May 29

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).
• 1886 - Putney Bridge opened in west London
• 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 Albéniz, 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
• 1940 - Farooq Leghari, former President of Pakistan
• 1944 - Helmut Berger, actor
• 1946 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (+2000)
• 1948 - Anthony Geary, actor
• 1953 - Danny Elfman, composer, musician ("Oingo Boingo")
• 1958 - Annette Bening, actress
• 1959 - Rupert Everett, actor
• 1961 - Melissa Etheridge, musician
• 1986 - Stephanie Konemann, <3 Brice Nelson

Deaths

• 1453 - Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Byzantine emperor.
• 1814 - Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France
• 1892 - Mírzá Husayn-'Alí (Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahá'í 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

• Bahá'í Faith: Ascension of Bahá'u'llah
• England: Oak Apple Day

May 28 - May 30 - April 29 - June 29 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By