October 24

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

2008 Calendar

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays

[change] Events

69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny was ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
1648 - Peace of Westphalia signed. End of Thirty Years' War
1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completely divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia
1812 - Battle of Maloyaroslavets
1861 - First transcontinental telegraph line completed, ending the Pony Express
1917 - Battle of Caporetto started on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
1929 - "Black Thursday" crash of the New York Stock Exchange.
1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousted Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was then installed as "provisional president."
1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
1944 - Zuikaku Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed
1945 - Founding of the United Nations
1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
1955 - The body of Manolo Just, a probable bisexual, is found in the Mexico apartment of Mary Rogers, daughter of Will Rogers. Homicide is suspected, but never proven.
1956 - Soviet Union invades Hungary
1960 - An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baykonur space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is field marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.
1964 - Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
1970 - Salvador Allende elected President of Chile
1973 - Yom Kippur War ends
1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
1989 - Televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison and a 500,000 USD fine for defrauding investors of 3.7 million USD.
1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
1998 - Tropical Storm Mitch reached hurricane strength.
2002 - Police arrested spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2003 - Concorde made its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.

[change] Births

51 - Roman emperor Domitian (died 96)
1632 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, microbiologist (died 1723)
1788 - Sarah Hale, poet (died 1879)
1811 - Ferdinand Hiller, composer (died 1885)
1855 - James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (died 1912)
1868 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer (died 1969)
1887 - Victoria Eugenia, Queen of Spain (died 1969)
1891 - Rafael Molina-Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic
1903 - Melvin Purvis, FBI chief (died 1960)
1904 - Moss Hart, dramatist (died 1961)
1909 - Bill Carr, American athlete (died 1966)
1915 - Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (died 1984)
1915 - Bob Kane, cartoonist and creator of Batman (died 1998)
1925 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer (died 2003)
1926 - Y. A. Tittle, American football star
1927 - Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner (died 1992)
1929 - George Crumb, composer
1929 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer and playwright
1930 - The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), rock and roll star (died 1959)
1931 - Sofia Gubaidulina, composer
1936 - Bill Wyman, musician (the Rolling Stones)
1939 - F. Murray Abraham, Academy Award-winning actor
1947 - Kevin Kline, Academy Award-winning actor
1948 - Kweisi Mfume, American civil rights activist. Congressman from Maryland
1960 - Ian Baker-Finch, golf champion
1961 - Mary Bono, United States House of Representatives from California
1962 - B.D. Wong, actor
1972 - Pat Williams, American football player
1981 - Tila Nguyen, model
1985 - Wayne Rooney, English football star

[change] Deaths

996 - King Hugh Capet of France
1672 - John Webb, architect
1799 - Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, composer
1821 - Elias Boudinot, American President of the Continental Congress
1852 - Daniel Webster, lawyer and politician
1898 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter
1912 - Mykola Lysenko, composer
1944 - Louis Renault, automobile manufacturer, Nazi collaborator
1945 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor
1948 - Franz Lehár, composer
1957 - Christian Dior, an influential French fashion designer (born 1905)
1971 - Carl Ruggles, composer
1972 - Jackie Robinson, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
1974 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (born 1908)
1991 - Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek series
1997 - Don Messick, voice actor
2001 - Wolf Rüdiger Hess, German neo-Nazi
2002 - Winton M. Blount first United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet
2002 - Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright
2002 - Harry Hay, US gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder
2004 - James Cardinal Hickey, archbishop of Washington, D.C.
2005 - Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist