1473 Richard of Shrewsbury (born), 1st Duke of York (died 1483)
1498 Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first person in history to resign the cardinalate. On the same day, the French King Louis XII names him Duke of Valentinois.
1560 The Roman Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
1585 A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina.
1597 Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.
1601 Pierre de Fermat (born), French lawyer and mathematician (died 1665)
1657 Robert Blake (died), English admiral (born 1599)
1673 Regnier de Graaf (died), Dutch physician and anatomist (born 1641)
1723 Joseph Bingham (died), English scholar (born 1668)
1753 Josef Dobrovský (born), Bohemian philologist and historian (died 1828)
1768 Louis Desaix (born), French general (died 1800)
1771 Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland
1786 Davy Crockett (born), American soldier and politician (died 1836)
1786 Frederick the Great (died), Prussian king (born 1712)
1807 Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat leaves New York, New York, for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1862 American Civil War: Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
1862 American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
1863 American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
1875 Wilhelm Bleek (died), German linguist (born 1827)
1893 Mae West (born), American actress, singer, and screenwriter (died 1980)
1896 Bridget Driscoll is run over by a Benz car in the grounds of The Crystal Palace, London, the world’s first motoring fatality.
1907 Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, Washington, opened.
1908 Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris, France.
1909 Larry Clinton (born), American trumpet player and bandleader (died 1985)
1914 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (born), American lawyer and politician (died 1988)
1915 Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.
1920 Maureen O’Hara (born), Irish-American actress and singer
1929 Francis Gary Powers (born), American pilot (died 1977)
1935 Charlotte Perkins Gilman (died), American sociologist and author (born 1860)
1943 Robert De Niro (born), American actor, director, and producer
1943 World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany’s V-weapon program.
1943 World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
1944 Larry Ellison (born), American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation
1947 Gary Talley (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Box Tops)
1949 Sib Hashian (born), American drummer (Boston)
1952 Nelson Piquet (born), Brazilian race car driver
1953 First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
1958 Belinda Carlisle (born), American singer-songwriter (The Go-Go’s)
1959 David Koresh (born), American cult leader (died 1993)
1959 Eric Schlosser (born), American journalist and author
1959 Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
1960 Sean Penn (born), American actor and director
1962 East German border guards kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
1962 Gilby Clarke (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Guns N’ Roses, Rock Star Supernova, and Candy)
1965 Steve Gorman (born), American drummer (The Black Crowes and Trigger Hippy)
1969 Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.
1969 Donnie Wahlberg (born), American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (New Kids on the Block)
1969 Otto Stern (died), German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
1973 Paul Williams (died), American singer and choreographer (The Temptations) (born 1939)
1977 The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
1978 Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
1979 Vivian Vance (died), American actress and singer (born 1909)
1980 Azaria Chamberlain disappears, at Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicized trial in Australian history.
1982 The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
1983 Ira Gershwin (died), American songwriter (born 1896)
1987 Rudolf Hess (died), German politician (born 1894)
1988 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (died), American lawyer and politician (born 1914)
1990 Pearl Bailey (died), American actress and singer (born 1918)
1994 Luigi Chinetti (died), Italian-American race car driver (born 1901)
1998 Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he “misled people” about the relationship.
2005 John Bahcall (died), American astrophysicist (born 1934)
2005 Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
2008 American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017