Dashed left edge = started before May 1929 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond May 1929
Events in May 1929 8
1847 – 1929Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929)Died 21 May 1929, aged 82British Liberal statesman who was Prime Minister from 1894 to 1895 after succeeding Gladstone. He was also the first chairman of the London County Council.
1929 – 2026Edouard Balladur (1929-2026)Died 31 August 2026, aged 97French neo-Gaullist politician who served as prime minister from 1993 to 1995.
1929 – 1993Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993)Died 20 January 1993, aged 63Audrey Hepburn, star of "Roman Holiday," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and "My Fair Lady," died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland. In her later years she devoted herself to humanitarian work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She remains one of the most recognized actresses of Hollywood's golden era.
1929 – 2025Sam Nujoma (1929-2025)Died 8 February 2025, aged 95Leader of the SWAPO liberation movement and first president of independent Namibia, serving from 1990 to 2005.
1929First Academy Awards ceremonyHollywood honours the films of 1927-28The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its first awards at a private dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Wings won the top production award and Emil Jannings was named best actor. The ceremony lasted about fifteen minutes.
1929Barcelona International Exposition opensWorld's fair on MontjuïcThe International Exposition opened on the hill of Montjuïc in Barcelona. It left behind the Palau Nacional, the Magic Fountain and Mies van der Rohe's German Pavilion, a landmark of modernist architecture.
1929 – 2024Peter Higgs (1929-2024)Died 8 April 2024, aged 94British physicist awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics for predicting the particle that bears his name.
1929United Kingdom general electionLabour becomes the largest party for the first timeIn the first UK election in which women aged 21 to 29 could vote, known as the Flapper Election, Labour won the most seats but no majority. Ramsay MacDonald formed a minority government on 5 June.