Wikimeme

9.07.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 8th Apr 2006

Colin Ross

Okay don't normally do these but if you go to www.wikipedia.org/ and enter your date and month of birth you can get a list of important things that day. It seems to be the rage on www.libdemblogs.co.uk so I thought I would do it. So below is 29 October I knew of some of the events and births but not all.

Events

437 - Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople. This unifies the two branches of the House of Theodosius

969 - Byzantine troops occupy Antioch Syria

1061 - Emperor disposes of Bishop Cadalus & Pope Honorius II

1268 - Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed along with his companion Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily, a political rival and ally to the hostile Catholic church.

1422 - Charles VII of France becomes king in succession to his father Charles VI of France

1467 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege

1618 - English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I of England.

1658 - Action of 29 October 1658 (Naval battle)

1675 - Leibniz makes the first use of the long s, ∫, for integral.

1787 - Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.

1792 - Mt. Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.

1863 - Sixteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.

1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant ward-off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.

1881 - The Judge (US magazine) first published.

1886 - The ticker-tape parade is invented in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

1901 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.

1901 - Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.

1921 - The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.

1923 - Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

1929 - The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of '29 or Black Tuesday, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.

1942 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.

1944 - Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division

1945 - Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.

1948 - Safsaf massacre

1955 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.

1956 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.

1956 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.

1957 - Israel's prime minister David Ben Gurion and five of his ministers are injured as a hand grenade is tossed into Israel's parliament, the Knesset.

1960 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.

1964 - A collection of irreplaceable gems, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

1969 - The first computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET.

1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966).

1980 - Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.

1985 - Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia.

1988 - In Japan, the Sega Megadrive is released for the first time.

1989 - After years of delays, the 63rd Street Tunnel opens for service, the first expansion of the New York City subway system since 1967.

1991 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

1992 - The Food and Drug Administration approves Depo Provera for use as a contraceptive in the United States.

1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House (Duran was later convicted of trying to kill US President Bill Clinton).

1998 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.

1998 - Space Shuttle Discovery blasts-off with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. He became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962.

1998 - While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.

1998 - In Freehold Borough, New Jersey, Melissa Drexler pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughter for killing her baby moments after delivering him in the bathroom at her senior prom, and is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

1998 - Hurricane Mitch made landfall in Honduras.

2004 - The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

2004 - In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.

2005 - 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings kill more than 60.

2005 - Ghana International Airlines launched with inaugural flight from Accra to London.

2005 - Rev. Nancy Wilson consecrated and installed as Moderator ("Presiding Bishop") of Metropolitan Community Church at Washington National Cathedral.

Births

1017 - Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)

1656 (O.S.) - Edmond Halley, English astronomer {d. 1742)

1682 - Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (d. 1761)

1690 - Martin Folkes, English antiquarian (d. 1754)

1704 - John Byng, British admiral (d. 1757)

1740 - James Boswell, Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson (d. 1795)

1815 - Daniel Emmett, American composer (d. 1904)

1827 - Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician (d. 1907)

1877 - Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (d. 1973)

1879 - Alva B. Adams, American politician

1880 - Abram Ioffe, Soviet physicist (d. 1960)

1882 - Jean Giraudoux, French writer (d. 1944)

1891 - Fanny Brice, American singer and comedienne (d. 1951)

1897 - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (d. 1945)

1899 - Akim Tamiroff, Russian actor (d. 1972)

1910 - Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (d. 1989)

1915 - William Berenberg, American physician and Harvard professor (d. 2005)

1920 - Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1921 - Bill Mauldin, American cartoonist (d. 2003)

1923 - Carl Djerassi, Austrian chemist

1925 - Dominick Dunne, American author

1926 - Jon Vickers, Canadian tenor

1935 - Takahata Isao, Japanese director of animated movies

1938 - Ralph Bakshi, Israeli cartoonist, film director, and video producer

1938 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia

1940 - Frida Boccara, French singer (d. 1996)

1940 - Connie Mack, U.S. Senator from Florida

1944 - Denny Laine, English musician (Moody Blues and Wings)

1944 - Otto Wiesheu, German minister

1946 - Peter Green, English guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)

1947 - Richard Dreyfuss, American actor

1948 - Kate Jackson, American actress

1953 - Denis Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player

1955 - Roger O'Donnell, English musician (The Cure)

1956 - Wilfredo Gomez, Puerto Rican boxer

1959 - Mike Gartner, Canadian ice hockey player

1960 - Finola Hughes, British actress

1961 - Randy Jackson, American musician

1964 - Yasmin Le Bon, British model

1967 - Joely Fisher, American actress

1968 - Johann Olav Koss, Norwegian speed skater

1970 - Edwin van der Sar, Dutch footballer

1971 - Winona Ryder, American actress

1972 - Takafumi Horie, Japanese entrepreneur

1972 - Gabrielle Union, American actress

1973 - Robert Pirès, French footballer

1974 - Michael Vaughan, English cricketer

1976 - Stephen Craigan, Northern Irish footballer

1977 - Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor

1978 - Travis Henry, American football player

1980 - Ben Foster, American actor

1980 - Dallas Green, Canadian Singer, Alexisonfire

1981 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer

1981 - Jonathan Brown, Australian footballer

1983 - Maurice Clarett, American football player

1987 - Makoto Ogawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)

Deaths

1038 - Aethelnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury

1138 - Bolesław III Krzywousty, Duke of Poland (b. 1086)

1268 - Conradin, Duke of Swabia (executed) (b. 1252)

1268 - Frederick I, Margrave of Baden (beheaded) (b. 1249)

1590 - Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Dutch politician and theologian (b. 1522)

1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer (executed) (b. 1554)

1650 - David Calderwood, Scottish historian (b. 1575)

1666 - Edmund Calamy the Elder, English Presbyterian leader (b. 1600)

1666 - James Shirley, English dramatist (b. 1596)

1783 - Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician and encyclopædist (b. 1717)

1877 - Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate general and leader of the Ku Klux Klan (b. 1821)

1901 - Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (b. 1873)

1905 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (b. 1873)

1911 - Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born newspaper publisher (b. 1847)

1919 - A. B. Simpson, Canadian founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and Nyack College (b. 1843)

1932 - Joseph Babiński, Polish-French neurologist (b. 1857)

1933 - Albert Calmette, French physician (b. 1863)

1949 - G. I. Gurdjieff, Armenian mystic (b. 1872)

1950 - King Gustaf V of Sweden (b. 1858)

1953 - William Kapell, American pianist (b. 1922)

1957 - Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (b. 1885)

1958 - Zoe Akins, American playwright (b. 1886)

1963 - Adolphe Menjou, American actor (b. 1890)

1971 - Duane Allman, American musician (b. 1946)

1971 - Arne Tiselius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

1981 - Georges Brassens, French singer (b. 1921)

1987 - Woody Herman, American musician (b. 1913)

1997 - Anton LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan (b. 1930)

2003 - Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922)

2003 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (b. 1921)

2004 - Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (b. 1923)

2004 - Vaughn Meader, American comedian (b. 1936)

2004 - Peter Twinn, English mathematician and World War II code-breaker

Holidays and observances

R.C. Saints - October 29th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:

Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem, Diwali in 1989.

St. Abraham of Rostov

St. Anne

St. Bond

Saint Colman of Kilmacduagh

St. Donatus of Corfu

Douai Martyrs

St. Elfleda

St. Hyacinth

St. Ida of Leeuw

St. John of Autun

St. Maximillian

St. Terence of Metz

St. Theodore

St. Zenobius

Anglican Church - James Hannington

Turkey - Republic Day (1923)