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

Events

• 1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
• 1603 – James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
• 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.
• 1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
• 1707 – The Acts of Union 1707 are signed, officially uniting the Kingdoms and parliaments of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February. She had been wanting to rule jointly with her husband in the same manner as William and Mary in the British Isles, but after the Riksdag of the Estates said no to this, she chose to abdicate the throne in his favour instead.
• 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
• 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
• 1765 – American Revolution: Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
• 1829 – Catholic emancipation: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
• 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
• 1837 – Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote.
• 1854 – Slavery is abolished in Venezuela.
• 1860 – Sakuradamon Incident: Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke.
• 1869 – The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
• 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
• 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
• 1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Bang Bo on the Tonkin–Guangxi border.
• 1896 – A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.
• 1900 – Mayor of New York City 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.
• 1921 – The 1921 Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, first international women's sports event
• 1927 – Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
• 1934 – United States Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
• 1944 – Ardeatine massacre: German troops murder 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
• 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.
• 1946 – The British Cabinet Mission, consisting of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander, arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
• 1958 – Rock 'n' roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
• 1959 – The Party of the African Federation is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keïta.
• 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 athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.
• 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. Since 2006, a public holiday known as Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice is held on this day.
• 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated 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 (38,000 m³) of crude oil after running aground.
• 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.
• 1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, 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 3,000 others.
• 1998 – First computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany
• 1999 – Mont Blanc Tunnel fire kills 39 people.
• 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO commences aerial bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
• 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.
• 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
• 2013 – The Lahad Datu standoff ends, leaving 72 dead.
• 2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

Births

• 1494 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
• 1607 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
• 1628 – Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1685)
• 1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese academic and politician (d. 1725)
• 1693 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clock-maker, invented the Marine chronometer (d. 1776)
• 1725 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
• 1725 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
• 1740 – John Antes, American missionary and composer (d. 1811)
• 1755 – Rufus King, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
• 1762 – Marcos Portugal, Portuguese organist and composer (d. 1830)
• 1775 – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (d. 1835)
• 1782 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian-Italian painter (d. 1836)
• 1796 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1878)
• 1803 – Egerton Ryerson, Canadian minister, educator, and politician (d. 1882)
• 1808 – Maria Malibran, Spanish-French soprano (d. 1836)
• 1809 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1837)
• 1809 – Joseph Liouville, French mathematician and academic (d. 1882)
• 1820 – Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (d. 1891)
• 1820 – Fanny Crosby, American poet and composer (d. 1915)
• 1823 – Thomas Spencer Baynes, English philosopher and critic (d. 1887)
• 1826 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American activist and author (d. 1898)
• 1828 – Horace Gray, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1902)
• 1829 – George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
• 1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
• 1830 – Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet and playwright (d. 1889)
• 1834 – William Morris, English poet, author, and translator (d. 1896)
• 1834 – John Wesley Powell, American soldier, geologist, and explorer (d. 1902)
• 1835 – Joseph Stefan, Austrian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
• 1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, 18th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1906)
• 1850 – Silas Hocking, English minister and author (d. 1935)
• 1855 – Andrew W. Mellon, American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
• 1855 – Olive Schreiner, South African author and activist (d. 1920)
• 1862 – Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (d. 1951)
• 1869 – Émile Fabre, French author and playwright (d. 1955)
• 1871 – Alec Hurley, English music hall singer (d. 1913)
• 1874 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (d. 1961)
• 1874 – Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor (d. 1926)
• 1874 – Selim Sırrı Tarcan, Turkish educator and politician (d. 1957)
• 1875 – William Burns, Canadian lacrosse player (d. 1953)
• 1879 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher, poet, and composer (d. 1953)
• 1882 – Marcel Lalu, French gymnast (d. 1951)
• 1882 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1943)
• 1884 – Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
• 1884 – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (d. 1972)
• 1885 – Charles Daniels, American swimmer (d. 1973)
• 1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1978)
• 1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
• 1886 – Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect and designer (d. 1945)
• 1887 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1933)
• 1888 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (d. 1922)
• 1889 – Albert Hill, English-Canadian runner (d. 1969)
• 1890 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (d. 1954)
• 1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1951)
• 1892 – Marston Morse, American mathematician and academic (d. 1977)
• 1893 – Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (d. 1960)
• 1893 – George Sisler, American baseball player and scout (d. 1973)
• 1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (d. 1957)
• 1901 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (d. 1971)
• 1903 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• 1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, author, and scholar (d. 1990)
• 1905 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino author and diplomat (d. 2007)
• 1906 – Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Ukrainian-Russian singer (d. 1984)
• 1907 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (d. 1960)
• 1909 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (d. 1934)
• 1910 – Richard Conte, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1975)
• 1911 – Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (d. 2006)
• 1912 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (d. 2010)
• 1915 – Eugène Martin, French racing driver (d. 2006)
• 1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American soldier and author (d. 2006)
• 1916 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (d. 2010)
• 1917 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
• 1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
• 1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Bill Irwin, Canadian skier and soldier (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Carlo Monti, Italian sprinter (d. 2016)
• 1920 – Gene Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Mary Stolz, American author (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
• 1922 – Onna White, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1923 – Michael Legat, English author and publisher (d. 2011)
• 1924 – Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Puig Aubert, German-French rugby league player and coach (d. 1994)
• 1926 – Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal
• 1926 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
• 1926 – William Porter, American hurdler (d. 2000)
• 1927 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Martin Walser, German author and playwright
• 1928 – Byron Janis, American pianist and composer
• 1929 – Pat Renella, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1930 – David Dacko, Central African politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
• 1930 – Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (d. 1980)
• 1931 – Hanno Drechsler, German educator and politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 2003)
• 1932 – Christiane Eda-Pierre, Martinican-French soprano and actress
• 1933 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (d. 2011)
• 1936 – Alex Olmedo, Peruvian-American tennis player
• 1936 – David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist and academic
• 1937 – Lynn Borden, American model and actress (d. 2015)
• 1937 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (d. 1970)
• 1938 – Don Covay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1938 – Holger Czukay, Polish-German bass player
• 1938 – David Irving, English historian and author
• 1940 – Don Jardine, Canadian wrestler and trainer (d. 2006)
• 1940 – Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
• 1941 – Michael Masser, American songwriter, composer and producer (d. 2015)
• 1944 – R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor
• 1944 – Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Serbia
• 1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist and academic
• 1945 – Curtis Hanson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
• 1945 – Patrick Malahide, English actor and screenwriter
• 1946 – Klaus Dinger, German guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
• 1946 – Kitty O'Neil, American stuntwoman
• 1947 – Dennis Erickson, American football player and coach
• 1947 – Christine Gregoire, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Governor of Washington
• 1947 – Mick Jones, English footballer and coach
• 1947 – Alan Sugar, English businessman
• 1948 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (d. 2013)
• 1948 – Anatoli Krikun, Estonian basketball player and coach
• 1948 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer (d. 1989)
• 1948 – Lee Oskar, Danish harmonica player and songwriter
• 1948 – Barbara Pearse, English biologist and academic
• 1949 – Tabitha King, American author and poet
• 1949 – Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1949 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player
• 1949 – Nick Lowe, English singer-songwriter and producer
• 1949 – Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian academic and politician, 36th Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran
• 1949 – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• 1950 – Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (d. 2011)
• 1951 – Peter Boyle, Scottish-Australian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
• 1951 – Pat Bradley, American golfer
• 1951 – Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
• 1951 – Anna Włodarczyk, Polish long jumper and coach
• 1952 – Greg McCrary, American football player (d. 2013)
• 1953 – Anita L. Allen, American lawyer, philosopher, and academic
• 1955 – Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1955 – Pat Price, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1955 – Celâl Şengör, Turkish geologist and academic
• 1956 – Steve Ballmer, American businessman
• 1956 – Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
• 1957 – Gilles Baril, Canadian politician
• 1957 – Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and skier
• 1957 – Pat Jarvis, Australian rugby league player
• 1958 – Mike Woodson, American basketball player and coach
• 1959 – Emmit King, American sprinter
• 1959 – Renaldo Nehemiah, American hurdler and football player
• 1959 – Derek Statham, English footballer
• 1960 – Nena, German singer-songwriter
• 1960 – Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
• 1960 – Barry Horowitz, American wrestler
• 1960 – Scott Pruett, American race car driver
• 1960 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
• 1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer and coach
• 1961 – Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
• 1962 – Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
• 1962 – Star Jones, American lawyer, journalist, and talk show host
• 1962 – Irina Meszynski, German discus thrower
• 1963 – Raimond van der Gouw, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1963 – Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2015)
• 1963 – Torsten Voss, German decathlete and bobsledder
• 1966 – Floyd Heard, American sprinter and coach
• 1968 – Minarti Timur, Indonesian badminton player
• 1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
• 1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and violinist
• 1970 – Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
• 1970 – Erica Kennedy, American journalist and author (d. 2012)
• 1970 – Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian-American football player
• 1972 – Christophe Dugarry, French footballer
• 1972 – Steve Karsay, American baseball player and coach
• 1973 – Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
• 1973 – Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1973 – Steve Corica, Australian footballer and coach
• 1973 – Mette Jacobsen, Danish swimmer
• 1973 – Glen Jakovich, Australian footballer
• 1973 – Jim Parsons, American actor
• 1974 – Sergey Klyugin, Russian high jumper
• 1975 – Thomas Johansson, Swedish-Monacan tennis player
• 1976 – Aaron Brooks, American football player
• 1976 – Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer and coach
• 1976 – Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Peyton Manning, American football player and entrepreneur
• 1977 – Corneille, Rwandan-German singer-songwriter
• 1977 – Jessica Chastain, American actress
• 1977 – Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1978 – Michael Braun, Australian footballer and coach
• 1978 – Kaori Mochida, Japanese singer-songwriter
• 1978 – Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer and manager
• 1979 – Lake Bell, American actress and director
• 1979 – Norris Hopper, American baseball player
• 1979 – Periklis Iakovakis, Greek hurdler
• 1979 – Graeme Swann, English cricketer
• 1980 – Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
• 1981 – Mike Adams, American football player
• 1981 – Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
• 1981 – Dirk Hayhurst, American baseball player
• 1981 – Mark Looms, Dutch footballer
• 1981 – Gary Paffett, English race car driver
• 1982 – Corey Hart, American baseball player
• 1982 – Jimmy Hempte, Belgian footballer
• 1982 – Christian Hug, German rugby player
• 1982 – Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
• 1983 – Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French-Cameroonian footballer
• 1984 – Chris Bosh, American basketball player
• 1984 – Adrian D'Souza, Indian field hockey player
• 1984 – Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner
• 1984 – Park Bom, South Korean singer
• 1985 – Frederico Gil, Portuguese tennis player
• 1986 – Tony McMahon, English footballer
• 1987 – Ramires, Brazilian footballer
• 1987 – Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1987 – Yuma Asami, Japanese model and actress
• 1987 – Billy Jones, English footballer
• 1987 – Josh Zeid, American baseball player
• 1988 – Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete
• 1988 – Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1988 – Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer
• 1988 – Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer
• 1990 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
• 1990 – Starlin Castro, American baseball player
• 1990 – Libby Clegg, English runner
• 1991 – Nick Browne, English cricketer
• 1991 – Dalila Jakupović, Slovenian tennis player
• 1994 – Anna Hämäläinen, Russian-Finnish runner
• 1995 – Enzo Fernández, French-Spanish footballer

Deaths

• 809 – Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (b. 763)
• 1284 – Hugh III of Cyprus (b. 1235)
• 1381 – Catherine of Vadstena, Swedish saint (b. 1332)
• 1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic and saint (b. 1340)
• 1455 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
• 1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese daimyo (b. 1514)
• 1575 – Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Spanish-Portuguese rabbi and author (b. 1488)
• 1603 – Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
• 1653 – Samuel Scheidt, German organist and composer (b. 1587)
• 1773 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English politician, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (b. 1694)
• 1776 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (b. 1693)
• 1824 – Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, French lawyer (b. 1753)
• 1838 – Abraham Hume, English floriculturist and Tory politician (b. 1748/49)
• 1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French-Russian general (b. 1779)
• 1881 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1817)
• 1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (b. 1807)
• 1887 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and critic (b. 1837)
• 1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
• 1905 – Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1828)
• 1909 – John Millington Synge, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1871)
• 1915 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer (b. 1848)
• 1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1846)
• 1916 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1867)
• 1926 – Phan Châu Trinh, Vietnamese activist (b. 1872)
• 1940 – Édouard Branly, French physicist and academic (b. 1844)
• 1944 – Orde Wingate, Indian-English general (b. 1903)
• 1946 – Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
• 1946 – Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, shot putter, and jumper (b. 1869)
• 1948 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter and illustrator (b. 1885)
• 1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1865)
• 1953 – Mary of Teck (b. 1867)
• 1962 – Jean Goldkette, French-American pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)
• 1962 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
• 1971 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel and Aarhus City Hall (b. 1902)
• 1971 – Arthur Metcalfe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
• 1976 – Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (b. 1887)
• 1980 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (b. 1917)
• 1984 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
• 1985 – Raoul Ubac, French painter, sculptor, photographer and engraver (b. 1910)
• 1988 – Turhan Feyzioğlu, Turkish academic and politician, 27th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1922)
• 1990 – Ray Goulding, American comedian and radio host (b. 1922)
• 1991 – John Kerr, Australian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (b. 1905)
• 1993 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (b. 1914)
• 1995 – Joseph Needham, English historian and academic (b. 1900)
• 1999 – Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German politician (b. 1902)
• 1999 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Muriel Young, English television host and producer (b. 1928)
• 2002 – César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
• 2002 – Bob Said, American race car driver and bobsledder (b. 1932)
• 2003 – Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian cardinal (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (b. 1926)
• 2008 – Chalmers Alford, American guitarist (b. 1955)
• 2008 – Neil Aspinall, Welsh-English record producer and manager (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 2008 – Hal Riney, American businessman, founded Publicis & Hal Riney (b. 1932)
• 2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)
• 2009 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Hans Klenk, German race car driver (b. 1919)
• 2009 – Gábor Ocskay, Hungarian ice hockey player (b. 1975)
• 2010 – Robert Culp, American actor (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Paul Callaghan, New Zealand physicist and academic (b. 1947)
• 2012 – Vince Lovegrove, Australian singer, producer, and journalist (b. 1947)
• 2012 – Nick Noble, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, academic, and politician (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Gury Marchuk, Russian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (b. 1972)
• 2013 – Deke Richards, American songwriter and producer (b. 1944)
• 2013 – Mohamed Yousri Salama, Egyptian dentist and politician (b. 1974)
• 2013 – Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow, English diplomat (b. 1912)
• 2014 – Oleksandr Muzychko, Ukrainian activist (b. 1962)
• 2014 – Paulo Schroeber, Brazilian guitarist (b. 1973)
• 2014 – John Rowe Townsend, English author and scholar (b. 1922)
• 2014 – David A. Trampier, American illustrator (b. 1954)
• 2015 – Yehuda Avner, English-Israeli diplomat (b. 1928)
• 2015 – notable deaths of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash:
  • Oleg Bryjak, Kazakhstani-German opera singer (b. 1960)
  • Maria Radner, German opera singer (b. 1981)
• 2016 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (b. 1947)
• 2016 – Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Catherine of Vadstena
  • Mac Cairthinn of Clogher
  • Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism)
  • Paul Couturier (Church of England)
  • Simon of Trent (cult suppressed)
  • Walter Hilton (Church of England)
  • March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina)
• National Tree Planting Day (Uganda)
• Student Day (Scientology)
• World Tuberculosis Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History