December 29

Today in History
• 1170 - English Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket assassinated by four knights
• 1539 - St Jacob's Church burns after being hit by lightning
• 1566 - Danish student and astronomer Tycho Brache loses part of his nose in a sword duel
• 1782 - 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
• 1835 - Treaty of New Echota is signed between US government and a Cherokee faction
• 1837 - Steam-powered threshing machine patented in Winthrop, Maine
• 1845 - Texas admitted as 28th state of the Union
• 1848 - Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk's administration)


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Constitution of Ireland
• International Cello Day
• Mongolia Independence Day
• National Ha Day
• National Pepper Pot Day
• Still Need To Do Day
• Tick Tock Day
• Falls Festival History

Birthdays
• 1709 - Elizabeth of Russia, Empress of Russia (1741-62)
• 1776 - Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor (waterproof fabric)
• 1800 - Charles Goodyear, chemist and engineer, invented the vulcanization process for rubber
• 1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th US President (Unionist: 1865-69)
• 1809 - William Gladstone, British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1859 - Venustiano Carranza, Mexican revolutionary and President of Mexico (1915-20)
• 1879 - Billy Mitchell, United States Army general (father of the US Air Force)
• 1921 - Dobrica Cosic, Serbian writer and President 1992-93)