May 29


May 29 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap
years). There are 213 days remaining.

Events

   * 1414 - Council of Constance
   * 1453 - Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture
     Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
   * 1660 - English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the thrown of
     England
   * 1677 - Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the
     Virginia colonists and the local Indians.
   * 1727 - Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia
   * 1733 - Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec City
   * 1790 - Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States
     colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S.
     state.
   * 1848 - Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state
   * 1864 - Emperor Maximilian of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first
     time
   * 1886 - Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (ad in the
     Atlanta Journal).
   * 1903 - Alexander Obrenovic, king of Serbia assassinated in Belgrade by
     the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
   * 1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring is premiered
     in Paris.
   * 1914 - Ocean liner Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St.
     Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost.
   * 1919 - Observation of shifted star positions during a solar eclipse
     confirm Albert Einstein's theory of relativity (see Arthur Eddington).
   * 1950 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in
     Halifax Nova Scotia.
   * 1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first
     people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
   * 1977 - Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for the
     Indianapolis 500.
   * 1985 - Heysel Stadium disaster: In Brussels, Belgium, 39 football fans
     die and hundreds are injured during a riot at a European Cup match.
   * 1985 - Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria,
     British Columbia after 14 months.

Births

   * 1594 - Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, general (+ 1632)
   * 1630 - King Charles II of England (+ 1685)
   * 1736 - Patrick Henry, American patriot (+ 1799)
   * 1860 - Isaac AlbŽniz, Spanish composer (+ 1909)
   * 1874 - G. K. Chesterton, novelist (+ 1936)
   * 1880 - Oswald Spengler, philosopher, Decline of the West (+ 1936)
   * 1893 - Max Brand, author, war correspondent (+ 1944)
   * 1894 - Beatrice Lillie, actress (+ 1989)
   * 1894 - Josef von Sternberg, writer, director (+ 1969)
   * 1903 - Bob Hope, comedian, actor (+ 2003)
   * 1906 - T.H. White, author (+ 1964)
   * 1914 - Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (see also 1953 above) (+ 1986)
   * 1914 - Eduard Pestel, scientist and engineer (+ 1988)
   * 1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (+
     1963)
   * 1922 - Iannis Xenakis, composer (+ 2001)
   * 1933 - John Mayall, musician
   * 1944 - Helmut Berger, actor
   * 1948 - Anthony Geary, actor
   * 1953 - Danny Elfman, composer, musician ("Oingo Boingo")
   * 1958 - Annette Bening, actress
   * 1959 - Rupert Everett, actor
   * 1961 - Melissa Etheridge, musician

Deaths

   * 1453 - Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Byzantine emperor.
   * 1814 - Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France
   * 1892 - M’rz‡ Husayn-'Al’ (Bahaullah, the founder of the Bah‡'’ Faith
     and the Orthodox Bahai Faith)
   * 1903 - Alexander Obrenovic, king of Serbia
   * 1910 - Mily Balakirev, composer
   * 1911 - William S. Gilbert, dramatist
   * 1942 - John Barrymore, actor
   * 1948 - Dame May Whitty, actress
   * 1951 - Fanny Brice, singer, comedienne, actress
   * 1979 - Mary Pickford, actress, studio founder
   * 1982 - Romy Schneider, actress (cardiac arrest)
   * 1995 - Erich Honecker, former leader of East Germany, while in exile in
     Chile
   * 1997 - Jeff Buckley, musician (accidental drowning)
   * 1998 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator

Holidays and Observances

   * Bah‡'’ Faith:Ascension of Bah‡'u'llah