April 29
1936: Orchestral conductor Zubin Mehta was born in Bombay (Mumbai), India.
1916: About 10,000 British troops surrendered to Ottoman Turks at Al-Kut, Iraq, following a five-month siege during World War I.
1901: Japanese Emperor Hirohito was born in Tokyo.
1429: French national heroine Joan of Arc and her troops entered the besieged city of Orléans during the Hundred Years' War.
Race riots in Los Angeles
1992: On this day riots erupted in Los Angeles in response to the verdict of a highly publicized trial of four white Los Angeles police officers who were acquitted of charges related to the 1991 beating of Rodney King, a black motorist who had resisted arrest. The beating, captured on videotape, had been cited by some observers as evidence of endemic police brutality against African American suspects. The court decision sparked several days of rioting in black neighbourhoods in Los Angeles, resulting in many deaths and injuries, as well as major property damage, and prompting Mayor Tom Bradley to request that the California National Guard be sent in to restore order.
Duke Ellington
American composer, bandleader, and pianist Duke Ellington, who was born this day in 1899, is among the most significant figures in jazz history. He was one of the founders of big-band jazz, at the dawn of the swing era.
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."
Duke Ellington, song title, 1932
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