • 1956 - Israeli paratroopers drop into the Sinai to open Straits of Tiran.
  • 1957 - A hand grenade explodes in Israel's Knesset (Parliament).
  • 1957 - Louis B Mayer, MGM producer, dies at age 71.
  • 1959 - Ten-nation soccer league to play all games on New York's Randall's Island is announced.
  • 1959 - Birth of Jesse Barfield in Illinois, USA; outfielder (Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, 1986 home run leader).
  • 1960 - Birth of Finola Hughes; actress (Anna - General Hospital, Staying Alive).
  • 1960 - Chartered C46 carrying California State's football team crashes, kills 16.
  • 1960 - Cassius Clay's (Muhammad Ali's) first professional fight, beats Tunney Hunsaker in six rounds.
  • 1961 - Birth of Randy Jackson; rocker (Jacksons - "ABC").
  • 1963 - Adolphe Menjou, actor (Front Page, Star is Born), dies at age 73.
  • 1964 - Star of India and other jewels are stolen in New York.
  • 1965 - Birth of Steven Sweet in Wadsworth, Ohio, USA; heavy metal artist (Warrant - "Cherry Pie").
  • 1966 - National Organization of Women founded.
  • 1971 - Birth of Winona Ryder [Horowitz], in Minnesota, USA; actress (Heathers, Edward Scissorhands).
  • 1971 - The NBC TV network airs the TV special Grand Opening of Walt Disney World. Approximately 52 million people in the US view the 90-minute show.
  • 1971 - Duane Allman dies at age 24 in a motorcycle accident.
  • 1972 - Don Cockroft of Cleveland Browns kicks 57-yard field goal.
  • 1975 - John Scott Trotter, orchestra leader (George Gobel Show), dies at age 67.
  • 1975 - Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffer kills first.
  • 1976 - In Papua, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs. The death toll from the earthquake and landslides caused by the earthquake is 133.
  • 1979 - Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays severs all ties with Major League Baseball when he accepts a public relations job with Atlantic City casino.
  • 1981 - Death of Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (born 1921).
  • 1981 - William O Walker, publisher of the Cleveland Call Post, dies at age 85.
  • 1982 - Birth of Ariel Lin; Taiwanese actress and singer.
  • 1982 - Car maker John DeLorean indicted for drug trafficking, later acquitted.
  • 1983 - Birth of Richard Brancatisano; Australian actor/musician (Power Rangers: Mystic Force).
  • 1983 - Birth of Amit Sebastian Paul; Swedish singer (A*Teens).
  • 1984 - Birth of Eric Staal; Canadian hockey player.
  • 1984 - Orlando Pizzolato (2:14:53) and Greta Weitz (2:29:30) win New York Marathon.
  • 1987 - Birth of Makoto Ogawa; Japanese singer.
  • 1987 - Thomas Hearns wins unprecidented fourth different weight boxing title.
  • 1987 - Woody Herman, American bandleader/composer (Thundering Herds), dies at age 74 (born 1913).
  • 1988 - 2,000 US anti-abortion protesters arrested for blocking clinics.
  • 1988 - China announces a herbal male contraceptive.
  • 1988 - Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the vast powers General Rahimuddin had accumulated.
  • 1989 - In Algeria, magnitude 5.9 and 5.6 earthquakes occur 12 minute apart. At least 30 people killed, 245 injured.
  • 1990 - 30 die in a 5.7 earthquake in Algeria.
  • 1990 - William French Smith, US attorney general (1980), dies at age 73 from cancer.
  • 1991 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
  • 1991 - Buck Showalter replaces Stump Merrill as the New York Yankees' manager.
  • 1992 - The Food and Drug Administration approves Depo Provera for use as a contraceptive in the United States.
  • 1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill President Bill Clinton.
  • 1997 - Death of Anton Szandor LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan (born 1930).
  • 1997 - Iraq says it will begin shooting down U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
  • 1998 - In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
  • 1998 - The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off with 77-year-old Senator John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
  • 1998 - While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant, who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricks the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
  • 1998 - Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 18,000 people.
  • 1998 - Death of Ted Hughes, English poet (born 1930).
  • 1998 - In Gothenburg, Sweden, two arsonists burn down a local Macedonian Society disco, killing 63 and injuring 200, most of them children of refugees.
  • 2002 - Take 2 Interactive releases the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game for the PlayStation 2 in the USA.
  • 2003 - Death of Hal Clement, American writer (born 1922).
  • 2003 - Death of Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (born 1921).
  • 2004 - Death of Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (born 1923).
  • 2004 - Death of Peter Twinn, English mathematician and World War II code-breaker (born 1916).
  • 2004 - European heads of state sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
  • 2005 - A train in Andhra Pradesh, India derails, killing at least 77 people.
  • 2005 - At least 61 people are dead and many others wounded in three powerful blasts in the Indian capital, Delhi.
  • 2006 - Aviation Development Company Flight 53 (Boeing 737) crashes shortly after take-off from Abuja, Lagos, Nigeria, killing 96 including Muhammadu Maccidio, spiritual head of Nigeria's Muslims. The crash is blamed on a storm.
  • 2006 - Luis Inácio Lula da Silva is re-elected President of Brazil with 61 percent of the vote in the run-off election.
  • 2006 - Death of Silas Simmons, at age 111 in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Simmons was the oldest baseball player who ever lived, playing in the Negro Leagues for 17 years for the Homestead Grays, New York Lincoln Giants, and Cuban All-Stars.
  • 2008 - An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hits Baluchistan province in south-western Pakistan, killing at least 160 people. Four aftershocks register at up to 6.2.
  • 2008 - In New York City, Siegel Auction Galleries sells at auction a US 1868 3-cent George Washington stamp with B grill, one of four known, used, for US$1.035 million.
  • 2008 - Hungary's currency and stock markets rise on the news that it will receive an international economic bailout package worth US$25 billion from the IMF, European Union, and World Bank.
  • 2008 - Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, forming the world's largest commercial carrier.
  • 2008 - British foreign secretary changes Britain's position on Tibet, saying "Tibet is part of China. Full Stop." The previous position was that China held "suzerainty" over Tibet.
  • 2008 - The US Federal Reserve cuts interest rate to 1 percent.
  • 2008 - The American Federal Reserve announces it will loan up to US$30 billion to Brazil, Singapore, South Korea, and Mexico.
  • 2010 - Suicide bomber in town north of Baghdad, Iraq, kills 25.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Other web pages of interest:

  • Chronology of World History
  • Today in Sports History
  • Today in USA History
  • Today in Disney History
  • Today in Personal Computer and Video Game History
  • Chronology of World War II
  • Chronology of Personal Computers
  • Copyright © 2006-2012 Ken Polsson (email: ken@kpolsson.com).
    URL: http://thisdayinhistoryinfo.info/
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