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: 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.
   * 1567 - James VI was crowned 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.
   * 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 a
     government police force.
   * 1851 - A 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.
   * 1928 - Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie is released.
   * 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, one of the world's first digital computers, is turned on after a
     memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2,
     1955.
   * 1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
   * 1958 - The United States 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 - Diana Spencer marries Charles, the 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 Communications Decency Act of 1996 is struck down as too
     broad by a US federal court.

Births

   * 1805 - Alexis de Tocqueville,historian, political scientist (+ 1859)
   * 1869 - Booth Tarkington, author (+ 1946)
   * 1871 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian spiritualist (+ 1916)
   * 1874 - James Shaver Woodsworth, Methodist minister, social worker,
     politician (+ 1942)
   * 1876 - Maria Ouspenskaya, actress (+ 1949)
   * 1878 - Don Marquis, author (+ 1937)
   * 1883 - Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator (+ 1945)
   * 1887 - Sigmund Romberg, composer (+ 1951)
   * 1892 - William Powell, actor (+ 1984)
   * 1905 - Clara Bow, actress (+ 1965)
   * 1905 - Thelma Todd, actress (+ 1935)
   * 1905 - Dag Hammarskjšld, UN Secretary-General (+ 1961)
   * 1907 - Melvin Belli, attorney, actor (+ 1996)
   * 1924 - Lloyd Bochner, actor
   * 1926 - Don Carter, bowler
   * 1930 - Paul Taylor, dancer, choreographer
   * 1938 - Peter Jennings, television news anchor
   * 1941 - David Warner, actor
   * 1949 - Vida Blue, Major League Baseball player
   * 1953 - Ken Burns, television producer and director
   * 1953 - Geddy Lee of Rush, musician
   * 1959 - Ruud Janssen, Teacher, writer, artist, active in mail art
   * 1965 - Chang-Rae Lee, author
   * 1972 - Wil Wheaton, actor
   * 1973 - Stephen Dorff, actor

Deaths

   * 1099 - Pope Urban II
   * 1644 - Pope Urban VIII
   * 1833 - William Wilberforce, campaigner against slavery
   * 1890 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter
   * 1900 - King Umberto I of Italy
   * 1951 - Hozumi Shigeto, Japanese author
   * 1954 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater
   * 1974 - Mama Cass Elliott, musician
   * 1975 - James Blish, science fiction writer
   * 1983 - David Niven, actor
   * 1983 - Raymond Massey, actor
   * 1984 - Fred Waring, band leader, inventor
   * 2001 - Henryk Jablonski, Polish president