today.nukz.net: Almanac March 29

Astrud Gilberto (born March 29, 1940) Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer

Events

1461 – Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
1500 – Cesare Borgia is given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father Rodrigo Borgia after returning from his conquests in the Romagna.
1549 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
1632 – Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629.
1638 – Swedish colonists establish the first European settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
1809 – King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
1831 – Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniaks rebel against Turkey.
1847 – Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
1849 – The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
1857 – Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinies against the East India Company's rule in India and inspires the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
1865 – American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan move to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign begins.
1867 – Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.
1871 – The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
1882 – The Knights of Columbus are established.
1886 – Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
1911 – The M1911 .45 ACP pistol becomes the official U.S. Army side arm.
1930 – Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
1936 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
1941 – The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time.
1941 – World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
1942 – The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II is the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
1945 – World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
1945 – World War II: The German 4th Army is almost destroyed by the Soviet Red Army.
1946 – Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, one of Mexico's leading universities, is founded.
1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
1957 – The New York, Ontario and Western Railway makes its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.
1961 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.
1971 – My Lai massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
1971 – A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
1973 – Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
1973 – Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ends.
1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
1982 – The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
1990 – The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.
1993 – Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province.
1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the internet boom.
1999 – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes the Chamoli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
2002 – In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
2004 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
2008 – Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time.
2010 – Two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.

Births

1553 – Vitsentzos Kornaros, Greek Renaissance poet
1584 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d. 1648)
1602 – John Lightfoot, English churchman (d. 1675)
1668 – Thomas Coram, Founder of the Foundling Hospital (d. 1751)
1713 – John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d. 1789)
1746 – Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1785)
1747 – Johann Wilhelm Hässler, German composer, organist and pianist (d. 1822)
1751 – Supply Belcher, American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books (d. 1836)
1769 – Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal (d. 1851)
1790 – John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
1799 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1869)
1815 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor, writer, and first director of Craiova's National Theater (d. 1877)
1816 – Tsultrim Gyatso, 10th Dalai Lama (d. 1837)
1824 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (d. 1899)
1826 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist and politician (d. 1900)
1867 – Cy Young, American baseball player (d. 1955)
1869 – Aleš Hrdlicka, Czech anthropologist living in the United States (d. 1943)
1870 – Pavlos Melas, Greek officer who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia (d. 1904)
1873 – Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (d. 1941)
1874 – Lou Hoover, First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
1885 – Dezso Kosztolányi, Hungarian poet and writer (d. 1936)
1888 – Enea Bossi, Italian-American engineer and aviation pioneer (d. 1963)
1889 – Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)
1891 – Yvan Goll, French-German writer (d. 1950)
1891 – Alfred Neubauer, German racing team manager (Mercedes Benz) (d. 1980)
1892 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic cardinal (d. 1975)
1895 – Ernst Jünger, German author (d. 1998)
1899 – Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (d. 1953)
1900 – John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
1900 – Bill Aston, British racing driver (d. 1974)
1901 – Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (d. 1981)
1902 – Marcel Aymé, French writer (d. 1967)
1902 – William Walton, English composer (d. 1983)
1902 – Don Miller, American college football player (d. 1979)
1903 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian politician (d. 1999)
1905 – Philip Ahn, American actor (d. 1978)
1906 – E. Power Biggs American concert organist (d. 1977)
1907 – "Braguinha", Brazilian songwriter (d. 2006)
1908 – Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)
1908 – Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (d. 1968)
1911 – Brigitte Horney, German actress (d. 1988)
1912 – Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot (d. 1979)
1913 – R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 2000)
1914 – Phil Foster, American actor (d. 1985)
1916 – Eugene McCarthy, American politician (d. 2005)
1916 – Peter Geach, British philosopher
1917 – Man o' War, American thoroughbred racehorse (d. 1947)
1918 – Lê Van Thiêm, Vietnamese mathematician (d. 1991)
1918 – Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d. 1990)
1918 – Sam Walton, American businessman (d. 1992)
1919 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (d. 2001)
1920 – John Belk, American head of Belk, Inc. (d. 2007)
1920 – Clarke Fraser, Canadian geneticist
1920 – Pierre Moinot, French novelist (d. 2007)
1920 – Theodore Trautwein, American judge (d. 2000)
1927 – John McLaughlin, American political commentator
1927 – John Robert Vane, English pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
1928 – Vincent Gigante, American mafioso (d. 2005)
1929 – Lennart Meri, President of Estonia (d. 2006)
1929 – Richard Lewontin, American biologist
1929 – Utpal Dutt, Indian actor (d. 1993)
1930 – Anerood Jugnauth, President of Mauritius
1931 – Sopubek Begaliev, Soviet-era economist and politician (d. 2002)
1931 – Aleksei Gubarev, Soviet cosmonaut
1931 – Norman Tebbit, British politician
1933 – Jacques Brault, French Canadian poet
1934 – Paul Crouch, American televangelist
1936 – John A. Durkin, American politician
1936 – Judith Guest, American author
1936 – Mogens Camre, Danish politician
1937 – Billy Carter, brother of Jimmy Carter (d. 1988)
1939 – Terence Hill, Italian actor
1939 – Roland Arnall, American businessman and diplomat (d. 2008)
1940 – Ray Davis, American musician (d. 2005)
1940 – Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer
1941 – Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel laureate
1941 – Violeta Andrei, Romanian actress
1941 – Eden Kane, British singer
1943 – Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
1943 – Sir John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1943 – Vangelis, Greek musician and composer
1944 – Terry Jacks, Canadian musician, songwriter, and activist
1944 – Denny McLain, American baseball player
1945 – Walt Frazier, American basketball player
1946 – Billy Thorpe, Australian singer (d. 2007)
1947 – Bobby Kimball, American singer
1948 – Bud Cort, American actor
1949 – Michael Brecker, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2007)
1949 – Dave Greenfield, English Keyboardist of The Stranglers
1949 – Pauline Marois, Quebec politician (Parti Québécois)
1949 – Keith Simpson, British politician
1949 – John Arthur Spenkelink, American murderer (d. 1979)
1950 – Norman Snow, American actor
1951 – William Clarke, American blues harmonica player (d. 1996)
1952 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
1953 – Tõnis Palts, Estonian politician
1954 – Dianne Kay, American actress
1954 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
1955 – Earl Campbell, American football player
1955 – Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
1955 – Christopher Lawford, American actor
1955 – Marina Sirtis, English actress
1956 – Patty Donahue, American singer (d. 1996)
1956 – Stephen Cole, English journalist
1956 – Kurt Thomas, American gymnast
1957 – Elizabeth Hand, American writer
1957 – Christopher Lambert, French actor
1958 – Victor Salva, American film director
1959 – Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
1959 – Perry Farrell, American musician
1959 – Brad McCrimmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1961 – Gary Brabham, Australian racing driver
1961 – Mike Kingery, American baseball player
1961 – Amy Sedaris, American actress and comedian
1962 – Billy Beane American baseball player and executive
1962 – Dan Bittman, Romanian singer (Holograf)
1964 – Michael A. Jackson, American politician
1964 – Elle Macpherson, Australian model
1964 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
1965 – Jill Goodacre, American actress and model
1965 – Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist (d. 2005)
1965 – William Oefelein, American astronaut
1965 – Voula Patoulidou, Greek athlete
1967 – Michel Hazanavicius, French film director and screenwriter
1967 – Brian Jordan, American baseball player
1967 – John Popper, American musician
1968 – Sue Foley, Canadian singer and guitarist
1968 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
1971 – Robert Gibbs, American White House (Jan. 2009- Feb. 2011) press secretary for President Barack Obama
1971 – Lara Logan, South-African journalist and reporter
1972 – Michel Ancel, French game designer
1972 – Rui Costa, Portugal footballer
1972 – Junichi Suwabe, Japanese voice actor
1972 – Alex Ochoa, Cuban-American baseball player
1973 – Marc Overmars, Dutch footballer
1973 – Sebastiano Siviglia Italian footballer
1974 – Kristoffer Cusick, American actor
1974 – Marc Gené, Spanish racing car driver
1974 – Rachel Jones, Radio Producer
1976 – Igor Astarloa, Spanish cyclist
1976 – Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
1978 – Pierre Faber, French-born German rugby player
1978 – Aaron Persico, New Zealand-born Italian rugby player
1979 – Estela Giménez, Spanish gymnast
1980 – China P. Arnold, American convicted murderer
1980 – Bruno Silva, Uruguayan footballer
1980 – Bill Demong, American Nordic combined skier
1980 – Kim Tae Hee, South Korean actress
1980 – Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein of Jordan
1980 – Amy Mathews, Australian actress
1981 – Megan Hilty, American actress
1981 – Jlloyd Samuel, West Indian-born footballer
1982 – Hideaki Takizawa, Japanese artist
1983 – Luiza Sá, Brazilian musician
1983 – Jamie Woon, British musician
1984 – Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian vegetable vendor and activist (d. 2011)
1984 – Juan Mónaco, Argentine tennis player
1984 – Mai Satoda, Japanese singer
1985 – Maxim Lapierre, Canadian ice hockey forward
1985 – Mickey Pimentel, National Football League linebacker
1986 – Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, English footballer
1987 – Gianluca Freddi, Italian footballer
1988 – Esther Cremer, German athlete
1988 – Jürgen Zopp, Estonian tennis player
1989 – James Tomkins, English footballer
1990 – Lyle Taylor, British footballer
1991 – Hayley McFarland, American actress
1992 – Chris Massoglia, American actor and dancer
1994 – Sulli Choi, South Korean singer and dancer

Deaths

1058 – Pope Stephen IX (b. c. 1020)
1368 – Emperor Go-Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 1328)
1461 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1421)
1578 – Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b. 1524)
1578 – Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1527)
1625 – Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b. 1549)
1628 – Tobias Matthew, Archbishop of York (b. 1546)
1629 – Jacob de Gheyn II, Dutch artist (b. 1565)
1683 – Yaoya Oshichi, young girl burned at the stake for arson in 17th Century Japan (b. 1667)
1751 – Thomas Coram, English sea captain and philanthropist
1772 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
1788 – Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (b. 1707)
1790 – John Tyler, 10th American President (b. 1862)
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden (b. 1746)
1800 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (b. 1714)
1803 – Gottfried van Swieten, Dutch/Austrian patron of music (b. 1733)
1826 – Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (b. 1751)
1829 – Cornelio Saavedra, Argentine head of state (b. 1759)
1848 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (b. 1763)
1855 – Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1799)
1873 – Francesco Zantedeschi, Italian physicist (b. 1797)
1877 – Inazuma Raigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 7th Yokozuna (b. 1802)
1888 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (b. 1813)
1906 – Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter (b. 1878)
1912 – Henry Robertson Bowers – member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1883)
1912 – Sir Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer – member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1868)
1912 – Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and naturalist – member of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole (b. 1872)
1924 – Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer (b. 1852)
1934 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
1937 – Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b. 1882)
1940 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian prince and famed Rugby Union footballer who played for England.(b. 1916)
1948 – Harry Price, British psychic researcher and writer (b. 1881)
1948 – Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (b. 1881)
1956 – Infante Alfonso of Spain (b. 1941)
1957 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)
1959 – Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
1963 – Gaspard Fauteux, Canadian politician (b. 1898)
1970 – Anna Louise Strong, American communist journalist (b. 1885)
1971 – Dhirendranath Datta, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1886)
1972 – Lord J. Arthur Rank, British movie theater owner (b. 1888)
1980 – Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b. 1905)
1981 – Eric Williams, first Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago (b. 1911)
1982 – Carl Orff, German composer (b. 1895)
1982 – Nathan Twining, USAF general (b. 1897)
1985 – Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun and singer (The Singing Nun) (b. 1933)
1985 – Luther Terry, Surgeon General of the United States (b. 1911)
1986 – Harry Ritz, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
1988 – Maurice Blackburn, Canadian composer, conductor and sound editor (b. 1914)
1988 – Ted Kluszewski, American baseball player (b. 1924)
1989 – Bernard Blier, French actor (b. 1916)
1991 – Lee Atwater, American political consultant (b. 1951)
1992 – Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (b. 1908)
1994 – Bill Travers, British actor (b. 1922)
1995 – Jimmy McShane, Irish frontman of the group Baltimora (b. 1957)
1995 – Terry Moore, American baseball player (b. 1912)
1996 – Frank Daniel, Czech-born writer, director, producer and teacher (b. 1926)
1996 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1944)
1999 – Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
2001 – Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (b. 1899)
2001 – John Lewis, American jazz pianist (b. 1920)
2002 – Rico Yan, Philippine actor (b. 1975)
2002 – Rachel Levy and Ayat al-Akhras, Israeli and Palestinian children
2003 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (b. 1956)
2004 – Simone Renant, French actress (b. 1911)
2005 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b. 1937)
2005 – Miltos Sahtouris, Greek poet (b. 1919)
2006 – Salvador Elizondo, Mexican writer (b. 1932)
2007 – Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian actor (b. 1934)
2009 – Vladimir Fedotov, Soviet football striker and manager (b. 1943)
2009 – Andy Hallett, American actor and singer (b. 1975)
2009 – Maurice Jarre, French composer (b. 1924)
2011 – Ângelo de Sousa, Portuguese painter and sculptor (b. 1938)