today.nukz.net: Almanac April 29

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions.

In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe "In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington." A major figure in the history of jazz, Ellington's music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. Several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional genres of music. His reputation increased after his death and the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowed on him a special posthumous honor in 1999.

Events

711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1587 – Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.
1672 – Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
1770 – James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1832 – Évariste Galois is released from prison.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the Civil War.
1882 – The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1903 – A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1916 – World War I: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1945 – World War II: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1945 – World War II: Start of Operation Manna.
1945 – World War II: The Captain class frigate HMS Goodall K479 is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last ship of the Royal Navy sunk in the European theatre of World War II.
1945 – World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide the following day.
1945 – The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1946 – Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People's Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 – Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 – The controversial musical Hair opens on Broadway.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
1992 – Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, California, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
1999 – The Avala TV Tower near Belgrade is destroyed in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2004 – Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 – Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
2005 – Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.
2011 – Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton.

Births

1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lutenist and composer (d. 1679)
1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (d. 1745)
1667 – John Arbuthnot, English physician and satirist (d. 1735)
1686 – Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (d. 1742)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French dancer, founder of modern ballet (d. 1810)
1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807)
1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish lieutenant general (d. 1820)
1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French marshal (d. 1833)
1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Anglo-Irish statesman (d. 1852)
1780 – Charles Nodier, French writer (d. 1844)
1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English author and journalist (d. 1892)
1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
1837 – Georges Boulanger, French general and politician (d. 1891)
1842 – Karl Millöcker, Dutch composer (d. 1899)
1848 – Raja Ravi Varma,Indian painter (d.1906)
1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1912)
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher (d. 1951)
1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet (d. 1933)
1863 – Maria Theresa Ledochowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic nun (d. 1922)
1868 – Alice Keppel, English socialite and mistress of King Edward VII (d. 1947)
1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman, lawyer and horse-breeder (d. 1930)
1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English writer (d. 1950)
1876 – Zauditu of Ethiopia (d. 1930)
1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961)
1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch artist and printer (d. 1945)
1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948)
1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English conductor (d. 1967)
1899 – Duke Ellington, American composer, pianist, and bandleader (d. 1974)
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989)
1907 – Tino Rossi, French singer and actor (d. 1983)
1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director (d. 1997)
1908 – Jack Williamson, American writer (d. 2006)
1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor (d. 1977)
1915 – Donald Mills, American singer (Mills Brothers) (d. 1999)
1917 – Maya Deren, Ukraine-American filmmaker, writer, and photographer (d. 1961)
1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress
1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990)
1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor and director (d. 2006)
1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer
1920 – Edward Blishen, English author (d. 1996)
1922 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcyclist (d. 2001)
1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian jazz musician
1924 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (d. 2006)
1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French dancer and actress
1925 – Ned Austin, American actor (d. 2007)
1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian politician, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007)
1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, producer and director (d. 2007)
1926 – Elmer Kelton, American novelist (d. 2009)
1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 2011)
1929 – Ray Barretto, American jazz musician (d. 2006)
1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author (d. 2007)
1929 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player (d. 2003)
1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer
1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor
1931 – Frank Auerbach, German-English painter
1931 – Lonnie Donegan, English singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2002)
1932 – Joy Clements, American soprano (d. 2005)
1933 – Mark Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Belgium
1933 – Rod McKuen, American poet and composer
1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan baseball player
1934 – Pedro Pires, Portuguese politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde
1934 – Otis Rush, American singer and guitarist
1936 – Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor
1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest
1936 – Lane Smith, American actor (d. 2005)
1936 – April Stevens, American singer (Nino Tempo & April Stevens)
1937 – Hasil Adkins, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2005)
1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English writer
1938 – Fred Dibnah, English steeplejack (d. 2004)
1938 – Bernard Madoff, American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier
1938 – Klaus Voormann, German artist, musician, and producer (Manfred Mann and Plastic Ono Band)
1942 – Galina Kulakova, Soviet cross country skier
1944 – Princess Benedikte of Denmark
1944 – Richard Kline, American actor and director
1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer
1945 – Tammi Terrell, American singer (d. 1970)
1947 – Serge Bernier, Canadian ice hockey player
1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Tommy James and the Shondells)
1947 – Jim Ryun, American athlete and politician
1948 – Bruce Cutler, American attorney
1948 – Michael Karoli, German musician and composer (Can) (d. 2001)
1949 – Anita Dobson, English actress and singer
1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director
1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American politician
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress
1952 – David Icke, English writer
1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player
1952 – Rob Nicholson, Canadian politician
1952 – Ron Washington, American baseball manager
1954 – Jake Burton Carpenter, American snowboarder
1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian
1955 – Richard Epcar, American voice actor
1955 – Wendee Lee, American voice actress
1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress
1955 – Leslie Jordan, American actor
1955 – Gino Quilico, Canadian baritone
1956 – Sofia Sakorafa, Greek javelin thrower and politician
1956 – Ketil Stokkan, Norwegian singer-songwriter (Zoo)
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, English-Irish actor
1957 – Mark Kendall, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Great White)
1957 – Timothy Treadwell, American ecologist (d. 2003)
1958 – Gary Cohen, American sportscaster
1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress
1958 – Martin Whitmarsh, English businessman
1960 – Phil King, English musician (Lush and The Jesus and Mary Chain)
1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian writer
1960 – Caveh Zahedi, American director and actor
1961 – Fumihiko Tachiki, Japanese seiyu
1962 – Bruce Driver, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
1964 – Melody Barnes, American director of the White House Domestic Policy Council
1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor
1964 – Mohammad Qatanani, American Imam
1966 – Marie Plourde, Canadian journalist, television host, and columnist
1966 – Phil Tufnell, English cricketer
1967 – Curtis Joseph, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Master P, American rapper, producer, and actor (TRU and 504 Boyz)
1968 – Carnie Wilson, American singer (Wilson Phillips)
1969 – Paul Adelstein, American actor
1969 – Izel Çeliköz, Turkish singer
1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player
1970 – China Forbes, American singer-songwriter (Pink Martini)
1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress
1971 – Tamara Johnson-George, American singer (SWV)
1971 – Sam Michael, Australian sporting director and engineer
1972 – Dustin McDaniel, American politician
1973 – David Belle, French educator
1973 – Johan Hegg, Swedish singer (Amon Amarth)
1973 – Martin Kesici, German singer-songwriter and musician
1974 – Anggun, Indonesian singer-songwriter
1974 – Pascal Cygan, French footballer
1974 – Julian Knowle, Austrian tennis player
1974 – Jasper Wood, Canadian violinist
1975 – Rafael Betancourt, Venezuelan baseball player
1975 – Eric Koston, Thai-American skateboarder
1975 – Artem Yashkin, Ukrainian footballer
1975 – Béres Zoo, Hungarian disk jokey
1976 – Jay Orpin, Swedish composer and producer
1977 – Rocío Carrasco, Spanish television presenter and businesswoman
1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player
1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish footballer
1977 – Thaddeus Bullard, American wrestler and football player
1978 – Tony Armas, Jr., Venezuelan baseball player
1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Craig Gower, Australian rugby player
1979 – Jo O'Meara, English singer-songwriter and actress (S Club and 2-4 Family)
1979 – Nihan Anaz, Turkish basketball player
1979 – Lee Dong-Gook, Korean footballer
1979 – Ryan Sharp, English race car driver
1979 – Sam Jones III, American actor
1979 – Ashish Nehra, Indian Cricket Player
1979 – Matt Tong, English drummer (Bloc Party)
1980 – Mathieu Biron, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Kian Egan, Irish singer-songwriter and musician (Westlife)
1980 – Luciano Milo, Italian ice dancer
1980 – Kelly Shoppach, American baseball player
1980 – Magdalena Tul, Polish singer and composer
1981 – George McCartney, Irish footballer
1981 – Émilie Mondor, Canadian athlete (d. 2006)
1981 – Alex Vincent, American actor
1982 – Mersad Selimbegovic, Bosnian footballer
1982 – Kate Nauta, American model and actress
1982 – Travis Smith, American drummer (Trivium)
1982 – Živile Raudoniene, Lithuanian model, bodybuilder, and wrestler
1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
1983 – Tommie Harris, American football player
1983 – David Lee, American basketball player
1983 – Semih Sentürk, Turkish footballer
1983 – Yuriko Shiratori, Japanese model, artist, and actress
1984 – Taylor Cole, American actress
1984 – Firass Dirani, Australian actor
1984 – Ph?m Van Quy?n, Vietnamese footballer
1984 – Vasilis Xanthopoulos, Greek basketball player
1985 – Jean-François Jacques, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Renee Alway, American model
1987 – Knut Børsheim, Norwegian golfer
1987 – Alicia Morton, American actress
1988 – Jovan Leacock, American footballer
1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Charlotte Francis, English actress
1991 – Oviya, Indian model and actress
1992 – Emilio Orozco, American soccer player
1994 – Madeleine Budd, French actress

Deaths

926 – Burchard II, Duke of Swabia
1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian saint (b. 1347)
1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and writer
1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné, French poet (b. 1552)
1658 – John Cleveland, English poet (b. 1613)
1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
1688 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1620)
1698 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (b. 1655)
1707 – George Farquhar, Irish dramatist (b. 1678)
1743 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French writer (b. 1658)
1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694)
1771 – Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Italian-Russian architect (b. 1700)
1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English traveler and writer (b. 1713)
1782 – Richard Kempenfelt, English admiral (b. 1718)
1793 – Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi (b. 1713)
1793 – John Michell, English scientist (b. 1724)
1798 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (b. 1723)
1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, British general (b. 1768)
1903 – Paul du Chaillu, French explorer (b. 1835)
1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847)
1916 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (b. 1850)
1916 – The O'Rahilly, Irish Nationalist and member of the Easter Rising (b. 1875)
1920 – William Henry Seward, Jr., American Union Brigadier General in the American Civil War (b. 1839)
1933 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet (b. 1863)
1935 – Leroy Carr, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
1937 – William Gillette, American actor (b. 1853)
1944 – Bernardino Machado, Portuguese Politician, President of Portugal (b. 1851)
1945 – Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, German SS officer (b. 1893)
1947 – Irving Fisher, American economist (b. 1867)
1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (b. 1889)
1956 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (b. 1876)
1961 – Cisco Houston, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1918)
1966 – William Eccles, English physicist and radio pioneer (b. 1875)
1967 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1929)
1967 – Anthony Mann, American actor and director (b. 1906)
1979 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and animator (b. 1907)
1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English director (b. 1899)
1982 – Raymond Bussières, French actor (b. 1907)
1988 – James McCracken, American tenor (b. 1926)
1992 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910)
1993 – Michael Gordon, American director (b. 1909)
1993 – Mick Ronson, English musician, songwriter, and producer (The Spiders from Mars and Mott the Hoople) (b. 1946)
1997 – Mike Royko, American columnist (b. 1932)
1998 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1922)
2000 – Pham Van Dong, Vietnamese politician (b. 1906)
2002 – Bob Akin, American industrialist and race car driver (b. 1936)
2002 – Lor Tok, Thai comedian and actor (b. 1914)
2004 – Sid Smith, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925)
2005 – Louis Leithold, American mathematician (b. 1924)
2005 – William J. Bell, American writer and producer (b. 1927)
2005 – Sara Henderson, Australian pastoralist and author (b. 1936)
2005 – Mariana Levy, Mexican actress, singer, and television host (b. 1966)
2006 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist (b. 1908)
2007 – Milt Bocek, American baseball player (b. 1912)
2007 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (b. 1978)
2007 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1940)
2007 – Arve Opsahl, Norwegian actor (b. 1921)
2007 – Ivica Racan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
2007 – Zhang Taofang, Chinese sniper (b. 1931)
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist, first to synthesize LSD (b. 1906)
2010 – A.S. Douglas, English computer scientist, creator of the first graphical computer game (b. 1921)
2011 – Siamak Pourzand, Iranian dissident journalist (b. 1931)