On this day in History - Aug. 24

• 49 BC - Julius Caesar's general Gaius Curio is defeated in the 2nd Battle of the Bagradas RiverNumidians under Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio is slain in battle.
• 0079 - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
• 0079 - Pliny the Elder dies (b. 0023). Toman writer and naturalist.
• 0410 - The Visigoths under Alaric sack Rome for three days.
• 1042 - Michael V dies (b. 1015). Byzantine Emperor.
• 1103 - King Magnus III of Norway dies (b. 1073).
• 1113 - Geoffrey Plantagenet was born. Count of Anjou, father of Henry II of England.
• 1103 - Magnus III Berføtt dies. King of Norway (1093-1103).
• 1198 - Alexander II of Scotland was born (d. 1249).
• 1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
• 1217 - Eustace the Monk dies (b.c. 1170). French mercenary and pirate.
• 1313 - Henry VI dies. Holy Roman Emperor(1312-1313).
• 1349 - 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz because they are blamed for the bubonic plague.
• 1356 - A cidade de Lisboa é atingida por um violento terramoto.
• 1358 - King John I of Castile was born (d. 1390).
• 1391 - Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
• 1393 - Arthur III, the Justicier was born (d. 1458). Duke of Brittany.
• 1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
• 1471 - Conquista de Arzila pelas forças portuguesas de D. Afonso V e do príncipe João.
• 1511 - Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers the Sultanate of Malacca.
• 1540 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola dies (b. 1503). Italian painter.
• 1542 - Gasparo Contarini dies (b. 1483). Italian diplomat and cardinal.
• 1552 - Lavinia Fontana was born (d. 1614). Italian painter.
• 1561 - Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxon.
• 1572 - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre: On the orders of king Charles IX of France, a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) begins.
• 1572 - Victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: 1589 - Nasce a Duquesa de Mântua, vice-rainha de Portugal.
• Gaspard de Coligny dies (b. 1519). French Huguenot leader;
• Pierre de la Ramée dies (b. 1515). French humanist.
• Charles de Téligny dies (b. c. 1535). French Huguenot soldier.
  1580 - John Taylor was born (d. 1654). English poet.
  
• 1591 - Robert Herrick was born (d. 1674). English poet
• 1595 - Thomas Digges dies (b. 1546). English astronomer.
• 1608 - The first official British representative to India lands in Surat.
• 1635 - Peder Griffenfeld was born (d. 1699). Danish statesman.
• 1662 - Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.
• 1666 - Morre D. Francisco Manuel de Melo (n. 1608). Escritor português ( Obras Métricas (1665), Auto do Fidalgo Aprendiz, Carta de Guia de Casados , Obras Morales, Epanáforas de Vária História Portuguesa).
• 1669 - Alessandro Marcello was born (d. 1747). Italian composer.
• 1679 - Jean François Paul de Gondi dies (b. 1614). French churchman and agitator.
• 1680 - Thomas Blood dies (b. 1618). Irish-birn thief of the British Crown Jewels.
• 1682 - William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
• 1683 - John Owen dies (b. 1616). English non-conformist theologian.
• 1690 - Calcutta, India is founded.
• 1707 - Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon was born (d. 1791). English Evangelical Revivalist.
• 1724 - George Stubbs was born. English painter.
• 1759 - William Wilberforce was born (d. 1833). Campaigner against slavery.
• 1759 - Ewald Christian von Kleist dies (b. 1715). German poet.
• 1772 - King William I of the Netherlands was born (1814-1840).
• 1779 - Saint Cosmas of Aetolia dies (b. 1714). Greek Orthodox martyr.
• 1787 - James Weddell was born (d. 1834). Antarctica explorer.
• 1798 - Thomas Alcock dies (b. 1709). English clergyman.
• 1814 - British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings.
• 1816 - The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was born (d. 1875). Novelist, poet and dramatist.
• 1820 - Tem início no Porto a Revolução Liberal.
• 1821 - The Treaty of Córdoba was signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
• 1831 - Charles Darwin is asked to travel on HMS Beagle.
• 1831 - August von Gneisenau dies (b. 1760). Prussian field marshal.
• 1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot dies (b. 1796). French mathematician.
• 1837 - Théodore Dubois was born (d. 1924). Composer and teacher.
• 1841 - Theodore Edward Hook dies (b. 1788). English author.
• 1845 - James C. Calhoun was born (d. 1876). Brother-in-law of George Armstrong Custer.
• 1847 - Charlotte Brontë finishes Jane Eyre.
• 1852 - Deacon White was born (d. 1919). American baseball player.
• 1853 - Potato chips first prepared.
• 1857 - Beginning of the Panic of 1857, one of the most severe economic crises in US history.
• 1858 - In Richmond, Virginia, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.
• 1863 - Dragutin Lerman was born (d. 1918). Croatian explorer of Africa.
• 1865 - King Ferdinand I of Romania was born (d. 1927).
• 1870 - The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
• 1872 - Max Beerbohm was born (d. 1956). British caricaturist.
• 1875 - Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim English Channel.
• 1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen was born (d. 1965). American entrepreneur, inventor of the toy electric train.
• 1884 - Earl Derr Biggers was born (d. 1933). American author.
• 1887 - Harry Hooper was born (d. 1974). American baseball player.
• 1890 - Duke Kahanamoku was born (d. 1968). American swimmer, surfer.
• 1890 - Jean Rhys was born. (d. 1979). British writer.
• 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
• 1894 - Joaquim Pedro de Oliveira Martins dies (b. 30 Abr 1845). Portuguese sociologist and historian.
• 1895 - Richard Cardinal Cushing was born (d. 1970). Archbishop of Boston.
• 1897 - Fred Rose was born (d. 1954). American songwriter and publishing executive.
• 1898 - Malcolm Cowley was born (d. 1989). American literary critic, writer, editor.
• 1899 - Albert Claude was born (d. 1983). Belgian biologist, Nobel laureate.
• 1899 - Gaylord DuBois was born (d. 1993). American comic book writer.
• 1899 - Jorge Luis Borges was born (d. 1986). Argentine writer.
• 1901 - Preston Foster was born (d. 1970). American actor.
• 1902 - Carlo Gambino was born (d. 1976). Sicilian-born American mafioso.
• 1902 - Fernand Braudel was born. French historian.
• 1903- Graham Sutherland was born. English painter.
• 1904 - Alice White was born (d. 1983). American film actress.
• 1905 - Siaka Stevens was born (d. 1988). President of Sierra Leone.
• 1905 - Arthur Crudup was born (d. 1976). American singer and guitarist.
• 1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
• 1911 - Em Portugal, Manuel Arriaga é eleito primeiro Presidente da República, por um mandato de quatro anos. A França reconhece a República portuguesa, sendo o primeiro país europeu a fazê-lo.
• 1912 - Alaska becomes a United States territory.
• 1912 - Durward Kirby was born (d. 2000). American television personality.
• 1912 - Raimundo Bulhão Pato dies in Monte da Caparica (b. 3 Mar 1829 in Bilbao, Spain). Portuguese writer.
• 1914 - German troops capture Namur.
• 1915 - James Tiptree, Jr. was born (d. 1987). American writer.
• 1916 - Hal Smith was born (d. 1994). American actor and voice artist.
• 1916 - Léo Ferré was born (d. 1993). French composer and singer.
• 1917 - Dennis James was born (d. 1997). American game show host.
• 1918 - Sikander Bakht was born (d. 2004). Governor of Kerala.
• 1919 - Enrique Llanes was born (d. 2004). Mexican professional wrestler.
  
• 1920 - Alex Colville was born. Canadian painter.
• 1921 - Sam Tingle was born. Zimbabwean racing driver.
• 1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov dies (b. 1886). Russian poet.
• 1922 - René Lévesque was born (d. 1987). Premier of Quebec.
• 1922 - Howard Zinn was born. American historian and activist.
• 1923 - Arthur Jensen was born. American psychologist.
• 1924 - Ahmadou Ahidjo was born. Camaronese President (1960-1982).
• 1924 - Alyn Ainsworth was born. British bandleader.
• 1927 - David Ireland was born. Australian author.
• 1927 - Harry Markowitz was born. American economist, Nobel laureate.
• 1929 – Betty Dodson was born. American feminist and sex educator.
• 1929 - Yasser Arafat was born (d. 2004). Palestinian leader.
• 1929 - Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.
• 1929 - Riots in Palestine of 1929: 18 Jews in Safed, 67 in Hebron, and 22 in Jerusalem killed by Arab Palestinians.
• 1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
• 1931 - Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
• 1934 - Kenny Baker was born. English actor.
• 1936 - A. S. Byatt was born. English novelist.
• 1936 - The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
• 1937 - Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born (d. 1998). Nigerian politician.
• 1938 - David Freiberg was born. American bassist (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship).
• 1938 - Mason Williams was born. American guitarist and composer.
• 1938 - Halldór Blöndal was born. Icelandic politician.
• 1939 - The Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.
• 1940 - Francine Lalonde was born. Quebec politician.
• 1940 - Paul Gottlieb Nipkow dies. Television pioneer.
• 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the East Solomon Islands: Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho is sunk.
• 1942 - Max Cleland was born. American politician.
• 1942 - Howard Jacobson was born. British novelist and newspaper columnist.
• 1943 - John Cipollina was born (d. 29 May 1989). American musician, guitarist with Quicksilver Messenger Service.
• 1943 - Simone Weil dies (b. 1909). French philosopher and social activist.
• 1944 - World War II: French and Allied troops start the attack on Paris.
• 1944 - Bill Goldsworthy was born (d. 1996). Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1944 - Gregory Jarvis was born (d.1986). American astronaut.
• 1944 - Paulo Leminski was born in Curitiba (d. 1989). Brazilian poet and writer.
• 1945 - Ken Hensley was born. English musician (Uriah Heep).
• 1945 - Vince McMahon was born. American professional wrestling entrepreneur.
• 1946 - James Clark McReynolds dies (b. 1816). U.S. Supreme Court justice.
• 1947 - Paulo Coelho was born. Brazilian author.
• 1947 - Roger De Vlaeminck was born. Belgian cyclist.
• 1947 - Anne Archer was born. American actress.
• 1948 - Kim Sung-Il was born. Chief of Staff of Republic of Korea Air Force.
• 1948 - Jean-Michel Jarre was born. French musician.
• 1949 - The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.
• 1949 - Joe Regalbuto was born. American actor.
• 1949 - Charles Rocket was born (d. 2005). American actor.
• 1950 - Arturo Alessandri Palma dies. President of Chile (1920-1925 e 1932-1938).
• 1950 - Tim White was born. American anthropologist.
• 1951 - Orson Scott Card was born. American writer.
• 1951 - Oscar Hijuelos was born. American novelist, 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love).
• 1952 - Mike Shanahanwas born. American football coach.
• 1954 - Alain Daigle was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1954 - The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.
• 1954 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (b. 1882), President of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
• 1956 - John Culberson was born. American politician.
• 1956 - Dick Lee was born. Singaporean singer-songwriter.
• 1956 - Kenji Mizoguchi dies (b. 1898). Japanese film director.
• 1956 - John Culberson was born. American politician.
• 1957 - Stephen Fry was born. English comedian, author and actor.
• 1958 - Stirling Moss (Equipe Vanwall) vence o Grande Prémio do Port, em Fórmula 1.
• 1958 - Steve Guttenberg was born. American actor.
• 1958 - Tracy Harris was born. American artist.
• 1958 - Paul Henry dies (b. 1876). Northern Irish artist.
• 1960 - A temperature of −88°C (−127°F) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica — a world-record low.
• 1960 - Cal Ripken, Jr. was born. American baseball player.
• 1960 - Kim Christofte was born. Danish footballer.
• 1962 - Craig Kilborn was born. American talk show host.
• 1962 - David Koechner was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Greg Glienna was born. American screenwriter and director.
• 1963 - John Bush was born. American singer (Anthrax).
• 1963 - Hideo Kojima was born. Japanese video game director.
• 1963 - The 200 metre freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time (Don Schollander in 1:58).
• 1964 - Salizhan Sharipov was born. Cosmonaut.
• 1965 - Marlee Matlin was born. American Academy Award winning actress.
• 1965 - Reggie Miller was born. American basketball star.
• 1965 - Brian Rajadurai was born. Sri Lankan cricketer.
• 1967 - Led by Abbie Hoffman, a group of hippies temporarily disrupt trading at the NYSE by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing a cease in trading as the brokers scramble to grab them up.
• 1967 - Henry J. Kaiser dies (b. 1882). American industrialist.
• 1967 - Lam Bun dies murdered (b. 1930). Kong radio commentator.
• 1968 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
• 1968 - Andreas Kisser was born. Brazilian guitarist (Sepultura).
• 1968 - Shoichi Funaki was born. Japanese professional wrestler.
• 1968 - Benoit Brunet was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1969 - Varahagiri Venkata Giri assume (pela 2º vez) a presidência da Índia.
• 1970 - Tugay Kerimoğlu was born. Turkish footballer.
• 1971 - Airport of Horta in Faual Island is inaugurated (Azores, Portugal)/ É inaugurado o Aeroporto da Horta.
• 1971 - Pierfrancesco Favino was born. Italian actor.
• 1972 - O americano Bobby Fischer sagra-se Campeão mundial de xadrez ao vencer o russo Boris Spassky.
• 1972 - Jean-Luc Brassard was born. Canadian freestyle skier.
• 1973 - Andrew Brunette was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1973 - Carmine Giovinazzo was born. Actor.
• 1973 - David Chappelle was born. American actor and comedian.
• 1973 - Inge de Bruijn was born. Dutch swimmer.
• 1974 - Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed assume a presidência da Índia.
• 1974 - Jennifer Lien was born. Actress (Star Trek: Voyager).
• 1974 - Jürgen Macho was born. Austrian footballer.
• 1974 - Alexander de Seversky dies (b. 1894). Russian-American aviation pioneer.
• 1975 - Mark de Vries was born. Surinamese-Dutch footballer.
• 1975 - Eamon de Valera dies. Irish politician and patriot.
• 1977 - Robert Enke was born. German footballer.
• 1977 - Sofia Duarte Silva was born. Portuguese actress.
• 1977 - Per Gade was born. Danish footballer.
• 1977 - Buddy O'Connor dies (b. 1916). Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1978 - Rafael Furcal was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1978 - Louis Prima dies (b. 1910). American band leader.
• 1978 - Rafael Furcal was born. Major League Baseball All-Star.
• 1979 - In Central Park, New York a concert is given by cars.
• 1979 - Elva Hsiao was born. Taiwanese singer.
• 1979 - Hanna Reitsch dies (b. 1912). German pilot.
• 1979 - Sampson Sievers dies (b. 1898). Russian Orthodox Christian monk and wonder-worker.
• 1980 - Yootha Joyce dies (b. 1927). British actress.
• 1981 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
• 1981 - Chad Michael Murray was born. American actor.
• 1981 - Wang Dong Cheng was born. Taiwanese singer.
• 1982 - José Bosingwa was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1982 - Kim Kallstrom was born. Swedish footballer.
• 1982 - Félix-Antoine Savard dies (b. 1896). French Canadian catholic priest and novelist.
• 1983 - Christopher Parker was born. British actor.
• 1983 - Carolina Klüft was born. Swedish heptahlete.
• 1983 - Marcel Goc was born. German ice hockey player.
• 1985 - Paul Creston dies (b. 1906). American composer.
• 1987 - Jon Scheyer was born. American basketball player.
• 1987 - Malcolm Kirk dies (b. 1936). English wrestler.
• 1988 - Rupert Grint was born. English actor.
• 1989 - Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
• 1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
• 1989 - Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
• 1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest are not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
• 1990 - Sinéad O'Connor refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Plaza in Holmdel, New Jersey if "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played before her show, as is customary.
• 1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest are not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
• 1990 - Gailli AbedElrhman dies (b. 1931). Sudanese writer.
• 1990 - Sergei Dovlatov dies (b. 1941). Russian writer.
• 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• 1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
• 1991 - Bernard Castro dies (b. 1904). Italian inventor of the convertible couch.
• 1992 - Diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and South Korea.
• 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.
• 1992 - Brasil: Uma comissão parlamentar acusa o presidente brasileiro Collor de Mello de corrupção passiva e desprezo pela Constituição.
• 1994 - Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
• 1995 - Windows 95 becomes available.
• 1995 - Runa Tsukishima was born. Japanese child model.
• 1995 - Alfred Eisenstaedt dies (b. 1898). German-born photographer.
• 1998 - The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm bombing.
• 1998 - E.G. Marshall dies (b. 1910). American actor.
• 1999 - Alexandre Lagoya dies (b. 1929). Greek-Italian classical guitarist.
• 2001 - Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from New York) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
• 2001 - Jane Greer dies (b. 1924). American actress.
• 2002 - Nikolay Guryanov dies (b. 1909). Russian Orthodox Christian mystic and priest.
• 2002 - Hoyt Wilhelm dies (b. 1923). American baseball player.
• 2003 - US Spacecraft Voyager 2 was 71 astronomical units distant from Earth and is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year (ca. 15 km/s). It will be approximately 40,000 years before Voyager 2 approaches another planetary system.
• 2003 - Alexandre Coste was born. Son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco.
• 2003 - Sir Wilfred Thesiger dies (b. 1910). British explorer.
• 2004 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from the breakaway republic of Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.
• 2004 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross dies (b. 1926). Swiss-born psychiatrist.
• 2004 - Víctor L. Urquidi dies (b. 1919). Mexican economist.
• 2005 - Kaleth Morales dies (b. 1984). Colombian Vallenato singer.
• 2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
• 2006 - Cristian Nemescu dies (b. 1979). Romanian film director.
• 2006 - Léopold Simoneau dies (b. 1916). French Canadian tenor.
• 2007 – Aaron Russo dies (b. 1943). American film producer and director.
• 2007 - Andrée P. Boucher dies (b. 1937). Mayor of Quebec City.
• 2008 - Three men are arrested in Denver for in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate United States presidential candidate Barack Obama.
• 2008 - XXIX Olympic Games close in Beijing.
• Roman Catholic Saints : Feast day of Saint Bartholomew; Feast day of Abban of Ireland.
• Liberia: Flag Day.
• Sierra Leone: President's Birthday.
• Ukraine: National holiday, independence from the Soviet Union (1991).