This day in history

29 July

Events

• 1014:  Byzantine emperor Basil II surrounds and captures a Bulgarian army in the pass of Kleidon, Bulgaria. 15,000 Bulgar prisoners are blinded before being sent home.
• 1588:  After being forced to slip anchor when attacked by fire ships at night, the Spanish Armada is defeated by the combined English fleet under Lord Admiral Thomas Howard of Effingham off Gravelines, France. The surviving galleons take to the North Sea; many are subsequently wrecked off the Scottish and Irish coasts.
• 1941:  Romania reoccupies the territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina, which it had ceded to the USSR in June 1940.
• 1948:  To coincide with the opening day of the Olympic Games in London, England, the inaugural national Stoke Mandeville Games, the forerunner of the Paralympics for disabled athletes, are held at Stoke Mandeville hospital, Buckinghamshire, England.
• 1949:  The first weather forecast is broadcast on British television: it consists of a voice-over only.
• 1964:  The first family planning clinic in Britain to give advice to unmarried mothers opens.
• 1978:  Penny Dean, a 23-year-old Californian, swims the English Channel in a new world record time of 7 hours 42 minutes.
• 1981:  Charles, Prince of Wales, marries Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral in London, England. Television coverage attracts 39 million people, the largest British audience to date.
• 1990:  Free elections are held in Mongolia, with the communist-reformist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, led by Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, winning a majority.
• 1990:  Troops loyal to President Samuel Doe in Liberia massacre at least 600 refugees sheltering in a church in the capital, Monrovia. On 5 August, the USA sends marines to evacuate US citizens from the city.
• 1998:  After four days of fighting, Serb forces overrun the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, routing the Kosovo Liberation Army, who are fighting for Kosovo autonomy. Over 100,000 Albanians are displaced.
• 1998:  Thirteen factory workers in Ohio win the world's largest lottery prize, $161 million/108 million. The Powerball lottery is played in 21 US states.
• 2006:  During a Test match against South Africa in Colombo, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara score the highest partnership ever recorded 624 runs in first-class cricket.

Births and Deaths

• Olaf II Haraldsson
  1030: Olaf II Haraldsson, Viking king 101530, and patron saint of Norway, who was the first to rule the entire country and who also introduced a religious code which became the country's first national legislation, dies in Stiklestad, Norway (c. 35).
• Vincent van Gogh
  1890: Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter whose work inspired the expressionists, dies in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, France (37).
• Gertrude Stein
  1946: Gertrude Stein, US avant-garde writer and eccentric, dies in Paris, France (72).

Data provided by Helicon Publishing