This day in history

[September 29, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2011. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Sept. 29, 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

On this date:

In 1829, London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1907, the foundation stone was laid for the Washington National Cathedral, which wasn't fully completed until this date in 1990.

In 1910, the National Urban League had its beginnings as The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was established in New York.

In 1918, Allied forces began their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

In 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-1. (The Giants moved to San Francisco.)

In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)

In 1986, the Soviet Union released Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined on spying charges.

In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush condemned Afghanistan's Taliban rulers for harboring Osama bin Laden and his followers as the United States pressed its military and diplomatic campaign against terror. Former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu (noo-WIHN' van too) died in Boston at age 78.

Five years ago: U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he'd sent to former House pages. A Gol Airlines flight crashed in the Brazilian jungle after clipping a private jet, killing all 154 people aboard (the private jet landed safely). A Rhode Island nightclub owner was sentenced to four years in prison and his brother to probation under a plea agreement, angering relatives of the 100 people who died in a 2003 fire at The Station.

One year ago: Anti-austerity protests erupted across Europe; Greek doctors and railway employees walked off the job, Spanish workers shut down trains and buses, and one man rammed a cement truck into the Irish parliament to protest the country's enormous bank bailouts. Actor Tony Curtis, 85, died in Hendersonville, Nev.

Today's birthdays: Actress Lizabeth Scott is 89. Actor Steve Forrest is 86. Musical conductor Richard Bonynge is 81. Actress Anita Ekberg is 80. Writer-director Robert Benton is 79. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 76. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is 75. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is 69. Actor Ian McShane is 69. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 69. Lech Walesa (lehk vah-WEN'-sah), the former president of Poland, is 68. Television-film composer Mike Post is 67. Actress Patricia Hodge is 65. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 63. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 63. Rock singer-musician Mike Pinera is 63. Country singer Alvin Crow is 61. Actor Drake Hogestyn is 58. Broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill is 56. Former child actor Ken Weatherwax (TV: "The Addams Family") is 56. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 55. Singer Suzzy Roche (The Roches) is 55. Comedian-actor Andrew "Dice" Clay is 54. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 53. Actor Roger Bart is 49. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 48. Actress Jill Whelan is 45. Actor Luke Goss is 43. Rock musician Brad Smith (Blind Melon) is 43. Actress Erika Eleniak is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Devante Swing (Jodeci) is 42. Country singer Brad Cotter ("Nashville Star") is 41. Actress Emily Lloyd is 41. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 41. Actress Rachel Cronin is 40. Country musician Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) is 38. Actor Alexis Cruz is 37. Actor Zachary Levi is 31. Country singer Katie McNeill (3 of Hearts) is 29. Rock musician Josh Farro is 24.

Thought for today: "Nobody knows enough, but many know too much." -- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (1830-1916)

[Associated Press]

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