December 24
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 24 is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are seven days remaining until the end of the year.
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Births [change]
- 3 BC – Galba, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
- 1166 – King John of England (d. 1216)
- 1389 – John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
- 1588 – Constance of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1631)
- 1745 – Benjamin Rush, American physician and founding father (d. 1813)
- 1679 - Domenico Sarro, composer from Italy (d. 1744)
- 1754 – George Crabbe, British poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
- 1762 – Selim III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1808)
- 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
- 1809 – Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
- 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (d. 1873)
- 1818 – James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
- 1837 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)
- 1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (d. 1886)
- 1845 – King George I of Greece (d. 1913)
- 1868 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
- 1879 – Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (d. 1952)
- 1881 – Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spanish writer (d. 1958)
- 1896 – Jens Oliver Lisberg, Faroese law student and designer of the flag of the Faroe Islands (d. 1920)
- 1898 – Hector Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)
- 1905 – Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
- 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1924 – Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer (d. 1980)
- 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American writer
- 1931 – Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (d. 2008)
- 1934 – Stjepan Mesic, former President of Croatia
- 1943 – Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland
- 1944 – Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1989)
- 1945 – Lemmy, British singer and musician (Motorhead)
- 1949 – Randy Neugebauer, American politician
- 1957 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
- 1959 – Anil Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1961 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
- 1969 – Ed Miliband, British politician
- 1971 – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
- 1973 – Stephenie Meyer, American author
- 1973 – Eddie Pope, American footballer
- 1974 – Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
- 1974 – Ryan Seacrest, American television host
- 1978 – Yildiray Basturk, Turkish footballer
- 1979 – Chris Hero, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Stephen Appiah, Ghanaian footballer
- 1981 – Dima Bilan, Russian singer
- 1981 – Nneka, Nigerian singer
- 1982 – Aiba Masaki, Japanese singer and actor
- 1992 – Melissa Suffield, British actress
Deaths [change]
- 1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (b. 1469)
- 1660 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
- 1813 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
- 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, British writer (b. 1811)
- 1873 – Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist and benefactor (b. 1795)
- 1914 – John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist (b. 1838)
- 1957 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Rudi Dutschke, German sociologist and student leader (b. 1940)
- 1980 – Karl Doenitz, German admiral (b. 1890)
- 1984 – Peter Lawford, British actor (b. 1923)
- 1987 – Joop den Uyl, Dutch politician (b. 1919)
- 1992 – Peyo, Belgian comic writer (b. 1928)
- 1999 – Joao Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Harold Pinter, British playwright (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Rafael Caldera, President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
- 2010 – Elisabeth Beresford, British writer (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Roy Neuberger, American banker (b. 1903)
- 2010 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer (b. 1930)
- 2011 – Johannes Heesters, Dutch-born entertainer, actor and singer (b. 1903)
- 2012 - Richard Rodney Bennett, British composer (b. 1936)
- 2012 - Charles Durning, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2012 - Jack Klugman, American actor (b. 1922)
Events [change]
- 1726 – Montevideo, the present-day capital city of Uruguay, is founded.
- 1777 – James Cook reaches the island of Kiritimati, in present-day Kiribati.
- 1818 – The famous Christmas carol Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Still the Night, Holy the Night), is performed for the first time in Germany.
- 1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is founded by Confederate veterans.
- 1914 – World War I: The Christmas truce begins.
- 1924 – Albania becomes a Republic.
- 1951 – Libya becomes independent, with Idris I as king.
- 1953 – Tangiwai Disaster: After a volcanic eruption (of Mt. Ruapehu) on New Zealand's North Island, a train plunges into the Whangeahu river, killing 153 people.
- 1954 – Laos is officially declared independent.
- 1968 – Apollo 8, with Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders on board, orbits the moon.
- 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, killing 71 people.
- 1979 – The first European-made rocket Ariane is launched from French Guiana.
- 2003 – Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kilogrammes of explosives at Madrid's Chamartin Station.
- 2005 – Chad declares that it is in a state of war with Sudan.
- 2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Observances [change]
- Christmas Eve (Western Christianity)
