24 October - Definition and Overview

October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining.

Events

1-1899

• 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
• 1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny was ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1648 - Peace of Westphalia signed. End of Thirty Years' War
• 1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completely divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia
• 1812 - Battle of Maloyaroslavets
• 1861 - First transcontinental telegraph line completed, ending the Pony Express

1900-1999

• 1917 - Battle of Caporetto started on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
• 1929 - "Black Thursday" crash of the New York Stock Exchange.
• 1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousted Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was then installed as "provisional president."
• 1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
• 1944 - Zuikaku Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed
• 1945 - Founding of the United Nations
• 1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
• 1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
• 1955 - The body of Manolo Just, a probable bisexual, is found in the Mexico apartment of Mary Rogers, daughter of Will Rogers. Homicide is suspected, but never proven.
• 1956 - Soviet Union invades Hungary
• 1960 - An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is field marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.
• 1964 - Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
• 1970 - Salvador Allende elected President of Chile
• 1973 - Yom Kippur War ends
• 1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
• 1989 - Televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison and a 500,000 USD fine for defrauding investors of 3.7 million USD.
• 1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
• 1998 - Tropical Storm Mitch reached hurricane strength.

2000-2099

• 2002 - Police arrested spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
• 2003 - Concorde made its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.

Births

1-1899

• 51 - Roman emperor Domitian (d. 96)
• 1632 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, microbiologist (d.1723)
• 1788 - Sarah Hale, poet (d.1879)
• 1811 - Ferdinand Hiller, composer (d. 1885)
• 1855 - James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (d.1912)
• 1868 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, buddhist and writer (d.1969)
• 1887 - Victoria Eugenia, Queen of Spain (d. 1969)
• 1891 - Rafael Molina-Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic

1900-1999

• 1903 - Melvin Purvis, FBI chief (d. 1960)
• 1904 - Moss Hart, dramatist (d. 1961)
• 1909 - Bill Carr, American athlete (d.1966)
• 1915 - Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (d. 1984)
• 1915 - Bob Kane, cartoonist and creator of Batman (d.1998)
• 1925 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer (d.2003)
• 1926 - Y. A. Tittle, American football star
• 1927 - Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner (d.1992)
• 1929 - George Crumb, composer
• 1929 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer and playwright
• 1930 - The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), rock and roll star (d. 1959)
• 1931 - Sofia Gubaidulina, composer
• 1936 - Bill Wyman, musician (the Rolling Stones)
• 1939 - F. Murray Abraham, Academy Award-winning actor
• 1947 - Kevin Kline, Academy Award-winning actor
• 1948 - Kweisi Mfume, American civil rights activist. Congressman from Maryland
• 1960 - Ian Baker-Finch, golf champion
• 1961 - Mary Bono, United States House of Representatives from California
• 1962 - B.D. Wong, actor
• 1972 - Pat Williams, American football player
• 1981 - Tila Nguyen, model
• 1985 - Wayne Rooney, English football star

Deaths

900-1899

• 996 - King Hugh Capet of France
• 1672 - John Webb, architect
• 1799 - Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, composer
• 1821 - Elias Boudinot, American President of the Continental Congress
• 1852 - Daniel Webster, lawyer and politician
• 1898 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter

1900-1999

• 1912 - Mykola Lysenko, composer
• 1944 - Louis Renault, automobile manufacturer, Nazi collaborator
• 1945 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor
• 1948 - Franz Lehár, composer
• 1957 - Christian Dior, an influential French fashion designer (b. 1905)
• 1971 - Carl Ruggles, composer
• 1972 - Jackie Robinson, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1974 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1908)
• 1991 - Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek series
• 1997 - Don Messick, voice actor

2000-2099

• 2001 - Wolf Rüdiger Hess, German neo-Nazi
• 2002 - Winton M. Blount first United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet
• 2002 - Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright
• 2002 - Harry Hay, US gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder

• 2004 - James Cardinal Hickey, archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Holidays and observations

• United Nations Day
• Independence Day in Zambia (1964)
• Maladay (Discordianism)

October 23 - October 25 - November 24 - September 24 - more historical anniversaries