History of Today in India – 29 April

Explore the history of today 29 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 29 April 2026, 04:26 AM

📜 Important Events on 29 April in World History

29 Apr 2015: A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests. Read more
29 Apr 2013: A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people. Read more
29 Apr 2013: National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing all seven people on board. Read more
29 Apr 2011: The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London. Read more
29 Apr 2004: The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years of vehicle production. Read more
29 Apr 1997: The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories. Read more
29 Apr 1992: Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed. Read more
29 Apr 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 ten million homeless. Read more
29 Apr 1991: The 7.0 Mw  Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people. Read more
29 Apr 1986: A fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items. Read more
29 Apr 1986: The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea. Read more
29 Apr 1986: An assembly of Sikhs, known as a Sarbat Khalsa, officially declare independence for a state of Khalistan. Read more
29 Apr 1985: Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on STS-51-B. Read more
29 Apr 1975: Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. This happens after the Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Read more
29 Apr 1975: Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese Army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands. Read more
29 Apr 1974: Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal. Read more
29 Apr 1970: Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. Read more
29 Apr 1967: After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title. Read more
29 Apr 1953: The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV. Read more
29 Apr 1952: Pan Am Flight 202 crashes into the Amazon basin near Carolina, Maranhão, Brazil, killing 50 people. Read more
29 Apr 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. Read more
29 Apr 1945: World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy. Read more
29 Apr 1945: World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands. Read more
29 Apr 1945: World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Read more
29 Apr 1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops. Read more
29 Apr 1916: World War I: The UK's 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. Read more
29 Apr 1916: Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end. Read more
29 Apr 1911: Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded. Read more
29 Apr 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. Read more
29 Apr 1903: A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada. Read more
29 Apr 1864: Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War. Read more
29 Apr 1862: American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut. Read more
29 Apr 1862: American Civil War: The Siege of Corinth begins as Union forces under General Henry Halleck move to engage Confederate forces led by General P. G. T. Beauregard. Read more
29 Apr 1861: Maryland in the American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union. Read more
29 Apr 1826: The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is discovered by James Dunlop. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 29 April in World History

29 Apr 2007: Mirra Andreeva, Russian tennis player Mirra Aleksandrovna Andreeva is a Russian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the WTA as high as world No. 5 in singles, which she achieved on 14 July 2025, and No. 12 in doubles, attained on 15 September 2025. Read more
29 Apr 2007: Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess Infanta Sofía of Spain is a member of the Spanish royal family. She is the younger daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia and, as such, is second in the line of succession to the Spanish throne behind her sister, Leonor, Princess of Asturias. Read more
29 Apr 2006: Xochitl Gomez, American actress Xochitl Gomez is an American actress. She began acting at age five, performing in local musical theater productions and student films. Gomez made her professional debut in 2018 in Raven's Home. She starred in the first season of the Netflix comedy series The Baby-Sitters Club (2020), and gained wider recognition for playing America Chavez in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). In 2023, she won season 32 of Dancing with the Stars. Read more
29 Apr 2005: Aarón Anselmino, Argentine footballer Aarón Anselmino is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for French Ligue 1 club Strasbourg on loan from Premier League club Chelsea. Read more
29 Apr 2002: Sinja Kraus, Austrian tennis player Sinja Kraus is an Austrian tennis player.
She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 99 in singles achieved on 23 February 2026 and No. 207 in doubles, achieved in April 2026. Kraus has won one WTA 125 singles title as well as 13 singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. Read more
29 Apr 2001: Danilo, Brazilian footballer Danilo dos Santos de Oliveira, known simply as Danilo, Danilo Oliveira or Danilo Santos, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo and the Brazil national team. Read more
29 Apr 1999: Mateo Retegui, Argentine-Italian footballer Mateo Retegui is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Pro League club Al-Qadsiah. Born in Argentina, he plays for the Italy national team. Read more
29 Apr 1998: Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player Kimberly Birrell is an Australian professional tennis player. Birrell reached a career-high WTA ranking of No. 60 on 5 May 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 144 on 8 September 2025. Birrell has won seven singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. Read more
29 Apr 1998: Mallory Pugh, American soccer player Mallory Diane Swanson is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Chicago Stars FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT). Read more
29 Apr 1997: Lucas Tousart, French footballer Lucas Simon Pierre Tousart is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Brest. He has also represented France internationally, having played for the country's under-19, under-20 and under-21 teams, as well as the France Olympic football team. Read more
29 Apr 1996: Katherine Langford, Australian actress Katherine Langford is an Australian actress. After appearing in several independent films, she had her breakthrough starring as Hannah Baker in the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why (2017–2018), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. She then appeared in the films Love, Simon (2018) and Knives Out (2019), and headlined the dark comedy Spontaneous (2020) and the Netflix series Cursed (2020). Read more
29 Apr 1994: Christina Shakovets, German tennis player Christina Shakovets is a German former tennis player. Read more
29 Apr 1992: Alina Rosenberg, German paralympic equestrian Alina Rosenberg is a German Paralympic equestrian. Read more
29 Apr 1991: Adam Smith, English footballer Adam James Smith is an English professional footballer who plays as a full-back for and captains Premier League club Bournemouth. He has also represented England at under-21 level. Read more
29 Apr 1991: Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress Jung Eun-joo, known professionally as Jung Hye-sung (Korean: 정혜성), is a South Korean actress and model. Read more
29 Apr 1991: Misaki Doi, Japanese tennis player Misaki Doi is a Japanese former professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. Read more
29 Apr 1990: James Faulkner, Australian cricketer James Peter Faulkner is an Australian former international cricketer who played for the Australian cricket team from 2013 to 2017 and currently in domestic cricket for Tasmania. An all-rounder, Faulkner is known for his aggressive batting in the middle order, and for his bowling at the end of limited-overs innings. Read more
29 Apr 1990: Chris Johnson, American basketball player Christapher Johnson is an American professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Jerusalem. He played college basketball for the University of Dayton. Standing at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), he plays at the small forward and the shooting guard positions. Read more
29 Apr 1989: Candace Owens, American political commentator and activist Candace Amber Owens Farmer is an American political commentator, author, and conspiracy theorist. Her political positions have mostly been described as conservative or far-right. She has promoted conspiracy theories on a wide range of subjects throughout her career. Since 2024, she has espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories. Read more
29 Apr 1989: Domagoj Vida, Croatian footballer Domagoj Vida is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Super League Greece club AEK Athens. He is capable of playing in any defensive position but is mostly deployed as a centre-back. Read more
29 Apr 1988: Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer Alfred Hui Ting Hang is a Hong Kong singer. He rose to prominence as the eleventh-place finalist in the first season of The Voice. His debut studio album Departure Trilogy earned gold certification. Hui won multiple best newcomer awards in 2011. He has since released more than ten studio albums. Read more
29 Apr 1988: Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete Taoufik Makhloufi is an Algerian athlete who specialises in middle-distance running. He became the 1500 metres Olympic champion at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. In 2016, Makhloufi took the silver medal in the 800m and 1500 m at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Read more
29 Apr 1988: Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player Jonathan Bryan Toews is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks, serving as the captain from 2008 to 2023. Nicknamed "Captain Serious", Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the third overall pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft. He joined the team in 2007–08 and was nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. The following season he was named team captain, becoming the second-youngest captain in NHL history at the time. Toews won the Stanley Cup in 2010, along with the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs. After winning the Cup, Toews passed Peter Forsberg as the youngest player to join the Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup again in 2013 and 2015. Read more
29 Apr 1988: Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer Ko Younha, known mononymously as Younha, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer. She began her career in 2004 in Japan, where she was nicknamed the "Oricon Comet" for her success on the Japanese music chart. In 2006, she debuted in South Korea, where she is regarded as one of the country's best singer-songwriters. Read more
29 Apr 1987: Rob Atkinson, English footballer Robert Guy Atkinson is an English former professional footballer who plays as a defender. Read more
29 Apr 1987: Sara Errani, Italian tennis player Sara Errani is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a Career Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former doubles world No. 1, nine-time major champion in doubles and mixed doubles, and a finalist in singles. With 9 singles and 40 doubles and mixed doubles titles, she is the Italian tennis player with the highest number of titles. Errani reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 on 20 May 2013. She is currently a top-10 player in doubles and the coach of Jasmine Paolini. Read more
29 Apr 1987: Andre Russell, Jamaican cricketer Andre Dwayne Russell, nicknamed Dre Russ, is a Jamaican former international cricketer who has played international cricket for the West Indies and for Jamaica in domestic cricket as an all-rounder. He currently plays in various T20 leagues around the world and periodically represented the West Indies in T20is. Russell was part of the 2012 and 2016 ICC World T20 winning West Indies teams. Russell is considered as one of the greatest cricketers in the T20 format, notable for his powerful hitting, and capability to bowl at speeds consistently above 140 km/h. Read more
29 Apr 1986: Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor Byun Yo-han is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014), Six Flying Dragons (2015–2016), Mr. Sunshine (2018), and Black Out (2024). He has also appeared in films including Socialphobia (2015), The Book of Fish (2021), Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022), Following (2024), and Pavane (2026). Read more
29 Apr 1986: Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress Lee Chae-young is a South Korean actress. She debuted in a music video called "Come On" by the Hip-hop group Turtles in 2003. The following year, she appeared in Rain's "I Do" music video and in 2007, Yoon Mi-rae's "Did You Forget It". Her first television drama was Witch Yoo Hee, a romantic comedy, as Chef Marie. It wasn't until she was cast as Sa Illa in the 2009 historical drama Iron Empress and took the role as a host on the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) variety show Star Golden Bell that her popularity rose. She is a Dankook University graduate and the younger sister of Seo Seung-ah. Read more
29 Apr 1984: Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer Kirby Cote is a blind Canadian Paralympic swimmer. Read more
29 Apr 1984: Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player Lina Vladimirovna Krasnoroutskaya is a retired tennis player. She is a former junior world No. 1 (1999), and in addition, she won the US Open junior title. Krasnoroutskaya, however, had a career blighted by injury. Read more
29 Apr 1983: Megan Boone, American actress Megan Boone is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her role as FBI agent and profiler Elizabeth Keen on the first eight seasons (2013–2021) of the drama series The Blacklist. Early in her career she appeared in the films My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) and Step Up Revolution (2012), and had a recurring role in the single season of Law & Order: LA (2010–2011). Since leaving The Blacklist, she has appeared in a 2023 episode of Accused. Read more
29 Apr 1983: Jay Cutler, American football player Jay Christopher Cutler is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A member of the Chicago Bears for most of his career, he is the franchise leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, attempts, and completions. Read more
29 Apr 1983: Sam Jones III, American actor Samuel L. Jones III is an American actor. He is best known for playing Pete Ross on the first three seasons(2001-2003) of the Superman television series Smallville, Willie Worsley in the 2006 film Glory Road, Craig Shilo on Blue Mountain State, Chaz Pratt on ER and Billy Marsh in the 2006 film Home of the Brave. Read more
29 Apr 1981: George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer George McCartney is a Northern Irish former footballer who is a coach at Linfield. He began his career at Sunderland in 1998 before having two spells each with West Ham United and Leeds United. He won the 2004–05 Football League Championship with Sunderland and was named the club's player of the season award as well as being named in the 2004–05 Football League Championship PFA Team of the Year. He moved to West Ham in 2006 before returning to Sunderland under Roy Keane's managership in 2008. He spent one season, the 2010–11 season, on loan with Leeds United before returning in 2011 to play on loan for West Ham. From 2001 until 2010 he also played international football for Northern Ireland. Read more
29 Apr 1980: Mathieu Biron, Canadian ice hockey player Mathieu Biron is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played over 250 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). After retiring as a hockey player, he became a firefighter. Read more
29 Apr 1980: Bre Blair, Canadian actress Sarah Brianne Blair is a Canadian actress. She has played Stacey in the 1995 film The Baby-Sitters Club and Jessie West in the 2016 television drama series Game of Silence. Read more
29 Apr 1979: Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer Lee Dong-gook is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is a record scorer in the K League 1, and had brief spells in Europe with Werder Bremen and Middlesbrough. He also played for the South Korea national football team at two FIFA World Cups and three AFC Asian Cups. Read more
29 Apr 1979: Jo O'Meara, English pop singer Joanne Valda O'Meara is an English singer and media personality. She was a member of the pop group S Club between 1999 and 2003, which has currently reformed since 2023. O'Meara was a contestant on the Channel 4 reality show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007. Read more
29 Apr 1978: Bob Bryan, American tennis player Robert Charles Bryan is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time, Bryan was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles for 438 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 eight times. Bryan won 126 ATP Tour-level doubles titles, including 23 majors: 16 in men's doubles and seven in mixed doubles. Alongside his twin brother Mike, the Bryan brothers were one of the most successful doubles partnerships in tennis history. The pair were named the ATP Team of the Decade for the 2000s. They became the second men's doubles team to complete the career Golden Slam at the 2012 London Olympics. Read more
29 Apr 1978: Mike Bryan, American tennis player Michael Carl Bryan is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time, Bryan was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles for a record 506 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 a record ten times. Bryan won a record 128 ATP Tour-level doubles titles, including 22 majors: a record 18 in men's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. Alongside his twin brother Bob, the Bryan brothers were one of the most successful doubles partnerships in tennis history. The pair were named the ATP Team of the Decade for the 2000s. They became the second men's doubles team to complete the career Golden Slam at the 2012 London Olympics, and completed the double career Grand Slam. Mike Bryan also had success partnering Jack Sock, winning two majors and the 2018 ATP Finals, as well as the 2018 ATP World Tour Fans' Favorite Doubles Team. Read more
29 Apr 1978: Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician Javier Colon is an American singer-songwriter. He has referred to his style of music as being "acoustic soul". He was a member of EmcQ and The Derek Trucks Band, and worked with many musicians before going solo. From 2002 to 2006, he was signed to Capitol Records, known as artist Javier. In 2006, however, the contract was terminated and Javier Colon became an independent artist with his own label, Javier Colon Music. In 2011, he was the winner of season 1 of the American talent competition show on NBC, The Voice, receiving $100,000 and signing a recording contract with Universal Republic Records. Colon eventually decided to part ways with Universal Republic in 2012. Read more
29 Apr 1978: Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian Tyler Labine is a Canadian actor. He is best known for starring in the film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, the television series Breaker High, Invasion, Reaper, Deadbeat and as Dr. Iggy Frome, head of psychiatry, in the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam. Read more
29 Apr 1977: Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player Zuzana Hejdová is a former Czech tennis player. Read more
29 Apr 1977: Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager Claus William Jensen is a Danish professional football manager, and former player. During his active playing career, he played as an attacking midfielder for homeland clubs Næstved and Lyngby, as well as three other clubs in England. Jensen also made 47 appearances for the Denmark national team, in which he scored eight goals. He also represented Denmark at the 2002 World Cup and 2004 European Championship tournaments. He is the cousin of former winger Anders Due, who currently works as his assistant at Nykøbing. Read more
29 Apr 1977: David Sullivan, American film and television actor David Wade Sullivan is an American film and television actor. Read more
29 Apr 1976: Micol Ostow, American author, editor and educator Micol Ostow is an American author, editor and educator who has written more than 40 published works. Her first original hardcover novel, Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa, was named a "New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age". She has also been the ghostwriter for novelizations of television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and Fearless. Read more
29 Apr 1976: God Shammgod, American basketball player and coach God Shammgod, formerly known as Shammgod Wells, is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA with the Washington Wizards during 1997–98 after being drafted by them in the second round of the 1997 NBA draft. He played in the Chinese Basketball Association for several teams, including the Zhejiang Cyclones and Shanxi Yujun. He also played professionally in Poland and Saudi Arabia. Despite a brief NBA career, he is well-remembered as the progenitor and namesake of a widely used crossover dribble, the "Shammgod", although the move, known in Europe as "The Whip", was already used earlier by former Yugoslavian players Dragan Kićanović and Danko Cvjetićanin and later popularized by Dejan Bodiroga. Read more
29 Apr 1975: Garrison Starr, American singer-songwriter and producer Garrison Starr is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter/producer. Her major label debut, "18 Over Me" was released in 1997 (Geffen). Starr's shows have been described as "marrying pop smarts and Americana grit with a voice of remarkable power and clarity". Since that initial record, Starr has released over a dozen EPs and LPs while landing numerous placements on shows and movies like Grey's Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Nashville, Hart of Dixie, Switched at Birth, Rookie Blue, Army Wives, and Brothers & Sisters, as well as commercial placements that include Pandora, Virgin Mobile, McDonald's, and Fisher Price. Read more
29 Apr 1975: April Telek, Canadian actress April Amber Telek is a Canadian actress. Read more
29 Apr 1970: Andre Agassi, American tennis player Andre Kirk Agassi is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 1999. Agassi won 60 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including eight majors, completing the Career Grand Slam. He also won an Olympic gold medal, the 1990 ATP Tour World Championships, 17 Masters titles and was part of the winning United States Davis Cup teams in 1990, 1992 and 1995. Agassi is one of nine men in history to win the Career Grand Slam in singles, and one of three men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. Read more
29 Apr 1970: Uma Thurman, American actress Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress. Known for her collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, she has performed in over fifty film and television productions since the 1980s, across genres that range from comedies and dramas to science fiction and action. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Read more
29 Apr 1969: Paul Adelstein, American actor and writer Paul Adelstein is an American actor. He is known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series Prison Break and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama Private Practice. In addition to supporting roles in films such as Intolerable Cruelty and Memoirs of a Geisha, he is also known for his recurring role as Leo Bergen on ABC's Scandal and as Jake Novak in the Bravo television series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. He also played David Sweetzer on the short-lived NBC comedy I Feel Bad. Read more
29 Apr 1968: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian politician and diplomat, 4th President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is a Croatian politician and diplomat who served as the president of Croatia from 2015 to 2020. She was the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. At 46 years of age, she was the youngest person to assume the presidency. Read more
29 Apr 1966: Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist Christian Tetzlaff is a German violinist who has performed internationally, with a focus on chamber music. Read more
29 Apr 1965: Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic Michel Bussi is a French author, known for writing thriller novels, and a political analyst and Professor of Geography at the University of Rouen, where he leads a Public Scientific and Technical Research Establishment in the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he is a specialist in electoral geography. Read more
29 Apr 1965: Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (died 2017) Amy Krouse Rosenthal was an American author of both adult and children's books, a short film maker, and radio show host. She is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, her children's picture books, and the film project The Beckoning of Lovely. She was a prolific writer, publishing more than 30 children's books between 2005 and her death in 2017. She is the only author to have three children's books make the Best Children's Books for Family Literacy list in the same year. She was a contributor to Chicago's NPR affiliate WBEZ, and to the TED conference. Read more
29 Apr 1964: Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer and screenwriter Federico Castelluccio is an Italian-born American actor. He is best known for his role as Furio Giunta on the HBO series The Sopranos. Read more
29 Apr 1964: Lúðvík Bergvinsson, Icelandic politician Lúðvík Bergvinsson is an Icelandic lawyer, politician and former member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, he represented the Southern constituency from April 1995 to May 2003 and the South constituency from May 2003 to April 2009. Read more
29 Apr 1963: Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Michael Babcock Jr. is a Canadian former ice hockey player and coach. He spent parts of eighteen seasons as a head coach in the National Hockey League (NHL), beginning when he was named head coach of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, whom he led to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final. In 2005, Babcock signed with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 2008, and helping them to the Stanley Cup playoffs every year during his tenure and setting a record for most wins in Red Wings history. In 2015, he left Detroit to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held until he was fired in 2019. During his coaching tenure from 1991 to 2019, Babcock's teams missed the post-season only four times. Read more
29 Apr 1962: Polly Samson, English novelist, lyricist and journalist Polly Samson is an English novelist, lyricist and journalist. She is married to the musician David Gilmour and has written lyrics for many of his songs, including albums with his band Pink Floyd. Read more
29 Apr 1960: Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian and American writer of science fiction. He is the author of 25 published novels, and his short fiction has appeared in magazines and journals such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, and Nature, in addition to several anthologies. He has won many writing awards, including the Nebula Award for Best Novel (1995), the Hugo Award for Best Novel (2003), the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (2006), the Robert A. Heinlein Award (2017), and multiple Aurora Awards. Read more
29 Apr 1958: Kevin Moore, English footballer (died 2013) Kevin Thomas Moore was an English professional footballer. Read more
29 Apr 1958: Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress and producer. One of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1980s and 1990s, her performances have earned her various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and one Primetime Emmy Award. Read more
29 Apr 1958: Eve Plumb, American actress Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress, singer and painter. She is best known for portraying the middle daughter Jan Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch. Read more
29 Apr 1957: Daniel Day-Lewis, British actor Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is best known for intense method acting portrayed with eccentric characters in auteurs' films. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a record three Academy Awards for Best Actor, as well as four BAFTAs, three Actor Awards and two Golden Globes. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama. Read more
29 Apr 1957: Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Samoan politician, 7th Prime Minister of Samoa Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa is a Samoan politician and High Chief (matai) who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Samoa from 2021 to 2025. She has led the Samoa Uniting Party (SUP) since 2025. Read more
29 Apr 1957: Joseph Morelle, American politician Joseph D. Morelle is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 25th congressional district since 2018. A Democrat, he was formerly a member of the New York State Assembly representing the 136th Assembly district, which includes eastern portions of the City of Rochester and the Monroe County suburbs of Irondequoit and Brighton. Speaker Sheldon Silver appointed him as majority leader of the New York State Assembly in January 2013 and Morelle served as acting speaker in the Speaker's absence. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives for New York's 25th congressional district in November 2018 following the death of longtime Representative Louise Slaughter. Read more
29 Apr 1955: Leslie Jordan, American actor, comedian, writer and singer (died 2022) Leslie Allen Jordan was an American actor, comedian, writer, and singer. His television roles include Beverley Leslie on Will & Grace, several characters in the American Horror Story franchise (2013–2019), Sid on The Cool Kids (2018–2019), Phil on Call Me Kat (2021–2022), and Lonnie Garr on Hearts Afire (1993–1995). On stage, Jordan played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in the 1996 play Sordid Lives, later portraying the character in the 2000 film of the same name. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he became an Instagram contributor, amassing 5.8 million followers in 2020, and published his autobiography How Y'all Doing? Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived in April 2021. Read more
29 Apr 1955: Kate Mulgrew, American actress Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager and Red in Orange Is the New Black. She first came to attention in the role of Mary Ryan in the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope. Read more
29 Apr 1954: Mo Brooks, American attorney and politician Morris Jackson Brooks Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 5th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. His district was based in Huntsville and stretches across the northern fifth of the state. A member of the Republican Party, Brooks was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. Read more
29 Apr 1954: Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor and producer Jerome Allen Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, filmmaker, and television producer specializing in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a fictionalized version of himself in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and wrote with Larry David. Seinfeld earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1995. The show is one of the most acclaimed and popular sitcoms of all time. He has since created and produced the reality series The Marriage Ref (2010–2011), and created and hosted the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012–2019), the latter of which earned him three Webby Awards. He also co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in the DreamWorks animated film Bee Movie (2007) and the Netflix comedy Unfrosted (2024). Read more
29 Apr 1953: Bill Drummond, British musician William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned £1 million in 1994. Read more
29 Apr 1952: Geraldine Doogue, Australian journalist and television host Geraldine Frances Doogue is an Australian journalist and radio and television presenter, known for her work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Since January 2024, she has been co-host of ABC Radio National's Global Roaming current affairs programme. Read more
29 Apr 1952: Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian Nora Dunn is an American actress, comedian and writer. She first garnered popularity during her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. Following her departure from SNL, she played Dr. Reynolds in The Nanny from 1998 to 1999, and she had a recurring role as Muriel in Home Economics from 2021 to 2022. Read more
29 Apr 1952: Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach Robert Craig McClure is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from 1975 to 1993, most notably as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers with whom he won the 1982 American League pennant. Following his playing career, he has served as a coach for several MLB teams. Read more
29 Apr 1952: Dave Valentin, American flautist (died 2017) David Peter Valentin was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent. Read more
29 Apr 1951: Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (died 2001) Ralph Dale Earnhardt was an American professional stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "the Intimidator", "the Man in Black" and "Ironhead"; after his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the Cup Series circuit in 1999, Earnhardt was generally known by the retronyms Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Sr. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history and was named as one of the NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers class in 1998. Read more
29 Apr 1951: Jon Stanhope, Australian politician Jonathan Donald Stanhope is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1998 until 2011. He is the only ACT Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the ACT Assembly. From 2012 to 2014 Stanhope was Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories, which consists of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Read more
29 Apr 1950: Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (died 2013) Sir Paul Scott Holmes was a New Zealand broadcaster who gained national recognition through his high-profile radio and television journalism. Holmes fronted one of first major prime time current affairs shows of the 1980s, Holmes, which ran on TV One from 1989 to 2004. Holmes hosted the Newstalk ZB breakfast show from 1985 to 2008, and the Saturday morning show from 2009 to 2012. Read more
29 Apr 1950: Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer Phillip Roger Noyce is an Australian film and television director. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama ; thrillers ; and action films. He has also directed the Jack Ryan adaptations Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as the 2014 adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver. Read more
29 Apr 1950: Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician Deborah Ann Stabenow is an American politician who served from 2001 to 2025 as a United States senator from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she was Michigan's first female U.S. senator. Read more
29 Apr 1948: Edith Brown Clement, American judge Edith Joy Brown Clement is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Read more
29 Apr 1947: Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Tommy James is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. James is the frontman of the rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which is known for hit singles such as "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion". Read more
29 Apr 1947: Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster John Laurence Miller is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ranked second in the world on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in both 1974 and 1975 behind Jack Nicklaus. Miller won 25 PGA Tour events, including two majors. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. He was the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, a position he held from January 1990 to February 2019. He is also an active golf course architect. Read more
29 Apr 1947: Jim Ryun, American runner and politician James Ronald Ryun is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes. He is the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. Ryun later served in the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing Kansas's 2nd congressional district. Read more
29 Apr 1946: Rodney Frelinghuysen, American politician and lobbyist Rodney Procter Frelinghuysen is an American former politician and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 11th congressional district from 1995 to 2019. The district includes most of Morris County, an affluent suburban county west of New York City. A member of the Republican Party, Frelinghuysen served as chair of the House Appropriations Committee from 2017 to 2019. Frelinghuysen announced on January 29, 2018, that he would not seek re-election that year. Read more
29 Apr 1945: Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (died 2009) Hugh Colin Hopper was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Read more
29 Apr 1945: Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist Catherine Lara is a French violinist, composer, singer, and author. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has established herself as an icon in French pop/rock music as well as the neo-classical genre. She has released 26 studio albums, contributed music to numerous television and film productions, and helped stage and produce many theatrical works. Lara is openly lesbian. Read more
29 Apr 1945: Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (died 1970) Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, professionally known as Tammi Terrell, was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye. Read more
29 Apr 1944: Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman (died 2023) Francis Henry Lee, also known as Franny Lee, was an English professional footballer and businessman. He was also later the chairman and main shareholder of Manchester City, as well as briefly a racehorse trainer and amateur cricket player. Read more
29 Apr 1943: Duane Allen, American country singer Duane David Allen is an American singer and songwriter, who had formal training in both operatic and quartet singing before becoming a member of the Oak Ridge Boys in 1966. Allen is the lead singer for the quartet and is heard on the majority of their most successful songs. Allen was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015 as a member of the Oak Ridge Boys. He was later inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame in 2025, for his Gospel music contribution. Read more
29 Apr 1943: Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (died 2018) Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. As general secretary of SOGAT from 1985 until 1991, she was "the first woman elected to head a major industrial trade union." Read more
29 Apr 1943: Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic Ruth Lynn Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE is a British academic, bioethicist and politician, most noted for chairing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), from 1994 to 2002, and as the former Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford. Deech sits as a Crossbench peer in the House of Lords (2005–) and chaired the Bar Standards Board (2009–2014). Read more
29 Apr 1942: Dick Chrysler, American politician Richard R. Chrysler is an American businessman and former politician who was a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1995 until 1997. Read more
29 Apr 1942: Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic Irene Tordoff Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, DBE, known as Rennie Fritchie, was a British life peer who was a member of the House of Lords. Read more
29 Apr 1941: Hanne Darboven, German painter (died 2009) Hanne Darboven was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large-scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers. Read more
29 Apr 1940: George Adams, American musician (died 1992) George Rufus Adams was an American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. He is best known for his work with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Roy Haynes and in the quartet he co-led with pianist Don Pullen, featuring bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Dannie Richmond. He was also known for his idiosyncratic singing. Read more
29 Apr 1940: Peter Diamond, American economist Peter Arthur Diamond is an American economist known for his analysis of U.S. Social Security policy and his work as an advisor to the Advisory Council on Social Security in the late 1980s and 1990s. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010, along with Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides. He is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On June 6, 2011, he withdrew his nomination to serve on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, citing intractable Republican opposition for 14 months. Read more
29 Apr 1939: Klaus Rinke, German artist (died 2026) Klaus Rinke was a German artist. Read more
29 Apr 1938: Steven Bach, American writer, businessman and educator (died 2009) Steven Bach was an American writer and lecturer on film and a former senior vice-president and head of worldwide productions for United Artists studios. Read more
29 Apr 1938: Bernie Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon (died 2021) Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American financier and con artist who was the admitted mastermind of the largest-known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business. Read more
29 Apr 1937: Jill Paton Walsh, English author (died 2020) Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford,, known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated novel Knowledge of Angels and for the Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mysteries that continued the work of Dorothy L. Sayers. Read more
29 Apr 1936: Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Read more
29 Apr 1936: Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (died 2020) Adolfo Nicolás Pachón was a Spanish Catholic priest who served as the 30th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 2008 to 2016. He previously taught at Sophia University in Tokyo for twenty years and headed educational institutions in Manila from 1978 to 1984 and in Tokyo from 1991 to 1993. He led the Jesuits in Japan from 1993 to 1996 and, after four years of pastoral work in Tokyo, led the Jesuits in Asia from 2004 to 2008. Read more
29 Apr 1936: Alejandra Pizarnik, Argentine poet (died 1972) Flora Alejandra Pizarnik was an Argentine poet. Her idiosyncratic and thematically introspective poetry has been considered "one of the most unusual bodies of work in Latin American literature", and has been recognized and celebrated for its fixation on "the limitation of language, silence, the body, night, the nature of intimacy, madness, [and] death". Read more
29 Apr 1936: Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist (died 2024) Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, was a British hereditary peer, investment banker and member of the Rothschild banking family. Rothschild held important roles in business and British public life, and was active in charitable and philanthropic areas. Read more
29 Apr 1935: Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2018) Otis Rush Jr. was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s artists Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton. Read more
29 Apr 1934: Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel, nicknamed "Little Louie", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1956 to 1973 for three American League (AL) teams, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox. During his ten seasons with the team, he became known for his exceptional defensive and base-stealing skills. A 13-time All-Star,, he made an immediate impact with the team, winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1956 after leading the league in stolen bases and leading AL shortstops in putouts and assists; he was the first Latin American player to win the award. Read more
29 Apr 1934: Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde Pedro de Verona Rodrigues Pires is a Cape Verdean politician who served as Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991, and later as president from 2001 to 2011. Read more
29 Apr 1933: Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (died 2018) Edwin Douglas Charles was an American professional baseball third baseman in Major League Baseball. A right-handed hitter, Charles played for the Kansas City Athletics (1962–67) and New York Mets (1967–69). He was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 170 pounds (77 kg). Read more
29 Apr 1933: Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (died 2015) Rodney Marvin McKuen was an American poet, singer-songwriter and composer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks and classical music. He earned two Academy Award nominations for his music compositions. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. His poetry deals with themes of love, the natural world and spirituality. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide and 60 million books of his poetry were sold as well. Read more
29 Apr 1933: Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor Willie Hugh Nelson is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. The critical success of his album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana. Read more
29 Apr 1932: David Tindle, English painter and educator David Tindle is a British painter who was made a Royal Academician in 1979. He is a Fellow of St Edmund Hall where several of his paintings are in the Senior Common Room. In the Old Dining Hall hangs his portrait of the former Principal Justin Gosling. He is now living in Santa Maria del Giudice, near Lucca, in Italy. Read more
29 Apr 1932: Dmitry Zaikin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (died 2013) Dmitry Alekseevich Zaikin was a Soviet cosmonaut trainer. Read more
29 Apr 1931: Frank Auerbach, German-British painter (died 2024) Frank Helmut Auerbach was a German-born British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he became a naturalised British subject in 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, both of whom were early supporters of his work. Read more
29 Apr 1931: Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2002) Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought up in England, Donegan began his career in the British trad jazz revival, but transitioned to skiffle in the mid-1950s, rising to prominence with a hit recording of the American folk song "Rock Island Line", which helped spur the broader UK skiffle movement. Read more
29 Apr 1931: Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (died 2014) Christopher William Pearson was the second leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party and the first premier of Yukon. Read more
29 Apr 1930: Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (died 2017) Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999. Read more
29 Apr 1929: Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (died 2007) Walter Kempowski was a German writer. Kempowski was known for his series of novels called German Chronicle and the monumental Echolot ("Sonar"), a collage of autobiographical reports, letters and other documents by contemporary witnesses of the Second World War. Read more
29 Apr 1929: Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (died 2014) Peter Joshua Sculthorpe FAHA was a distinguished Australian composer and music educator. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighbouring Australia, as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aboriginal Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 18 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was often characterised by its distinctive use of percussion. As one of the compositional pioneers of a distinctively Australian sound, Sculthorpe and his music have been likened to the role played by Aaron Copland in America's musical coming of age. Read more
29 Apr 1929: April Stevens, American singer (died 2023) Caroline Vincinette LoTempio, known professionally as April Stevens, was an American Grammy Award-winning singer of traditional pop, best known for her collaborations with her younger brother, Nino Tempo, as Nino Tempo & April Stevens. Stevens was an inductee in the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame Read more
29 Apr 1929: Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (died 2015) Maurice Frederick Strong was a Canadian oil and mineral businessman and a diplomat who served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Read more
29 Apr 1929: Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (died 2014) John Jeremy Thorpe was a British politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon from 1959 to 1979 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder his former boyfriend, Norman Scott. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges, but the case, and the scandal surrounding it, ended his political career. Read more
29 Apr 1928: Carl Gardner, American singer (died 2011) Carl Edward Gardner was an American singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of The Coasters. Known for the 1958 song "Yakety Yak", which spent a week as number one on the Hot 100 pop list, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Read more
29 Apr 1928: Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (died 2017) Heinz Siegfried Wolff, was a German-born British scientist as well as a television and radio presenter. He was best known for the BBC television series The Great Egg Race. Read more
29 Apr 1927: Dorothy Manley, English sprinter (died 2021) Dorothy Gladys Manley was a British sprinter. She competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics, held in London, in the 100 metres where she won the silver medal with a time of 12.2 seconds. She was the first British woman to win an Olympic sprint medal. She was also a medallist in the 1950 British Empire Games, and the 1950 European Athletics Championships.
Read more
29 Apr 1927: Bill Slater, English footballer (died 2018) William John Slater,, also commonly known as W. J. Slater, was an English professional footballer. Slater made the majority of his appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom he won three league championships and the FA Cup. Read more
29 Apr 1926: Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (died 2009) Elmer Kelton was an American author, known for his Westerns. He was born in Andrews County, Texas. Read more
29 Apr 1925: John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (died 2007) Sir John George Melvin Compton, was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first prime minister upon independence in February 1979. Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton served as prime minister three times: briefly in 1979, again from 1982 to 1996, and from 2006 until his death in 2007. He cofounded the conservative United Workers Party (UWP) in 1964; he led the party until 1996, again from 1998 to 2000, and again from 2005 to 2007. Read more
29 Apr 1925: Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (died 2007) Iwao Takamoto was an American animator, character designer, television producer, and film director. After his family had been sent to the California internment camps in the early 1940s, Takamoto learned to draw, presented his sketchbook to Walt Disney Productions and was hired on the spot. Read more
29 Apr 1924: Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress (died 2020) Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films and Paris revues. She was the wife of dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, who created ballets and revues for her. Read more
29 Apr 1923: Irvin Kershner, American actor, director and producer (died 2010) Irvin Kershner was an American director for film and television. Early in his career as a filmmaker he directed quirky, independent drama films, while working as a lecturer at the University of Southern California. Later, he began making high-budget blockbusters such as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the James Bond adaptation Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2. Through the course of his career, he received numerous accolades, including being nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Palme d'Or. Read more
29 Apr 1922: Parren Mitchell, American politician (died 2007) Parren James Mitchell was an American politician who served as a U.S. congressman affiliated with the Democratic Party representing the 7th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1971, to January 3, 1987. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Maryland. Read more
29 Apr 1922: Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (died 2016) Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and whistling skills, and composing. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in "championing the humble harmonica", which Thielemans made into a "legitimate voice in jazz". He eventually became the "preeminent" jazz harmonica player. Read more
29 Apr 1920: Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (died 1996) Edward Blishen was an English author and broadcaster. He may be known best for the first of two children's novels based on Greek mythology, written with Leon Garfield, illustrated by Charles Keeping, and published by Longman in 1970. For The God Beneath the Sea Blishen and Garfield won the 1970 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Read more
29 Apr 1920: Harold Shapero, American composer (died 2013)
Harold Samuel Shapero was an American composer. Read more
29 Apr 1919: Gérard Oury, French actor, director and screenwriter (died 2006) Gérard Oury was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now… We're Being Shot At! (1966), The Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982). Read more
29 Apr 1918: George Allen, American football player and coach (died 1990) George Herbert Allen was an American football coach. He served as the head coach for two teams in the National Football League (NFL), the Los Angeles Rams from 1966 to 1970 and the Washington Redskins from 1971 to 1977. Allen led his teams to winning records in all 12 of his seasons as an NFL head coach, compiling an overall regular-season record of 116–47–5. Seven of his teams qualified for the NFL playoffs, including the 1972 Washington Redskins, who reached Super Bowl VII, losing to Don Shula's Miami Dolphins. Allen made a brief return as head coach of the Rams in 1978, but was fired before the regular season commenced. Read more
29 Apr 1917: Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (died 1961) Maya Deren was a Russian-born American experimental filmmaker and important part of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer. Read more
29 Apr 1917: Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (died 2012) Celeste Holm was an American actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and was nominated for her roles in Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve (1950). She also is known for her performances in The Snake Pit (1948), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), and High Society (1956) as well as for originating the role of Ado Annie in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! (1943). Read more
29 Apr 1915: Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (died 1997) Henry Herman ("Heinz") Barschall was a German-American physicist. Read more
29 Apr 1912: Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1977) Richard Dutoit Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his leading roles in sci-fi classic It Came from Outer Space (1953) and iconic Universal Monster film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Read more
29 Apr 1909: Tom Ewell, American actor (died 1994) Tom Ewell was an American film, stage and television actor, and producer. His most successful and most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch, a character he played in the Broadway production (1952–1954) and reprised for the 1955 film adaptation. He received a Tony Award for his work in the play and a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the film. Although Ewell preferred acting on stage, he accepted several other screen roles in light comedies of the 1950s, most notably The Girl Can't Help It (1956). He appeared in the film version of the musical State Fair (1962) and in a small number of additional ones released between the early 1960s and 1980s. Read more
29 Apr 1908: Jack Williamson, American author and academic (died 2006) John Stewart Williamson was an American science fiction writer, one of several called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the term genetic engineering. Early in his career he sometimes used the pseudonyms Will Stewart and Nils O. Sonderlund. Read more
29 Apr 1907: Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (died 1997) Alfred Zinnemann was an Austrian and American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Austria-Hungary and educated in France and Germany, Zinnemann began his career in Europe before emigrating to the US, where he specialized in shorts before making 25 feature films during his 50-year career. He won four Academy Awards, both for directing and producing, and made films in a variety of genres including thrillers, westerns, film noir, and stage adaptations. Read more
29 Apr 1901: Hirohito, Japanese emperor (died 1989) Emperor Shōwa was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1926 until his death in 1989. He remains the longest-reigning emperor in Japanese history and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world. As emperor during the Shōwa era, Hirohito presided over the rise of Japanese militarism, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Asia-Pacific theater of World War II, and the nation's postwar economic miracle. Read more
29 Apr 1900: Amelia Best, Australian politician (died 1979) Amelia Martha (Millie) Best MBE was one of the first two women elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Read more
29 Apr 1899: Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer and bandleader (died 1974) Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Music critic Ralph J. Gleason called him "America's most important composer". Read more
29 Apr 1899: Mary Petty, American illustrator (died 1976) Mary Petty was an illustrator of books and magazines best remembered for a series of covers published by The New Yorker that feature a family she invented and named, "Peabody", along with their household servants. Read more
29 Apr 1898: E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (died 1980) Edmund ("Ted") John Bowen FRS was a British physical chemist. Read more
29 Apr 1895: Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (died 1970) Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was a Russian and Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest, irreducible structural units. Read more
29 Apr 1895: Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer and conductor (died 1967) Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated included the Ballets Russes, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Royal Choral Society, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Sargent was held in high esteem by choirs and instrumental soloists, but because of his high standards and a statement that he made in a 1936 interview disputing musicians' rights to tenure, his relationship with orchestral players was often uneasy. Despite this, he was co-founder of the London Philharmonic, was the first conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic as a full-time ensemble, and played an important part in saving the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from disbandment in the 1960s. Read more
29 Apr 1894: Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (died 1970) Marietta Blau was an Austrian physicist of the 20th century who pioneered developments of photographic nuclear emulsions to image and accurately measure high-energy nuclear particles and events, significantly advancing the field of particle physics in her time. For this, she was awarded the Lieben Prize in 1937 by the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW). As a Jew, she became an émigré from Austria because of the 1938 Nazi Anschluss (annexe), her research continuing from Oslo, on to Mexico and the United States of America before eventually returning to Austria in 1960 where she was awarded the ÖAW Erwin Schrödinger Prize. Read more
29 Apr 1893: Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Harold Clayton Urey was an American physical chemist who conducted pioneering work on isotopes. He earned the 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discovery of heavy hydrogen." He played a significant role in the development of the atom bomb, as well as contributing to theories on the development of organic life from non-living matter. Read more
29 Apr 1891: Edward Wilfred Taylor, British businessman (died 1980) Edward Wilfred Taylor was a British manufacturer of optical instruments. Read more
29 Apr 1888: Michael Heidelberger, American immunologist (died 1991) Michael Heidelberger was an American immunologist, often regarded as the father of modern immunology. He and Oswald Avery showed that the polysaccharides of pneumococcus are antigens, enabling him to show that antibodies are proteins. He spent most his early career at Columbia University and comparable time in his later years on the faculty of New York University. In 1934 and 1936 he received the Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1967 he received the National Medal of Science, and then he earned the Lasker Award for basic medical research in 1953 and again in 1978. His papers are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Read more
29 Apr 1887: Robert Cushman Murphy, American ornithologist (died 1973) Robert Cushman Murphy was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on numerous oceanic expeditions and was an expert on marine birds, and wrote several major books on them. He described a species of petrel which is now known as Murphy's petrel. Mount Murphy in Antarctica and Murphy Wall in South Georgia are named after him. Read more
29 Apr 1885: Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (died 1948) Egon Erwin Kisch was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself Der Rasende Reporter for his countless travels to the far corners of the globe and his equally numerous articles produced in a relatively short time, Kisch was noted for his development of literary reportage, his opposition to Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, and his Communism. Read more
29 Apr 1882: Auguste Herbin, French painter (died 1960) Auguste Herbin was a French painter of modern art. He is best known for his Cubist and abstract paintings consisting of colorful geometric figures. He co-founded the groups Abstraction-Création and Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, which promoted non-figurative abstract art. Read more
29 Apr 1882: Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (died 1945) Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman was an experimental Dutch artist, typographer, and printer. He set up a clandestine printing house during the Nazi occupation (1940–1945) and was shot by the Gestapo in the closing days of the war. Read more
29 Apr 1880: Adolf Chybiński, Polish historian, musicologist and academic (died 1952) Adolf Chybiński was a Polish musicologist and academic. Read more
29 Apr 1879: Thomas Beecham, English conductor (died 1961) Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC, was Britain's first international conductor. Read more
29 Apr 1875: Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (died 1950) Rafael Sabatini was an Italian-born British writer of romance and adventure novels. Read more
29 Apr 1872: Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (died 1930) Harry Payne Whitney was an American businessman, thoroughbred horse breeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family. Read more
29 Apr 1872: Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (died 1952) Forest Ray Moulton was an American astronomer. He was the brother of Harold G. Moulton, a noted economist. Read more
29 Apr 1863: Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (died 1933) Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy, was a Greek poet, journalist, and civil servant from Alexandria. A major figure of modern Greek literature, he is sometimes considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century. His works and consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important contributors not only to Greek poetry, but to Western poetry as a whole. Read more
29 Apr 1863: William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (died 1951) William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow journalism in violation of ethics and standards influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human-interest stories. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 with Mitchell Trubitt after being given control of The San Francisco Examiner by his wealthy father, Senator George Hearst. Read more
29 Apr 1863: Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (died 1922) Mary Theresa Ledóchowska, ; 29 April 1863 – 6 July 1922), was a Polish Catholic religious sister who founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver, dedicated to spreading Catholicism in Africa. She was beatified in 1975. Read more
29 Apr 1854: Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and engineer (died 1912) Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The Last Universalist", since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime. He has further been called "the Gauss of modern mathematics". Due to his success in science, along with his influence in philosophy, he has also been called "the philosopher par excellence of modern science". Read more
29 Apr 1848: Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (died 1906) Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography. He greatly enhanced his reach and influence as a painter and public figure by making affordable lithographs of his paintings available to the public. His lithographs increased the involvement of common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes. Furthermore, his religious depictions of Hindu deities and works from Indian epic poetry and Puranas have received critical acclaim. He was part of the royal family of Parappanad, Malappuram district. Read more
29 Apr 1847: Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer and conductor (died 1907) Carl Joachim Andersen was a Danish flutist, conductor and composer born in Copenhagen, son of the flutist Christian Joachim Andersen. Both as a virtuoso and as composer of flute music, he is considered one of the best of his time. He was a demanding leader and teacher, achieving high standards with orchestras. Read more
29 Apr 1842: Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1899) Carl Joseph Millöcker, was an Austrian composer of operettas and a conductor. Read more
29 Apr 1837: Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (died 1891) Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger, nicknamed Général Revanche, was a French Army officer and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the second decade of the Third Republic, he won multiple elections. At the zenith of his popularity in January 1889, he was feared to be powerful enough to establish himself as dictator. His base of support was the working-class districts of Paris and other cities, plus rural traditionalist Catholics and royalists. He advocated revanche, révision, and restauration. Read more
29 Apr 1818: Alexander II of Russia (died 1881) Alexander II was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 2 March 1855 until his assassination on 13 March 1881. He is also known as Alexander the Liberator because of his historic Edict of Emancipation, which officially abolished Russian serfdom in 1861. Crowned on 7 September 1856, he succeeded his father Nicholas I and was succeeded by his son Alexander III. Read more
29 Apr 1810: Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (died 1892) Thomas Adolphus Trollope was an English writer who was the author of more than 60 books. He lived most of his life in Italy creating a renowned villa in Florence with his first wife, Theodosia, and later another centre of British society in Rome with his second wife, the novelist Frances Eleanor Trollope. His mother, brother and both wives were known as writers. He was awarded the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 29 April in World History

29 Apr 2023: Padma Desai, Indian-American development economist (born 1931) Padma Desai was an Indian-American development economist who was the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of comparative economic systems and director of the Center for Transition Economies at Columbia University. Known for her scholarship on Soviet and Indian industrial policy, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2009. Read more
29 Apr 2022: Joanna Barnes, American actress and writer (born 1934) Joanna Barnes was an American actress and writer. Read more
29 Apr 2021: Cate Haste, English author (born 1945) Catherine Haste, Baroness Bragg, was an English author, biographer, historian and documentary film director, who worked freelance for major television networks in the UK and US over a period of 40 years. Read more
29 Apr 2020: Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (born 1967) Irrfan Khan was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spanned over 30 years and earned him numerous accolades, including a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, and six Filmfare Awards. In 2011, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. In 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more
29 Apr 2020: Guido Münch, Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist (born 1921) Guido Münch Paniagua was a Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist. Read more
29 Apr 2019: Josef Šural, Czech footballer (born 1990) Josef Šural was a Czech professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
29 Apr 2018: Luis García Meza, Bolivian general, 57th President of Bolivia (born 1929) Luis Arturo García Meza Tejada was a Bolivian military officer who served as the 57th president of Bolivia from 1980 to 1981. He was a dictator convicted of human rights violations and leader of a violent coup. A native of La Paz, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer (1971–78). Read more
29 Apr 2018: Michael Martin, British politician (born 1945) Michael John Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, was a Scottish politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 2000 and 2009. A member of the Labour Party prior to becoming speaker, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Springburn from 1979 to 2005 and for Glasgow North East until 2009. He was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons in 2000, remaining in the office for nine years until his involuntary resignation in 2009. Read more
29 Apr 2017: R. Vidyasagar Rao, Indian bureaucrat and activist (born 1939) Ramaraju Vidyasagar Rao was an Indian government administrator and a Telangana activist. He was the Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Water Resources, Central Water Commission. After the formation of Telangana State, he was appointed as the Advisor on Irrigation to the Government of Telangana. He was the foremost expert on irrigation projects in Telangana, and was instrumental in highlighting injustices in water allocation for Telangana Region in United Andhra Pradesh. Read more
29 Apr 2016: Dmytro Hnatyuk, Ukrainian singer (born 1925) Dmytro Mykhailovych Hnatyuk was a Soviet and Ukrainian baritone opera singer and a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament. Read more
29 Apr 2016: Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (born 1948) Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona was a Filipino judge who served as the 23rd Chief Justice of the Philippines from 2010 until his removal from office in 2012. Read more
29 Apr 2015: François Michelin, French businessman (born 1926) François Michelin was a French heir and businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Michelin from 1955 to 1999. Under his leadership, a family business founded by his grandfather became the leading global tire manufacturer, dominating the market in Europe and the US. A practising Roman Catholic, he was idiosyncratically non-hierarchical and conducted business from his hometown of Clermont-Ferrand in the rural Auvergne. Read more
29 Apr 2015: Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (born 1923) Jean Evelyn Nidetch was an American businessperson and the founder of Weight Watchers. Read more
29 Apr 2015: Calvin Peete, American golfer (born 1943) Calvin Peete was an American professional golfer. He was the most successful African-American to have played on the PGA Tour, with 12 wins, prior to the emergence of Tiger Woods. Peete won the 1985 Tournament Players Championship and finished the season top-5 on the PGA Tour money list three times; 1982, 1983 and 1985. He was ranked in the top 10 players on the McCormack's World Golf Rankings in 1984. Read more
29 Apr 2015: Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (born 1922) Daniel J. Walker was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 36th governor of Illinois, from 1973 until 1977. Read more
29 Apr 2014: Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (born 1966) Iveta Bartošová was a Czech singer, actress and celebrity, three-time best female vocalist in the music poll Zlatý slavík. She was also known for her turbulent lifestyle attracting the attention of the Czech tabloid media. Read more
29 Apr 2014: Al Feldstein, American author and illustrator (born 1925) Albert Bernard Feldstein was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. After retiring from Mad, Feldstein concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife. Read more
29 Apr 2014: Bob Hoskins, English actor (born 1942) Robert William Hoskins was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough playing Arthur Parker on the 1978 BBC Television serial Pennies from Heaven. He subsequently played acclaimed lead roles in the films The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Mermaids (1990), TwentyFourSeven (1997), Noriega: God's Favorite (2000), Last Orders (2001), The Good Pope: Pope John XXIII (2003) and Ruby Blue (2008). Read more
29 Apr 2013: Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (born 1992) Alex Elisala was a Samoa international rugby league footballer who was contracted to the North Queensland Cowboys at the time of his death. He primarily played as a hooker. Read more
29 Apr 2013: Pesah Grupper, Israeli politician, 13th Israel Minister of Agriculture (born 1924) Pesah Grupper was an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Agriculture between October 1983 and September 1984. Read more
29 Apr 2013: John La Montaine, American pianist and composer (born 1920) John Maynard La Montaine, also later LaMontaine, was an American pianist and composer, born in Oak Park, Illinois, who won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Piano Concerto No. 1 "In Time of War" (1958), which was premiered by Jorge Bolet. Read more
29 Apr 2013: Kevin Moore, English footballer (born 1958) Kevin Thomas Moore was an English professional footballer. Read more
29 Apr 2013: Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (born 1990) Marianna Zachariadi was a Greek pole vaulter who later competed for Cyprus. Read more
29 Apr 2012: Shukri Ghanem, Libyan politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Libya (born 1942) Shukri Mohammed Ghanem was a Libyan politician who was the General Secretary of the General People's Committee of Libya from June 2003 until March 2006 when, in the first major government reshuffle in over a decade, he was replaced by his deputy, Baghdadi Mahmudi. Ghanem subsequently served as the Minister of Oil until 2011. On 29 April 2012, his body was found floating on the New Danube, Vienna. Read more
29 Apr 2012: Joel Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (born 1957) Joel King Goldsmith was an American composer of film, television, and video game music. Read more
29 Apr 2012: Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (born 1945) Roland Moreno was a French inventor, engineer, humorist and author who was the inventor of the smart card. Moreno's smart card, or la carte à puce in French, was little known internationally. However, he became a national hero in France and was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 2009. Read more
29 Apr 2012: Kenny Roberts, American singer-songwriter (born 1926) George S. Kingsbury Jr., better known as Kenny Roberts, was an American country music singer. He is best known for his recordings of "I Never See Maggie Alone" and "Choc'late Ice Cream Cone", and was a member of The Down Homers with Bill Haley. Read more
29 Apr 2011: Siamak Pourzand, Iranian journalist and critic (born 1931) Siamak Pourzand was an Iranian journalist and film critic. He was the manager of the Majmue-ye Farhangi-Honari-ye Tehran—a cultural center for writers, artists, and intellectuals—and wrote cultural commentary for several reformist newspapers later shut down by the Iranian government. In 2001, he was imprisoned for his articles critical of Iranian leadership, a move condemned by numerous human rights and journalism organizations. Read more
29 Apr 2011: Joanna Russ, American writer, academic and radical feminist (born 1937) Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny. She is best known for The Female Man, a novel combining utopian fiction and satire, and the story "When It Changed". Read more
29 Apr 2010: Avigdor Arikha, French-Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian (born 1929) Avigdor Arikha was a Romanian-born French–Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian. Read more
29 Apr 2008: Gordon Bradley, English-American footballer (born 1933) Gordon Bradley was an English-American soccer midfielder born and raised on Wearside who played several seasons with lower-division English clubs before moving to play in Canada at the age of 30. During the Canadian off-season, he played and coached in the U.S.-based German American Soccer League. In 1971, he became a player and head coach for the New York Cosmos. In addition to coaching the Cosmos, he has coached the U.S. national team and at the collegiate and high school levels. Bradley also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Read more
29 Apr 2008: Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (born 1906) Albert Hofmann was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesized the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds psilocybin and psilocin. Hofmann discovered the structure of chitin in 1929. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and numerous books, including LSD: Mein Sorgenkind. Read more
29 Apr 2007: Josh Hancock, American baseball player (born 1978) Joshua Morgan Hancock was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was killed in an auto accident on April 29, 2007, at the age of 29. Read more
29 Apr 2007: Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (born 1940) Richard Charles Motz was a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1961 and 1969. He was the first bowler for New Zealand to take 100 wickets in Test cricket. Read more
29 Apr 2007: Ivica Račan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (born 1944) Ivica Račan was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments. Read more
29 Apr 2006: John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (born 1908) John Kenneth Galbraith, also known as J. K. Galbraith or Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s. As an economist, he leaned toward post-Keynesian economics from an institutionalist perspective. He served as the deputy director of the powerful Office of Price Administration (OPA) during World War II in charge of stabilizing all prices, wages and rents in the American economy, to combat the threat of inflation and hoarding during a time of shortages and rationing, a task which was successfully accomplished. Read more
29 Apr 2005: William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (born 1927) William Joseph Bell was an American screenwriter and television producer, best known as the creator of the soap operas Another World, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Read more
29 Apr 2005: Louis Leithold, American mathematician and academic (born 1924) Louis Leithold was an American mathematician and teacher. He is best known for authoring The Calculus, a classic textbook about calculus that changed the teaching methods for calculus in world high schools and universities. Known as "a legend in AP calculus circles," Leithold was the mentor of Jaime Escalante, the Los Angeles high-school teacher whose story is the subject of the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver. Read more
29 Apr 2004: John Henniker-Major, British diplomat and civil servant (born 1916) John Patrick Edward Chandos Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker, known as Sir John Henniker-Major from 1965 to 1980, was a British peer, civil servant, and diplomat. Read more
29 Apr 2003: Janko Bobetko, Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff (born 1919) Janko Bobetko was a Croatian general who had participated in World War II and later in the Croatian War of Independence. He was one of the founding members of 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment, the first anti-fascist military unit during World War II in Yugoslavia. He later had a military career in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Read more
29 Apr 2002: Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (born 1936) Robert Macomber Akin, III was an American business executive, journalist, television commentator and champion sports car racing driver. Read more
29 Apr 2001: Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (born 1936) Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker Jr. was an American solar physicist and a pioneer of EUV/XUV optics. He developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona. Two of his sounding rocket payloads, the Stanford/MSFC Rocket Spectroheliograph Experiment and the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array, recorded the first full-disk, high-resolution images of the Sun in XUV with conventional geometries of normal incidence optics. This technology is used in solar telescopes such as SOHO/EIT and TRACE, and in the fabrication of microchips via ultraviolet photolithography. Read more
29 Apr 2000: Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (born 1906) Phạm Văn Đồng was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam, following reunification of North and South Vietnam, from 1976 until he retired in 1987 under the presidency of Trường Chinh and Nguyễn Văn Linh. He was considered one of Ho Chi Minh's closest lieutenants. Read more
29 Apr 1997: Mike Royko, American journalist and author (born 1932) Michael Royko Jr. was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago, Illinois. Over his 42-year career, he wrote more than 7,500 daily columns for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. A humorist whose writing spanned a broad range of topics, he was the winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Read more
29 Apr 1993: Michael Gordon, American actor and director (born 1909) Michael Gordon was an American stage actor and stage and film director. Read more
29 Apr 1993: Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter and producer (born 1946) Michael Ronson was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also played in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. A classically trained musician, Ronson was known for his melodic approach to guitar playing. Read more
29 Apr 1992: Mae Clarke, American actress (born 1910) Mae Clarke was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit in The Public Enemy. Both films were released in 1931. Read more
29 Apr 1982: Raymond Bussières, French actor, producer and screenwriter (born 1907) Raymond Bussières was a French actor. He was born in Ivry-la-Bataille. He began his career on the stage as a member of the celebrated Groupe Octobre. He appeared in more than 160 films from 1933 to 1982. In his early career he excelled in portraying the Parisian street urchin persona in many of his films. On television he had success in the 1977 mini-series Le Pain noir. He died in Paris and is buried in Marchenoir. He was married to the actress Annette Poivre. Read more
29 Apr 1980: Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (born 1899) Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", Hitchcock became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo appearances in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). Among other accolades, his films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director, despite five nominations. Read more
29 Apr 1979: Muhsin Ertuğrul, Turkish actor and director (born 1892) Muhsin Ertuğrul, also known as Ertuğrul Muhsin Bey, was a Turkish actor and director. Read more
29 Apr 1979: Hardie Gramatky, American author and illustrator (born 1907) Bernhard August "Hardie" Gramatky, Jr. was an American painter, writer, animator, and illustrator. In a 2006 article in Watercolor Magazine, Andrew Wyeth named him as one of America's 20 greatest watercolorists. He wrote and illustrated several children's books, most notably Little Toot. Read more
29 Apr 1978: Theo Helfrich, German race car driver (born 1913) Theodor Helfrich was a racing driver from Germany. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 3 August 1952, but scored no championship points. He was German Formula Two Champion in 1953, took a number of wins in the German Formula Three Championship in a Cooper-Norton, and finished in second place in the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Read more
29 Apr 1968: Aasa Helgesen, Norwegian midwife (born 1877) Aasa Helgesen born Aasa Røinesdal was a Norwegian midwife and politician. She served as mayor of Utsira Municipality from 1926 to 1928, and was the first female mayor in Norway. She worked as a midwife in Utsira from 1903 to 1942. Read more
29 Apr 1968: Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident (born 1932) Lin Zhao, born Peng Lingzhao (彭令昭), was a prominent Chinese dissident who was imprisoned and later executed by gunshot by the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution for her criticism of Mao Zedong's policies. She is widely considered to be a martyr. Read more
29 Apr 1967: J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1929) J. B. Lenoir was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s. Read more
29 Apr 1966: William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (born 1875) William Henry Eccles, FRS was an English physicist who was a pioneer in the development of radio communication. Read more
29 Apr 1966: Paula Strasberg, American actress and acting coach (born 1909) Paula Strasberg was an American stage actress. She became actor and teacher Lee Strasberg's second wife and mother of actors John and Susan Strasberg, as well as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach and confidante. Read more
29 Apr 1959: Kenneth Anderson, English soldier and Governor of Gibraltar (born 1891) General Sir Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, was a senior British Army officer who saw service in both world wars. He is mainly remembered as the commander of the British First Army during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa and the subsequent Tunisian campaign which ended with the capture of almost 250,000 Axis soldiers. An outwardly reserved character, he did not court popularity either with his superiors or with the public. Read more
29 Apr 1956: Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (born 1876) Wilhelm Josef Franz Ritter von Leeb was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. Leeb was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph which granted him the title of nobility. During the Battle of France, he commanded Army Group C, responsible for the breakthrough of the Maginot Line. Read more
29 Apr 1951: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (born 1889) Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austro-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Read more
29 Apr 1947: Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (born 1867) Irving Fisher was an American economist, statistician, inventor, eugenicist and progressive social campaigner. He was one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation has been embraced by the post-Keynesian school. Joseph Schumpeter described him as "the greatest economist the United States has ever produced", an assessment later repeated by James Tobin and Milton Friedman. Read more
29 Apr 1944: Billy Bitzer, American cinematographer (born 1872) Gottfried Wilhelm Bitzer was an American cinematographer, notable for his close association and work with D. W. Griffith. Read more
29 Apr 1944: Pyotr Stolyarsky, Soviet violinist (born 1871) Pyotr Solomonovich Stolyarsky was a Soviet violinist and eminent pedagogue, honored as People's Artist of UkSSR (1939). He was a member of CPSU from 1939. Read more
29 Apr 1943: Joseph Achron, Russian composer and violinist (born 1886) Joseph Yulyevich Achron, also seen as Akhron was a Russian composer and violinist, who settled in the United States. His preoccupation with Jewish elements and his desire to develop a "Jewish" harmonic and contrapuntal idiom, underscored and informed much of his work. His friend, the composer Arnold Schoenberg, described Achron in his obituary as "one of the most underrated modern composers". Read more
29 Apr 1943: Ricardo Viñes, Spanish pianist (born 1875) Ricardo Viñes y Roda was a Spanish pianist. He gave the premieres of various works by Ravel, Debussy, Satie, Falla and Albéniz. He was the piano teacher of the composer Francis Poulenc and the pianists Marcelle Meyer, Joaquín Nin-Culmell and Léo-Pol Morin. Read more
29 Apr 1937: William Gillette, American actor and playwright (born 1853) William Hooker Gillette was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 silent film. Read more
29 Apr 1935: Leroy Carr, American singer, songwriter and pianist (born 1905) Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Music historian Elijah Wald has called him "the most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century". He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues", his debut recording released by Vocalion Records in 1928. Read more
29 Apr 1933: Clay Stone Briggs, American politician (born 1876) Clay Stone Briggs was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1919 through his death in 1933. Read more
29 Apr 1933: Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (born 1863) Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy, was a Greek poet, journalist, and civil servant from Alexandria. A major figure of modern Greek literature, he is sometimes considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century. His works and consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important contributors not only to Greek poetry, but to Western poetry as a whole. Read more
29 Apr 1925: Ralph Delahaye Paine, American journalist and author (born 1871) Ralph Delahaye Paine was an American journalist and author popular in the early 20th century. Later, he held both elected and appointed government offices. Read more
29 Apr 1924: Ernest Fox Nichols, American educator and physicist (born 1869) Ernest Fox Nichols was an American educator and physicist. He served as the 10th President of Dartmouth College. Read more
29 Apr 1922: Richard Croker, Irish American political boss (born 1843) Richard Welstead Croker, known as "Boss Croker", was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of Robert A. Van Wyck as the first mayor of all five boroughs. During his tenure as Grand Sachem, Boss Croker garnered a reputation for corruption and ruthlessness and was frequently the subject of investigations. As his power waned following the 1900 and 1901 elections, Croker resigned his position and returned to Ireland, where he spent the rest of his life. Read more
29 Apr 1917: Florence Farr, British actress, composer and director (born 1860) Florence Beatrice Emery was a British West End leading actress, composer and director. She was also a women's rights activist, journalist, educator, singer, novelist, and leader of the occult order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She was a friend and collaborator of Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, poet Ezra Pound, playwright Oscar Wilde, artists Aubrey Beardsley and Pamela Colman Smith, Masonic scholar Arthur Edward Waite, theatrical producer Annie Horniman, and many other literati of London's fin de siècle era, and even by their standards she was "the bohemian's bohemian". Though not as well known as some of her contemporaries and successors, Farr was a "first-wave" feminist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; she publicly advocated for suffrage, workplace equality, and equal protection under the law for women, writing a book and many articles in intellectual journals on the rights of "the new woman". Read more
29 Apr 1916: Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (born 1850) Jørgen Pedersen Gram was a Danish actuary and mathematician who was born in Nustrup, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark and died in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more
29 Apr 1905: Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (born 1847) Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh was a Cuban pianist and composer. He was influential in the creolization of Cuban music. Read more
29 Apr 1903: Godfrey Carter, Australian businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of Melbourne (born 1830) Godfrey Downes Carter was an Australian businessman, politician and mayor of Melbourne from 1884 to 1885. Read more
29 Apr 1903: Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (born 1835) Paul Belloni Du Chaillu was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa. He later researched the prehistory of Scandinavia. Read more
29 Apr 1854: Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1768) Field Marshal Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, styled Lord Paget between 1784 and 1812 and known as the Earl of Uxbridge between 1812 and 1815, was a British Army officer and politician. After serving as a member of parliament for Carnarvon and then for Milborne Port, he took part in the Flanders Campaign and then commanded the cavalry for Sir John Moore's army in Spain during the Peninsular War; his cavalry showed distinct superiority over their French counterparts at the Battle of Sahagún and at the Battle of Benavente, where he defeated the elite chasseurs of the French Imperial Guard. During the Hundred Days he led the charge of the heavy cavalry against Comte d'Erlon's column at the Battle of Waterloo. At the end of the battle, he lost part of one leg to a cannonball. In later life, he served twice as Master-General of the Ordnance and twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Read more
29 Apr 1848: Chester Ashley, American politician (born 1790) Chester Ashley was an American politician who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1844 until his sudden death in 1848. Read more
29 Apr 1833: William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (born 1756) William Babington FRS FGS was an Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist. Read more

Why is 29 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 29 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 29 April in World history?

On 29 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.