106 things happened on 29 January, from AD 757 to 2025. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1856 · 170 years ago
Queen Victoria created the Victoria Cross, a medal to honour acts of bravery during the Crimean War. It is the highest award for courage 'in the presence of the enemy' given to members of the British Armed Forces. The Queen presented the first medals herself …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
The British official Stamford Raffles landed on the island of Singapore. That year he secured control of it from local rulers, to protect British shipping routes in the region. A busy port grew up there for trade between Europe and Asia. Raffles is remembered as the founder of modern Singapore, and Rafflesia flowers are named after him.
UK story
Queen Victoria created the Victoria Cross, a medal to honour acts of bravery during the Crimean War. It is the highest award for courage 'in the presence of the enemy' given to members of the British Armed Forces. The Queen presented the first medals herself in 1857. Most of the medals have been made from the metal of captured cannons.
American writer Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven' appeared in a newspaper called The Evening Mirror. In the poem, a mysterious raven visits a man who is mourning his lost love, Lenore, and keeps repeating one word: 'Nevermore'. The poem is famous for its musical sound and spooky atmosphere. Poe is best known for his tales of mystery.
German engineer Carl Benz received a patent for his petrol-powered motor car, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. It is considered the first practical modern car. It was also the first car to be put into series production, meaning many were built to the same design. That same year, Benz drove it in public for the first time.
Liliʻuokalani became queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in the Pacific Ocean. She was the only woman to rule Hawaii in her own right, and its last monarch. In 1893 she was overthrown and the kingdom came to an end. She was also a songwriter who composed the famous song 'Aloha ʻOe' and many other works.
Charles Curtis of Kansas, a citizen of the Kaw Nation, became the first Native American to serve as a United States senator. He had already been the first Native American in the US Congress, as a member of the House of Representatives. From 1929 to 1933 he was vice president of the United States, the only Native American ever to hold that job.
The first people chosen for the National Baseball Hall of Fame were announced. The Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, New York, honours people who have excelled in the sport, and is also a museum of baseball history. The first induction ceremony was not held until the building opened in 1939. By the 2026 elections, 354 people had been chosen.
French President Jacques Chirac announced a 'definitive end' to France's testing of nuclear weapons. Nuclear tests are experiments to see how these weapons work, and more than 2,000 have been carried out around the world since 1945. Many people and governments opposed the tests because of the damage and radioactive fallout they cause, and international bans have been agreed.
Indian bowler Irfan Pathan took a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match against Pakistan in Karachi. A hat-trick in cricket means a bowler takes three wickets with three balls in a row. Pathan became the first, and so far only, player to do this in the opening over of a Test. He later helped India win the first T20 World Cup in 2007.
Sergius III returned from exile to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
War of the Sixth Coalition: At the Battle of Brienne, both sides' commanders, Napoleon and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, were nearly captured.
Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
Mexican Revolution: The Magonista rebellion began when Mexican Liberal Party troops captured the town of Mexicali.
Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.
Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.
World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign, began.
The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.
The last of its many UFO sightings is made at Pudasjärvi, Finland.
Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
The first major ground engagement of the Gulf War began with the Iraqi invasion of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, recaptured three days later by Coalition forces.
In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.
An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt ruled that people who did not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions were also eligible to receive government identity documents.
Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Queen Victoria creates the Victoria Cross for bravery”?
A: 1856. 1856 — that’s 170 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year was Thomas Paine born?
C: 1737. 1737 — that’s 289 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore. 1856: Queen Victoria creates the Victoria Cross for bravery · 1819: Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore · 1845: Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven' appears in print Find it on the page
“Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore” happened in 1819. How many years ago was that?
A: 207 years. 2026 − 1819 = 207. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 29 January.
UK story
Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk. In 1774 he moved to Britain's American colonies, where his pamphlet Common Sense helped to inspire Americans to declare independence in 1776. He later wrote Rights of Man, a book about human rights. Britain then used an older calendar, so by the modern calendar his birthday falls on 9 February.
Abdus Salam was a Pakistani physicist who studied the tiny particles that everything is made of. In 1979 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. His prize-winning work showed how two of nature's basic forces, electromagnetism and the 'weak' force, are linked. He was the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize.
Well-known people who died on 29 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 29 January somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 29” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.