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This day in history

This day in history: 24 April

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events47

Born on this day · Died on this day206 · 81

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Key facts

334 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 24 April.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A mass stabbing at a school in Nantes, France, leaves one person dead and three others wounded.

Holidays and observances

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia, California, France)

Christian feast day: April 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Benedict Menni

Christian feast day: Dermot of Armagh

Christian feast day: Dyfnan of Anglesey

Christian feast day: Ecgberht of Ripon

Christian feast day: Elizabeth Hesselblad

Christian feast day: Fidelis of Sigmaringen

Christian feast day: Gregory of Elvira

Christian feast day: Ivo of Ramsey

Christian feast day: Johann Walter (Lutheran)

Christian feast day: Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

Events

2025A mass stabbing at a school in Nantes, France, leaves one person dead and three others wounded.

2013A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people and injuring about 2,500 others.

2013Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.

2011WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.

2006Bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Dahab kill 23 people and injure about 80.

2005Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

2004The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

1996In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.

1994A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive.

1993An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.

1990Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.

1990STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

1980Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.

1970China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.

1970The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.

1967Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.

1967Vietnam 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".

1965Civil 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.

1963Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.

1957Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.

1955The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.

1953Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1944World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.

1933Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.

1932Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.

1926The 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.

1924Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark (first term).

1922The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.

1918World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.

1916Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.

1916Ernest 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 Endurance.

1915The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

1914The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.

1913The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.

1895Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop Spray.

1885American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

1877Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

1837The great fire in Surat, India causes more than 500 deaths and destruction of more than 9,000 houses.

1800The 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".

1793French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is acquitted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of charges brought by the Girondin in Paris.

Born on this day

1999Jerry Jeudy, American football player

1999Ziyu He, Chinese violinist

1998Ryan Newman, American actress

1997Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer

1997Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player

1996Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player

1995Kehlani, American singer-songwriter

1994Caspar Lee, British-South African YouTuber

1994Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor

1993Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer

1992Jack Quaid, American actor

1992Laura Kenny, English cyclist

1991Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer

1991Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater

1991Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model

1990Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player

1990Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress

1989David Boudia, American diver

1989Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player

1989Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player

1987Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

1987Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer

1987Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player

1987Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist

1987Varun Dhawan, Indian actor

1986Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player

1985Mike Rodgers, American sprinter

1983Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete

1982David Oliver, American hurdler

1982Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, talk show host

1982Simon Tischer, German volleyball player

1981Taylor Dent, American tennis player

1981Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer

1980Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer

1980Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (died 2008)

1979Avey Tare, American musician

1978Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer

1977Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player

1977Diego Placente, Argentine footballer

1976Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach

Died on this day

2026Dirk Kempthorne, American businessman and politician, 49th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1951)

2025Roy Phillips, British musician (born 1941)

2024Bob Cole, Canadian sports announcer (born 1933)

2024Donald Payne Jr., American politician (born 1958)

2024Mike Pinder, British musician (born 1941)

2024Terry Hill, Australian rugby league player (born 1972)

2023Wang Xiaolong, Chinese Coast guardsman (born 1995)

2022Andrew Woolfolk, American saxophonist (born 1950)

2017Robert Pirsig, American author and philosopher (born 1928)

2016Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach (born 1930)

2015Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1922)

2014Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House (born 1934)

2014Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1948)

2014Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (born 1968)

2014Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright (born 1921)

2011Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (born 1926)

2008Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (born 1921)

2006Brian Labone, English footballer (born 1940)

2006Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author (born 1914)

2005Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (born 1924)

2005Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic (born 1910)

2004Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (born 1906)

2004José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer (born 1923)

2003Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (born 1910)

2002Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgish sculptor (born 1908)

2001Johnny Valentine, American wrestler (born 1928)

2001Josef Peters, German racing driver (born 1914)

1997Allan Francovich, American director and producer (born 1941)

1997Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle (born 1922)

1997Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist (born 1927)

Quote of the day

“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”

Seneca

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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