July 29

Events

• 1014 - Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor 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.
• 1030 - The Battle of Stiklestad: The fall of King Olaf "the Saint, and start of Danish rule in Norway.
• 1567 - James VI is crowned King of Scotland 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.
• 1693 - War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen - France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
• 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 police.
• 1851 - Annibale 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.
• 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, the world's first all-electronic digital computer, is reactivated after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
• 1948 - After a hiatus of 12 years due to World War II, the first Summer Olympics opened in London, United Kingdom.
• 1954 - The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of The Lord of the Rings, is published in the UK.
• 1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
• 1958 - The U.S. 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 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, 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 controversial child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a US federal court.
• 2004 - U.S. Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts accepts the Democratic nomination for President of the United States at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
  

  Births

• 1801 - George Bradshaw, English publisher (d. 1853)
• 1805 - Alexis de Tocqueville, historian, political scientist (d. 1859)
• 1843 - Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (d. 1901)
• 1849 - Max Nordau, author, philosopher and Zionist leader (d. 1923)
• 1869 - Booth Tarkington, author (d. 1946)
• 1871 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian spiritualist (d. 1916)
• 1874 - James Shaver Woodsworth, Methodist minister, social worker, politician (d. 1942)
• 1876 - Maria Ouspenskaya, actress (d. 1949)
• 1878 - Don Marquis, author (d. 1937)
• 1883 - Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator (d. 1945)
• 1883 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and writer (d. 1942)
• 1884 - Ralph A. Bard, United States Navy Under Secretary who urged advance warning to Japan before use of the atomic bomb (d. 1975)
• 1887 - Sigmund Romberg, composer (d. 1951)
• 1892 - William Powell, actor (d. 1984)
• 1898 - Isidor Isaac Rabi, physicist and 1944 Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
• 1905 - Clara Bow, actress (d. 1965)
• 1905 - Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General (d. 1961)
• 1905 - Thelma Todd, actress (d. 1935)
• 1905 - Stanley Kunitz, United States Poet Laureate in 2000
• 1906 - Diana Vreeland, fashion editor (d. 1989)
• 1907 - Melvin Belli, attorney, actor (d. 1996)
• 1924 - Lloyd Bochner, Canadian actor
• 1926 - Don Carter, bowler
• 1928 - Jane Barbe, voice of the telephone operator recording (d. 2003)
• 1930 - Paul Taylor, dancer, choreographer
• 1932 - Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, US Senator (1978-1996)
• 1935 - Peter Schreier, German tenor
• 1938 - Peter Jennings, television news anchor
• 1941 - David Warner, actor
• 1942 - Tony Sirico, actor
• 1943 - David Taylor, English snooker player
• 1949 - Vida Blue, Major League Baseball player
• 1953 - Ken Burns, television producer and director
• 1953 - Geddy Lee, musician (Rush)
• 1957 - Nelli Kim, Soviet gymnast, five times Olympic Champion
• 1959 - Ruud Janssen, teacher, writer, artist, active in mail art
• 1959 - Sanjay Dutt, actor
• 1965 - Chang-Rae Lee, author
• 1967 - Matthew C. Henderson, actor, baseball player
• 1972 - Wil Wheaton, actor
• 1973 - Stephen Dorff, actor
• 1974 - Steve-O, musician, actor
• 1981 - Fernando Alonso, Formula 1 driver
  

  Deaths

• 238 - Pupienus and Balbinus, Roman emperors, assassinated
• 1099 - Pope Urban II
• 1108 - King Philip I of France (b. 1081)
• 1507 - Martin Behaim, navigator, geographer (b. 1459)
• 1644 - Pope Urban VIII
• 1833 - William Wilberforce, campaigner against slavery
• 1844 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, composer
• 1856 - Robert Schumann, composer
• 1890 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter
• 1900 - King Umberto I of Italy
• 1951 - Hozumi Shigeto, Japanese author
• 1954 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater
• 1970 - John Barbirolli, conductor
• 1970 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor
• 1974 - Mama Cass Elliot, musician
• 1974 - Erich Kästner, German author
• 1975 - James Blish, science fiction writer
• 1979 - Bill Todman, game show producer
• 1982 - Vladimir Zworykin, physicist and inventor
• 1983 - David Niven, actor
• 1983 - Raymond Massey, actor
• 1983 - Luis Buñuel, director
• 1984 - Fred Waring, band leader, inventor
• 1990 - Bruno Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911)
• 2001 - Edward Gierek, Polish politician
• 2001 - Henryk Jablonski, Polish president
• 2001 - Wau Holland, German hacker
• 2003 - Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean rebel leader
• 2004 - Francis Crick, molecular biologist
• 2004 - Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek comedienne, actress (b. 1923)
  

  Holidays and observations

• Peru - Independence Day (observed)
• Norway - St. Olav's Day
• Roman Catholic Church - Feast of Saint Olaf (Olaf II of Norway), patron of woodcarvers
• Roman Catholic Church - Feast of Saint Martha, sister of Lazarus, patron of cooks and dieticians
• Faroe Islands - Ólavsøka: opening of the L%F8gting session
  

  External links

• BBC: On This Day

July 28 - July 30 - June 29 - August 29 -- listing of all days