On this day: 29 October

Selected events and births on 29 October, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1883 – The San Francisco Mint signed a contract to produce the Kalākaua coinage (coin pictured) for the Hawaiian Kingdom. Read more: San Francisco Mint Kalākaua coinage Hawaiian Kingdom
• 1986 – British prime minister Margaret Thatcher officially opened the M25, one of Britain's busiest motorways. Read more: Margaret Thatcher M25 motorway
• 1991 – Galileo became the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid when it made a flyby of Gaspra. Read more: Galileo (spacecraft) Asteroid 951 Gaspra
• 1998 – At 77 years old, former astronaut John Glenn returned to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-95 mission. Read more: John Glenn Space Shuttle Discovery STS-95
• 2013 – The first phase of the Marmaray project opened with an undersea rail tunnel (train pictured) across the Bosphorus strait. Read more: Marmaray Marmaray Tunnel Bosporus

Born on this day

• 1938 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian politician, President of Liberia, Nobel Prize laureate Read more: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of Liberia Nobel Peace Prize
• 1947 – Helen Coonan, Australian lawyer and politician, 52nd Australian Minister for Communications Read more: Helen Coonan Minister for Communications (Australia)
• 1950 – Abdullah Gül, Turkish academic and politician, 11th President of Turkey Read more: Abdullah Gül President of Turkey
• 1972 – Takafumi Horie, Japanese businessman, founded Livedoor Read more: Takafumi Horie Livedoor
• 1989 – Irina Karamanos, Chilean anthropologist and political scientist, First Lady of Chile Read more: Irina Karamanos First Lady of Chile
• 1993 – Ágnes Bukta, Hungarian tennis player Read more: Ágnes Bukta
• 1993 – India Eisley, American actress Read more: India Eisley
• 1994 – Danielle Hunter, American football player Read more: Danielle Hunter
• 1996 – Vince Dunn, Canadian ice hockey player Read more: Vince Dunn
• 1996 – Mikko Rantanen, Finnish ice hockey player Read more: Mikko Rantanen
• 1996 – Astrid S, Norwegian singer and songwriter Read more: Astrid S
• 1998 – Lance Stroll, Canadian racing driver Read more: Lance Stroll

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / October 29 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.