April 29

1587 Sir Francis Drake, an English naval commander and privateer, launched a surprise attack on the Spanish fleet in the port of Cadiz, Spain on April 29, 1587. The attack was launched in response to rumors that the Spanish were planning to invade England and that their fleet was gathering in Cadiz.

Drake and his fleet burned more than 30 ships and destroyed or damaged a significant amount of Spanish naval equipment and supplies. He succeeded in delaying the Armada for a year.

Drake's map of his attack on Cadiz.

1727 International Dance Day is celebrated every year on April 29, the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), the creator of modern ballet. Prior to Jean-George Noverre, ballets were large spectacles that focused mainly on elaborate costumes and scenery and not on the physical and emotional expression of the dancers. In 1760 Noverre wrote Letters on Dancing and Ballets, a widely published and highly popular dance manual, in which he called for severe reforms to the art form.

1770 James Cook, a British navigator and explorer, and his crew aboard the HMS Endeavour, became the first recorded Europeans to reach the eastern coastline of Australia when they arrived at Botany Bay on April 29, 1770. Cook had been commissioned by the British Admiralty to sail to the South Pacific to observe the Transit of Venus and to search for the mythical southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.

1792 The Vancouver area had been inhabited by native tribes for more than 4,000 years, before British naval captain George Vancouver became the first European to visit the area in the 1790s. Captain Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island and the Washington state mainland on April 29, 1792 and proceeded to explore the area.

HMS Discovery was the lead ship used by George Vancouver

1798 Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation was first performed on April 29, 1798 in a concert for the Viennese aristocrats. The oratorio depicts and celebrates the creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis and Paradise Lost. The premiere of "The Creation" was a major event in Vienna's musical calendar and was attended by many of the city's most prominent aristocrats and cultural figures. The oratorio was an instant success and quickly became one of Haydn's most celebrated works, 

1818 Tsar Alexander II was born Alexander Nikolaevich in Moscow on April 29, 1818. He was the eldest son of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (daughter of Frederick William III of Prussia and of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz). Alexander II succeeded to the Russian throne upon the death of his father and was the emperor of Russia from 1855 until 1881. He was also the king of Poland and the grand duke of Finland.

 Alexander II  by E Botman 1856

1851 Elias Howe, the American inventor who is credited with developing the first practical sewing machine, also received a patent on April 29, 1851, for an "Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure." Howe's invention was essentially a zipper, and it was designed to make it easier for people to fasten and unfasten their clothing. Despite the potential of his invention, Howe did not attempt to market it, and it remained largely unknown for several years 

1858 Charles Dickens started his first tour giving readings from his works on April 29, 1858. He made 129 appearances in 49 different towns throughout the UK. In his lifetime Dickens made more money from his lectures than he did from his novels. During his 1867 reading tour of USA, the Americans went into a frenzy about Dickens. He gave 76 performances for which he earned $228,000. After expenses of $39,000 Dickens was able to bank nearly £19,000.

Charles Dickens public reading 1867

1879 On April 29, 1879, Thomas Edison demonstrated his incandescent light bulb by lighting up the Public Square road system in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the first time that electric streetlights had been used in the United States. The event was a major success, and it helped to pave the way for the widespread adoption of electric lighting in the years to come.

1899 Jazz musician Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington on April 29, 1899. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place), NW in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Daisy and J.E. were both pianists. Daisy primarily played parlor songs and J.E. preferred operatic arias. Ellington's friends noticed that he acted like a gentleman, and gave him a nickname, "Duke."

1909 David Lloyd George's People's Budget of April 29, 1909 was the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the public. The budget proposed increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations, as well as new taxes on land values and inheritances. It had significant opposition from the Conservative Party and the House of Lords, and took a year to be passed.

1933 The job of a football referee got a lot easier on April 29, 1933 as players in the FA Cup final wore numbers on their shirts for the first time. The decision to introduce numbered shirts was made by the Football Association in an attempt to make it easier for spectators to identify players. Everton wore numbers 1-11, while Manchester City wore numbers 12-22. 

1937 Organic chemist Wallace Carothers originally rejected a lucrative job with the USA chemical firm DuPont but later accepted the offer in the late 1920s. Carothers invented in 1935 nylon, but continued to suffer from depression and kept a capsule of cyanide on the chain of his watch. He took his own life with the poison at 41 on April 29, 1937, which meant he never saw the huge success of his material.

1961 Luciano Pavarotti began singing lessons seriously in 1954 at the age of 19. The following year, Pavarotti participated in the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, as a member of the Corale Rossini voice choir, where they won the first prize. Pavarotti made his opera début in the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème by Puccini on April 29, 1961 in the town of Reggio Emilia. That same year, he won the prestigious Concorso Internazionale. Soon he was singing in the Vienna State Opera.

1978 Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura reached the North Pole solo on April 29,1978 by dogsled, becoming the first person to travel to the North Pole alone. Uemura's expedition wasn't entirely unsupported. While he traveled alone, he wasn't completely self-sufficient. There are accounts mentioning him being airlifted to Greenland after reaching the North Pole, which some consider breaks the criteria for the first fully solo, unsupported trek.

1980 English movie director Alfred Hitchcock died at age 80 in his Bel Air home of liver failure and heart problems at 9:17 am EDT on April 29, 1980. Hitchcock's funeral Mass was held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills the next day, after which his body was cremated and his remains were scattered over the Pacific Ocean on May 10, 1980.

1991 Bangladesh was hit by 159 cyclones between 1885 and 2015. It receives roughly 40% of the impact of total storm surges in the world. On April 29, 1991, a cyclone hit Bangladesh, killing more than 135,000 people. It was one of the worst disasters of the 20th century.

1999 A female calica cat named Tama was born on April 29, 1999. She gained fame for being a station master and operating officer at Kishi Railway Station on the Kishigawa Line in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Tama wore a special cap and collar, and she even had her own office in the station building

2011 The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton took place at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. Kate's wedding dress had a 2.7 metre (8.86 ft) train and hand embroidered individual lace flowers. In keeping with wedding tradition for "something blue," Kate had a blue ribbon sewn into the interior of her dress. Kate became the Duchess of Cambridge upon her marriage.

2015 Scientists announced on April 29, 2015, the discovery of the first known dinosaur with membranous wings, Yi qi. The first and only known fossil specimen of Yi qi was found by a farmer, Wang Jianrong, in a quarry near Mutoudeng Village (Qinglong County, Hebei) in China ). Wang sold the fossil to the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature. The initial study of Yi was published in the journal Nature.

2015 A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox set the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball on April 29, 2015. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

2020 The longest lightning strike on record occurred on April 29, 2020, and stretched for 768 kilometers (477 miles) across three states in the United States: Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. That's almost the distance between New York City and Columbus, Ohio! The strike was captured by satellites and verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

2020 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds welcomed their first child, a son named Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, on April 29, 2020. At the time of Wilfred's birth, Johnson was in the midst of leading the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had led to a nationwide lockdown and significant disruption to daily life. The birth of his son provided a moment of joy and celebration for Johnson and his family during a difficult time for the country.

2022 Boris Becker was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act on April 8, 2022. The charges were: Concealing assets: Failing to disclose estate: Removing property: Failing to cooperate with an investigation. On April 29, 2022, Becker was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Becker's conviction and sentencing were a major fall from grace for the former tennis star.