This day in history

Today is Friday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2022. There are two days left in the year.

Birthdays: Actor Barbara Steele is 86. Actor Jon Voight is 85. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 77. Retired Hall of Fame Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. is 77. Actor Ted Danson is 76. Singer-actor Yvonne Elliman is 72. Actor Patricia Clarkson is 64. Comedian Paula Poundstone is 64. Actor Michael Cudlitz is 59. Rock singer Dexter Holland of The Offspring is 58. Actor-comedian Mystro Clark is 57. Actor Jude Law is 51. Actor Katherine Moennig is 46. Actor Diego Luna is 44. Rock musician Danny Wagner is 25.

ºIn 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was slain in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.

ºIn 1812, the American frigate USS Constitution engaged and severely damaged the British frigate HMS Java off Brazil during the War of 1812.

ºIn 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.

ºIn 1851, the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the United States was founded in Boston.

ºIn 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians were killed by US troops sent to disarm them.

ºIn 1940, during World War II, Germany dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as “The Second Great Fire of London.”

ºIn 1978, during the Gator Bowl, Ohio State coach Woody

Hayes punched Clemson player Charlie Bauman, who’d intercepted an Ohio State pass. (Hayes was fired the next day.)

ºIn 1989, dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel assumed the presidency of Czechoslovakia.

ºIn 1992, the US and Russia announced an agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty.

ºIn 2006, word reached the United States of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (because of the time difference, it was the morning of Dec. 30 in Iraq when the hanging took place). In a statement, President George W. Bush called the execution an important milestone on Iraq’s road to democracy.

ºIn 2007, the New England Patriots ended their regular season with a remarkable 16-0 record following a 38-35 comeback victory over the New York Giants. (New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule.)

ºIn 2016, the United States struck back at Russia for hacking the US presidential campaign with a sweeping set of punishments targeting Russia’s spy agencies and diplomats.

ºIn 2021, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in New York of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein; the verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14. (Maxwell would be sentenced to 20 years in prison.)