March 29

Born on March 29

Arthur I	1187-1203	Duke of Brittany (as a child) from 1196...
Santorio Sanctorius	1561-1636	Italian physician, born in Trieste. Burned at the stake for heresy.
Carlo Maria Buonaparte	1746-1785	Father of Napoléon Bonaparte (French Emperor Napoleon I )
John Tyler	1790-1862	10th US President, from 1841 to 1845
Edward Stanley	1799-1868	British prime minister (14th Earl of Derby).
Eugène Schneider	1805-1875	French industrialist, prominent in French politics
Col. Edwin L. Drake	1819-1880	Oil industry pioneer (drilled the World's first productive oil well, in 1859)
Francesco Faà di Bruno	1825-1888	Italian mathematician
Paul Petit	1862-1936	French chemist.  Normalien 1883.  Agrégé 1886.  Docteur, 1889.
Cy Young	1867-1955	winningest baseball pitcher (511 wins; 509 from 1890 to 1911)
Tullio Levi-Civita	1873-1941	Italian mathematician
James E. ("Jim") Casey	1888-1983	founder of United Parcel Service (UPS) August 28, 1907, in Seattle
Harold Spencer Jones	1890-1960	10th Astronomer Royal  (1933-1955)
Wilhelm Ackermann	1896-1962	German mathematician
Warner Baxter	1891-1951	American actor, Academy award winner (best actor) in 1929
Charles Elton	1900-1991	British biologist ("food chain" concept in 1927)
Marcel Aymé	1902-1967	French writer ("La jument verte", "Le passe-muraille" 1943)
Sir William Walton	1902-1983	British composer
Martin Eichler	1912-1992	German number theorist
Eugene McCarthy	1916-2005	US Senator of Minnesota (1968 presidential race)
Man O'War	1917-1947	American race horse
Sam Walton	1918-1992	American billionaire, CEO of Wal-Mart
Pearl Bailey	1918-1990	American singer ("Hello Dolly")
Jacqueline Joubert	1921-2005	French TV personnality (first "speakerine" in 1949, with Arlette Accart)
John McLaughlin	1927-2016	American TV commentator (The MacLaughlin Group)
Sir John R. Vane	1927-2004	English biochemist, 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology & Medicine
Martin Fleischmann	1927-2012	British electrochemist.  With Stanley Pons in 1989, he claimed to have discovered "cold fusion".
Evelyn de Rothschild	1931-	British banker
Billy Carter	1937-1988	famous brother of a US President
Terence Hill	1939-	Italian actor, born in Venice (Italy) as Mario Girotti
John Major	1943-	British prime minister from 1990 to 1997
Eric Idle	1943-	British actor ("Monty Python's Flying Circus")
Vangelis	1943-	Greek composer/keyboardist V. Papathanassiou (music of "Chariots of Fire")
Bobby Kimball	1947-	German singer Robert Toteaux (West Coast Pop group "TOTO")
Bud Cort	1950-	American actor Walter Edward Cox (Harold and Maude)
Karen Ann Quinlan	1954-1985	famous American comatose patient ("right to die" case); died 1985-06-11.
Earl Campbell	1955-	American football player, NFL running back, Heisman trophy 1977
Lisa J. Allen	1956-	American lawyer. Television reporter.
Sue Fogleman	1956-	American golfer, LPGA Tour member (career earnings: $78,826.59)
John Gibson	1956-1998	victim of US Capitol shooting (July 24, 1998)
Dick Z.G. Jol	1956-	Dutch soccer referee (Euro 2000)
Gérard Michon	1956-	French engineer
John Quiggin	1956-	Australian economist
Kurt Thomas	1956-	American gymnast (Sullivan Memorial Trophy, 1978 World Champion)
Ted Staunton	1956-	Canadian storyteller  (Puddleman, 1983).
Christopher Lambert	1957-	Actor (Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan)
Marina Sirtis	1959-	British actress (counsellor "Deanna Troi" on "Star Trek")
Elle Macpherson	1964-	Australian model (Sports Illustrated covergirl in 1986,87,88)
Lucy Lawless	1968-	Actress (Xena : Warrior Princess)
Jennifer Capriati	1976-	American tennis player (Olympic champion in 1992)
Laure de Lattre	1976-	French TV animator
Claudia de Rham	1978-	Swiss physicist
Alexia Aleman	1980-	French artist, actress & writer
Hideaki Takizawa	1982-	Japanese actor
Deanna Troi	2336-	Betazoid counsellor aboard the Starship Enterprise

It happened on March 29 :

• 572 : Total solar eclipse (of Saros series 77).
• 1058 : Death of the first Belgian Pope, Frederik van Lotharingen (Pope Stephen IX, from 1057 to 1058).
• 1112 : Total solar eclipse (of Saros series 105).
• 1139 : Pope Innocent II grants the Templars "every best gift", and independence within the Church.
• 1461 : War of the Roses:   33000 people die in the 10-hour battle of Towton Field, Yorkshire.
• 1634 : Total solar eclipse (of Saros series 133).
• 1638 : The first Swedish expedition to the New World lands in Delaware.
• 1676 : Native Americans attack Providence, Rhode Island.
• 1745 : Death of Robert Walpole, count of Orford, the first British prime minister.
• 1772 : Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) passes away..
• 1792 : King Gustavus III of Sweden dies. He had been shot by Captain Anckarström, at a masked ball on March 16.
• 1794 : Death of Caritat de Condorcet (1743-1794). A celebrated French politician, Condorcet was also known as a philosopher, an encyclopedist, and a scientist ("Theory of Comets") who first pioneered Social Choice Theory.
• 1795 : Debut of Ludwig van Beethoven as a pianist in Vienna, at age 24.
• 1807 : Heinrich Olbers discovers Vesta (asteroid #4), the brightest minor planet.
• 1847 : Death of Auguste De Polignac, French prime minister.
• 1848 : Niagara Falls stopped flowing for the first time in recorded history, because of an ice jam on the Niagara river.
• 1867 : The British North America Act establishes the Dominion of Canada.  The Lincoln Memorial is approved by the US Congress.
• 1871 : The Royal Albert Hall in London is inaugurated by Queen Victoria.
• 1882 : Knights of Columbus chartered in Connecticut.  (This Catholic organization has now almost 6 million members.)
• 1886 : Chemist John Pemberton begins promoting his "Coca-Cola" creation (the original recipe includes cocaine).
• 1891 : French painter Georges Pierre Seurat (Pointillism) dies at age 31.
• 1910 : The world's largest oceanographic museum is inaugurated in Monaco.
• 1912 : Caught in a blizzard 18 km from the South Pole, Capt. Robert F. Scott records the last entry of his diary (to his "widow"): "The end cannot be far."
• 1927 : At Daytona, Henry Seagrave drives the first automobile ever to exceed 200 mph (203.79 mph » 328 km/h).
• 1935 : Maiden voyage of the French liner "Normandie" (the largest in the World at the time).
• 1941 : British novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) commits suicide.
• 1943 : World War II:   Meat, butter and cheese rationed in the United States.
• 1951 : 23rd Academy Awards, hosted by Fred Astaire ("All about Eve" is best picture, Judy Holliday best actress). Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted on spying charges. The play "The King and I" opens in New York City (there will be 1246 performances).
• 1956 : Four elite soldiers return to a heroes' welcome in Israel, after 15 months of Syrian captivity. U.S. President Eisenhower proclaims the giant sequoia "General Grant" a National Shrine.
• 1961 : In South Africa, Nelson Mandela is acquitted of treason charges after a 4-year trial. In the US, the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution allows DC residents to vote in presidential elections.
• 1962 : Final appearance of Jack Paar on the "Tonight Show", after 5 years as host.
• 1966 : In the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev becomes "First Secretary" of the Communist Party. In Toronto, heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay (the future Muhamed Ali) KOs George Chuval.
• 1967 : In Cherbourg (France), Charles de Gaulle presides over the launching of "Le Redoutable", the first French nuclear submarine.
• 1973 : Last US troops leave Vietnam (nine years after the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution").
• 1974 : First fly-by pictures of Mercury received from the Mariner 10 space probe.
• 1976 : 48th Academy Awards; "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" is best picture of 1975.
• 1979 : Death of French entertainer Ray Ventura (1908-1979).
• 1980 : Death of the statistician William G. Cochran (1909-1980).
• 1981 : First London Marathon (won by Norwegian Inge Simonsen).
• 1982 : 54th Academy Awards; "Chariots of Fire" best picture of 1981.
• 1987 : Wrestlemania III; Hulk Hogan prevails over Andre the Giant in 11 minutes and 43 seconds. This was the biggest indoor sport promotion ever: 93136 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac (Michigan) and 2.5 million pay-per-view TV viewers.
• 1989 : 61st Academy Awards; "Rainman" best picture, Dustin Hoffman best actor, Jodie Foster best actress. In the US, first launch of a private commercial rocket for a suborbital test flight. In Paris, the pyramidal entrance to the Louvre (designed by I.M. Pei's) is inaugurated by François Mitterrand.  French actor Bernard Blier ("Les Misérables") dies at the age of 73.
• 1993 : 65th Academy Awards; "Unforgiven" best picture (with Clint Eastwood winning best director award), Emma Thompson best actress for "Howards End", Al Pacino best actor for "Scent of a Woman".
• 1994 : Death of legendary Romanian-born French playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), chief exponent of the theater of the absurd.
• 1999 : The Dow Jones industrial average closes above 10000 for the first time (at 10006.78).
• 2000 : First version of this page published on the World Wide Web ;-)
• 2004 : A White House ceremony is staged to welcome into NATO the prime ministers of 7 new member states.
• 2006 : Total eclipse of the Sun (longest in Libya: 4 minutes and 7 seconds) of Saros series 139.
• 2017 : British prime minister Theresa May officially starts the 2-year process of divorce from the European Union.