Summary of the Day ✨ 29 March (29/03)
Prime Minister Theresa May formally initiated Brexit by invoking Article 50, beginning the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, while the Ever Given container ship was successfully dislodged from the Suez Canal after blocking the vital waterway for days. In a landmark social development, the first same-sex marriages were performed in England and Wales as the nation celebrated marriage equality.
Historical Events 📜
- 2021: The ship Ever Given is dislodged from the Suez Canal.
- 2017: Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, formally beginning the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.
- 2015: Air Canada Flight 624 skids off the runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, after arriving from Toronto shortly past midnight. All 133 passengers and five crews on board survive, with 23 treated for minor injuries.
- 2014: The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed.
- 2013: At least 36 people are killed when a 16-floor building collapses in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- 2010: Two suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.
- 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
- 2004: The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certifies Taipei 101 as the world’s tallest building, based on the building having been topped out on 1 July 2003, even though the building was not completed until 31 December 2004.
- 2002: In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
- 2001: A Gulfstream III crashes on approach to Aspen/Pitkin County Airport in Aspen, Colorado. All 18 people on board are killed.
- 1999: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble.
- 1999: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in India strikes the Chamoli district in Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
- 1990: The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.
- 1984: The Baltimore Colts load their possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transfer their operations to Indianapolis.
- 1982: The Canada Act 1982 receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
Famous Births 👶
- 2004: Kim Ju-chan, South Korean footballer
- 1996: Wade Baldwin IV, American basketball player
- 1994: Jung Jae-won, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, and actor
- 1994: Matt Olson, American baseball player
- 1993: Thorgan Hazard, Belgian footballer
- 1991: Irene, South Korean idol, actress and television host
- 1991: N’Golo Kanté, French footballer
- 1990: Lyle Taylor, English footballer
- 1989: James Tomkins, English footballer
- 1986: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, English footballer
- 1986: Lucas Elliot Eberl, American actor and director
- 1985: Fernando Amorebieta, Venezuelan footballer
- 1983: Efstathios Aloneftis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
- 1983: Chokwe Antar Lumumba, American attorney, activist and politician
- 1981: Jasmine Crockett, American attorney and politician
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: Richard Chamberlain, American actor (born 1934)
- 2024: Gerry Conway, English folk and rock drummer/percussionist (born 1947)
- 2024: Louis Gossett Jr., American actor (born 1936)
- 2023: John Kerin, Australian politician (born 1937)
- 2023: Vivan Sundaram, Indian contemporary artist (born 1943)
- 2022: Charles Jeffrey, British botanist (born 1934)
- 2022: Jennifer Wilson, English actress (born 1932)
- 2021: Bashkim Fino, Albanian politician, 29th Prime Minister of Albania (born 1962)
- 2021: Sarah Onyango Obama, Kenyan educator and philanthropist (born 1921)
- 2020: Joe Diffie, American country music singer (born 1958)
- 2020: Alan Merrill, American musician (born 1951)
- 2020: Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor (born 1933)
- 2019: Agnès Varda, French film director (born 1928)
- 2018: Anita Shreve, American author (born 1946)
- 2017: Alexei Abrikosov, Russian physicist, 2003 Nobel laureate in Physics (born 1928)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Armogastes - Christian feast day:
Berthold of Calabria - Christian feast day:
Gwynllyw - Christian feast day:
Jonas and Barachisius - Christian feast day:
Ludolph of Ratzeburg - Christian feast day:
March 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Boganda Day (Central African Republic)
- Commemoration of the 1947 Rebellion (Madagascar)
- National Vietnam War Veterans Day (United States)
- Day of the Young Combatant (Chile)
- Youth Day (Taiwan)