History of 24 April
1915 – During World War I, the Ottoman Turkish Empire began the mass deportation of Armenians.
1916 – Irish nationalist launched the Easter Rebellion against British occupation forces. They were overtaken several days later.
1944 – The first B-29 arrived in China, over the Hump of the Himalayas.
1952 – Raymond Burr made his TV acting debut on the “Gruen Guild Playhouse” in an episode titled, “The Tiger.”
1953 – Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – “X-Minus One,” a science fiction show, was first heard for the first time on NBC radio.
1961 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers struck out 18 batters becoming the first major-league pitcher to do so on two different occasions.
1961 – U.S. President Kennedy accepted “sole responsibility” following Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
1962 – MIT sent a TV signal by satellite for the first time.
1967 – Soviet astronaut Vladimir Komarov died when his craft crashed with a tangled parachute.
1967 – The newest Greek regime banned miniskirts.
1970 – The People’s Republic of China launched its first satellite.
1973 – Albert Sabin reported that herpesviruses were factors in nine kinds of cancer.
1974 – David Bowie released “Diamond Dogs.”
1989 – Thousands of students began striking in Beijing.
1990 – The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL. It was carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.
1997 – The U.S. Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The global treaty banned the development, production, storage and use of chemical weapons.
2000 – ABC-TV aired the TV movie “The Three Stooges.”
2003 – A U.S. official reported North Korea had claimed to have nuclear weapons.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2013 – A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
2013 – Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China’s Xinjiang results in the death of 21 people.
2015 – The Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high of 5092.09.
2015 – The S&P closed at a record high of 2117.69.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Taylor Dent, an American tennis player
- 1981 – Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
- 1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1982 – David Oliver, American hurdler
- 1982 – Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
- 1983 – Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
- 1985 – Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
- 1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
- 1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Varun Dhawan, Indian actor
- 1989 – Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
- 1989 – David Boudia, American diver
- 1989 – Taja Mohorcic, a Slovenian tennis player
- 1990 – Kim Tae-Ri, South Korean actress
- 1990 – Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
- 1991 – Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
- 1991 – Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater
- 1991 – Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
- 1992 – Joe Keery, American actor
- 1992 – Laura Kenny, English cyclist
- 1993 – Ben Davies, Welsh footballer
- 1994 – Caspar Lee, British-South African Youtuber
- 1996 – Ashleigh Barty, an Australian tennis player
- 1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
- 1997 – Veronika Kudermetova, a Russian tennis player
- 1998 – Ryan Newman, American actress