December 29

Events

 * 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.
 * 1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attack Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.
 * 1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.
 * 1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
 * 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.
 * 1813 – British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
 * 1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
 * 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.
 * 1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
 * 1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
 * 1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
 * 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the US Army.
 * 1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
 * 1911  – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing Dynasty.
 * 1914 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is serialized in The Egoist.
 * 1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
 * 1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
 * 1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
 * 1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
 * 1940 – World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
 * 1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
 * 1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.
 * 1959  – The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
 * 1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
 * 1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
 * 1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
 * 1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
 * 1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
 * 1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
 * 1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives.
 * 2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
 * 2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.
 * 2006 – UK settles its Anglo-American loan - post WWII loan debt.

Births

 * 765 – Ali Al-Ridha, Saudi Arabian 8th of the Twelve Imams (d. 818)
 * 1709 – Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
 * 1721 – Madame de Pompadour, French mistress of Louis XV of France (d. 1764)
 * 1796 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)
 * 1800 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860)
 * 1808 – Andrew Johnson, American politician, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
 * 1809 – William Ewart Gladstone, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)
 * 1816 – Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)
 * 1843 – Elisabeth of Wied (d. 1916)
 * 1855 – August Kitzberg, Estonian writer (d. 1927)
 * 1856 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894)
 * 1870 – Albert Amrhein, German rugby player
 * 1874 – François Brandt, Dutch rower (d. 1949)
 * 1876 – Pau Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (d. 1973)
 * 1877 – Max Hess, American gymnast (d. 1969)
 * 1879 – Billy Mitchell, American general (d. 1936)
 * 1881 – Scott Leary, American swimmer (d. 1958)
 * 1881  – Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)
 * 1885 – Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Austrian-Russian general (d. 1921)
 * 1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974)
 * 1899 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese military leader (d. 1992)
 * 1902 – Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1957)
 * 1904 – Kuvempu, Indian author and poet (d. 1994)
 * 1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian and author (d. 1993)
 * 1910 – Ronald Coase, English-American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
 * 1911 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and atomic spy (d. 1988)
 * 1914 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter (d. 1976)
 * 1914 – Billy Tipton, American pianist (d. 1989)
 * 1914  – Albert Tucker, Australian painter (d. 1999)
 * 1915 – Bill Osmanski, American football player (d. 1996)
 * 1917 – Tom Bradley, American politician, 38th Mayor of Los Angeles (d. 1998)
 * 1917  – Ramanand Sagar, Indian director and producer (d. 2005)
 * 1919 – Roman Vlad, Italian composer (d. 2013)
 * 1920 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995)
 * 1921 – Robert C. Baker, American chef, invented the chicken nugget (d. 2006)
 * 1922 – William Gaddis, American author (d. 1998)
 * 1923 – Shlomo Venezia, Greek-Italian author and holocaust survivor (d. 2012)
 * 1924 – Joe Allbritton, American businessman and publisher, founded the Allbritton Communications Company (d. 2012)
 * 1925 – Pete Dye, American golf course designer
 * 1927 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (d. 1985)
 * 1928 – Bernard Cribbins, English actor and singer
 * 1931 – Yi Gu, Japanese-American son of Bangja, Crown Princess Euimin of Korea (d. 2005)
 * 1931  – Stasys Stonkus, Lithuanian basketball player, coach and pedagogue (d. 2012)
 * 1932 – Inga Swenson, American actress
 * 1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
 * 1935 – Virgil Johnson, American singer (The Velvets) (d. 2013)
 * 1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
 * 1936  – Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
 * 1937 – Wayne Huizenga, American businessman, founded AutoNation
 * 1937  – Barbara Steele, English actress
 * 1938 – Harvey Smith, English horse rider
 * 1938  – Jon Voight, American actor
 * 1941 – Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter (The Moody Blues)
 * 1942 – Dinah Christie, English-Canadian actress and singer
 * 1942  – Rick Danko, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Band) (d. 1999)
 * 1942  – Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor, singer, and producer (d. 2012)
 * 1942  – Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Honduran cardinal
 * 1943 – Bill Aucoin, American talent manager (d. 2010)
 * 1946 – Marianne Faithfull, English singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1947 – Richard Crandall, American physicist and computer scientist (d. 2012)
 * 1947  – Ted Danson, American actor and producer
 * 1947  – Leonhard Lapin, Estonian artist, architect and poet
 * 1947  – Cozy Powell, English drummer (Emerson, Lake & Powell, The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Black Sabbath) (d. 1998)
 * 1947  – Vincent Winter, Scottish actor (d. 1998)
 * 1948 – Peter Robinson, Irish politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland
 * 1949 – Syed Kirmani, Indian cricketer
 * 1949  – David Topliss, English rugby player
 * 1950 – Jon Polito, American actor
 * 1951 – Yvonne Elliman, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1951  – Georges Thurston, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
 * 1952 – Gelsey Kirkland, American ballerina
 * 1953 – Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
 * 1953  – Alan Rusbridger, Zambian-English journalist
 * 1953  – Stanley Williams, American gang leader, co-founded the Crips (d. 2005)
 * 1954 – Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
 * 1954  – Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
 * 1954  – Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
 * 1956 – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian and radio host
 * 1957 – Brad Grey, American film producer
 * 1957  – Oliver Hirschbiegel, German director
 * 1957  – Paul Rudnick, American author and screenwriter
 * 1958 – Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut
 * 1959 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
 * 1959  – Paula Poundstone, American comedian and actress
 * 1960 – David Boon, Australian cricketer
 * 1960  – Katerina Didaskalou, Greek actress
 * 1960  – Matthew Kandegas, American painter
 * 1960  – Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Congolese militia leader, founded the Union of Congolese Patriots
 * 1961 – Kevin Granata, American educator, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007)
 * 1961  – Jim Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Jesus and Mary Chain and Freeheat)
 * 1962  – Devon White, Jamaican baseball player
 * 1963 – Francisco Bustamante, Filipino Pool player
 * 1963  – Des Foy, English rugby player
 * 1963  – Dave McKean, English illustrator, photographer, director, and pianist
 * 1963  – Sean Payton, American football player and coach
 * 1963  – Liisa Savijarvi, Canadian skier
 * 1965 – Dexter Holland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Offspring)
 * 1966 – Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer
 * 1966  – Laurent Boudouani French boxer
 * 1966  – Martin Offiah, English rugby player
 * 1967 – Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
 * 1967  – Chris Barnes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse, and Torture Killer)
 * 1967  – Evan Seinfeld, American bass player, actor, and director (Biohazard)
 * 1969 – Jennifer Ehle, American-English actress
 * 1969  – José Antonio Noriega, Mexican footballer
 * 1969  – Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver
 * 1970 – Aled Jones, Welsh singer
 * 1970  – Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese race car driver
 * 1970  – Glen Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Toad the Wet Sprocket and Works Progress Administration)
 * 1970  – Kevin Weisman, American actor
 * 1971 – Margot Thien, American swimmer
 * 1971  – Um Sang-hyun, South Korean voice actor
 * 1972 – Asheru, American rapper
 * 1972  – Jason Kreis, American soccer player
 * 1972  – Jude Law, English actor, director, and producer
 * 1972  – Leonor Varela, Chilean-American actress
 * 1973 – Pimp C, American rapper and producer (UGK) (d. 2007)
 * 1973  – Theo Epstein, American businessman
 * 1974  – Twinkle Khanna, Indian actress and producer
 * 1974 – Mekhi Phifer, American actor
 * 1974  – Richie Sexson, American baseball player
 * 1974  – Ryan Shore, Canadian composer and producer
 * 1975 – Shawn Hatosy, American actor
 * 1975  – Jaret Wright, American baseball player
 * 1976 – Filip Kuba, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1976  – Danny McBride, American actor, screenwriter, and producer
 * 1977 – Katherine Moennig, American actress
 * 1977  – Jimmy Journell, American baseball player
 * 1978 – Alexis Amore, Peruvian porn actress
 * 1978  – Matthew Carr, Australian footballer
 * 1978  – Pierre Dagenais, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1978  – Kieron Dyer, English footballer
 * 1978  – Danny Higginbotham, English footballer
 * 1978  – Steve Kemp, English drummer (Hard-Fi)
 * 1978  – LaToya London, American singer and actress
 * 1979 – Mitsuhiro Ishida, Japanese mixed martial artist
 * 1979  – Diego Luna, Mexican actor
 * 1979  – Ariel Schrag, American cartoonist and screenwriter
 * 1981 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
 * 1981  – Shaun Suisham, American football player
 * 1981  – Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko, Estonian footballer
 * 1982 – Alison Brie, American actress
 * 1982  – Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Canadian singer
 * 1982  – Dale Morris, Australian footballer
 * 1983 – Jessica Andrews, American singer-songwriter
 * 1983  – James Kelly, Australian footballer
 * 1983  – Gonzalo Olave, Chilean actor (d. 2009)
 * 1984 – Reimo Tamm, Estonian basketball player
 * 1985 – Alexa Ray Joel, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1986 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
 * 1986  – Joe Anyon, English footballer
 * 1987 – Yuhi Sekiguchi, Japanese race car driver
 * 1988 – Eric Berry, American football player
 * 1988  – Ágnes Szávay, Hungarian tennis player
 * 1989 – Left Brain, American rapper and producer (Odd Future and MellowHype)
 * 1989  – Jane Levy, American actress
 * 1990 – Allen Kim, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (U-KISS and Xing)
 * 1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino
 * 1995 – Rina Ikoma, Japanese singer (Nogizaka46)
 * 1995  – Ross Lynch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (R5)
 * 1998 – Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, American actor

Deaths

 * 721 – Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
 * 1170 – Thomas Becket, English archbishop (b. 1118)
 * 1563 – Sebastian Castellio, French preacher and theologian (b. 1515)
 * 1565 – Queen Munjeong, Korean consort queen, wife of King Jungjong of Joseon (b. 1501)
 * 1634 – John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (b. 1612)
 * 1661 – Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
 * 1689 – Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
 * 1731 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)
 * 1737 – Joseph Saurin, French mathematician and minister (b. 1659)
 * 1785 – Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
 * 1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
 * 1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
 * 1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
 * 1897 – William James Linton, English-American painter, author, and activist (b. 1812)
 * 1910 – Reginald Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1872)
 * 1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
 * 1924 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
 * 1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian author and poet (b. 1875)
 * 1929 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (b. 1846)
 * 1934 – Alma Tell, American actress (b. 1898)
 * 1937 – Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
 * 1941 – Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (b. 1873)
 * 1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1897)
 * 1953 – Violet MacMillan, American actress (b. 1887)
 * 1959 – Robin Milford, English composer (b. 1903)
 * 1960 – Eden Phillpotts, English author and poet (b. 1862)
 * 1967 – Paul Whiteman, American violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1890)
 * 1968 – Austin Farrer, English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
 * 1970 – Marie Menken, American director and painter (b. 1909)
 * 1972 – Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos, Greek missionary (b. 1903)
 * 1976 – Ivo Van Damme, Belgian runner (b. 1954)
 * 1980 – Tim Hardin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
 * 1980  – Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian author and educator (b. 1899)
 * 1981 – Miroslav Krleža, Croatian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893)
 * 1986 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
 * 1986  – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1932)
 * 1988 – Mike Beuttler, Egyptian race car driver (b. 1940)
 * 1993 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Russian-Armenian actor (b. 1930)
 * 1995 – Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
 * 1996 – Mireille Hartuch, French singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1906)
 * 1998 – Jean-Claude Forest, French writer and illustrator (b. 1930)
 * 1999 – Leon Radzinowicz, Polish-English criminologist and academic (b. 1906)
 * 2001 – Takashi Asahina, Japanese conductor (b. 1908)
 * 2001  – Cássia Eller, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
 * 2003 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
 * 2003  – Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
 * 2003  – Bob Monkhouse, English comedian, actor, and game show host (b. 1928)
 * 2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
 * 2004  – Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (b. 1915)
 * 2004  – Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947)
 * 2005 – Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-English psychotherapist (b. 1922)


 * 2007 – Kevin Greening, English radio host (b. 1962)
 * 2007  – Phil O'Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
 * 2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1938)
 * 2009 – Akmal Shaikh, Pakistani-English businessman and drug trafficker (b. 1956)
 * 2009  – "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, American wrestler and football player (b. 1960)
 * 2010 – Bill Erwin, American actor (b. 1914)
 * 2011 – Tyron Perez, Filipino actor and model (b. 1985)
 * 2012 – Mike Auldridge, American singer and guitarist (The Seldom Scene and Chesapeake) (b. 1938)
 * 2012  – Tony Greig, South African-English cricketer (b. 1946)
 * 2012  – George Hazlett, Scottish footballer (b. 1923)
 * 2012  – Edward Meneeley, American painter and sculptor (b. 1927)
 * 2012  – Ben Overton, American judge (b. 1926)
 * 2012  – William Rees-Mogg, English journalist (b. 1928)
 * 2012  – Salvador Reyes Monteón, Mexican footballer (b. 1936)
 * 2012  – Paulo Rocha, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
 * 2012  – Bruce Stark, American cartoonist (b. 1933)
 * 2012  – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (b. 1918)
 * 2012  – Roland Griffiths-Marsh, Australian soldier and author (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian Feast Day:
 * Thomas Becket
 * Trophimus of Arles
 * Constitution Day (Ireland)
 * Independence Day (Mongolia)
 * The fifth day of Christmas (Western Christianity)