Famous birthdays, deaths and events of February 29
Birthdays
- 1468 - Pope Paul III, (d. 1549)
- 1692 - John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)
- 1724 - Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d.1822)
- 1736 - Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784)
- 1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
- 1812 - Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1880
- 1840 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
- 1852 - Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)
- 1860 - Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)
- 1896 - Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
- 1896 - William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)
- 1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
- 1904 - Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)
- 1904 - Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)
- 1908 - Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)
- 1908 - Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1908 - Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1916 - Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
- 1920 - Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1920 - James Mitchell, American actor
- 1920 - Michèle Morgan, French actress
- 1920 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
- 1920 - Ivan Petrov, Russian operatic bass (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Al Rosen, American baseball player
- 1924 - David Beattie, New Zealand Governor-General (d. 2001)
- 1924 - Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador
- 1928 - Joss Ackland, English actor
- 1928 - Terry Lewis, Australian police commissioner
- 1928 - Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
- 1932 - Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
- 1932 - Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)
- 1932 - Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver (d. 1985)
- 1932 - Reri Grist, African-American coloratura soprano
- 1936 - Jack Lousma, American astronaut
- 1936 - Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936 - Alex Rocco, American actor
- 1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople,
- 1940 - William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer
- 1944 - Phyllis Frelich, American actress
- 1944 - Dennis Farina, American actor
- 1944 - Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator
- 1944 - Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
- 1948 - Jirō Akagawa, Japanese novelist
- 1952 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality
- 1952 - Tim Powers, American writer
- 1952 - Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
- 1952 - Bart Stupak, American politician
- 1956 - Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer
- 1956 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
- 1956 - Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
- 1956 - J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebrity journalist
- 1956 - Jerry Fry, Baseball player
- 1960 - Ian McKenzie Anderson, British musician
- 1960 - Khaled, Algerian raï musician
- 1960 - Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
- 1960 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
- 1964 - Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality
- 1964 - Jahred Shane, Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of Hed PE
- 1968 - Suanne Braun, South African actress
- 1968 - Chucky Brown, American basketball player
- 1968 - Pete Fenson, American curler
- 1968 - Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress
- 1968 - Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist
- 1968 - Bryce Paup, American football player
- 1968 - Wendi Peters, British actress
- 1968 - Eugene Volokh, American law professor
- 1968 - Frank Woodley, Australian comedian
- 1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr.
- 1972 - Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)
- 1972 - Saul Williams, American rapper
- 1972 - Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American Real World housemate and AIDS activist (d. 1994)
- 1976 - Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
- 1976 - Emma Barton, English actress
- 1976 - Terrence Long, American baseball player
- 1980 - Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 - Taylor Twellman, American soccer player
- 1980 - Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league footballer
- 1980 - Chris Conley, American musician
- 1980 - Ruben Plaza, Spanish cyclist
- 1984 - Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 - Darren Ambrose, English footballer
- 1984 - Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
- 1984 - Cullen Jones, American swimmer
- 1988 - Scott Golbourne, English footballer
Deaths
- 1528 - Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b. 1504)
- 1592 - Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
- 1604 - John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)
- 1740 - Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
- 1744 - John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)
- 1820 - Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)
- 1868 - Ludwig I of Bavaria, (b. 1786)
- 1880 - Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1812
- 1908 - Pat Garrett, U.S. gunslinger
- 1908 - John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow
- 1928 - Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
- 1940 - Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)
- 1944 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)
- 1956 - Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
- 1964 - Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)
- 1968 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
- 1980 - Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)
- 1992 - Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)
- 1992 - Earl Scheib, American car repainter (b. 1908)
- 2000 - Dennis Danell, American artist (b. 1961)
- 2004 - Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)
Events
- 1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
- 1704 - Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
- 1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
- 1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
- 1780 - The Omicron Delta Omega fraternity was founded by Benjamin Franklin at James Madison University.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails
- 1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
- 1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
- 1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
- 1936 - Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
- 1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
- 1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
- 1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
- 1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
- 1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- 1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
- 1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
- 1960 - Family Circus makes its debut.
- 1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization
- 1972 - Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
- 1980 - Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
- 1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
- 1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
- 1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
- 2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
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