History of 29 October
1929 – The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd.
1939 – The USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Finland prior to a Soviet attack.
1945 – The monarchy was abolished in Yugoslavia and a republic proclaimed.
1947 – The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the division of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
1961 – The Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft was launched by the U.S. with Enos the chimp on board. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico.
1963 – A Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8F with 111 passengers and 7 crew members crashed in woods north of Montreal 4 minutes after takeoff from Dorval Airport. All aboard were killed. The crash was the worst in Canada’s history.
1963 – U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
1967 – U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.
1971 – The Professional Golf Championship was held at Walt Disney World for the first time.
Disney movies, music, and books
1974 – In Britain, a bill that outlawed the Irish Republican Army became effective.
1975 – Bill Gates adopted the name Microsoft for the company he and Paul Allen had formed to write the BASIC computer language for the Altair.
1981 – Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, CA, at the age of 43.
1982 – The U.N. General Assembly voted that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
1986- Actor Cary Grant died at the age of 82.
1987 – A Korean jetliner disappeared off Burma, with 115 people aboard.
1987 – Cuban detainees released 26 hostages they’d been holding for more than a week at the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA.
1988 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rights of criminal defendants are not violated when police unintentionally fail to preserve potentially vital evidence.
1989 – In Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party’s 40-year monopoly on power.
1990 – The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.
1991 – 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle wreck during a dust storm near Coalinga, CA, on Interstate 5.
1992 – Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
1994 – The U.S. House passed the revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
1994 – Fighter jets attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport only hours after Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its civil war.
1996 – A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The sentence was the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.
1998 – Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected legalizing heroin and other narcotics.
2004 – The French government announced plans to build the Louvre II in northern France. The 236,808 square foot museum was the planned home for 500-600 works from the Louvre’s reserves.
2004 – Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2008 – In China, construction on the Shanghai Tower began.
2012 – Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing 148 directly and 138 indirectly while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages.
2015 – China announces the end of the One-child policy after 35 years.
2018 – Lion Air Flight 610 of a Boeing 737 MAX crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Amanda Beard, American swimmer
- 1981 – Jonathan Brown, Australian footballer
- 1981 – Angelika Dela Cruz, Filipino actress, and singer
- 1981 – Georgios Fotakis, Greek footballer
- 1982 – Ariel Lin, Taiwanese actress, and singer
- 1982 – Chelan Simmons, Canadian model, and actress
- 1983 – Richard Brancatisano, Australian actor
- 1983 – Maurice Clarett, American football player
- 1983 – Freddy Eastwood, Welsh footballer
- 1983 – Dana Eveland, American baseball player
- 1983 – Jérémy Mathieu, French footballer
- 1983 – Nurcan Taylan, Turkish weightlifter
- 1984 – Chris Baio, American bass player
- 1984 – Les Davies, Welsh footballer
- 1984 – Eric Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Lee Chung-ah, South Korean actress
- 1985 – Cal Crutchlow, English motorcycle racer
- 1985 – Janet Montgomery, English actress and dancer
- 1985 – Jefferson Severino, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Vijender Singh, Indian boxer
- 1986 – Sarita Pérez de Tagle, Filipino actress
- 1986 – Nataly Dawn, American singer
- 1987 – Andy Dalton, American football player
- 1987 – Jessica Dubé, Canadian figure skater
- 1987 – Tove Lo, Swedish singer
- 1987 – Makoto Ogawa, Japanese singer, and actress
- 1988 – Florin Gardoș, Romanian footballer
- 1988 – Sam Hutsby, English golfer
- 1988 – Janoris Jenkins, American football player
- 1988 – Roman Van Uden, New Zealand cyclist
- 1989 – Primoz Roglic, Slovenian ski jumper, and cyclist
- 1990 – Amarna Miller, former Spanish porn actress
- 1990 – Eric Saade, Swedish singer
- 1991 – Grant Hall, English footballer
- 1991 – Toby Tarrant, English radio broadcaster
- 1992 – Jacqueline Jossa, English actress
- 1993 – Ágnes Bukta, a Hungarian tennis player
- 1993 – India Eisley, American actress
- 1998 – Lance Stroll, Canadian race car driver