May 29

May 29 is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 216 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

• 1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1328 – Philip VI of France is crowned King.
• 1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captures Constantinople after a 53–day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
• 1613 – Heavy flooding in Thuringia kills 2,261 people.
• 1660 – Charles II becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as the monarchy is restored.
• 1677 – The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Native Americans.
• 1717 – The Spanish colonists create the Viceroyalty of New Granada, consisting of present–day Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, as well as areas that are now part of Peru and Guyana.
• 1727 – Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of the Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113.
• 1790 – Rhode Island becomes the 13th State of the US.
• 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
• 1825 – King Charles X of France crowns himself in Reims.
• 1848 – Wisconsin becomes the 30th State of the US.
• 1852 – Operatic singer Jenny Lind leaves New York City after a two–year tour of the United States.
• 1867 – The Austro-Hungarian compromise establishes the Austro–Hungarian Empire. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria becomes King of Hungary on June 8.
• 1886 – Chemist John Pemberton advertises Coca-Cola in the Atlanta Journal.
• 1900 – N'Djamena is founded as Fort Lamy by French commander Emile Gentil.

1901 – 2000

• 1913 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its first performance in Paris, with a riot later occurring.
• 1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, killing 1,024 people.
• 1917 – John F. Kennedy is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
• 1918 – The current Flag of Finland is introduced.
• 1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.
• 1919 – Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois.
• 1931 – Michele Schirru, a US citizen, is executed by an Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
• 1935 – The Messerschmidt Bf 109 fighter aircraft has its first flight.
• 1939 – Albanian Fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.
• 1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's song White Christmas, which later becomes the best–selling Christmas single ever.
• 1948 – Creation of the UN peacekeeping force, the UN Truce Supervision Organization.
• 1953 – Jack Catain Jr., an American businessman, marries Marlene Noble, an apparel sales associate, in Cook County, Illinois.
• 1953 – Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary become the first humans to reach the top of Mount Everest.
• 1954 – The first of the yearly Bilderberg conferences takes place.
• 1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
• 1966 – The Azteca Stadium opens in Mexico City and has a capacity of 105,000. It goes on to host the final of the FIFA World Cup on two occasions, in 1970 and 1986.
• 1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first African American Mayor of Los Angeles.
• 1974 – Yitzhak Rabin replaces Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
• 1982 – Pope John Paul II visits Canterbury cathedral.
• 1985 – One of Europe's worst ever stadium disasters occurs after a riot at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, in which 39 people are killed. As a result, English football teams are banned from European Competition – the ban is removed a few years later.
• 1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes a cross–Canada marathon in Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
• 1986 – The current 12–star Flag of the European Union is first raised in Brussels.
• 1988 – US President Ronald Reagan begins his first official visit to the Soviet Union, to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
• 1994 – East Germany's former leader Erich Honecker dies in Santiago, Chile, at the age of 81.
• 1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo becomes President of Nigeria.
• 1999 – The Space Shuttle Discovery completes its first docking with the International Space Station.

From 2001

• 2004 – The US National World War II Memorial is unveiled in Washington, DC.
• 2005 – In a referendum, 54.8% of voters in France reject the proposed new European Constitution. Voters in the Netherlands also reject the Constitution by a majority a few days later.
• 2008 – 30 people are injured by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Selfoss, Iceland.
• 2010 – Tropical storm Agatha kills 180 people in Guatemala. During the storm, a large sinkhole opens up in the middle of Guatemala City.
• 2010 – Lena Meyer-Landrut of Germany wins the 55th Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway, with the song "Satellite".
• 2012 – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits Northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.
• 2012 – Mitt Romney secures the Republican Party nomination for the US presidential election, in which he is defeated by incumbent Barack Obama on November 6.
• 2013 – The first same-sex marriage in France takes place.
• 2015 – Muhammadu Buhari takes office as President of Nigeria.
• 2015 – Sepp Blatter is controversially re–elected President of FIFA in a week of scandal at football's world governing body. He announces his resignation four days later.
• 2018 – 2018 Liège attack: A gunman kills 3 people (including two female police officers) in the Belgian city of Liège before being killed by police.
• 2018 – Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko is initially reported to have been shot dead, but appears alive at a press conference the following day; the Ukrainian secret services say they had faked his murder to prevent an attempt on his life.
• 2018 – US TV network ABC cancels the recently returned show Roseanne after a row erupts over its main star Roseanne Barr's Twitter comments.

Births

Up to 1900

• 1265 – Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (d. 1321)
• 1439 – Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
• 1594 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian field marshal (d. 1632)
• 1627 – Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, French aristocrat (d. 1693)
• 1630 – Charles II, King of England, Ireland and Scotland (d. 1685)
• 1675 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (d. 1715)
• 1716 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French botanist (d. 1800)
• 1736 – Patrick Henry, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)
• 1773 – Princess Sophia of Gloucester (d. 1844)
• 1780 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (d. 1855)
• 1794 – Johann Heinrich von Madler, German astronomer (d. 1874)
• 1823 – John H. Balsley, American carpenter and inventor (d. 1895)
• 1830 – Louise Michel, French writer and anarchist (d. 1905)
• 1860 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (d. 1909)
• 1868 – Abdülmecid II, last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty (d. 1944)
• 1871 – Clark Greenwood Voorhees, American painter (d. 1933)
• 1873 – Rudolf Tobias, Estonian composer (d. 1918)
• 1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English novelist (d. 1936)
• 1880 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)
• 1892 – Alfonsina Storni, Swiss–Argentine poet (d. 1938)
• 1893 – Max Brand, American writer (d. 1944)
• 1894 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (d. 1989)
• 1894 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian–American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1969)
• 1897 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)
• 1899 – Douglas Abbott, Canadian politician (d. 1987)

1901 – 1950

• 1903 – Bob Hope, British–born American comedian and actor (d. 2003)
• 1904 – Gregg Toland, American cameraman (d. 1948)
• 1905 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor, director and playwright (d. 1994)
• 1906 – T. H. White, English writer (d. 1964)
• 1911 – Armida, Mexican–American actress, singer and dancer (d. 1989)
• 1914 – Stacy Keach, Sr., American actor (d. 2003)
• 1914 – Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountain guide, reached the top of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary (d. 1986)
• 1917 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
• 1919 – Jacques Genest, Canadian physician
• 1920 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian–born economist (d. 2000)
• 1923 – Bernard Clavel, French writer (d. 2010)
• 1924 – Lars Bo, Danish writer and artist (d. 1999)
• 1924 – Behjat Sadr, Iranian painter (d. 2009)
• 1926 – Katie Boyle, British actress and television presenter (d. 2018)
• 1926 – Charles Denner, French actor (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Abdoulaye Wade, former President of Senegal
• 1928 – Jacques Taminiaux, Belgian philosopher
• 1929 – Peter Higgs, British physicist (Higgs boson) and Nobel Prize in Physics winner
• 1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher
• 1930 – Jack Catain Jr., American businessman and convicted criminal (d. 1987)
• 1932 – Richie Guerin, American basketball player
• 1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and writer
• 1933 – Helmuth Rilling, German choral conductor and teacher
• 1934 – Bill Vander Zalm, Dutch–Canadian politician, 28th Premier of British Columbia
• 1935 – André Brink, South African writer (d. 2015)
• 1937 – Jasper Griffin, English classical philologist
• 1937 – Hibari Misora, Japanese actress (d. 1989)
• 1937 – Alwin Schockemöhle, German showjumper
• 1938 – Christopher Bland, British businessman and politician (d. 2017)
• 1939 – Al Unser, American racing driver
• 1940 – Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan (d. 2010)
• 1940 – Taiho Koki, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Doug Scott, English mountaineer
• 1941 – Bob Simon, American television correspondent (d. 2015)
• 1942 – Pierre Bourque, Canadian politician, 40th Mayor of Montreal
• 1942 – Kevin Conway, American actor
• 1944 – Bob Benmosche, American businessman (d. 2015)
• 1944 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (d. 1983)
• 1944 – Quentin Davies, Baron Davies of Stamford, English politician
• 1945 – Gary Brooker, English singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1945 – Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
• 1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
• 1947 – Anthony Geary, American actor
• 1947 – Joey Levine, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1947 – Gene Robinson, American bishop
• 1947 – Constantino Romero, Spanish radio host and actor (d. 2013)
• 1948 – Nick Mancuso, Italian–Canadian actor
• 1949 – Robert Axelrod, American actor
• 1949 – Francis Rossi, English musician (Status Quo)
• 1950 – Rebbie Jackson, American singer

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Peter Chernin, President of News Corporation
• 1952 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan–American computer programmer (d. 2014)
• 1953 – Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor and director (d. 2008)
• 1953 – Danny Elfman, American singer, composer, musician ("Oingo Boingo")
• 1955 – Carme Forcadell, Catalan politician
• 1955 – Gordon Rintoul, Director of the National Museums of Scotland
• 1955 – Mike Porcaro, American musician (Toto) (d. 2015)
• 1955 – John Hinckley, Jr., American attempted assassin
• 1956 – La Toya Jackson, American singer
• 1956 – Mark Lyall Grant, English diplomat, UK Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1956 – Bjarni Fridriksson, Icelandic judoka
• 1957 – Ted Levine, American actor
• 1958 – Karen Maruyama, Japanese–American actress
• 1958 – Mike Stenhouse, American baseball player
• 1958 – Wayne Duvall, American actor
• 1958 – Annette Bening, American actress
• 1959 – Rupert Everett, English actor
• 1959 – Steve Hanley, Irish–English bass player and songwriter
• 1961 – Melissa Etheridge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
• 1962 – Fandi Ahmad, Singaporean footballer, coach and manager
• 1962 – Carol Kirkwood, Scottish weather presenter
• 1962 – Semino Rossi, Argentine–Italian singer
• 1963 – Blaze Bayley, English singer-songwriter (Iron Maiden)
• 1967 – Noel Gallagher, English musician (Oasis)
• 1970 – Roberto Di Matteo, Italian footballer and manager
• 1971 – Rob Womack, British paralympic athlete
• 1972 – Stanislas, French singer-songwriter
• 1972 – Bill Curley, American basketball player
• 1972 – Simon Jones, British singer and bass player
• 1975 – Melanie Brown, English singer (Spice Girls)
• 1975 – Sarah Millican, English comedienne

From 1976

• 1976 – Yegor Titov, Russian footballer
• 1977 – Massimo Ambrosini, Italian footballer
• 1977 – Marco Cassetti, Italian footballer
• 1977 – Antonio Lebo Lebo, Angolan footballer
• 1978 – Pelle Almqvist, Swedish singer-songwriter and bass player (The Hives)
• 1978 – Sébastien Grosjean, French tennis player
• 1978 – Lorenzo Odone, Italian Adrenoleukodystrophy patient (d. 2008)
• 1978 – Adam Rickitt, English singer and actor
• 1979 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer
• 1979 – Brian Kendrick, American professional wrestler
• 1979 – Fonseca, Colombian singer
• 1981 – Andrei Arshavin, Russian footballer
• 1982 – Ana Beatriz Barros, Brazilian model
• 1982 – Joanne Borgella, American singer and model (d. 2014)
• 1982 – Anita Briem, Icelandic actress
• 1982 – Bjarte Myrhol, Norwegian handball player
• 1983 – Jean Makoun, Cameroonian footballer
• 1984 – Carmelo Anthony, American NBA basketball player
• 1985 – Hernanes, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Hornswoggle, American professional wrestler
• 1987 – Alessandra Torresani, American actress
• 1988 – Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast
• 1988 – Steve Mason, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• 1988 – Muath Al-Kasasbeh, Jordanian air force pilot (d. 2015)
• 1989 – Riley Keough, American model and actress
• 1989 – Brandon Mychal Smith, American actor, singer and dancer
• 1992 – Gregg Sulkin, British actor
• 1998 – Lucia Gil, Spanish singer and actress

Deaths

Up to 1950

• 1259 – King Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)
• 1379 – Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)
• 1425 – Hongxi Emperor of China (b. 1378)
• 1453 – Constantine XI Palaiologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1404)
• 1500 – Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer (b. 1451)
• 1546 – David Beaton, Scottish cardinal and politician (b. 1494)
• 1814 – Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (b. 1763)
• 1829 – Humphrey Davy, British chemist (b. 1778)
• 1866 – Winfield Scott, American general (b. 1786)
• 1868 – Michael Obrenovich III of Serbia (b. 1823)
• 1883 – Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (b. 1810)
• 1892 – Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i religion (b. 1817)
• 1903 – Bruce Price, American architect (b. 1845)
• 1910 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist, composer and conductor (b. 1837)
• 1911 – W. S. Gilbert, English playwright and poet (b. 1836)
• 1919 – Robert Bacon, 39th United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Michele Schirru, US citizen executed by an Italian military firing squad
• 1935 – Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1874)
• 1939 – Ursula Ledochowska, Austrian–Polish nun and saint (b. 1865)
• 1942 – John Barrymore, American actor (b. 1882)
• 1948 – May Whitty, English actress (b. 1865)

1951 – 2010

• 1951 – Fanny Brice, American singer and comedienne (b. 1891)
• 1958 – Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spanish writer (b. 1881)
• 1972 – Prithviraj Kapoor, Indian actor (b. 1901)
• 1973 – P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor, director, producer and composer (b. 1929)
• 1973 – George Harriman, English rugby^{[disambiguation needed]} player and managing director (b. 1908)
• 1977 – Ba Maw, Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1893)
• 1979 – Mary Pickford, Canadian–born actress (b. 1892)
• 1982 – Romy Schneider, Austrian–French actress (b. 1938)
• 1987 – Charan Singh, 5th Prime Minister of India (b. 1902)
• 1988 – Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (b. 1905)
• 1989 – John Cipollina, American guitarist (b. 1943)
• 1994 – Erich Honecker, East German political leader (b. 1913)
• 1996 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian–American ballerina and actress (b. 1919)
• 1997 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (b. 1966)
• 1998 – Barry Goldwater, United States Senator (b. 1909)
• 2004 – Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
• 2008 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1987)
• 2009 – Karine Ruby, French snowboarder (b. 1978)
• 2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor (b. 1936)

From 2011

• 2011 – Sergei Bagapsh, President of Abkhazia (b. 1949)
• 2011 – Ferenc Madl, President of Hungary (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Bill Clements, 42nd Governor of Texas (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1912)
• 2012 – Doc Watson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
• 2013 – Mulgrew Miller, American pianist (b. 1955)
• 2013 – Franca Rame, Italian actress (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian–German actor (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss developmental biologist (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Christine Charbonneau, Canadian singer and songwriter (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Bruno Pesaola, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Ed Gilligan, American financial executive, President of American Express (b. 1960)
• 2015 – Doris Hart, American tennis player (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Betsy Palmer, American actress (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Ralph Ketner, American businessman (b. 1920)
• 2016 – T. Marshall Hahn, American academic administrator (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Don McNay, American financial writer and columnist (b. 1959)
• 2017 – Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918)
• 2017 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian military leader (b. 1934)
• 2017 – Mordechai Tzipori, Israeli general and politician (b. 1924)
• 2017 – Michael A'Hearn, American astronomer (b. 1940)
• 2018 – Yoseph Imry, Israeli physicist (b. 1939)

Observances

• Democracy Day (Nigeria)
• International UN Peacekeepers Day
• Oak Apple Day (England)
• Statehood Day (Rhode Island and Wisconsin)