April 24

Events

• 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut.
• 1183 BC - Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Erastothenes, among others.
• 1547 - Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
• 1558 - Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
• 1704 - The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
• 1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
• 1877 - Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
• 1885 - American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
• 1895 - Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
• 1913 - The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
• 1914 - The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
• 1915 - The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
• 1916 - Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
• 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 crew of the sunken.
• 1918 - World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
• 1922 - The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
• 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.
• 1932 - Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
• 1933 - Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
• 1944 - World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
• 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.
• 1963 - Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 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".
• 1970 - China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
• 1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
• 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 from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
• 1990 - Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
• 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 passed into law.
• 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 Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2011 - WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.
• 2013 - A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
• 2013 - Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.

  Births

• 1086 - Ramiro II of Aragon
• 1492 - Sabina of Bavaria, Bavarian duchess and noblewoman
• 1532 - Thomas Lucy, English politician
• 1533 - William I of Orange, founding father of the Netherlands
• 1538 - Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
• 1545 - Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English Earl
• 1562 - Xu Guangqi, Ming Dynasty Chinese politician, scholar and lay Catholic leader
• 1581 - Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint
• 1608 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France
• 1620 - John Graunt, English demographer and statistician
• 1706 - Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist and composer
• 1718 - Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-English painter and educator
• 1743 - Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom
• 1784 - Peter Vivian Daniel, American lawyer and jurist
• 1815 - Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer
• 1823 - Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico
• 1845 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1856 - Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France
• 1860 - Queen Marau, last Queen of Tahiti
• 1862 - Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist
• 1868 - Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer
• 1876 - Erich Raeder, German admiral
• 1878 - Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter
• 1879 - Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer
• 1880 - Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper
• 1880 - Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist
• 1882 - Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal
• 1885 - Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper
• 1885 - Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer
• 1887 - Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter
• 1888 - Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator
• 1889 - Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 1889 - Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic
• 1897 - Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico
• 1897 - Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer
• 1899 - Oscar Zariski, Russian-American mathematician and academic
• 1900 - Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator
• 1903 - José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange
• 1904 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator
• 1905 - Al Bates, American long jumper
• 1905 - Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic
• 1906 - William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster
• 1906 - Mimi Smith, English nurse
• 1907 - Gabriel Figueroa, Mexican cinematographer
• 1908 - Marceline Day, American actress
• 1908 - Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner
• 1908 - Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor
• 1912 - Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower
• 1913 - Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer
• 1914 - William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1914 - Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1914 - Justin Wilson, American chef and author
• 1916 - Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer
• 1919 - David Blackwell, American mathematician and academic
• 1919 - Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus
• 1920 - Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver
• 1922 - Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic
• 1923 - Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1923 - Doris Burn, American author and illustrator
• 1924 - Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician
• 1924 - Ruth Kobart, American actress and singer
• 1925 - Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter
• 1926 - Marilyn Erskine, American actress
• 1926 - Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1927 - Josy Barthel, Luxembourgian runner and politician, Luxembourgian Minister for Energy
• 1928 - Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1928 - Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist
• 1928 - Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist
• 1929 - Dr. Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer
• 1930 - Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author
• 1930 - Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer
• 1930 - José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 31st President of Brazil
• 1931 - Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager
• 1931 - Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator
• 1934 - Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author
• 1934 - Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1936 - David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto
• 1936 - Jill Ireland, English actress
• 1937 - Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer
• 1940 - Sue Grafton, American author
• 1941 - Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1941 - John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer
• 1942 - Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
• 1942 - Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer
• 1943 - Richard Sterban, American country & gospel bass singer
• 1943 - Gordon West, English footballer
• 1944 - Peter Cresswell, English judge
• 1944 - Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect
• 1944 - Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer
• 1945 - Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter
• 1946 - Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist
• 1947 - Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
• 1947 - João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal
• 1947 - Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1947 - Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician
• 1947 - Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1948 - Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts
• 1948 - Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author
• 1949 - Eddie Hart, American sprinter
• 1949 - Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
• 1950 - Rob Hyman, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1951 - Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic
• 1951 - Christian Bobin, French author and poet
• 1951 - Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter
• 1951 - Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland
• 1952 - Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
• 1952 - Ralph Winter, American film producer
• 1953 - Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
• 1954 - Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, activist, and convicted murderer
• 1954 - Jack Blades, American singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1955 - Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician
• 1955 - John de Mol Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol
• 1955 - Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland
• 1955 - Margaret Moran, British politician and criminal
• 1955 - Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver
• 1955 - Michael O'Keefe, American actor
• 1955 - Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player
• 1956 - James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral
• 1957 - Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician
• 1958 - Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician
• 1959 - Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author
• 1961 - Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
• 1962 - Clemens Binninger, German politician
• 1962 - Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager
• 1962 - Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1963 - Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 - Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
• 1963 - Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1964 - Helga Arendt, German sprinter
• 1964 - Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer
• 1964 - Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer
• 1964 - Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator
• 1965 - Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1966 - Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor
• 1966 - Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
• 1966 - David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1967 - Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player
• 1967 - Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach
• 1968 - Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
• 1968 - Todd Jones, American baseball player
• 1968 - Roxanna Panufnik, English composer
• 1968 - Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo
• 1969 - Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
• 1969 - Rory McCann, Scottish actor
• 1969 - Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician
• 1970 - Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
• 1971 - Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire
• 1971 - Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1972 - Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
• 1972 - Chipper Jones, American baseball player
• 1972 - Jure Košir, Slovenian skier and singer
• 1973 - Gabby Logan, English gymnast, television and radio host
• 1973 - Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer
• 1973 - Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter
• 1973 - Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach
• 1973 - Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
• 1973 - Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer
• 1973 - Lee Westwood, English golfer
• 1974 - Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1974 - Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator
• 1975 - Dejan Savić, Yugoslavian and Serbian water polo player
• 1976 - Steve Finnan, Irish international footballer
• 1976 - Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach
• 1977 - Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
• 1977 - Diego Placente, Argentine footballer
• 1978 - Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer
• 1980 - Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
• 1980 - Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player
• 1981 - Taylor Dent, American tennis player
• 1981 - Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
• 1982 - Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1982 - David Oliver, American hurdler
• 1982 - Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
• 1983 - Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
• 1985 - Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
• 1986 - Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
• 1987 - Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1987 - Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1987 - Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
• 1987 - Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer
• 1987 - Varun Dhawan, Indian actor
• 1989 - Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
• 1989 - David Boudia, American diver
• 1989 - Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player
• 1990 - Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress
• 1990 - Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
• 1991 - Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
• 1991 - Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater
• 1991 - Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
• 1992 - Joe Keery, American actor
• 1992 - Laura Kenny, English cyclist
• 1993 - Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer
• 1994 - Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor
• 1994 - Caspar Lee, British-South African Youtuber
• 1996 - Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
• 1997 - Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
• 1997 - Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
• 1998 - Ryan Newman, American actress
• 1999 - Jerry Jeudy, American football player

  Deaths

• 624 - Mellitus, saint and archbishop of Canterbury
• 1149 - Petronille de Chemillé, abbess of Fontevrault
• 1288 - Gertrude of Austria
• 1338 - Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat
• 1479 - Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet
• 1513 - Şehzade Ahmet, Ottoman prince
• 1617 - Concino Concini, Italian-French politician, Prime Minister of France
• 1622 - Fidelis of Sigmaringen, German friar and saint
• 1656 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist
• 1731 - Daniel Defoe, English journalist, novelist, and spy
• 1748 - Anton thor Helle, German-Estonian clergyman and translator
• 1779 - Eleazar Wheelock, American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College
• 1794 - Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician
• 1852 - Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator
• 1889 - Zulma Carraud, French author
• 1891 - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal
• 1924 - G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic
• 1931 - David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright
• 1935 - Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general
• 1938 - George Grey Barnard, American sculptor
• 1939 - Louis Trousselier, French cyclist
• 1941 - Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet
• 1942 - Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author
• 1944 - Charles Jordan, American magician
• 1945 - Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician
• 1947 - Hans Biebow, German SS officer
• 1947 - Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
• 1948 - Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer
• 1954 - Guy Mairesse, French race car driver
• 1960 - Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1961 - Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter
• 1962 - Milt Franklyn, American composer
• 1964 - Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist
• 1965 - Louise Dresser, American actress
• 1966 - Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author
• 1967 - Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut
• 1967 - Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia
• 1968 - Walter Tewksbury, American athlete
• 1970 - Otis Spann, American singer and pianist
• 1972 - Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter
• 1974 - Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer
• 1975 - Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 - Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator
• 1980 - Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author
• 1982 - Ville Ritola, Finnish runner
• 1983 - Erol Güngör, Turkish sociologist, psychologist, and academic
• 1983 - Rolf Stommelen, German race car driver
• 1984 - Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Spanish author
• 1993 - Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and activist
• 1993 - Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher and theorist
• 1995 - Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter
• 1997 - Allan Francovich, American director and producer
• 1997 - Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist
• 1997 - Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle
• 2001 - Josef Peters, German race car driver
• 2001 - Johnny Valentine, American wrestler
• 2002 - Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgian sculptor
• 2004 - José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer
• 2004 - Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies
• 2005 - Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel
• 2005 - Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic
• 2006 - Brian Labone, English footballer
• 2006 - Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author
• 2008 - Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer
• 2011 - Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist
• 2014 - Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House
• 2014 - Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager
• 2014 - Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician
• 2014 - Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright
• 2015 - Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 2016 - Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach
• 2017 - Robert Pirsig, American author and philosopher

  Holidays and observances

• Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
• Christian feast day:
• *Benedict Menni
• *Dermot of Armagh
• *Dyfnan of Anglesey
• *Ecgberht of Ripon
• *Fidelis of Sigmaringen
• *Gregory of Elvira
• *Ivo of Ramsey
• *Johann Walter
• *Mary of Clopas
• *Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
• *Mellitus
• *Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur
• *Salome
• *Wilfrid
• *William Firmatus
• *April 24
• Concord Day
• Democracy Day
• Earliest day on which Arbor Day can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Friday in April.
• Earliest day on which Turkmen Racing Horse Festival can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in April.
• Fashion Revolution Day, and its related observances:
• *Labour Safety Day
• Kapyong Day
• National Panchayati Raj Day
• St Mark's Eve
• Republic Day
• World Day for Laboratory Animals