On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on December 29:
1709 Elisabeth Petrovna, tsarina of Russia/daughter of Peter the Great
1721 Madame De Pompadour, mistress of French King Louis XV
1776 Charles Macintosh, Scotland, patented waterproof fabric
1800 Charles Goodyear, inventor (vulcanization process for rubber)
1808 Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. President [1865-1869]
1809 William Ewart Gladstone, (Lib) British PM
1809 Albert Pike Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1891
1831 Adam Badeau, Bvt Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1876 Pablo Casals, Vendrell Catalonia Spain, violinist/conductor/composer
1879 Billy Mitchell, aviation hero Gen (WW I)
1908 Gerben Sonderman Dutch test pilot (Fokker)
1917 Thomas Bradley (mayor of Los Angeles)
1920 Syd Dernley, hangman
1936 Ray Nitschke (Pro Football Hall of Famer: Green Bay Packers LB)
1937 Mary Tyler Moore (Emmy Award-winning actress)
1938 John Voight (actor: Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance)
1946 Marianne Faithfull (singer: As Tears Go By)
1972 Jessica Lee McMinn Miss North Carolina USA (1996)
Deaths which occurred on December 29:
1141 Yue Fei Chinese general, executed
1170 Thomas Beckett archbishop, assassinated by 4 knights of King Henry II
1703 Mustapha II sultan (Turkey), dies at 39
1890 Big Foot, Sioux Indian chief, dies at Wounded Knee
1942 Frank D Adams Canadian geologist, dies at 83
1967 Paul Whiteman, US orchestra leader,(Bing Crosby, the Dorsey brothers) dies at 77
1980 Tim Hardin US singer (Bird on a Wire), dies of a drug overdose at 39
1986 [Maurice] Harold MacMillan, PM of Great-Britain (1957-63), dies at 92
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1964 BENNETT HAROLD G.---PERRYVILLE AR.
[06/65 DIC ON PRG LIST]
1964 CRAFTS CHARLES---NORTH JAY ME.
[02/07/67 RELEASED, ALIVE IN 98]
1965 HILL ARTHUR S. JR.---RANCHO SANTA FE CA.
1965 RAWSTHORNE EDGAR A.---MIRAMAR CA.
1967 CLAPPER GEAN P.---ALTOONA PA.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 CLAXTON CHARLES P.---CHICAGO IL.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 CRUZ CARLOS R.---ARROYO PR.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 18 OCT 95]
1967 DARCY EDWARD J.---PORTLAND ME.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 ECKLEY WAYNE A.---ENTERPRISE OR.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 FISHER DONALD E.---HALFWAY OR.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 FOSTER PAUL L.---KNOXVILLE TN.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 18 OCT 95]
1967 MC CRARY JACK---MADISON TN.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 OSBORNE EDWIN N. JR.---RAILFORD FL.
1967 PARKER FRANK C. III---BRIDGEPORT PA.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 POTTER WILLIAM J. JR.---AMBRIDGE PA.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 18 OCT 95]
1967 VAN BUREN GERALD G.---TOLEDO OH.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 WENAAS GORDON J.---MAYVILLE ND.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1967 WILLIAMS JAMES R.---CHARLOTTE NC.
[RADIO CONTACT LOST]
1968 SCHERDIN ROBERT F.---SOMERVILLE NJ.
[SEVERLY WOUNDED WHEN LEFT]
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
1539 St Jacobs Church burns after being hit by lightning
1541 Isabella of Poland & King Ferdinand of Austria sign Treaty of Gyalu
1558 Charles V, German emperor, buried
1607 Indian chief Powhatan spares John Smith's life after the pleas of his daughter Pocahontas.
1708 Great Alliance occupies Gent
1778 English troops occupy Savannah, Georgia
1782 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
1813 British burn Buffalo New York during the War of 1812
1837 Canadian militia destroy Caroline, a US steamboat docked at Buffalo
1837 Steam-powered threshing machine patented, Winthrop ME
1845 Texas admitted as the 28th state
1848 Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk's administration)
1851 1st Young Men's Christian Association chapter opened (Boston)
1852 Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1857 Franz Liszt's "Die Hunnenschlacht" premieres in Weimar
1862 Bowling ball invented
1864 Fire Department celebrates 1st annual ball
1867 1st telegraph ticker used by a brokerage house, Groesbeck & Company, New York
1885 Gottlieb Daimler patents 1st bike (Germany)
1890 US 7th Cavalry massacre 200+ captive Sioux at Wounded Knee SD; Indian "war" in the west
1891 Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)
1895 Dr L S Jameson begins failed raid on Johannesburg
1900 General Viljoen surprise attack British garrison to Helvetia
1908 Patent granted for a 4-wheel automobile brake, Clintonville WI
1911 San Francisco Symphony is formed
1911 Proclamation restores "Dei Gratia" from Canada's coins
1913 1st movie serial, "Adventures of Kathlyn" premieres in Chicago IL
1920 Yugoslav government bans communist party
1921 William Lyon Mackenzie King succeeded Arthur Meighen as Canadian PM
1926 Vatican puts French fascist Charles Maurras' work on the index
1929 Police arrest Sukarno & 100s PNI-leaders
1930 Fred P Newton completes longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam MN, to New Orleans LA
1931 Identification of heavy water publicly announced, HC Urey
1934 1st collegiate basketball doubleheader (Madison Square Garden)
1937 Pan Am starts San Francisco CA-to-Auckland, New Zealand service
1937 Ireland adopts constitution (Irish Free State becomes Eire)
1937 Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champion
1938 Construction on Lake Washington Floating Bridge, Seattle WA, begins
1940 Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WWII)
1940 In a radio interview, President Roosevelt proclaims the United States to be the "arsenal of democracy."
1947 Ship carrying Jewish immigrants driven away from Palestine
1948 Canada recognizes Israel (Hey, I know you)
1949 1st UHF television station operating regular basis (Bridgeport CT)
1949 Hungary nationalized its industries
1952 1st transistorized hearing aid offered for sale (Elmsford NY)
1957 Singers Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé wed in Las Vegas
1965 CBS purchases NFL TV rights for 1966-68 at $18.8 million per year
1965 Supremes release "My World is Empty Without You"
1965 "Thunderball" premieres in US
1967 Star Trek's "The Trouble With Tribbles" 1st airs
1967 Turkish-Cypriot government forms in Cyprus
1968 Baltimore Colts beat Cleveland Browns 34-0 in NFL championship game
1968 Israeli commandos destroy 13 Lebanese airplanes
1969 New York Times reports Curt Flood will sue baseball & challenge the reserve clause
1972 Eastern Tristar Jumbo Jet crashes near Everglades killing 101
1972 Life magazine ceases publication
1978 Shah of Iran, asks Shapour Bahktiar to form a civilian government
1978 Spain constitution goes into effect
1979 Red Army beats New York Islanders 3-2 at Nassau Coliseum
1981 President Ronald Reagan curtails Soviet trade in reprisal for its hash policies on Poland.
1982 Bob Marley postage stamp issued in Jamaica
1982 Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant ends his career with Alabama (323 wins)
1983 US announces withdrawal from UNESCO
1984 Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi claims victory in parliamentary elections
1984 5th United Negro College Fund
1989 Vaclav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia
1989 Wayne Gretzky & Martina Navratilova are named athletes of the decade by the Associated Press
1989 Jane Pauley says goodbye to NBC's "Today" show
1991 Boeing 747-200F of China Airlines crash into mountain at Taipei
1992 Governor Cuomo grants Jean Harris ("Scarsdale Diet" Murderess) clemency
1993 Courtney Love sues doctors for leaking news of her methadone treatment
1993 Todd Bridges arrested for transporting methamphetamine (speed)
1994 Last Dutch electro-magnetic telephone exchange shuts down
1997 Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu
1997 Orville Lynn Majors, 36, arrested for many deaths under his care
1997 Russia signs agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Gabon : President's Birthday
Texas : Admission Day (1945)
World : Ante-Pen-Ultimate Day
US : Ujamaa-Cooperative Economics Day (4th Day of Kwanzaa)
International Calendar Awareness Month
Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas à Beckett),martyr
Religious History
1223 Pope Honorius III formally approved the Franciscan religious order. Properly called the Order of the Friars Minor, this Catholic order was founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi.
1841 Howard College was chartered in Marion, Alabama, under Baptist sponsorship. The campus relocated to Birmingham in 1887.
1849 The Christmas hymn by Edmund Sears, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," was first published in "The Christian Register." Sears' carol features the American emphasis in Christian living, that is, the social message of "peace on earth, good will toward men."
1876 Popular American hymnwriter Philip P. Bliss, 38, died when the train in which he and his wife were riding plunged off a bridge into a ravine 60 feet below. Bliss had penned such enduring hymns as: "Wonderful Words of Life, "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" and "I Gave My Life for Thee."
1938 In Tambaram, South India, the second world meeting of the International Missionary Council closed at Madras Christian College (having opened Dec. 12th). It was afterward called the IMC's Tambaram Conference.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"The minute a man is convinced that he is interesting, he isn`t."
