24 January
January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 341 days remaining (342 in leap years).
Events
- 41 - Claudius is appointed Emperor of Rome after his nephew, Caligula, is assassinated.
- 1458 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary.
- 1679 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament.
- 1742 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1848 - California gold rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
- 1859 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).
- 1888 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
- 1908 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
- 1916 - In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax void.
- 1922 - Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie.
- 1924 - St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad.
- 1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1943 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
- 1952 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
- 1962 - Brian Epstein signs to manage The Beatles.
- 1966 - An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117
- 1972 - Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier, is discovered on Guam.
- 1982 - Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21 in the first Super Bowl played north of the Mason-Dixon line
- 1984 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
- 1986 - Voyager 2 passes within 50,679 miles of Uranus.
- 1987 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh.
- 1989 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair.
- 1995 - The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O. J. Simpson murder trial.
- 1996 - Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charge he spied for Moscow.
- 2001 - The last two of the "Texas 7" are taken into custody in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- 2002 - Enron Congressional hearings begin.
- 2002 - Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
- 2002 - The United States Department of Justice indicts Robert Nicholas Angleton for conspiring to murder his wife, Doris Angleton, along with his brother Roger.
- 2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
Births
- 76 - Hadrian, Roman emperor (d. 138)
- 1712 - King Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1786)
- 1776 - E.T.A. Hoffmann, poet, composer, and painter (d. 1822)
- 1862 - Edith Wharton, writer (d. 1937)
- 1888 - Vicki Baum, writer (d. 1960)
- 1888 - Ernst Heinkel, aircraft designer (d. 1958)
- 1895 - Eugen Roth, lyricist and narrator (d. 1976)
- 1917 - Ernest Borgnine, actor
- 1918 - Oral Roberts, evangelist
- 1925 - Maria Tallchief, prima ballerina
- 1928 - Desmond Morris, anthropologist, writer
- 1934 - Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish poet and dramatist (d. 1976)
- 1939 - Doug Kershaw, musician
- 1939 - Ray Stevens, country music musician
- 1943 - Sharon Tate, actress (d. 1969)
- 1944 - Neil Diamond, singer
- 1946 - Michael Ontkean, actor
- 1947 - Warren Zevon, American musician-songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1949 - John Belushi, actor (d. 1982)
- 1958 - Jools Holland, musician
- 1960 - Nastassja Kinski, actress
- 1968 - Mary Lou Retton, gymnast
- 1979 - Tatyana Ali, actress
Deaths
- 41 - Caligula, Emperor of Rome (37-41 AD) (assassinated by his own guards) (b. 12)
- 1125 - David the Builder, king of Georgia (b. 1073)
- 1366 - King Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
- 1882 - Levi Boone, mayor of Chicago, IL (b. 1808)
- 1920 - Amedeo Modigliani, painter, sculptor (b. 1884)
- 1932 - Sir Alfred Yarrow, shipbuilder (b. 1842)
- 1939 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and Muesli inventor (b. 1867)
- 1943 - John Burns, English politician (b. 1858)
- 1960 - Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
- 1961 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, gold medal winner at 1908 Summer Olympics, inventor of Erector Set (b. 1884)
- 1965 - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1874)
- 1971 - Bill W., co-founder Alcoholics Anonymous
- 1973 - J. Carrol Naish, actor
- 1975 - Larry Fine, actor (The Three Stooges)
- 1986 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
- 1986 - Gordon MacRae, actor, singer
- 1986 - Vincente Minnelli, director (b. 1903)
- 1989 - Ted Bundy, serial killer (electrocuted) (b. 1946)
- 1993 - Thurgood Marshall, United States Supreme Court justice (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Gianni Agnelli, Fiat president (b. 1921)
Holidays and observances
