July 24
July 24 is the 205th day of the year (206th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 160 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
Pre-1600
- 1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
- 1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
- 1304 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
- 1411 – Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
- 1412 – Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.
- 1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.
- 1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.
- 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and be replaced by her one-year-old son James VI.
1601–1900
- 1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.
- 1712 – War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain.
- 1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
- 1847 – Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patented the rotary-type printing press.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- 1866 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to Congress following the American Civil War.
1901–present
- 1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
- 1910 – The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
- 1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".
- 1915 – The passenger ship SS Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
- 1922 – The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.
- 1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.
- 1924 – Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
- 1927 – The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
- 1929 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).
- 1935 – The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee.
- 1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
- 1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.
- 1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
- 1963 – The ship Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.
- 1966 – Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.
- 1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"); the statement angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians.
- 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
- 1977 – End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.
- 1980 – The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level.
- 1982 – Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
- 1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
- 1983 – George Brett playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
- 1987 – US supertanker SS Bridgeton collides with mines laid by IRGC causing a 43-square-meter dent in the body of the oil tanker.
- 1987 – Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan's highest peak.
- 1998 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
- 1999 – Air Fiji flight 121 crashes while en route to Nadi, Fiji, killing all 17 people on board.
- 2001 – The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos. Eleven civilian and military aircraft are destroyed and 15 are damaged. All 14 commandos are shot dead, while seven soldiers from the Sri Lanka Air Force are killed. In addition, three civilians and an engineer die. This incident slowed the Sri Lankan economy.
- 2009 – Aria Air Flight 1525 crashes at Mashhad International Airport, killing 16.
- 2012 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê.
- 2013 – A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers.
- 2014 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 loses contact with air traffic controllers 50 minutes after takeoff. It was travelling between Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers. The wreckage is later found in Mali. All 116 people on board are killed.
- 2019 – Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1242 – Christina von Stommeln, German Roman Catholic mystic, ecstatic, and stigmatic (d. 1312)
- 1468 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1524)
- 1529 – Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1577)
- 1561 – Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern (d. 1589)
- 1574 – Thomas Platter the Younger, Swiss physician and author (d. 1628)
1601–1900
- 1660 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1718)
- 1689 – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Prince George of Denmark (d. 1700)
- 1725 – John Newton, English sailor and priest (d. 1807)
- 1757 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter (d. 1825)
- 1783 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan commander and politician, second President of Venezuela (d. 1830)
- 1786 – Joseph Nicollet, French mathematician and explorer (d. 1843)
- 1794 – Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish mineralogist and geologist (d. 1865)
- 1802 – Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (d. 1870)
- 1803 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (d. 1856)
- 1803 – Alexander J. Davis, American architect (d. 1892)
- 1821 – William Poole, American boxer and gangster (d. 1855)
- 1826 – Jan Gotlib Bloch, Polish theorist and activist (d. 1902)
- 1851 – Friedrich Schottky, Polish-German mathematician and theorist (d. 1935)
- 1856 – Émile Picard, French mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
- 1857 – Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuelan general and politician, 27th President of Venezuela (d. 1935)
- 1860 – Princess Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1919)
- 1860 – Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter and illustrator (d. 1939)
- 1864 – Frank Wedekind, German actor and playwright (d. 1918)
- 1867 – Fred Tate, English cricketer and coach (d. 1943)
- 1874 – Oswald Chambers, Scottish minister and author (d. 1917)
- 1877 – Calogero Vizzini, Italian mob boss (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1957)
- 1880 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer and educator (d. 1959)
- 1884 – Maria Caserini, Italian actress (d. 1969)
- 1886 – Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author (d. 1965)
- 1888 – Arthur Richardson, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1973)
- 1889 – Agnes Meyer Driscoll, American cryptanalyst (d. 1971)
- 1895 – Robert Graves, English poet, novelist, critic (d. 1985)
- 1897 – Amelia Earhart, American pilot and author (d. 1937)
- 1899 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (d. 1981)
- 1900 – Zelda Fitzgerald, American author, visual artist and ballet dancer (d. 1948)
1901–present
- 1909 – John William Finn, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2010)
- 1910 – Harry Horner, American director and production designer (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Essie Summers, New Zealand author (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Britton Chance, American biologist and sailor (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (d. 2015)
- 1914 – Ed Mirvish, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Alan Waddell, Australian walker (d. 2008)
- 1915 – Enrique Fernando, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2004)
- 1916 – John D. MacDonald, American colonel and author (d. 1986)
- 1917 – Robert Farnon, Canadian trumpet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Jack Moroney, Australian cricketer (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Robert Marsden Hope, Australian lawyer and judge (d. 1999)
- 1919 – Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, NASA manager (d. 2007)
- 1919 – John Winkin, American baseball player, coach, and journalist (d. 2014)
- 1920 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer and politician (d. 1998)
- 1920 – Constance Dowling, American model and actress (d. 1969)
- 1921 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Billy Taylor, American pianist and composer (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Madeleine Ferron, Canadian radio host and author (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Wilfred Josephs, English composer (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Aris Poulianos, Greek anthropologist and archaeologist (d. 2021)
- 1926 – Grace Glueck, American arts journalist (d. 2022)
- 1927 – Alex Katz, American painter and sculptor
- 1927 – Zara Mints, Russian-Estonian philologist and academic (d. 1990)
- 1928 – Keshubhai Patel, Indian politician, tenth Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 2020)
- 1930 – Alfred Balk, American journalist and author (d. 2010)
- 1931 – Ermanno Olmi, Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Éric Tabarly, French commander (d. 1998)
- 1932 – Gustav Andreas Tammann, German astronomer and academic (d. 2019)
- 1933 – Doug Sanders, American golfer (d. 2020)
- 1934 – Willie Davis, American football player (d. 2020)
- 1934 – P. S. Soosaithasan, Sri Lankan accountant and politician (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Aaron Elkins, American author and academic
- 1935 – Pat Oliphant, Australian cartoonist
- 1935 – Mel Ramos, American painter, illustrator, and academic (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Les Reed, English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
- 1935 – Derek Varnals, South African cricketer (d. 2019)
- 1936 – Ruth Buzzi, American actress and comedian
- 1936 – Mark Goddard, American actor (d. 2023)
- 1937 – Manoj Kumar, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1937 – Quinlan Terry, English architect, designed the Brentwood Cathedral
- 1938 – Eugene J. Martin, American painter (d. 2005)
- 1939 – Walt Bellamy, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Dan Hedaya, American actor
- 1941 – John Bond, English banker and businessman
- 1942 – Heinz, German-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2000)
- 1942 – David Miner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1942 – Chris Sarandon, American actor
- 1945 – Frank Close, English physicist and academic
- 1945 – Azim Premji, Indian businessman and philanthropist
- 1945 – Hugh Ross, Canadian-American astrophysicist and astronomer
- 1945 – Anthony Watts, English geologist, geophysicist, and academic
- 1946 – Gallagher, American comedian and actor (d. 2022)
- 1946 – Hervé Vilard, French singer-songwriter
- 1947 – Zaheer Abbas, Pakistani cricketer and manager
- 1948 – Marc Racicot, American politician, 21st Governor of Montana
- 1949 – Michael Richards, American actor and comedian
- 1950 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
- 1951 – Lynda Carter, American actress
- 1951 – Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, English politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
- 1952 – Gus Van Sant, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1953 – Jon Faddis, American trumpet player, composer, and conductor
- 1953 – Tadashi Kawamata, Japanese contemporary artist
- 1953 – Claire McCaskill, American lawyer and politician
- 1953 – James Newcome, English bishop
- 1954 – Jorge Jesus, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1956 – Charlie Crist, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of Florida
- 1957 – Pam Tillis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1958 – Jim Leighton, Scottish footballer and coach
- 1960 – Catherine Destivelle, French rock climber and mountaineer
- 1961 – Kerry Dixon, English footballer and manager
- 1963 – Karl Malone, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Barry Bonds, American baseball player
- 1964 – Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese economist and politician, 118th Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1965 – Andrew Gaze, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
- 1965 – Kadeem Hardison, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Aminatou Haidar, Sahrawi human rights activist
- 1966 – Martin Keown, English footballer and coach
- 1968 – Kristin Chenoweth, American actress and singer
- 1968 – Malcolm Ingram, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Rick Fox, Bahamian basketball player
- 1969 – Jennifer Lopez, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1971 – Dino Baggio, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Patty Jenkins, American film director and screenwriter
- 1972 – Kaiō Hiroyuki, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1973 – Amanda Stretton, English racing driver and journalist
- 1974 – Andy Gomarsall, English rugby player
- 1975 – Tracey Crouch, English politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
- 1975 – Jamie Langenbrunner, American ice hockey player
- 1975 – Torrie Wilson, American model, fitness competitor, actress and professional wrestler
- 1976 – Rafer Alston, American basketball player
- 1976 – Tiago Monteiro, Portuguese racing driver and manager
- 1978 – Andy Irons, American surfer (d. 2010)
- 1979 – Rose Byrne, Australian actress
- 1979 – Jerrod Niemann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Joel Stroetzel, American guitarist
- 1981 – Doug Bollinger, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Nayib Bukele, Salvadoran politician, 46th President of El Salvador
- 1981 – Summer Glau, American actress
- 1982 – Mewelde Moore, American football player
- 1982 – Elisabeth Moss, American actress
- 1982 – Anna Paquin, Canadian-New Zealand actress
- 1983 – Daniele De Rossi, Italian footballer and manager
- 1983 – Asami Mizukawa, Japanese actress
- 1985 – Patrice Bergeron, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Aries Merritt, American hurdler
- 1985 – Lukáš Rosol, Czech tennis player
- 1986 – Natalie Tran, Australian actress and online producer
- 1987 – Nathan Gerbe, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Zack Sabre Jr., English wrestler
- 1987 – Mara Wilson, American actress
- 1988 – Han Seung-yeon, South Korean singer and dancer
- 1988 – Nichkhun, Thai-American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1988 – Ricky Petterd, Australian footballer
- 1989 – Maurkice Pouncey, American football player
- 1991 – Emily Bett Rickards, Canadian actress
- 1992 – Mikaël Kingsbury, Canadian skier
- 1994 – Phillip Lindsay, American football player
- 1995 – Valentine Holmes, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Kyle Kuzma, American basketball player
- 1995 – Meisei Chikara, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1996 – Joe Mixon, American football player
- 1998 – Bindi Irwin, Australian conservationist, zookeeper, and actress
Deaths
Pre-1600
- 759 – Oswulf, king of Northumbria
- 811 – Gao Ying, Chinese politician (b. 740)
- 946 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian ruler (b. 882)
- 1115 – Matilda of Tuscany (b. 1046)
- 1129 – Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1053)
- 1198 – Berthold of Hanover, Bishop of Livonia
- 1345 – Jacob van Artevelde, Flemish statesman (b. 1290)
- 1568 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (b. 1545)
- 1594 – John Boste, English martyr and saint (b. 1544)
1601–1900
- 1601 – Joris Hoefnagel, Flemish painter (b. 1542)
- 1612 – John Salusbury, Welsh politician and poet (b. 1567)
- 1739 – Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer and educator (b. 1686)
- 1768 – Nathaniel Lardner, English theologian and author (b. 1684)
- 1862 – Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, eighth President of the United States (b. 1782)
- 1891 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (b. 1827)
1901–present
- 1908 – Vicente Acosta, Salvadoran journalist and poet (b. 1867)
- 1908 – Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (b. 1835)
- 1910 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ukrainian-Russian painter (b. 1841)
- 1927 – Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese author (b. 1892)
- 1957 – Sacha Guitry, French actor and director (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer and author (b. 1917)
- 1965 – Constance Bennett, American actress and producer (b. 1904)
- 1966 – Tony Lema, American golfer (b. 1934)
- 1969 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author and playwright (b. 1904)
- 1970 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman, philanthropist, and civil servant (b. 1897)
- 1974 – James Chadwick, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
- 1980 – Peter Sellers, English actor and comedian (b. 1925)
- 1985 – Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary and martyr (b. 1953)
- 1986 – Fritz Albert Lipmann, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1986 – Qudrat Ullah Shahab, Pakistani civil servant and author (b. 1917)
- 1991 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1992 – Arletty, French actress and singer (b. 1898)
- 1992 – Sam Berger, Canadian lawyer and businessman (b. 1900)
- 1994 – Helen Cordero, Cochiti Pueblo (Native American) Pueblo potter (b. 1915)
- 1995 – George Rodger, English photographer and journalist (b. 1908)
- 1996 – Alphonso Theodore Roberts, Vincentian cricketer and activist (b. 1937)
- 1997 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and jurist (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Saw Maung, Burmese general and politician, seventh Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Ahmad Shamloo, Iranian poet and journalist (b. 1925)
- 2001 – Georges Dor, Canadian author, playwright, and composer (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Richard Doll, English physiologist and epidemiologist (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Albert Ellis, American psychologist and author (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Nicola Zaccaria, Greek opera singer (b. 1923)
- 2008 – Norman Dello Joio, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
- 2009 – Jack Le Goff, French equestrian (b. 1931)
- 2010 – Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player (b. 1949)
- 2011 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (b. 1966)
- 2011 – Dan Peek, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Harald Johnsen, Norwegian bassist and composer (b. 1970)
- 2011 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (b. 1961)
- 2011 – Skip Thomas, American football player (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Larry Hoppen, American singer and guitarist (b. 1951)
- 2012 – Robert Ledley, American physiologist and physicist, invented the CT scanner (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Themo Lobos, Chilean author and illustrator (b. 1928)
- 2012 – John Atta Mills, Ghanaian lawyer and politician, President of Ghana (b. 1944)
- 2012 – Gregorio Peces-Barba, Spanish jurist and politician (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Garry Davis, American pilot and activist, created the World Passport (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Fred Dretske, American philosopher and academic (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and sexologist (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Pius Langa, South African lawyer and jurist, 19th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Ik-Hwan Bae, Korean-American violinist and educator (b. 1956)
- 2014 – Dale Schlueter, American basketball player (b. 1945)
- 2014 – Hans-Hermann Sprado, German journalist and author (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Peg Lynch, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1916)
- 2015 – Ingrid Sischy, South African-American journalist and critic (b. 1952)
- 2016 – Marni Nixon, American actress and singer (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Harshida Raval, Indian Gujarati playback singer
- 2020 – Regis Philbin, American actor and television host (b. 1931)
- 2021 – Dale Snodgrass, United States Naval Aviator and air show performer (b. 1949)
- 2021 – Rodney Alcala, American serial killer (b. 1943)
- 2022 – David Warner, English actor (b. 1941)
- 2023 – George Alagiah, BBC News journalist and broadcaster (b. 1955)
- 2023 – Trevor Francis, Britain's first "£1 million player" (b. 1954)
Holidays and observances
- Carnival of Awussu (Tunisia)
- Children's Day (Vanuatu)
- Christian feast day:
- Pioneer Day (Utah)
- Police Day (Poland)
- Simón Bolívar Day (Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia)