Wikipedia / July 24
Wikipedia / July 24
Events
Pre-1600
1132 Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1304 Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
1411 Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
1412 Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.
1487 Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.
1534 French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and be replaced by her one-year-old son James VI.
1601–1900
1701 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.
1712 War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain.
1847 After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
1847 Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patents the rotary-type printing press.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1866 Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to Congress following the American Civil War.
1901–present
1901 O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1910 The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
1911 Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incass".
1915 The passenger ship capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
1922 The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine is formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.
1923 The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.
1924 Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
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 is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).
1935 The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (43°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee.
1943 World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes bomb the city 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.
1950 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.
1959 At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
1963 The ship Bluenose II is launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.
1966 Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.
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 angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians.
1969 Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1974 Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Richard Nixon does not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1977 End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.
1980 The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the swimming event at Olympic level.
1982 Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1983 The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
1983 George Brett, playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
1987 US supertanker collides with mines laid by IRGC, causing a 43-square-meter dent in the body of the oil tanker.
1987 Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbs Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan's highest peak.
1998 Russell 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.
1999 Air Fiji flight 121 crashes while en route to Nadi, Fiji, killing all 17 people on board.
2001 The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos, resulting in military and civilian casualties and destroyed aircraft.
2009 Aria Air Flight 1525 crashes at Mashhad International Airport, killing 16.
2012 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê.
2013 Santiago de Compostela derailment: A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an speed limit at , killing 78 passengers.
2014 Air Algérie Flight 5017 loses contact with air traffic controllers 50 minutes after takeoff. It was travelling between Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers. The wreckage is later found in Mali. All 116 people on board are killed.
2019 Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
2024 A Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 crashes during takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, killing 18.
2025 Angara Airlines Flight 2311 crashes on approach to Tynda Airport, killing all 48 people on board.
Births
Pre-1600
1242 Christina von Stommeln, German Roman Catholic mystic, ecstatic, and stigmatic (died 1312)
1468 Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (died 1524)
1529 Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (died 1577)
1561 Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern (died 1589)
1574 Thomas Platter the Younger, Swiss physician and author (died 1628)
1601–1900
1660 Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (died 1718)
1689 Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Prince George of Denmark (died 1700)
1725 John Newton, English sailor and priest (died 1807)
1757 Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter (died 1825)
1783 Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan commander and politician, second President of Venezuela, and liberation leader for much of South America (died 1830)
1786 Joseph Nicollet, French mathematician and explorer (died 1843)
1794 Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish mineralogist and geologist (died 1865)
1802 Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (died 1870)
1803 Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (died 1856)
1803 Alexander J. Davis, American architect (died 1892)
1821 William Poole, American boxer and gangster (died 1855)
1826 Jan Gotlib Bloch, Polish theorist and activist (died 1902)
1851 Friedrich Schottky, Polish-German mathematician and theorist (died 1935)
1856 Émile Picard, French mathematician and academic (died 1941)
1857 Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
1857 Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuelan general and politician, 27th President of Venezuela (died 1935)
1860 Princess Charlotte of Prussia (died 1919)
1860 Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter and illustrator (died 1939)
1863 – Tommy McCarthy, American baseball player (died 1922)
1864 Frank Wedekind, German actor and playwright (died 1918)
1867 E. F. Benson, English novelist (died 1940)
1874 Oswald Chambers, Scottish minister and author (died 1917)
1877 Calogero Vizzini, Italian mob boss (died 1954)
1878 Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish author, poet, and playwright (died 1957)
1880 Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer and educator (died 1959)
1884 Maria Caserini, Italian actress (died 1969)
1886 Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author (died 1965)
1888 Arthur Richardson, Australian cricketer and coach (died 1973)
1889 Agnes Meyer Driscoll, American cryptanalyst (died 1971)
1892 Alice Ball, African American chemist (developed treatment for leprosy) (died 1916)
1895 Robert Graves, English poet, novelist, critic (died 1985)
1897 Amelia Earhart, American pilot and author (died 1937)
1899 Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (died 1981)
1900 Zelda Fitzgerald, American author, visual artist and ballet dancer (died 1948)
1901–present
1909 John William Finn, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 2010)
1910 Harry Horner, American director and production designer (died 1994)
1912 Essie Summers, New Zealand author (died 1998)
1913 Britton Chance, American biologist and sailor (died 2010)
1914 Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (died 2015)
1914 Ed Mirvish, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (died 2007)
1914 Alan Waddell, Australian walker (died 2008)
1915 Enrique Fernando, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (died 2004)
1916 John D. MacDonald, American colonel and author (died 1986)
1917 Robert Farnon, Canadian trumpet player, composer, and conductor (died 2005)
1917 Jack Moroney, Australian cricketer (died 1999)
1918 Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator (died 2012)
1919 Robert Marsden Hope, Australian lawyer and judge (died 1999)
1919 Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, NASA manager (died 2007)
1920 Bella Abzug, American lawyer and politician (died 1998)
1920 Constance Dowling, American model and actress (died 1969)
1921 Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian tenor and actor (died 2008)
1921 Billy Taylor, American pianist and composer (died 2010)
1922 Madeleine Ferron, Canadian radio host and author (died 2010)
1924 Wilfred Josephs, English composer (died 1997)
1924 Aris Poulianos, Greek anthropologist and archaeologist (died 2021)
1926 Grace Glueck, American arts journalist (died 2022)
1927 Zara Mints, Russian-Estonian philologist and academic (died 1990)
1928 Keshubhai Patel, Indian politician, tenth Chief Minister of Gujarat (died 2020)
1930 Alfred Balk, American journalist and author (died 2010)
1931 Ermanno Olmi, Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (died 2018)
1931 Éric Tabarly, French commander (died 1998)
1932 William Ruckelshaus, American attorney and civil servant (died 2019)
1932 Gustav Andreas Tammann, German astronomer and academic (died 2019)
1933 Doug Sanders, American golfer (died 2020)
1934 Willie Davis, American football player (died 2020)
1934 P. S. Soosaithasan, Sri Lankan accountant and politician (died 2017)
1935 Aaron Elkins, American author and academic
1935 Pat Oliphant, Australian cartoonist (died 2026)
1935 Mel Ramos, American painter, illustrator, and academic (died 2018)
1935 Les Reed, English pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2019)
1935 Derek Varnals, South African cricketer (died 2019)
1936 Ruth Buzzi, American actress and comedian (died 2025)
1936 Mark Goddard, American actor (died 2023)
1937 Manoj Kumar, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2025)
1937 Quinlan Terry, English architect, designed the Brentwood Cathedral
1938 Eugene J. Martin, American painter (died 2005)
1939 Walt Bellamy, American basketball player and coach (died 2013)
1940 Dan Hedaya, American actor
1942 Heinz, German-English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2000)
1942 David Miner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1942 Chris Sarandon, American actor
1945 Frank Close, English physicist and academic
1945 Azim Premji, Indian businessman and philanthropist
1945 Hugh Ross, Canadian-American astrophysicist and astronomer
1945 Anthony Watts, English geologist, geophysicist, and academic
1946 Hervé Vilard, French singer-songwriter
1947 Zaheer Abbas, Pakistani cricketer and manager
1948 Marc Racicot, American politician, 21st Governor of Montana
1949 Michael Richards, American actor and comedian
1950 Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (died 2016)
1951 Lynda Carter, American actress
1951 Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, English politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
1952 Gus Van Sant, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 Jon Faddis, American trumpet player, composer, and conductor
1953 Tadashi Kawamata, Japanese contemporary artist
1953 Claire McCaskill, American lawyer and politician
1953 James Newcome, English bishop
1954 Jorge Jesus, Portuguese footballer and manager
1956 Charlie Crist, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of Florida
1957 Pam Tillis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1958 Jim Leighton, Scottish footballer and coach
1958 – Joe Barry Carroll, American basketball player
1960 Catherine Destivelle, French rock climber and mountaineer
1961 Kerry Dixon, English footballer and manager
1963 Karl Malone, American basketball player and coach
1964 Barry Bonds, American baseball player
1964 Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese economist and politician, 118th Prime Minister of Portugal
1965 Andrew Gaze, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
1965 Kadeem Hardison, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1966 Aminatou Haidar, Sahrawi human rights activist
1966 Martin Keown, English footballer and coach
1968 Kristin Chenoweth, American actress and singer
1968 Malcolm Ingram, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 Troy Kotsur, American actor
1968 – Laura Leighton, American actress
1969 Jennifer Lopez, American actress, singer, and dancer
1971 Dino Baggio, Italian footballer
1971 Patty Jenkins, American film director and screenwriter
1972 Kaiō Hiroyuki, Japanese sumo wrestler
1973 Amanda Stretton, English racing driver and journalist
1974 Andy Gomarsall, English rugby player
1975 Tracey Crouch, English politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
1975 Jamie Langenbrunner, American ice hockey player
1975 Torrie Wilson, American model, fitness competitor, actress and professional wrestler
1976 Rafer Alston, American basketball player
1976 Tiago Monteiro, Portuguese racing driver and manager
1976 Rashida Tlaib, American politician
1978 Andy Irons, American surfer (died 2010)
1979 Rose Byrne, Australian actress
1979 Jerrod Niemann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 Joel Stroetzel, American guitarist
1981 Doug Bollinger, Australian cricketer
1981 Nayib Bukele, Salvadoran politician, 81st President of El Salvador
1981 Summer Glau, American actress
1982 Mewelde Moore, American football player
1982 Elisabeth Moss, American actress
1982 Anna Paquin, Canadian-New Zealand actress
1983 Daniele De Rossi, Italian footballer and manager
1983 Asami Mizukawa, Japanese actress
1985 Patrice Bergeron, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 Aries Merritt, American hurdler
1985 Lukáš Rosol, Czech tennis player
1986 Natalie Tran, Australian actress and online producer
1987 Nathan Gerbe, American ice hockey player
1987 Zack Sabre Jr., English wrestler
1987 Mara Wilson, American actress
1988 Han Seung-yeon, South Korean singer and dancer
1988 Nichkhun, Thai-American singer-songwriter and actor
1988 Ricky Petterd, Australian footballer
1989 Maurkice Pouncey, American football player
1991 Emily Bett Rickards, Canadian actress
1991 Elliot Rodger, English-American mass murderer (died 2014)
1991 – Trevor van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
1992 Mikaël Kingsbury, Canadian skier
1994 Phillip Lindsay, American football player
1995 Valentine Holmes, Australian rugby league player
1995 Kyle Kuzma, American basketball player
1995 Meisei Chikara, Japanese sumo wrestler
1998 Bindi Irwin, Australian conservationist, zookeeper, and actress
1998 Sophie Wotschke, Austrian politician
1998 – Cailee Spaeny, American actress
2001 Ryan Johnson, American ice hockey player
2001 Drake London, American football player
Deaths
Pre-1600
759 Oswulf, king of Northumbria
946 Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian ruler (born 882)
1115 Matilda of Tuscany (born 1046)
1129 Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (born 1053)
1345 Jacob van Artevelde, Flemish statesman (born 1290)
1568 Carlos, Prince of Asturias (born 1545)
1594 John Boste, English martyr and saint (born 1544)
1601–1900
1601 Joris Hoefnagel, Flemish painter (born 1542)
1612 John Salusbury, Welsh politician and poet (born 1567)
1685 Ivan Ančić, Croatian Franciscan and religious writer (born 1624)
1739 Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer and educator (born 1686)
1768 Nathaniel Lardner, English theologian and author (born 1684)
1862 Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, eighth President of the United States (born 1782)
1891 Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (born 1827)
1901–present
1908 Vicente Acosta, Salvadoran journalist and poet (born 1867)
1908 Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (born 1835)
1910 Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ukrainian-Russian painter (born 1841)
1927 Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese author (born 1892)
1957 Sacha Guitry, French actor and director (born 1885)
1962 Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer and author (born 1917)
1965 Constance Bennett, American actress and producer (born 1904)
1969 Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author and playwright (born 1904)
1970 Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman, philanthropist, and civil servant (born 1897)
1974 James Chadwick, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891)
1980 Peter Sellers, English actor and comedian (born 1925)
1985 Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary and martyr (born 1953)
1986 Fritz Albert Lipmann, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899)
1986 Qudrat Ullah Shahab, Pakistani civil servant and author (born 1917)
1991 Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)
1992 Sam Berger, Canadian lawyer and businessman (born 1900)
1994 Helen Cordero, Cochiti Pueblo (Native American) Pueblo potter (born 1915)
1995 George Rodger, English photographer and journalist (born 1908)
1996 Alphonso Theodore Roberts, Vincentian cricketer and activist (born 1937)
1997 William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and jurist (born 1906)
1997 Saw Maung, Burmese general and politician, seventh Prime Minister of Burma (born 1928)
2000 Ahmad Shamloo, Iranian poet and journalist (born 1925)
2001 Georges Dor, Canadian author, playwright, and composer (born 1931)
2005 Richard Doll, English physiologist and epidemiologist (born 1912)
2007 Albert Ellis, American psychologist and author (born 1913)
2007 Nicola Zaccaria, Greek opera singer (born 1923)
2008 Norman Dello Joio, American pianist and composer (born 1913)
2009 Jack Le Goff, French equestrian (born 1931)
2010 Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player (born 1949)
2011 Frank Dietrich, German politician (born 1966)
2011 Dan Peek, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)
2011 Harald Johnsen, Norwegian bassist and composer (born 1970)
2011 David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (born 1961)
2011 Skip Thomas, American football player (born 1950)
2012 Chad Everett, American actor and director (born 1937)
2012 Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (born 1938)
2012 Larry Hoppen, American singer and guitarist (born 1951)
2012 Robert Ledley, American physiologist and physicist, invented the CT scanner (born 1926)
2012 Themo Lobos, Chilean author and illustrator (born 1928)
2012 John Atta Mills, Ghanaian lawyer and politician, President of Ghana (born 1944)
2012 Gregorio Peces-Barba, Spanish jurist and politician (born 1938)
2013 Garry Davis, American pilot and activist, created the World Passport (born 1921)
2013 Fred Dretske, American philosopher and academic (born 1932)
2013 Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and sexologist (born 1925)
2013 Pius Langa, South African lawyer and jurist, 19th Chief Justice of South Africa (born 1939)
2014 Ik-Hwan Bae, Korean-American violinist and educator (born 1956)
2014 Dale Schlueter, American basketball player (born 1945)
2014 Hans-Hermann Sprado, German journalist and author (born 1956)
2015 Peg Lynch, American actress and screenwriter (born 1916)
2015 Ingrid Sischy, South African-American journalist and critic (born 1952)
2016 Marni Nixon, American actress and singer (born 1930)
2017 Harshida Raval, Indian Gujarati playback singer
2021 Dale Snodgrass, United States Naval Aviator and air show performer (born 1949)
2021 Rodney Alcala, American serial killer (born 1943)
2022 David Warner, English actor (born 1941)
2023 George Alagiah, BBC News journalist and broadcaster (born 1955)
2023 Trevor Francis, Britain's first "£1 million football player" (born 1954)
2024 Shafin Ahmed, Bangladeshi bassist and singer-songwriter (born 1961)
2024 Hamzah Haz, Indonesian journalist and politician, 9th Vice President of Indonesia (born 1940)
2024 Dmytro Kiva, Ukrainian engineer and designer (born 1942)
2025 Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler and actor (born 1953)
2025 Cleo Laine, English singer and actress (born 1927)
Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Police Day (Poland)
Simón Bolívar Day (Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia)
References
External links