October 24

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

Events

• 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
• 1648 - Peace of Westphalia signed. End of Thirty Years' War
• 1795 - Poland is divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia
• 1861 - First transcontinental telegraph line completed, ending the Pony Express
• 1917 - Battle of Caporetto started on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
• 1929 - "Black Thursday" crash of the New York Stock Exchange.
• 1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
• 1944 - Zuikaku Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed
• 1945 - Founding of the United Nations
• 1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
• 1956 - Soviet Union invades Hungary
• 1964 - Northern Rhodesia granted independence by UK (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
• 1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission

Births

• 51 - Roman emperor Domitian (d. 96)
• 1632 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, microbiologist
• 1788 - Sarah Hale, poet
• 1811 - Ferdinand Hiller, composer (d. 1885)
• 1855 - James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States
• 1868 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, buddhist and writer
• 1887 - Victoria Eugenia, Queen of Spain (d. 1969)
• 1891 - Molina Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic
• 1903 - Melvin Purvis, FBI chief (d. 1960)
• 1904 - Moss Hart, dramatist (d. 1961)
• 1915 - Bob Kane, cartoonist
• 1925 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer
• 1926 - Y. A. Tittle, American football star
• 1929 - George Crumb, composer
• 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, actor
• 1947 - Kevin Kline, actor
• 1948 - Kweisi Mfume, American civil rights activist. Congressman from Maryland
• 1960 - Ian Baker-Finch, golf champion
• 1961 - Mary Bono, Congresswoman from California
• 1962 - B.D. Wong, actor
• 1985 - Wayne Rooney, English football star

Deaths

• 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
• 1944 - Louis Renault, automobile manufacturer, Nazi collaborator
• 1945 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor
• 1948 - Franz Lehár, composer
• 1971 - Carl Ruggles, composer
• 1972 - Jackie Robinson, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1991 - Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek series
• 1997 - Don Messick, voice actor
• 2001 - Wolf Rüdiger Hess

Holidays

• United Nations Day

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