December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining.
Events 1170 - St Thomas Becket, is slain in his own cathedral on orders from Henry II of England. 1813 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York 1845 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state. 1851 - The first American-based YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts 1860 - The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, the HMS Warrior is launched. 1890 - The United States Seventh Cavalry massacres over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the radio 1911 - Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China 1913 - The first serial motion picture, The Unwelcome Throne is released by Seligs Polyscope Company. 1921 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada 1934 - The first college basketball game is played, between Notre Dame University and New York University at Madison Square Garden in New York City 1934 - Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. 1940 - Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians 1949 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule. 1972 - An Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar crashed on approach ro Miami, International Airport killing 101 1975 - A bomb explods at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing 11. 1989 - Vaclav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia 1989 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees. 1996 - Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36 year a civil war. 1997 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain. 1998 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million in the 1970s. Births 1800 - Charles Goodyear, invented the vulcanization of rubber († 1860) 1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States († 1875) 1809 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom († 1897) 1840 - Anton Dohrn, zoologist († 1909) 1876 - Pablo Casals, cellist and conductor († 1973) 1879 - Billy Mitchell, United States Army officer, United States Air Force pioneer († 1936) 1881 - Jess Willard, boxing champion († 1968) 1890 - Käthe Dorsch, actress († 1957) 1908 - Helmut Gollwitzer, theologian († 1993) 1914 - Billy Tipton, jazz musician 1917 - Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles, California († 1998) 1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, actress 1936 - Ray Nitschke, American football star († 1998) 1937 - Barbara Steele, actress 1938 - Jon Voight, actor 1942 - Rick Danko, musician ("The Band") († 1999) 1946 - Marianne Faithfull, singer 1947 - Ted Danson, actor 1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, dancer 1972 - Jude Law, actor Deaths 1170 - St. Thomas a Becket, English bishop, assassinated 1894 - CHristina Rosetti, poet 1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk 1926 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet 1937 - Don Marquis, author 1967 - Paul Whiteman, jazz musician, conductor 1986 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1999 - Jerzy Waldorff, Polish film and music critic 2003 - Earl Hindman, American actor 2003 - Bob Monkhouse, British comedian and game show host Holidays and observances The fifth day of Christmas in Western Christianity. See Also: December 28 - December 30 - November 29 - January 29 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
December 28 - December 30 - November 29 - January 29 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December