March 24

March 24 in recent years

2024 (Sunday)

2023 (Friday)

2022 (Thursday)

2021 (Wednesday)

2020 (Tuesday)

2019 (Sunday)

2018 (Saturday)

2017 (Friday)

2016 (Thursday)

2015 (Tuesday)

March 24 is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 282 days remain until the end of the year.

March 24 was the 365th and last day of the year in many European implementations of the Julian calendar.

Events

• 1401 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
• 1603 – James VI of Scotland also becomes James I King of England.
• 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
• 1765 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
• 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
• 1837 – Canada gives African men the right to vote.
• 1868 – Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.
• 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
• 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).
• 1900 – New York City Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
• 1923 – Greece becomes a republic.
• 1934 – U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
• 1936 – The longest game in NHL history is played between Detroit and Montreal. Detroit scored at 16:30 of the sixth overtime and won the game 1-0.
• 1944 – Ardeatine Massacre: German troops kill 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
• 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
• 1958 – Elvis Presley is officially inducted into the U.S.Army.
• 1959 – The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
• 1965 – NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash landing.
• 1972 – The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.
• 1973 – Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, California.
• 1976 – Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón and start the National Reorganization Process.
• 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by right-wing terrorists while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
• 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
• 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.
• 1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Two students, ages 11 and 13, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
• 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
• 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
• 1999 – Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire: 39 people die when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine catches fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel.
• 2001 – Randy Johnson inadvertently kills a bird with a 95 mph slowball.
• 2003 – The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
• 2006 – Long-term protests in Belarus are broken by police.
• 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

Births

• 1494 – Georg Agricola, German scientist (d. 1555)
• 1607 – Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
• 1628 – Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1685)
• 1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (d. 1725)
• 1693 – John Harrison, British clockmaker (d. 1776)
• 1725 – Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
• 1725 – Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
• 1755 – Rufus King, American politician (d. 1827)
• 1782 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (d. 1836)
• 1796 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (d. 1878)
• 1808 – Maria Malibran, Spanish-French singer (d. 1836)
• 1809 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and writer (d. 1837)
• 1809 – Joseph Liouville, French mathematician (d. 1882)
• 1820 – A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1891)
• 1820 – Fanny Crosby, American hymnist (d. 1915)
• 1828 – Horace Gray, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1902)
• 1829 – George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
• 1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
• 1830 – Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet (d. 1889)
• 1834 – William Morris, English writer and designer (d. 1896)
• 1834 – John Wesley Powell, American explorer and environmentalist (d. 1902)
• 1835 – Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist (d. 1893)
• 1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Quebec journalist and newspaper publisher (La Patrie) (d. 1906)
• 1850 – Silas Hocking, British novelist and preacher (d. 1935)
• 1855 – Andrew Mellon, American financier (d. 1937)
• 1855 – Olive Schreiner, South African writer (d. 1920)
• 1874 – Harry Houdini, (Weisz Erik), Hungarian-born magician (d. 1926)
• 1884 – Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
• 1884 – Eugène Cardinal Tisserant, French Cardinal and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Athenagoras I, Greek Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
• 1887 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)
• 1888 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Bolshevik politician (d. 1922)
• 1889 – Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
• 1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Soviet physicist (d. 1951)
• 1893 – George Sisler, American baseball player (d. 1973)
• 1893 – Walter Baade, German astronomer (d. 1960)
• 1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born psychotherapist (d. 1957)
• 1901 – Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Thomas Dewey, American politician (d. 1971)
• 1903 – Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1995)
• 1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, British author and scholar (d. 1990)
• 1905 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino writer and diplomat (d. 2007)
• 1906 – Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Soviet singer (d. 1984)
• 1907 – Paul Sauvé, Quebec politician (d. 1960)
• 1910 – Richard Conte, American actor (d. 1975)
• 1911 – Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
• 1915 – Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)
• 1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American novelist (d. 2006)
• 1917 – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Constantine Andreou, Greek-Brazilian artist (d. 2007)
• 1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher
• 1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Gene Nelson, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1921 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player
• 1922 – Onna White, Canadian choreographer (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1924 – Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Puig Aubert, French rugby league footballer (d. 1994)
• 1926 – Dario Fo, Italian writer, Nobel laureate
• 1926 – Desmond Cardinal Connell, Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Dublin
• 1927 – Martin Walser, German author
• 1928 – Byron Janis, American pianist
• 1930 – David Dacko, 1st and 3rd President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
• 1930 – Agustín González, Spanish actor (d. 2005)
• 1930 – Steve McQueen, American actor (d. 1980)
• 1934 – William Smith, American actor
• 1935 – Peter Bichsel, Swiss writer
• 1936 – David Suzuki, Canadian scientist and environmentalist
• 1937 – Billy Stewart, American singer (d. 1970)
• 1938 – Holger Czukay, German musician (Can)
• 1938 – David Irving, British historian
• 1940 – Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
• 1940 – Don Jardine, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2006)
• 1944 – R. Lee Ermey, American actor
• 1944 – Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian Prime Minister
• 1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist
• 1945 – Curtis Hanson, American film director
• 1946 – Klaus Dinger, German musician (Neu!, Kraftwerk) (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Christine Gregoire, American politician, current governor of Washington
• 1947 – Meiko Kaji, Japanese singer and actress
• 1947 – Alan Sugar, English businessman
• 1948 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer, second person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders (d. 1989)
• 1949 – Nick Lowe, British musician
• 1949 – Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer
• 1951 – Pat Bradley, American golfer
• 1951 – Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer
• 1951 – Dougie Thomson, British bassist (Supertramp)
• 1953 – Louie Anderson, American comedian
• 1954 – Robert Carradine, American actor
• 1954 – Donna Pescow, American actress
• 1955 – Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and cross-country skier
• 1958 – Mike Woodson, American basketball player and head coach
• 1960 – Kelly LeBrock, American actress
• 1960 – Barry Horowitz, American professional wrestler
• 1960 – Nena, German pop singer
• 1960 – Scott Pruett, American race car driver
• 1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer
• 1962 – Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
• 1962 – Star Jones, American television personality
• 1964 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
• 1965 – Patrick Scales, British-German electric bass guitar player
• 1965 – Peter Jacobson, American actor
• 1965 – Gurmit Singh, Singaporean actor
• 1965 – The Undertaker, American professional wrestler
• 1969 – Houston, American pornographic actress
• 1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
• 1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish musician (The Corrs)
• 1970 – Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
• 1970 – Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian football player
• 1971 – Megyn Price, American actress
• 1972 – Steve Karsay, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
• 1973 – Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Steve Corica, Australian footballer
• 1974 – Chad Butler, American drummer (Switchfoot)
• 1974 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress
• 1975 – Thomas Johansson, Swedish tennis player
• 1975 – Krisdayanti, Indonesian singer, actress and diva
• 1976 – Aaron Brooks, American football player
• 1976 – Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer
• 1976 – Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Peyton Manning, American football player
• 1977 – Corneille, Rwandan/Canadian singer
• 1977 – Angellica Bell, English TV presenter
• 1977 – Olivia Burnette, American actress
• 1977 – Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1978 – Michael Braun, Australian rules footballer
• 1979 – Lake Bell, American actress
• 1979 – Emraan Hashmi, Indian actor
• 1979 – Norris Hopper, American baseball player
• 1979 – Periklis Iakovakis, Greek athlete
• 1979 – Graeme Swann, English cricketer
• 1980 – Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
• 1981 – Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
• 1982 – Corey Hart, American baseball player
• 1982 – Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
• 1982 – Nivea, American singer
• 1983 – T. J. Ford, American basketball player
• 1983 – Kelvin Kwan, Hong Kong singer
• 1984 – Chris Bosh, American basketball player
• 1984 – Adrian D'Souza, Indian field hockey player
• 1985 – Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model
• 1986 – Kohei Hirate, Japanese racing driver
• 1986 – Tony McMahon, English footballer
• 1988 – Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1990 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian/New Zealand actress

Deaths

• 809 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (b. 763)
• 1284 – King Hugh III of Cyprus (b. 1235)
• 1381 – Saint Catharine of Sweden, Swedish saint
• 1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic
• 1455 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
• 1558 – Anna of Egmond, Countess of Egmond and Buren (b. 1533)
• 1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)
• 1575 – Yosef Karo, Spanish-born rabbi (b. 1488)
• 1603 – Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
• 1653 – Samuel Scheidt, German composer (b. 1587)
• 1773 – Philip Dormer Stanhope, English statesman (b. 1694)
• 1776 – John Harrison, English clockmaker (b. 1693)
• 1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (b. 1779)
• 1881 – Joseph Delesse, French geologist (b. 1817)
• 1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American author (b. 1807)
• 1887 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and art critic (b. 1837)
• 1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
• 1905 – Jules Verne, French author (b. 1828)
• 1909 – John Millington Synge, Irish playwright (b. 1871)
• 1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (b. 1846)
• 1916 – Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (b. 1867)
• 1921 – Larry McLean, Canadian baseball player (b. 1881)
• 1944 – Orde Wingate, British soldier (b. 1903)
• 1946 – Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
• 1948 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish modernist painter (b. 1885)
• 1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (b. 1865)
• 1953 – Mary of Teck, queen consort to George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
• 1962 – Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (b. 1899)
• 1962 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
• 1968 – Alice Guy-Blaché, American film director (b. 1873)
• 1976 – Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1887)
• 1980 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran Catholic archbishop (b. 1917)
• 1984 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
• 1990 – Ray Goulding, American comedian (b. 1922)
• 1990 – An Wang, Chinese-born computer engineer (b. 1920)
• 1991 – Sir John Kerr, Australian politician (b. 1914)
• 1993 – John Hersey, American author (b. 1914)
• 1995 – Joseph Needham, British academic and sinologist (b. 1900)
• 1997 – Martin Caidin, American aviation writer (b. 1927)
• 1997 – Harold Melvin, American singer (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes) (b. 1939)
• 1999 – Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's activist (b. 1902)
• 1999 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Muriel Young, English TV entertainer (b. 1928)
• 2002 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
• 2003 – Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Lynne Perrie, English actress (b. 1931)
• 2008 – Chalmers "Spanky" Alford‎, American guitarist (b. 1955)
• 2008 – Neil Aspinall, British record producer (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Hal Riney, American advertising executive (b. 1932)
• 2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)
• 2009 – George Kell, American baseball player (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

• Ancient Latvia – Kazimiras Diena observed.
• World Tuberculosis Day.
• Saint Macartan
• Little Saint Simon (d. 1475)
• Saint Catharine of Sweden (d. 1381)
• Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice in Argentina

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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