Wikipedia: January 24

January 24
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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 assasinated.
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 of Houston, Texas on conspiring to murder his wife, Doris Angleton, along with his brother Roger. Robert also gets weapons-related charges.
2003 - The new 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
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) (assasinated by his own guards), (b. 12)
1366 - King Alfonso IV of Aragon, (b. 1299)
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)
1965 - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (b. 1874)
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

Roman Empire - first day of the Sementivae in honor of Ceres and Terra
Catholicism - Feast day of St. Francis de Sales.

See Also:

January 23 - January 25 - December 24 - February 24 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December