April 24

April 24 is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 251 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).
• 1184 BC – The Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional date).
• 1558 – Mary Queen of Scots marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
• 1704 – The first regular newspaper in the United States, the News-Letter, is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
• 1862 – American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.
• 1898 – The Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
• 1904 – The Lithuanian press ban is lifted after almost 40 years.
• 1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
• 1913 – The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City is opened.
• 1915 – The Armenian Genocide:
• 1916 – Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett starts a rebellion in Ireland.
• 1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance.
• 1918 – First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
• 1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
• 1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
• 1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
• 1961 – The 17th century Swedish ship Vasa is salvaged.
• 1963 – Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 1964 – Mexico becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
• 1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
• 1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
• 1968 – Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.
• 1970 – The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
• 1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
• 1971 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
• 1971 – Five hundred thousand people in Washington, DC and 125,000 in San Francisco march in protest against the Vietnam War.
• 1971 – A tsunami 85 m high rises over the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It throws a 750-ton block of coral 2.5 km inland.
• 1975 – The Baader-Meinhof Gang takes 13 hostages at the West German embassy in Stockholm.
• 1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
• 1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Shuttle mission STS-31 lifts off, carrying Hubble into orbit.

• 1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
• 1991 – Freddie Stowers is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for which he had been recommended in 1918.
• 1993 – The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act comes into force establishing the Panchayati Raj system in India.
• 1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
• 1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced.
• 2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
• 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2006 – King Gyanendra of Nepal gives into the demands of protesters and restores the parliament that he dissolved in 2002.
• 2007 – Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime.
• 2007 – Gliese 581 d discovered in Chile and believed to be a planet capable of holding extraterresial life.

Births

• 1533 – William I of Orange (d. 1584)
• 1581 – Vincent de Paul, French saint (d. 1660)
• 1620 – John Graunt, English statistician and founder of the science of demography (d. 1674)
• 1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (d. 1780)
• 1718 – Nathaniel Hone, Irish-born painter (d. 1784)
• 1743 – Edmund Cartwright, British inventor (d. 1823)
• 1784 – Peter Vivian Daniel, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1860)
• 1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist (d. 1882)
• 1845 – Carl Spitteler, Nobel laureate (d. 1924)
• 1856 – Henri Philippe Pétain, French soldier and statesman (d. 1951)
• 1876 – Erich Raeder, German naval commander (d. 1960)
• 1876 – Ioannis Georgiadis, Greek fencer (d. 1960)
• 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
• 1882 – Hugh Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain (d. 1970)
• 1887 – Denys Finch Hatton, English big-game hunter (d. 1931)
• 1889 – Stafford Cripps, British politician (d. 1952)
• 1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter (d. 1924)
• 1896 – Benjamin Whorf, American linguist (d. 1941)
• 1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, President of Mexico (d. 1955)
• 1899 – Oscar Zariski, Russian-born mathematician (d. 1986)
• 1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange (d. 1936)
• 1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch painter (d. 1997)
• 1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American poet (d. 1989)
• 1906 – William Joyce, Irish fascist (d. 1946)
• 1907 – William Sargant, British psychiatrist (d. 1988)
• 1908 – Marceline Day, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1914 – William Castle, American film director and producer (d. 1977)
• 1914 – Justin Wilson, American Cajun chef and humorist (d. 2001)
• 1916 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler (d. 2002)
• 1922 – J.D. Cannon, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Doris Burn, American children's books author and illustrator
• 1924 – Sir Clement Freud, British writer, radio personality, and politician (d. 2009)
• 1924 – Ruth Kobart, American actor and singer (d. 2002)
• 1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1929 – Dr.Rajkumar, Kannada actor
• 1930 – Jerome Callet, American musician
• 1930 – Richard Donner, American film director and producer
• 1933 – Patricia Bosworth, American actor, journalist, writer and biographer
• 1933 – Claire Davenport, British actress (d. 2002)
• 1933 – Alan Eagleson, Canadian ice hockey agent and promoter
• 1933 – Helmuth Lohner, Austrian actor
• 1933 – Freddie Scott, American singer (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actor and author
• 1936 – Jill Ireland, British actress (d. 1990)
• 1937 – Joe Henderson, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2001)
• 1940 – Sue Grafton, American author
• 1941 – Richard Holbrook, American diplomat
• 1941 – John Williams, Australian guitarist
• 1942 – Richard M. Daley, American politician
• 1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer and actor
• 1943 – Richard Sterban, American singer
• 1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer
• 1945 – Robert Knight, American singer
• 1945 – Doug Riley, Canadian musician (d. 2007)
• 1945 – Dick Rivers, French singer and actor
• 1947 – Claude Dubois, Quebec singer and songwriter
• 1947 – Josep Borrell Fontelles, Former President of the European Parliament
• 1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American chemist, Nobel-prized
• 1948 – Paul Cellucci, 69^th Governor of Massachusetts and former United States Ambassador to Canada
• 1949 – Véronique Sanson, French singer and songwriter
• 1952 – Jean-Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
• 1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
• 1954 – Mumia Abu-Jamal, American death-row inmate
• 1954 – Captain Sensible, British guitarist (The Damned)
• 1955 – John de Mol, Dutch media businessman
• 1955 – Michael O'Keefe, American actor
• 1957 – David J, British musician
• 1957 – Boris Williams, British musician (The Cure)
• 1958 – Valery Lantratov, Russian ballet dancer
• 1958 – Brian Paddick, British former deputy assistant commissioner and most senior openly gay police officer
• 1959 – Malcolm Oastler, Australian engineer
• 1959 – Dave Ridgway, Canadian football player
• 1959 – Paula Yates, British television presenter (d. 2000)
• 1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer and manager
• 1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1963 – Paula Frazer, American singer/songwriter
• 1963 – Billy Gould, American musician (Faith No More)
• 1963 – Mano Solo, French singer
• 1963 – Tõnu Trubetsky, Estonian musician
• 1964 – Witold Smorawiński, Polish musician, composer
• 1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian and actor
• 1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Beninese actor
• 1965 – Son Chang Min, South Korean actor
• 1966 – Pierre Brassard, Quebec humorist and actor
• 1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer
• 1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1968 – Stacy Haiduk, American actress
• 1968 – Todd Jones, American baseball player
• 1968 – Yuji Nagata, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 – Hashim Thaci, Kosovan politician
• 1968 – Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
• 1969 – Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
• 1969 – Melinda Clarke, American actress
• 1969 – Viveca Paulin, Swedish actress
• 1970 – Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer
• 1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian guitarist and singer
• 1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
• 1972 – Nicolas Gill, Canadian judoka
• 1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
• 1972 – Jure Košir, Slovenian skier
• 1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player
• 1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
• 1973 – Gabby Logan, British television presenter
• 1974 – Kristie Krabe, American stage actress
• 1974 – Eric Kripke, American television writer, director and producer
• 1974 – Derek Luke, American actor
• 1974 – Brian Marshall, American bassist (Creed, Alter Bridge)
• 1974 – Dave Vitty, British radio personality
• 1975 – Sam Doumit, American actress
• 1975 – Thad Luckinbill, American actor
• 1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish footballer
• 1977 – Siarhey Balakhonau, Belarusian writer
• 1977 – Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1978 – Eric Balfour, American actor
• 1978 – Kim Hyun-ju, Korean actress
• 1978 – Stella Damasus Aboderin, Nigerian actress
• 1979 – Laurentia Tan, Singaporean Paralympic equestrienne
• 1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
• 1980 – Austin Nichols, American actor
• 1980 – Danny Gokey, American singer
• 1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
• 1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer
• 1983 – Princess Iman bint Al Hussein of Jordan
• 1984 – Tyson Ritter, American musician
• 1985 – Travis Clark, American Musician from We The Kings
• 1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
• 1987 – Kristopher Letang, Canadian hockey player
• 1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian footballer
• 1994 – Austin Rogers, American actor
• 1998 – Ryan Newman, American actress

Deaths

• 624 – Mellitus, third Archbishop of Canterbury
• 709 – Wilfrid, English archbishop and saint
• 1338 – Marquis Theodore I of Montferrat (b. 1291)
• 1342 – Pope Benedict XII (b. 1285)
• 1622 – Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Swiss friar and saint (b. 1577)
• 1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
• 1731 – Daniel Defoe, English writer (b. 1660)
• 1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (b. 1663)
• 1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
• 1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish statesman and soldier; father of Axel von Fersen the Younger (b. 1719)
• 1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (b. 1783)
• 1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (b. 1800)
• 1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist (b. 1844)
• 1938 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
• 1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
• 1942 – Karin Boye, Swedish author (b. 1900)
• 1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
• 1944 – William Stephens, American U.S. House of Representative, 24th Governor of California (b. 1859)
• 1945 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (b. 1899)
• 1947 – Willa Cather, American writer (b. 1873)
• 1947 – Hans Biebow, German WWII figure (b. 1902)
• 1957 – Harry McClintock, American country singer and hobo (b. 1882)
• 1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
• 1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (declined) (b. 1895)
• 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
• 1967 – Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (b. 1927)
• 1974 – Bud Abbott, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)
• 1975 – Pete Ham, Welsh musician (Badfinger) (b. 1947)
• 1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
• 1982 – Ville Ritola, Finnish athlete (b. 1896)
• 1983 – Rolf Stommelen, German race car driver (b. 1943)
• 1986 – Wallis Simpson, American wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor (b. 1896)
• 1993 – Oliver Tambo, South African activist and politician (b. 1917)
• 1997 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian and politician (b. 1927)
• 1997 – Eugene Stoner, American engineer and weapons designer (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Al Hibbler, American singer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Leon Sullivan, African-American civil rights leader and pastor (b. 1922)
• 2002 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourish sculptor (b. 1908)
• 2004 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)
• 2005 – Ezer Weizman, President of Israel (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist (b. 1910)
• 2006 – Steve Stavro, Canadian businessman and sports team owner (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Moshe Teitelbaum, Hassidic rabbi (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Brian Labone, English footballer (b. 1940)
• 2009 – John Michell, British writer, (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Australia – Kapyong Day a day of remembrance for Korean War veterans, named after the Battle of Kapyong in 1951
• The Gambia – Republic Day in (1970).
• Nepal - Democracy Day, commemorating the reinstitution of parliament in 2006
• Niger - Concord Day, commemorating the 1995 peace accord ending the Tuareg Rebellion

in the Roman Catholic Church:

• Saint Egbert of Northumbria
• Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen
• Saint Honorius

In the Anglican Communion:

• Saint Wilfrid

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: April 24

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada