April 24th in History
“The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy,” by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, 1773
Today in History
- Thutmose III becomes Pharaoh, with Hatshepsut becoming the power behind the throne (1479 BCE, traditional)
- Troy falls to the Acheans (Greeks) after a ten year siege (1184 BCE, traditional)
- The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America begins publication (1704 CE)
- The US Library of Congress is established with an appropriation of $5,000 (1800 CE)
- Annie Oakley is hired to be part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (1885 CE)
- Hersheypark (1907 CE) and the Woolworth Building (1913 CE) open
- The first tank-to-tank combat takes place (1918 CE)
- The Suez Canal is reopened (1957 CE)
- Влади́мир Комаро́в (Vladimir Komarov) becomes the first human to be killed during a spaceflight when a parachute failure causes Soyuz 1 to crash upon re-entry (1967 CE)
- China launches its first satellite, 東方紅一號 (Dōngfānghóng 1) (1970 CE)
- Operation Eagle Claw, an attempt by a Delta Force team to rescue the US Embassy hostages in Iran, ends with a collision that destroys two of the US aircraft, killing 8 (1980 CE)
Birthdays
- Anthony Trollope, author (1815)
- Philippe Pétain, Vichy leader (1856)
- Erich Raeder, German admiral (1876)
- Willem de Kooning, painter (1904)
- Robert Penn Warren, author (1905)
- William Castle, filmmaker (1914)
- Shirley MacLaine, actress and singer (1934)
- Sue Grafton, author (1940)
- Richard M. Daley, Chicago mayor (1942)
- Barbra Streisand, singer-songwriter and actress (1942)
- Jean Paul Gaultier, fashion designer (1952)
- Eric Bogosian, actor and playwright (1953)
- Mumia Abu-Jabal, convicted murderer (1954)
- Cedric the Entertainer, comedian (1964)
- Chipper Jones, baseball player (1972)
- Damon Lindelof, Lost producer (1973)
- Kelly Clarkson, singer-songwriter (1982)
- Snuppy, world’s first cloned dog (2005)
Deaths
- Daniel Defoe, author (1731)
- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (1891)
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, author (1942)
- Willa Cather, author (1947)
- Milt Franklyn, Looney Tunes composer (1962)
- Bud Abbott, straight man (1974)
- Wallis Simpson, abdication motivation (1986)
- Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and politician (1993)
- Pat Paulsen, comedian and Presidential candidate (1997)
Holidays and Celebrations
- Concord Day (Niger)
- Democracy Day (Nepal)
- Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia, Episcopal Church USA)
- Kapyong Day (Australia)
- National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day (US food celebrations)
- Republic Day (Gambia)
- World Day for Laboratory Animals (international)
- World Meningitis Day (international)
April 24 is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years). There are 251 days remaining until the end of the year.