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March 29

March 29 is the 88th day of the year (89th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 277 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
• 1549 - The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
• 1632 - Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629.
• 1638 - Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.
• 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
• 1799 - New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state.
• 1806 - Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
• 1809 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
• 1831 - Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniak rebel against Turkey.
• 1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
• 1849 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
• 1857 - Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the British rule in India and inspires a long-drawn War of Independence of 1857 also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Appomattox Court House begins.
• 1867 - Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.
• 1871 - The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
• 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
• 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are established.
• 1886 - Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1930 - Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
• 1936 - In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
• 1941 - World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesus coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
• 1942 - The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
• 1945 - World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
• 1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
• 1961 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.
• 1971 - My Lai massacre: Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
• 1971 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
• 1974 - NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
• 1982 - The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
• 1987 - Wrestlemania III sets a world indoor attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome with 93,173 fans.
• 1993 - Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and Canada's first female to be elected in a general election as a premier.
• 1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.
• 2004 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
• 2004 - The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.

Births

• 1553 - Vitsentzos Kornaros, Greek Renaissance poet (d. 1613 or 1614)
• 1584 - Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d. 1648)
• 1602 - John Lightfoot, English churchman (d. 1675)
• 1668 - Thomas Coram, Founder of the Foundling Hospital (d. 1751)
• 1713 - John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d. 1789)
• 1746 - Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1785)
• 1769 - Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal (d. 1851)
• 1790 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
• 1799 - Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1869)
• 1824 - Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (d. 1899)
• 1826 - Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist and politician (d. 1900)
• 1867 - Cy Young, American baseball player (d. 1955)
• 1869 - Aleš Hrdlička, Czech anthropologist living in the United States (d. 1943)
• 1870 - Pavlos Melas, Greek officer who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia (d. 1904)
• 1873 - Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (d. 1941)
• 1874 - Lou Hoover, First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
• 1888 - Enea Bossi, Italian-American engineer and aviation pioneer (d. 1963)
• 1889 - Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)
• 1891 - Yvan Goll, French-German writer (d. 1950)
• 1891 - Alfred Neubauer, German racing team manager (Mercedes Benz) (d. 1980)
• 1892 - József Cardinal Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic cardinal (d. 1975)
• 1895 - Ernst Jünger, German author (d. 1998)
• 1899 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (d. 1953)
• 1900 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
• 1900 - Bill Aston, British racing driver (d. 1974)
• 1901 - Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (d. 1981)
• 1902 - Marcel Aymé, French writer (d. 1967)
• 1902 - William Walton, English composer (d. 1983)
• 1905 - Philip Ahn, American actor (d. 1978)
• 1906 - E. Power Biggs American concert organist (d. 1977)
• 1907 - "Braguinha", Brazilian songwriter (d. 2006)
• 1908 - Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1908 - Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (d. 1968)
• 1911 - Brigitte Horney, German actress (d. 1988)
• 1912 - Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot (d. 1979)
• 1913 - Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
• 1913 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 2000)
• 1914 - Phil Foster, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1916 - Eugene McCarthy, American politician (d. 2005)
• 1917 - Man o' War, American thoroughbred racehorse (d. 1947)
• 1918 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d. 1990)
• 1918 - Sam Walton, American businessman (d. 1992)
• 1919 - Eileen Heckart, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1920 - John Belk, American head of Belk, Inc. (d. 2007)
• 1927 - John McLaughlin, American political commentator
• 1927 - John Robert Vane, English pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
• 1928 - Vincent Gigante, American mafioso (d. 2005)
• 1929 - Lennart Meri, President of Estonia (d. 2006)
• 1929 - Richard Lewontin, American biologist
• 1929 - Utpal Dutt, Indian actor (d. 1993)
• 1931 - Aleksei Gubarev, Soviet cosmonaut
• 1931 - Norman Tebbit, British politician
• 1933 - Jacques Brault, French Canadian poet
• 1934 - Paul Crouch, American televangelist
• 1936 - Judith Guest, American author
• 1936 - Mogens Camre, Danish politician
• 1937 - Billy Carter, brother of Jimmy Carter (d. 1988)
• 1939 - Terence Hill, Italian actor
• 1939 - Roland Arnall, American businessman and diplomat (d. 2008).
• 1940 - Ray Davis, American musician (d. 2005)
• 1940 - Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer
• 1941 - Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel laureate
• 1941 - Eden Kane, British singer
• 1943 - Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
• 1943 - Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1943 - Vangelis, Greek musician and composer
• 1944 - Terry Jacks, Canadian musician, songwriter, and activist
• 1944 - Denny McLain, American baseball player
• 1945 - Walt Frazier, American basketball player
• 1946 - Billy Thorpe, Australian singer (d. 2007)
• 1947 - Bobby Kimball, American singer
• 1948 - Bud Cort, American actor
• 1949 - Keith Simpson, British politician
• 1949 - Michael Brecker, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2007)
• 1949 - John Arthur Spenkelink, American murderer (d. 1979)
• 1952 - Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
• 1954 - Dianne Kay, American actress
• 1954 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
• 1955 - Earl Campbell, American football player
• 1955 - Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
• 1955 - Christopher Lawford, Irish actor
• 1955 - Marina Sirtis, English actress
• 1956 - Patty Donahue, American singer (d. 1996)
• 1956 - Stephen Cole, English journalist
• 1956 - Kurt Thomas, American gymnast
• 1957 - Christopher Lambert, French actor
• 1958 - Victor Salva, American film director
• 1959 - Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
• 1959 - Perry Farrell, American musician
• 1959 - Brad McCrimmon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 - Mike Kingery, American baseball player
• 1961 - Amy Sedaris, American actress and comedian
• 1961 - Gary Brabham, Australian racing driver
• 1964 - Michael A. Jackson, Maryland politician
• 1964 - Elle Macpherson, Australian model
• 1965 - William Oefelein, American Astronaut
• 1965 - Voula Patoulidou, Greek athlete
• 1965 - Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist (d. 2005)
• 1967 - Brian Jordan, American baseball player
• 1967 - John Popper, American musician
• 1968 - Sue Foley, Canadian singer and guitarist
• 1968 - Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
• 1971 - Lara Logan, South-African born journalist and reporter
• 1972 - Michel Ancel, French game designer
• 1972 - Rui Costa, Portugal footballer
• 1972 - Junichi Suwabe, Japanese voice actor
• 1973 - Marc Overmars, Dutch footballer
• 1974 - Kristoffer Cusick, American actor
• 1974 - Marc Gené, Spanish racing car driver
• 1976 - Igor Astarloa, Spanish cyclist
• 1976 - Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
• 1978 - Michael Kaczurak, American singer and actor
• 1980 - Kim Tae Hee, South Korean actress
• 1980 - Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein, of Jordan
• 1980 - Amy Mathews, Australian actress
• 1981 - Megan Hilty, American actress
• 1981 - Jlloyd Samuel, WestIndian-born footballer
• 1982 - Hideaki Takizawa, Japanese artist
• 1983 - Luiza Sá, Brazilian musician
• 1985 - Maxim Lapierre, Canadian ice hockey forward
• 1985 - Mickey Pimentel, National Football League linebacker
• 1986 - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, English footballer

Deaths

• 1058 - Pope Stephen IX (b. c.1020)
• 1368 - Emperor Go-Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 1328)
• 1461 - Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1421)
• 1578 - Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b. 1524)
• 1578 - Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1527)
• 1625 - Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b. 1549)
• 1628 - Tobias Matthew, Archbishop of York (b. 1546)
• 1629 - Jacob de Gheyn II, Dutch artist (b. 1565)
• 1683 - Yaoya Oshichi, a young girl burned at the stake for arson in 17th Century Japan (b. 1667)

• 1751 - Thomas Coram, English sea captain and philanthropist
• 1772 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
• 1788 - Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (b. 1707)
• 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden (shot) (b. 1746)
• 1800 - Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (b. 1714)
• 1803 - Gottfried van Swieten, Dutch composer (b. 1733)
• 1826 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (b. 1751)
• 1848 - John Jacob Astor, American businessman (b. 1763)
• 1855 - Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1799)
• 1873 - Francesco Zantedeschi, Italian physicist (b. 1797)
• 1888 - Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (b. 1813)
• 1906 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (b. 1878)
• 1912 - Henry Robertson Bowers - member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1883)
• 1912 - Sir Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer - member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1868)
• 1912 - Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and naturalist - member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1872)
• 1924 - Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer (b. 1852)
• 1934 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
• 1937 - Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b. 1882)
• 1940 - Alexander Obolensky, Russian prince and famed Rugby Union footballer who played for England.(b. 1916)
• 1948 - Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (b. 1881)
• 1956 - Infante Alfonso of Spain (b. 1941)
• 1957 - Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)
• 1959 - Barthelemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
• 1970 - Anna Louise Strong, American communist journalist (b. 1885)
• 1971 - Dhirendranath Datta, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1886)
• 1972 - Lord J. Arthur Rank, British movie theater owner (b. 1888)
• 1980 - Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b. 1905)
• 1982 - Carl Orff, German composer (b. 1895)
• 1982 - Nathan Twining, USAF general (b. 1897)
• 1985 - Luther Terry, Surgeon General of the United States (b. 1911)
• 1985 - Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun, The Singing Nun (b. 1933)
• 1986 - Harry Ritz, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
• 1988 - Ted Kluszewski, American baseball player (b. 1924)
• 1989 - Bernard Blier, French actor (b. 1916)
• 1991 - Lee Atwater, American political consultant (b. 1951)
• 1992 - Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (b. 1908)
• 1994 - Bill Travers, British actor (b. 1922)
• 1995 - Baltimora, British singer (b. 1957)
• 1995 - Terry Moore, American baseball player (b. 1912)
• 1996 - Frank Daniel, Czech-born writer, director, producer and teacher (b. 1926)
• 1996 - Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1944)
• 1999 - Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
• 2001 - Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (b. 1899)
• 2001 - John Lewis, American jazz pianist (b. 1920)
• 2002 - Rico Yan, Philippine Young Movie & TV Actor (b. 1975)
• 2002 - Rachel Levy and Ayat al-Akhras, Israeli and Palestinian children
• 2003 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b. 1956)
• 2005 - Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b. 1937)
• 2005 - Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (b. 1968)
• 2005 - Miltos Sahtouris, Greek poet (b. 1919)
• 2006 - Salvador Elizondo, Mexican writer (b. 1932)
• 2007 - Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian actor (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances

• Día del joven combatiente a remembrance day celebrated with civil disorder in Chile by leftists and anarchists
• Youth Day in Taiwan
• St. Bertold (d. 1179)
• St. Eustace of Luxeuil
• Saint Mark of Arethusa bishop, martyred in 362 during the persecution of Julian the Apostate
• Saint Gladys

External links

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