December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are two days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- David, King and prophet (Catholic, Lutheran)
- Thomas Becket
- Trophimus of Arles
- December 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Ireland)
- Independence Day (Mongolia)
- The fifth day of Christmas (Western Christianity)
History
In 875, Charles the Bald King of the Franks is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor Charles II.
In 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church. Thomas Becket was also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London, and later Thomas à Becket; born 21 December c. 1118 (or 1120), was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death, he was canonised by Pope Alexander III.
In 1427, Army of Ming dynasty started withdrawing from Hanoi, put an end to the domination of Đại Việt.
In 1503, The Battle of Garigliano (1503) was fought between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a French army commanded by Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo
In 1508, Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attack Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.
In 1563, Sebastian Castellio, French preacher and theologian (b. 1515) died in Basel in 1563, and was buried in the tomb of a noble family. His enemies unearthed the body, burned it, and scattered the ashes. Some of his students erected a monument to his memory, which was later destroyed by accident; only the inscription is preserved.. He was a French preacher and theologian; and one of the first Reformed Christian proponents of religious toleration, freedom of conscience and thought. Castellio also can be credited with a huge advance in the promotion of the concept of limited government. He passionately argued for a separation of state and Church and against the idea of theocracy. Arguing that no one is entitled to direct and control another’s thought, he stated that authorities should have “no concern with matters of opinion”and concluded: “We can live together peacefully only when we control our intolerance. Even though there will always be differences of opinion from time to time, we can at any rate come to general understandings, can love one another, and can enter the bonds of peace, pending the day when we shall attain unity of faith.”
In 1689, Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624) He was an English physician. He was the author of Observationes Medicae which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries so that he became known as ‘The English Hippocrates’. Among his many achievements was the discovery of a disease, Sydenham’s Chorea, also known as St Vitus Dance. Sydenham was a successful practitioner and witnessed, besides foreign reprints, more than one new edition of his various treatises called for in his lifetime, his fame as the father of English medicine, or the English Hippocrates, was posthumous. For a long time he was held in vague esteem for the success of his cooling (or rather expectant) treatment of small-pox, for his laudanum (the first form of a tincture of opium), and for his advocacy of the use of “Peruvian bark” in quartan agues, in modern terms, the use of quinine-containing cinchona bark for treatment of malaria caused by Plasmodium malariae. There were, however, those among his contemporaries who understood something of Sydenham’s importance in larger matters than details of treatment and pharmacy, among them Richard Morton and Thomas Browne who owned copies of several of Sydenham’s books.
In 1778, American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.
In 1786, French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
In 1812, The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
In 1825, Jacques-Louis David, French painter and illustrator (b. 1748) was killed when he was leaving a theater, a carriage struck him. He was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward a classical austerity and severity, heightened feeling harmonizing with the moral climate of the final years of the Ancien Régime. David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794), and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre’s fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release, that of Napoleon I. It was at this time that he developed his Empire style, notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. After Napoleon’s fall from power and the Bourbon revival, David exiled himself to Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he remained until his death. David had a large number of pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.
In 1835, The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
In 1845, In accordance with International Boundary delimitation, United States annexes the Republic of Texas, following the manifest destiny doctrine. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
In 1851, The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1860, The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
In 1876, The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
In 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment.
In 1910, Reginald Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1872) died of heart failure and neurasthenia on 29 December 1910 at the age of only 38 at his home in Kensington a day after returning from a convalescence stay in a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. He was a World No. 1 British male tennis player, and the older brother of Laurence Doherty. He was known in the tennis world as “R.F.” rather than “Reggie”. In 1897 Doherty won his first singles Wimbledon title after beating reigning champion Harold Mahony in three straight sets (6–4, 6–4, 6–3). He successfully defended his title for the next three years (1898, 1899, 1900). In 1898 he did so by beating his brother in the Challenge Round in five sets (6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 5–7, 6–1). In 1901 he finally lost his Wimbledon crown when he was defeated in the Challenge Round by Arthur Gore in four sets (6–4, 5–7, 4–6, 4–6). He was also a runner-up at the US Championships in 1902 where he was beaten by the defending American champion William Larned in four sets (6–4, 2–6, 4–6, 6–8). Together with his brother Laurie he won eight Wimbledon Championships doubles titles and two US Championship doubles titles.
In 1911, Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, enthroning 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia.
In 1911, Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
In 1914, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is serialized in The Egoist.
In 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal‘s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
In 1934, Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
In 1937, The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
In 1939, First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
In 1940, World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
In 1949, KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
In 1959, Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom“, which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.
In 1959 – The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
In 1972, An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
In 1975, A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
In 1989, Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
In 1992, Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
In 1996, Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
In 1997, Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
In 1998, Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over one million lives.
In 2001, A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
In 2003, The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.
In 2006, UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt.
In 2009, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, American football player and wrestler (b. 1960) dies of complications due to throat cancer at 49. He was better known by his ring name “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, was an American professional wrestler, author and former star of collegiate football and wrestling at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Death was a three-time world heavyweight champion, having won the UWF World Heavyweight Championship twice and the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship once. In addition to his singles success, Dr. Death Steve Williams achieved notoriety in Japan in tag team competition, winning the World Tag Team Championship eight times with notable tag team partners Terry Gordy, Gary Albright, Vader, and Johnny Ace. He also achieved great tag team success in North America, winning tag team titles in the Mid-South, World Championship Wrestling, UWF and NWA United States Tag Team Championship as well as winning the World’s Strongest Tag Determination League twice with Gordy and Mike Rotunda.
In 2012, A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashes in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured.
In 2013, A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others.
In 2014, Oil prices dropped by more than $1 a barrel on Monday, reaching their lowest level since May 2009. Reported damage to Libya’s oil facilities briefly buoyed prices before the reality of a worldwide oil glut dragged prices down again. Brent crude fell $1.57 to $57.88 at the end of the day, and U.S. crude dropped $1.12 to $53.60 per barrel. “Every time the market tries to pick itself up, it’s just another wave of selling,” said Tradition Energy senior analyst Gene McGillian. [Reuters]
In 2014, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he had spoken at a gathering of white nationalists in 2002. At the time of the appearance at the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which was founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Scalise, 48, was a state representative. His office said he was not aware of the nature of the organization, which has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Of course this paper has been called a hate group by the SPLC as well…. what an honor!
In 2015, Oh, little town of Bethlehem. What have you done? There was no official, public acknowledgment of Christmas in Bethlehem, New York, this year. The small town of about 30,000 residents near Albany has banned the display of a “Merry Christmas” banner that had previously been unfurled across a town park.
In most places, no one would probably notice the change in policy. But when your city is named after the birthplace of Jesus Christ, people tend to take their Christmas celebrations just a tiny bit more seriously.
The Albany Times-Union says the town usually displays a menorah and Christmas tree on public property in the busy Four Corners area, considered the heart of town. Several years ago, resident Elena Marcelle contacted town hall and offered to buy a Merry Christmas sign to cheer up what she thought was a dull Christmas tree.
After noticing the sign was missing this year, she asked for an explanation. The town’s highway superintendent told her the sign had been discarded because of wear and tear. After offering to buy a new one, she got an email from the town’s lawyer. The lawyer didn’t want to wish her a “Merry Christmas” or even a more lawyerly “Happy Holidays.”
The law, town attorney James Potter explained, clearly allows municipalities to display a menorah and Christmas tree, but does not address written signs. Not wanting the town — a town named Bethlehem, don’t forget — to end up at the center of a lawsuit over religious-themed signs, town officials told the Times-Union they figured it was better to err on the side of caution.
In 2017, An apartment fire kills 12 people when an apartment building in the Bronx, New York is accidentally set alight.
