July 24
is the 205th day (206th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining.
*
1132 -
Battle of Nocera between
Ranulf II of Alife and
Roger II of Sicily.
*
1216 -
Cencio Savelli is consecrated as
Pope Honorius III.
*
1411 -
Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles on
Scottish soil.
*
1487 - Citizens of
Leeuwarden,
Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer.
*
1534 -
French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the
Gaspé Peninsula and took possession of the territory in the name of the
King Francis I of
France.
*
1567 -
Mary Queen of Scots is deposed and replaced by her 1 year old son
King James VI.
*
1701 -
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded trading post at
Ft Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of
Detroit.
*
1814 -
War of 1812:
General Phineas Riall advances toward
Niagara to halt
Jacob Brown's
American invaders.
*
1823 -
Slavery is abolished in
Chile*
1832 -
Benjamin Bonneville leads the first
wagon train across the
Rocky Mountains by using
Wyoming's
South Pass.
*
1847 - After 17 months of travel,
Brigham Young leads 148
Mormon pioneers into
Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of
Salt Lake City.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Kernstown -
Confederate General Jubal Early defeats
Union troops led by General
George Crook in an effort to keep
Yankees out of the
Shenandoah Valley.
*
1866 -
Reconstruction:
Tennessee becomes the first
U.S. state to be readmitted to the
Union following the
American Civil War.
*
1901 -
O. Henry is released from prison in
Austin, Texas after serving three years for
embezzlement from a bank.
*
1910 -
James MacGillivray publishes first account of
Paul Bunyan in the
Detroit News.
*
1911 -
Hiram Bingham III re-discovers
Machu Picchu "the Lost City of the
Incas".
*
1915 - Passenger ship
Eastland capsizes in central
Chicago, Illinois, with the loss of 845 lives.
*
1923 - The
Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern
Turkey, is signed in
Switzerland by
Greece,
Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the
First World War.
*
1927 - The
Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at
Ypres.
*
1929 - The
Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing
war as an instrument of
foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in
Paris on
August 27,
1928 by most leading world powers).
*
1931 - A fire at a home for aged people in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
*
1935 - The world's first
children's railway opens in
Tbilisi,
USSR.
*1935 - The
dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in
Chicago, Illinois and 104°F (40°C) in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
*
1937 -
Alabama drops
rape charges against the so-called "
Scottsboro Boys."
*
1943 -
World War II:
Operation Gomorrah begins:
British and
Canadian aeroplanes bomb
Hamburg by night, those of the
Americans by day. By the end of the operation in
November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
*
1956 - At
New York City's
Copacabana Club,
Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis perform their last
comedy show together which started on
July 25,
1946.
*1956 -
Khartoum University College is awarded university status becoming the
University of Khartoum.
*
1959 - At the opening of the
American National Exhibition in
Moscow,
US vice-president Richard Nixon and
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "
Kitchen Debate."
*
1964 - One
criticality (nuclear) accident at
Charlestown in
Rhode Island (US), killing one. See
List of civilian nuclear accidents.
*
1965 -
Vietnam War: Four
F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at
Kang Chi are the targets of
antiaircraft missiles in the first such attack against
American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other three sustain damage.
*
1967 - During an official state visit to
Canada,
French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in
Montreal:
Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for
Quebec independence, delighted many
Quebecers but angered the
Canadian government and many
English Canadians.
*
1969 -
Apollo program:
Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the
Pacific Ocean.
*
1974 -
Watergate Scandal: The
United States Supreme Court unanimously rule that
President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed
White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the
Watergate special prosecutor.
*
1974 - After the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus the
Greek military junta collapses and
democracy is restored.
*
1979 -
Carl Yastrzemski hits his 400th career
home run off of
Oakland A's Mike Morgan at
Fenway Park.
*
1983 -
George Brett, batting for the
Kansas City Royals against the
New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "
Pine Tar Incident".
*
1990 -
Iraqi forces start massing on the
Kuwait/
Iraq border.
*
1991 - Government of
India announces the New Industrial Policy, marking the start of
India's economic reforms.
*
1998 -
Russel Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the
United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
*
2001 -
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last
Tsar of
Bulgaria when he was a child, was sworn in as
Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and became the only
monarch in history to regain
political power through democratic
election to a different office.
*
2001 - The
Taiwan Solidarity Union is established.
*
2001 -
Larry A. Silverstein signs a $3.2billion, 99 year lease on the entire
WTC complex, 7 weeks before
9/11. In it is an insurance policy which specifically covers acts of
terrorism.
*
2002 -
James Traficant is expelled from the
United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
*2002 -
Alfred Moisiu becomes
President of
Albania.
*
2005 -
Lance Armstrong wins his seventh
Tour de France.
*
1660 -
Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician (d.
1718)
*
1725 -
John Newton English cleric and hymnist (d.
1807)
*
1757 -
Vladimir Borovikovsky, Russian painter (d.
1825)
*
1783 -
Simón Bolívar, South American liberator (d.
1830)
*
1786 -
Joseph Nicollet, French mathematician and explorer (d.
1843)
*
1794 -
Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist (d.
1865)
*
1802 -
Alexandre Dumas père, French writer (d.
1870)
*
1803 -
Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (d.
1856)
*
1826 -
Ivan Bloch, Military theorist and peace activist (d.
1902)
*
1851 -
Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (d.
1935)
*
1853 -
William Gillette, American actor and author (d.
1937)
*
1857 -
Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1943)
*
1860 -
Alfons Mucha, Czech artist (d.
1939)
*
1864 -
Frank Wedekind, German writer (d.
1918)
*
1874 -
Oswald Chambers, Christian writer (d.
1917)
*
1878 -
Lord Dunsany, Irish writer (d.
1957)
*
1880 -
Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (d.
1959)
*
1895 -
Robert Graves, English author (d.
1985)
*
1897 -
Amelia Earhart, American aviator (disappeared
1937)
*
1899 -
Chief Dan George, Meti actor (d.
1981)
*
1908 -
Cootie Williams, American trumpeter (d.
1985)
*
1916 -
John D. MacDonald, American novelist, (d.
1986)
*
1917 -
Robert Farnon, Canadian-born conductor, composer, and arranger (d.
2005)
*
1918 -
Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist
*
1919 -
Ferdinand Kübler, Swiss cyclist
*
1920 -
Bella Abzug,
U.S. Congresswoman from New York (d.
1998)
*
1929 -
Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author
*
1931 -
Ermanno Olmi, Italian director
* 1931 -
Éric Tabarly, French sailor (d.
1998)
*
1933 -
Doug Sanders, American golfer
*
1935 -
Pat Oliphant, Australian political cartoonist
*
1936 -
Ruth Buzzi, American actress and comedienne
* 1936 -
Mark Goddard, American actor
*
1938 -
Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist
*
1940 -
Stanley Hauerwas, American theologian
*
1942 -
Chris Sarandon, American actor
*
1945 -
Azim Premji, Indian businessman
*
1947 -
Robert Hays, American actor
* 1947 -
Peter Serkin, American pianist
*
1949 -
Michael Richards, American comedian
* 1949 -
Yves Duteil, French singer and songwriter
*
1951 -
Lynda Carter, American actress
* 1951 -
Chris Smith, British politician
*
1952 -
Gus Van Sant, American film director
*
1955 -
Andrzej Łuczak, Polish stucco decorator, painter, photographer
*
1957 -
Pam Tillis, American singer
*
1963 -
Paul Geary, American musician (
Extreme)
* 1963 -
Karl Malone, American basketball player
*
1964 -
Barry Bonds, baseball player
* 1964 -
PJ Phillips, British musician
*
1965 -
Kadeem Hardison, American actor
*
1966 -
Martin Keown, English footballer
*
1968 -
Kristin Chenoweth, American singer and actress
* 1968 -
Laura Leighton, American actress
*
1969 -
Rick Fox, Canadian basketball player
* 1969 -
Jennifer Lopez, American actress and singer
*
1970 -
Stephanie Adams, American model and author
*
1975 -
Torrie Wilson, American wrestler
*
1976 -
Nate Bump, American baseball player
*
1976 -
Tiago Monteiro, Portuguese formula one driver
*
1979 -
Stat Quo, American rapper
*
1979 -
José Valverde, American baseball player
*
1980 -
Gauge, American pornographic actress
*
1981 -
Summer Glau, American actress
*
1982 -
Anna Paquin, Canadian-born actress
* 1982 -
Elise Crombez, Belgian supermodel
*
1984 -
John Dhani Lennevald, Swedish singer (former
A-Teens member)
*
1985 -
Teagan Presley, American pornographic actress
*
1986 -
Justin Berry, American Anti-Child Porn Advocate
*
1987 -
Mara Wilson, American actress
*
1990 -
Daveigh Chase, American actress
*
1115 -
Matilda, Countess of Tuscany (b.
1046)
*
1129 -
Shirakawa,
Emperor of Japan (b.
1053)
*
1394 -
Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan, Scottish prince (b.
1343)
*
1568 - Prince
Don Carlos of Spain (b.
1545)
*
1594 -
John Boste, Catholic saint and martyr (b.
1544)
*
1739 -
Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer (b.
1686)
*
1768 -
Nathanial Lardner, English theologian (b.
1684)
*
1862 -
Martin Van Buren, 8th
President of the United States (b.
1782)
*
1910 -
Arkhip Kuindzhi, Russian painter (b.
1841)
*
1927 -
Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Japanese writer (b.
1892)
*
1957 -
Sacha Guitry, French actor, director, screenwriter and playwright (b.
1885)
*
1965 -
Constance Bennett, American actress (b.
1904)
*
1969 -
Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (b.
1904)
*
1970 -
Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman (b.
1897)
*
1974 -
James Chadwick, English physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1891)
*
1980 -
Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor (b.
1925)
*
1986 -
Fritz Albert Lipmann, American biochemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1899)
*
1991 -
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born Yiddish author,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1904)
*
1992 -
Sam Berger, Canadian football owner (b.
1900)
* 1992 -
Arletty, French singer and actress (b.
1898)
*
1995 -
George Rodger, British photojournalist (b.
1908)
*
1996 -
Mohammed Farah Aidid, Somali warlord (b.
1934)
*
1997 -
William J. Brennan,
U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b.
1906)
* 1997 -
Saw Maung, Burmese dictator (b.
1928)
*
2001 -
Georges Dor, French Canadien author, composer, singer and playwright (b.
1931)
*
2005 -
Richard Doll, English epidemiologist (b.
1912)
*
Ecuador -
Simón Bolívar Day.
*
Utah -
Pioneer Day (
1847).
*
Vanuatu -
Children's Day.
*
Venezuela - Birth of the
Libertador (
Simón Bolívar Day).
*
Astrology: First day of sun sign
Leo.
*Ancient
Latvia -
Jekaupa Diena held.
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 10 saints:
**St.
Lupus**St.
Saint Christina the Astonishing**St.
Francis Solano**
St. Kinga/Cunegundes
**St.
Lewine**St.
Romanus, 2nd
bishop of
Rochester**St.
David**St.
Wulfhad**St.
Ruffin**St.
Sharbel Makhluf*
BBC: On This Day*
This Day in HistoryJuly 23 -
July 25 -
June 24 -
August 24 --
listing of all days
