August 29

2024 Calendar

August 29 is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 124 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

708 – Copper coins are first minted in Japan.
1261 – Urban IV becomes Pope, the last man to do so without being a Cardinal first.
1315 – Battle of Montecatini: The army of the Republic of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuoli, wins a decisive victory against the joint forces of the Kingdom of Naples and Republic of Florence despite being outnumbered (meaning the opposing armies, combined, had more soldiers).
1350 – Battle of Winchelsea: An English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships.
1475 – Treaty of Picquigny ends a brief war between France and England.
1484 – Pope Innocent VIII, a staunch supporter of the Spanish Inquisition, is elected Pope.
1498 – Vasco da Gama decides to leave Calicut, present-day Kerala, southern India, and return to Portugal.
1521 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade.
1526 – Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.
1541 – The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
1728 – Nuuk, Greenland, is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by Danish royal governor Claus Paarss.
1741 – The volcanic eruption on Oshima-Oshima Island, Japan, causes tsunamis in the Sea of Japan, which kill around 1600 people.
1751 – The world's biggest wine barrel is completed in the cellar of Heidelberg Castle, present-day Germany. It can carry 221,726 liters.
1756 – Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War.
1782 – The British ship HMS Royal George sinks while anchored in the Solent, south coast of England, killing between 800 and 950 people.
1786 – Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.
1825 – Portugal recognizes Brazil as independent.
1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
1833 – The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of Slavery in its then-Empire.
1842 – The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the First Opium War.
1861 – American Civil War: A United States Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.
1862 – Battle of Aspromonte - Italian royal forces defeat rebels.
1871 – Emperor Meiji of Japan orders the establishment of prefectures as local centres of administration.
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle.
1893 – Whitcomb Judson gets a US patent for the zipper.
1895 – The formation of the Northern Rugby Union at the George Hotel, Huddersfield.
1896 – Chop suey is said to have been invented in New York City on this date.
1897 – The first Zionist World Congress is held in Basel, Switzerland.
1898 – Goodyear tire company is founded.

1901 – 2000

1907 – The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.
1910 – The Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule on the Korean peninsula.
1911 – Ishi, considered the last Stone Age Native American, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
1914 – World War I: The then-German colony of Samoa is occupied by New Zealand troops.
1915 – United States Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first US submarine sunk in an accident.
1916 – The Mount Field and Freycinet National Parks are created in Tasmania.
1916 – The US passes the Philippine Autonomy.
1922 – The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.
1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Saint Kilda, leave forever.
1941 – World War II: Tallinn, Estonia, is occupied by Germany, following its occupation by the Soviet Union.
1943 – World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves Danish government
1944 – Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazi rulers.
1949 – The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
1950 – Korean War: British troops arrive in Korea to support South Korea and the United States.
1952 – Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York
1958 – United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1965 – The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth.
1966 – Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco
1966 – Execution of Sayyid Qutb, an important theoretician of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
1968 – The future King Harald V of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen in Oslo.
1982 – The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.
1991 – Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.
1995 – An assassination attempt is made on President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.
1996 – A Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.
1997 – At least 98 villagers are killed by the GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.
1997 – Serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz bludgeons to death Christopher Maier of Lexington, Kentucky, the first of nine victims.
1999 – East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia.

From 2001

2003 – Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, was assassinated in a terrorist bombing that killed him along with nearly 100 worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in Najaf.
2004 – End of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
2004 – Michael Schumacher wins his 7th Formula One world title and his 5th in a row, breaking the record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
2005 – Hurricane Katrina reaches the US' Gulf coast with winds at a speed of 225 kph. The city of New Orleans is among the places that are severely flooded, as over 1,000 people are killed.
2008 – US Republican Party Presidential candidate John McCain nominates Sarah Palin as his running mate.
2011 – Hurricane Irene dissolves over Eastern Canada, having left a path of destruction over the Caribbean and eastern United States.
2012 – The 2012 Summer Paralympics in London begin.
2013 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes, by a majority, against military action in Syria.
2015 – Three Al-Jazeera journalists are sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt, accused of false reporting and sympathizing with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
2015 – Protests in Kuala Lumpur occurred against Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, sparked by the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
2017 – North Korea fires a ballistic missile over the southern part of the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Births

Up to 1900

1434 – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop, poet and diplomat (d. 1472)
1619 – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French statesman (d. 1683)
1628 – John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English statesman (d. 1701)
1632 – John Locke, English philosopher (d. 1704)
1664 – Giuseppe Toretti, Italian sculptor (d. 1743)
1724 – Giovanni Battista Casti, Italian poet and writer (d. 1803)
1725 – Charles Townshend, English politician (d. 1767)
1728 – Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony (d. 1797)
1756 – Heinrich Graf von Bellegarde, Austrian field marshal and statesman (d. 1845)
1756 – Jan Sniadecki, Polish mathematician, philosopher and astronomer (d. 1830)
1769 – Rose Philippine Duchesne, French nun and saint (d. 1852)
1780 – Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, French painter (d. 1867)
1793 – Josef Naus, Austrian officer and surveyor, first to climb the Zugspitze (d. 1871)
1809 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and writer (d. 1894)
1810 – Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentine politician and writer (d. 1884)
1842 – Alfred Shaw, English cricketer, rugby player and umpire (d. 1907)
1843 – David B. Hill, 29th Governor of New York (d. 1910)
1844 – Edward Carpenter, English poet (d. 1929)
1862 – Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1928)
1862 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer (d. 1949)
1871 – Albert Lebrun, President of France (d. 1950)
1875 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian flautist and educator (d. 1962)
1876 – Charles Franklin Kettering, American inventor (d. 1958)
1876 – Kim Gu, Korean politician (d. 1949)
1880 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (d. 1998)
1881 – Albert Henderson, Canadian footballer (d. 1947)
1883 – Muriel George, English singer and movie actress (d. 1965)
1887 – Jivraj Narayan Mehta, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 1978)
1888 – Gunichi Mikawa, Japanese admiral (d. 1981)
1898 – Preston Sturges, American movie director, screenwriter and playwright (d. 1959)

1901 – 1950

1904 – Werner Forssmann, German physician (d. 1979)
1905 – Al Taliaferro, American comic artist (d. 1969)
1907 – Takeo Wakabayashi, Japanese footballer (d. 1937)
1910 – Vivien Thomas, American surgical technician (d. 1985)
1912 – Sohn Kee-chung, South Korean runner (d. 2002)
1912 – Barry Sullivan, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Wolfgang Suschitzky, Austrian-Polish cinematographer (d. 2016)
1913 – K. Jeyakody, Sri Lankan Tamil politician
1913 – Jan Ekier, Polish pianist and composer (d. 2014)
1915 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
1916 – Consuelo Velazquez, Mexican musician and composer (d. 2005)
1916 – George Montgomery, American actor (d. 2000)
1917 – Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
1920 – Charlie Parker, American musician (d. 1955)
1921 – Paddy Roy Bates, English founder of the Sealand micronation (d. 2012)
1922 – Arthur Anderson, American actor (d. 2016)
1923 – Richard Attenborough, English actor and movie director (d. 2014)
1924 – Maria Dolores Pradera, Spanish singer and actress
1924 – Dinah Washington, American singer (d. 1963)
1925 – Demetrio B. Lakas, 35th President of Panama (d. 1999)
1926 – Helene Ahrweiler, Greek historian and academic
1927 – Jimmy C. Newman, American singer (d. 2014)
1930 – Atef Sedki, Egyptian politician (d. 2005)
1931 – Stelios Kazantzidis, Greek singer (d. 2001)
1932 – Shen Chun-shan, Taiwanese physicist and academic (d. 2018)
1933 – Sorel Etrog, Romanian-Canadian artist, writer and philosopher (d. 2014)
1933 – Arnold Koller, Swiss politician
1934 – Horst Szymaniak, German footballer (d. 2009)
1935 – William Friedkin, American movie director
1935 – Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch writer (d. 2014)
1936 – John McCain, American pilot and politician, 2008 Presidential candidate (d. 2018)
1937 – James Florio, former Governor of New Jersey
1938 – Elliott Gould, American actor
1938 – Robert Rubin, American politician, former United States Secretary of the Treasury
1938 – Carlos Moreno, Argentine actor (d. 2014)
1939 – Joel Schumacher, American director
1940 – James Brady, American activist and 15th White House Press Secretary (d. 2014)
1940 – Wim Ruska, Dutch judoka (d. 2015)
1941 – Robin Leach, English writer and television host (d. 2018)
1942 – Gottfried John, German actor (d. 2014)
1943 – Peter von Bagh, Finnish movie historian (d. 2014)
1943 – Arthur B. McDonald, Canadian astrophysicist
1945 – Wyonia Tyus, American athlete
1946 – Demetris Christofias, Cypriot politician, former President of Cyprus
1946 – Bob Beamon, American long jumper
1946 – Giorgio Orsoni, Italian lawyer and politician, 17th Mayor of Venice
1947 – Temple Grandin, American animal welfare and autism expert
1947 – James Hunt, English racing driver (d. 1993)

1951 – 1975

1952 – Deborah Van Valkenburgh, American actress
1952 – Dave Malone, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Jacob Lew, American politician
1956 – GG Allin, American musician (d. 1993)
1958 – Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer (d. 2009)
1958 – Lenny Henry, English comedian, actor and writer
1959 – Stephen Wolfram, English mathematician
1959 – Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
1959 – Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut
1959 – Eddi Reader, Scottish singer
1959 – Ramon Diaz, Argentine footballer
1960 – Tony McAlpine, American guitarist, composer and producer
1961 – Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player
1962 – Jutta Kleinschmidt, German rally driver
1962 – Simon Thurley, English architectural historian
1963 – Elizabeth Fraser, Scottish singer
1963 – Steve Clarke, Scottish footballer and football manager
1964 – Zisis Tsekos, Greek footballer
1965 – Frances Ruffelle, English actress and singer
1967 – Neil Gorsuch, American judge, US Supreme Court Justice
1969 – Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
1969 – Lucero, Mexican singer and actress
1971 – Carla Gugino, American actress
1972 – Kentaro Hayashi, Japanese footballer
1972 – Bae Yong-jeon, South Korean actor
1973 – Daniel Burman, Argentine movie director
1974 – Denis Caniza, Paraguayan footballer
1974 – Nicola Amoruso, Italian footballer
1975 – Kyle Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

From 1976

1976 – Pablo Mastroeni, American footballer
1976 – Jon Dahl Tomasson, Danish footballer
1976 – Stephen Carr, Irish footballer
1977 – Jo Weil, German actor
1977 – Roy Oswalt, American baseball player
1977 – John Hensley, American actor
1979 – Justine Pasek, Panamanian model
1980 – David Desrosiers, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
1980 – David West, American basketball player
1981 – Emilie Duquenne, Belgian actress
1982 – Vincent Enyeama, Nigerian footballer
1982 – A+, American rapper
1982 – Carlos Delfino, Argentine basketball player
1985 – Marc Rzepczynski, American baseball player
1986 – Lauren Collins, Canadian actress
1986 – Lea Michele, American actress and singer
1987 – Tony Kane, Irish footballer
1988 – Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, British athlete
1990 – Patrick van Aanholt, Dutch footballer
1990 – Nicole Anderson, American actress
1990 – Julia Vlassov, American figure skater
1991 – Deshaun Thomas, American basketball player
1993 – Liam Payne, English singer (One Direction)
1993 – Lucas Cruikshank, American actor
1994 – Courtney Stodden, American television personality

Deaths

Up to 1900

886 – Basil I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 811)
1093 – Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy
1123 – Eystein I of Norway (b. 1088)
1315 – Charles of Taranto (b. 1296)
1395 – Duke Albert III of Austria (b. 1349)
1435 – Isabeau de Bavière, queen of Charles VI of France (b. 1371)
1442 – John VI, Duke of Brittany (b. 1389)
1526 – King Louis II of Hungary (b. 1506)
1533 – Atahualpa, last Inca ruler of Peru (b. 1502)
1712 – Gregory King, English genealogist, engraver and statistician (b. 1648)
1749 – Matthias Bel, Hungarian pastor and polymath (b. 1684)
1769 – Edmund Hoyle, English writer and teacher (b. 1672)
1780 – Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect (b. 1713)
1799 – Pope Pius VI (b. 1717)
1816 – Johann Hieronymus Schroeter, German jurist and astronomer (b. 1745)
1853 – Charles James Napier, British general (b. 1782)
1856 – Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, English author (b. 1778)
1866 – Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1846)
1877 – Brigham Young, Mormon leader (b. 1801)
1889 – Stefan Dunjov, Bulgarian military officer (b. 1815)
1891 – Pierre Lallement, French inventor (b. 1843)

1901 – 2000

1904 – Murad V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1840)
1918 – Max Dauthendey, German writer (b. 1867)
1930 – William Archibald Spooner, writer (b. 1844)
1931 – David T. Abercrombie, a founder of American clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch (b. 1867)
1935 – Queen Astrid of Belgium, mother of King Albert II of Belgium (b. 1905)
1946 – Grigory Semyonov, Russian general (b. 1890)
1947 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1917)
1966 – Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian theoretician (b. 1906).
1972 – Lale Andersen, German singer (b. 1905)
1973 – Stringer Davis, English actor (b. 1899)
1975 – Éamon de Valera, Irish statesman and President of Ireland (b. 1882)
1976 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, musician and philosopher (b. 1899)
1981 – Lowell Thomas, travel writer (b. 1892)
1982 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (b. 1915)
1982 – Nahum Goldmann, founder of the Jewish World Congress (b. 1895)
1984 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian politician and President of Egypt (b. 1901)
1984 – Pierre Gemayel, Lebanese politician (b. 1905)
1987 – Archie Campbell, American comedian, writer and actor (b. 1914)
1987 – Lee Marvin, actor (b. 1924)
1989 – Peter Scott, English explorer, naturalist and painter (b. 1909)
1992 – Teddy Turner, English actor (b. 1917)
1995 – Frank Perry, American director (b. 1930)

From 2001

2001 – Francisco Rabal, Spanish actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2003 – Michel Constantin, French actor (b. 1924)
2003 – Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi political leader (b.1939)
2004 – Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (b. 1942)
2007 – Pierre Messmer, Prime Minister of France (b. 1916)
2011 – David Honeyboy Edwards, American blues musician (b. 1915)
2013 – Cliff Morgan, Welsh rugby player (b. 1930)
2013 – Bruce C. Murray, American scientist (b. 1931)
2014 – Bjorn Waldegard, Swedish rally driver (b. 1943)
2014 – David Bala, Singaporean comedian and actor (b. 1947)
2015 – Kyle Jean-Baptiste, American actor (b. 1993)
2015 – Wayne Dyer, American self-help author and motivational speaker (b. 1940)
2016 – Gene Wilder, American actor (b. 1933)
2017 – Janine Charrat, French ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1924)
2017 – Dmitri Kogan, Russian violinist (b. 1978)
2017 – David Tang, Hong Kong businessman (b. 1954)
2018 – Stan Brock, English philanthropist (b. 1936)
2018 – James Mirrlees, Scottish economist (b. 1936)
2018 – Carilda Oliver Labra, Cuban poet (b. 1922)
2018 – Marie Severin, American comic book artist (b. 1929)
2018 – Paul Taylor, American choreographer (b. 1930)

Observances

Anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising
Telugu language Day (India)