May 29

Birthdays:

1959 ~ Rupert Everett, British actor.

1958 ~ Annette Bening, American actress.

1941 ~ Bob Simon (né Robert Simon, d. Feb. 11, 2015), American television foreign correspondent who was it all.  He was killed at age 73 from head injuries sustained when the taxi cab he was traveling in crashed.

1938 ~ Fay Vincent (né Francis Thomas Vincent, Jr.), 8^th Commissioner of Baseball.  He served as Commissioner from September 1989 until September 1992.

1929 ~ Peter Higgs, English physicist and recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1920 ~ John Harsanyi (d. Aug. 9, 2000), Hungarian economist and recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 80.

1917 ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (d. Nov. 22, 1963), 35^th President of the United States.  He was assassinated at age 46.

1914 ~ Tenzing Norgay (d. May 9, 1986), Nepalese Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary on the climb up Mount Everest in May 1953.  He died 20 days before his 72^nd birthday.

1906 ~ T.H. White (né Terence Hanbury White, d. Jan. 17, 1964), English author best known for his book, The Once and Future King, about King Arthur.  He died of heart failure at age 57.

1903 ~ Bob Hope (né Leslie Townes Hope, d. July 27, 2003), English-American comedian and actor.  He died at age 100.

1874 ~ G.K. Chesterton (né Gilbert Keith Chesterton, d. June 14, 1936), English novelist.  He died 16 days after his 63^rd birthday.

1736 ~ Patrick Henry (d. June 6, 1799), Early-American politician and 1^st Governor of Virginia.  He died 8 days after his 63^rd birthday.

1675 ~ Humphry Ditton (d. Oct. 15, 1715), English mathematician.  He died at age 40.

1630 ~ King Charles II of England (d. Feb. 6, 1685).  He died at age 54.

1439 ~ Pope Pius III (né Francesco Todechini Piccolomini, d. Oct. 18, 1503).  He was Pope from September 1503 until his death at age 64 less than a month later.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ Memorial Day observed in the United States.

2012 ~ A 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit northern Italy.

2008 ~ A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck Iceland.

2004 ~ The National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1990 ~ Boris Yeltsin (1931 ~ 2007) was elected president of the Russian Republic.

1982 ~ The British defeated Argentine forces at the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War.

1973 ~ Tom Bradley (1917 ~ 1998) was elected as the first African-American mayor of Los Angeles, California.

1953 ~ Sir Edmund Hillary (1919~2008) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (1914 ~ 1986) became the first known people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  They reached the summit on Norgay’s 39^th birthday.

1919 ~ Albert Einstein’s theory of general relative was tested by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Crommelin.

1913 ~ Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, premiered in Paris and caused a riot.

1886 ~ The first advertisement for Coca-Cola appeared in the Atlantic Journal.

1848 ~ Wisconsin became the 30^th State of the Union.

1790 ~ Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution.

1727 ~ Peter II (1715 ~ 1730) became Tsar of Russia.

1660 ~ King Charles II (1630 ~ 1685) was restored to the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1328 ~ Philip VI (1293 ~ 1350) was crowned King of France.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Doris Hart (b. June 20, 1925), American tennis champion who beat the odds.  She was a World Number 1 tennis player who was active in the 1940s and ‘50s.  She was one of just three players to have a “boxes set” of Grand Slam titles by winning the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles from all four Grand Slam events.  She died 22 days before her 90^th birthday.

2013 ~ Andrew Greeley (b. Feb. 5, 1928), American Catholic priest and novelist.  He died at age 85.

2012 ~ Doc Watson (né Arthel Land Watson, b. Mar. 3, 1923), American guitarist who was blind.  He died at age 89.

2011 ~ Bill Clements (né William Perry Clements, Jr., b. Apr. 13, 1917), 42^nd and 44^th Governor of Texas.  He served his first time from January 1979 through January 1983, and his second term from January 1987 through January 1991.  He died at age 94.

2010 ~ Dennis Hopper (b. May 17, 1936), American actor.  He died of prostate cancer just 12 days after his 74^th birthday.

2008 ~ Harvey Korman (b. Feb. 15, 1927), American actor and comedian.  He is best known for his role on The Carol Burnett Show.  He died at age 81.

2004 ~ Archibald Cox (b. May 17, 1912), American lawyer and First Special Prosecutor for the Watergate hearings.  He also served as the 31^st United States Solicitor General under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.  He died 12 days after his 92^nd birthday.

1998 ~ Barry Goldwater (b. Jan. 2, 1909), American politician and presidential candidate.  He died at age 89.

1979 ~ Mary Pickford (née Gladys Marie Smith, b. Apr. 8, 1892), Canadian silent film actress and co-founder of United Artists.  She died at age of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 87.

1970 ~ John Gunther (b. Aug. 30, 1901), American writer best known for his 1949 memoir, Death Be Not Proud, about the death of his son from a brain tumor.  Gunther died of liver cancer at age 68.

1958 ~ Juan Ramón Jiménez (b. Dec. 23, 1881), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 76.

1951 ~ Fanny Brice (née Fania Borach, b. Oct. 29, 1891), American singer and actress.  She died at age 59 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

1942 ~ John Barrymore (né John Sidney Blyth, b. Feb. 14, 1882), American actor and member of the Barrymore acting dynasty.  His birthdate is sometimes listed as Feb. 15, 1882.  He died at age 60.

1919 ~ Robert Bacon (b. July 5, 1860), 39^th Secretary of State.  He served under President Theodore Roosevelt for 38 days, from January 1909 until March 1909.  He was from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  He died at age 58 of blood poisoning following surgery.

1911 ~ Sir W.S. Gilbert (né William Schwenck Gilbert, b. Nov. 18, 1836), English dramatist who worked with Arthur Sullivan to create operettas.  He died at age 74.

1866 ~ Winfield Scott (b. June 13, 1786), American Army General.  He was known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” and served on active duty for over 53 years.  During the course of his military career, he commanded forces in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Mexican-American War, the Second Seminole War, and the American Civil War.  He died 15 days before his 80^th birthday.

1829 ~ Sir Humphry Davy, 1^st Baronet (b. Dec. 17, 1778), English chemist.  He is known for inventing the Davy Lamp.  He died at age 50 from complications following a stroke.

1814 ~ Joséphine de Beauharnais (b. June 23, 1763), first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte.  She died 24 days before her 51^st birthday.

1790 ~ Israel Putnam (b. Jan. 7, 1718), American general.  He made his name at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War.  He died at age 72.

1660 ~ Frans van Schooten (b. 1615), Dutch mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1259 ~ Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219).  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 39 or 40 at the time of his death.