Sunday, April 29, 2018

April 29

Birthdays:

1970~ Andre Kirk Agassi, tennis player.

1970~ Uma Karuna Thurman, American actress.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1958~ Michelle Marie Pfeiffer, American actress.

1957~ Daniel Day-Lewis (Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis), English-Irish actor.

1955~ Kate Mulgrew (née Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew), American actress.

1954~ Jerry Seinfeld (né Jerome Allen Seinfeld), American comedian.

1952~ Nora Eloise Dunn, American actress and comedian.  She is best known for her work on Saturday Night Live.

1951~ Dale Earnhardt (né Ralph Dale Earnhardt, b. Feb. 18, 2001), Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.  He was killed at age 49 in a racing accident during the Daytona 500.

1938~ Bernie Madoff (néBernard Lawrence Madoff), American business man and convicted felon who masterminded an elaborate Ponzischeme that bulked thousands people out of billions of dollars.  In June 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

1937~ Hasil Adkins (b. Apr. 25, 2005), American musician from an Appalachian county in West Virginia who influenced the creation of rock ‘n roll. He died 3 days before his 68thbirthday.

1936~ Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor.

1933~ Rod McKuen (né Rodney Marvin McKuen, d. Jan. 29, 2015), American populist poet and songwriter who was loathed by critics. He died of complications of pneumonia at age 81.

1933~ Willie Nelson (né Willie Hugh Nelson), American singer and musician.

1917~ Celeste Holm (d. July 15, 2012), American actress who was a city girl who first starred as a rube.  She died at age 95.

1901~ Hirohito (d. Jan. 7, 1989), Emperor of Japan from 1929 until his death in 1989.  He was the Emperor during World War II.  He died at age 87.

1899~ Duke Ellington (né Edward Kennedy Ellington, d. May 24, 1974), African-American jazz musician.  He died 25 days before his 76thbirthday.

1893~ Harold Clayton Urey (d. Jan. 5, 1981), American chemist and recipient of the 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on isotopes.  He died at age 87.

1868~ Alice Keppel (d. Sept. 11, 1947), English socialite and mistress of King Edward VII of England.  She died at age 79.

1863~ William Randolph Hearst, Sr. (d. Aug. 14, 1951), American newspaper publisher.  He died at age 88.

1854~ Henri Poincaré (néJules Henri Poincaré, d. July 17, 1912), French mathematician and physicist.  He died of an embolism at age 58.

1818~ Tsar Alexander II of Russia (d. Mar. 13, 1881).  He was killed near his palace when a bomb was thrown at him. In the Julian calendar that was used by Russia at the time, this event was recorded on March 1.  He died at age 62.

1810~ Thomas Adolphus Trollope (d. Nov. 11, 1892), British author and journalist.  He died at age 82.

1745~ Oliver Ellsworth (d. Nov. 26, 1807), 3rdChief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President George Washington.  He served on the Court from March 1796 until September 1800.  He died at age 62.

Events that Changed the World:

2011~ Prince William (b. 1982) of England married Kate Middleton (b. 1982).  Upon her marriage, Kate Middleton became known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

2004~ The Oldsmobile ceased production after 107 years of car manufacturing.

1992~ Los Angeles was caught up in massive riots following the acquittal of several police officers of charges that they used excessive force in the beating of Rodney King (1965 ~ 2012).  During the riots, which lasted three days, 53 people were killed, numerous people were injured and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.

1986~ Fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles damaged or destroyed over 400,000 books and other items.

1983~ Harold Washington (1922 ~ 1987) was sworn in as Chicago's first African-American mayor.

1968~ The musical Hairdebuted on Broadway.

1945~ The Dachau concentration camp was liberated by American troops.

1945~ Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) married Eva Braun (1912 ~ 1945) in a bunker in Berlin.  They both committed suicide the following day.

1944~ During World War II, British agent Nancy Wake (1912 ~ 2011), a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo’s most wanted person, parachuted into France to become a liaison between London and a local resistance group.

1916~ Martial law in Ireland was lifted and the Easter Rising rebellion was deemed official over following the surrender of Irish nationals to the British in Dublin.

1862~ New Orleans fell to Union forces under the leadership of Admiral David Farragut (1801 ~ 1870) during the American Civil War.

1861~ During the American Civil War, Maryland’s House of Delegates voted not to secede from the Union.

1832~ Mathematician Évariste Galois (1811 ~ 1832) was released from prison.  He had been politically active and on Bastille Day, July 14, 1831, he led a protest wearing the uniform of the disbanded artillery.  He was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison for illegally wearing a uniform.  It was not until April 29, 1832, however, before he was released.  He would die about a month later from wounds suffered in a duel.

1781~ During the American Revolutionary War, British and French ships clashed in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.

1770~ James Cook (1728 ~ 1779) arrived at, and named Botany Bay, Australia.

1587~ Sir Francis Drake (1540 ~ 1596) lead a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish Armada.

1429~ Joan of Arc (1412 ~ 1431) arrived to relieve the Siege of Orleans.

Good-Byes:

2015~ Jean Evelyn Nidetch (b. Oct. 12, 1923), American housewife who was a co-founder of Weight Watchers.  She was 91 years old.

2014~ Bob Hoskins (néRobert William Hoskins, b. Oct. 26, 1942), the stumpy British actor who made it big in Hollywood.  He died of pneumonia at age 71.

2014~ Al Feldstein (néAlbert Bernard Feldstein, b. Oct. 24, 1925), American editor of Madmagazine who made skepticism funny.  He died at age 88.

2014~ Walter Rudolph Walsh (b. May 5, 1907), American FBI marksman who gunned down gangsters.  He joined the FBI in 1934, during the infamous Public Enemy era and was involved in many high-profile cases.  He died 6 days before his 107thbirthday.

2013~ Ernest Michael (b. Aug. 27, 1925), American mathematician.  He died at age 87.

2008~ Albert Hofmann (b. Jan. 11, 1906), Swiss chemist who was the first to synthesize and try LSD.  He died at age 102.

2006~ John Kenneth Galbraith (b. Oct. 15, 1908), Canadian-American economist. He died at age 97 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2005~ William Joseph Bell (b. Mar. 6, 1927), American screenwriter and producer. He was known for producing many soap operas, including The Young and the Restless.  He died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at age 78.

2005~ Louis Leithold (b. Nov. 16, 1924), American mathematician.  He died at age 80.

1997~ Mike Royko (néMichael Royko, Jr., b. Sept. 19, 1932), American columnist.  He died of a brain aneurysm at age 64.

1980~ Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (b. Aug. 13, 1899), English film director.  He died at age 80.

1937~ Wallace Hume Carothers (b. Apr. 27 1896), American organic chemist who, while working at DuPont, invented nylon.  He died committed suicide 2 days after his 41stbirthday.

1921~ Annie Edson Taylor (b. Oct. 24, 1838), was the first person to go Niagara Falls and survive.  She performed this stunt on October 24, 1901, her 63rdbirthday!  She died at age 82.

1916~ Jørgen Pedersen Gram (b. June 27, 1850), Danish actuary and mathematician.  He died at age 65 after being hit by a bicycle.

1793~ Yechezkel ben Yehudah Landau (b. Oct. 8, 1713), Polish Rabbi.  He died at age 79.

1771~ Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (b. 1700), French-Italian architect who designed the Winter Palace and the Catherine Palace for Imperial Russia. The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1380~ Catherine of Siena (b. Mar. 25, 1347), Italian mystic and Catholic saint.  She died of a stroke at age 33.

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