October 24
In the United States, this day is observed as
Food Day.
The United Nations marks today as
World Development Information Day, as well as
United Nations Day
.
Rotary International has declared Oct. 24 to be
World Polio Day.
Events
1260 –
Chartres Cathedral is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1590 –
John White, the governor of the second
Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1851 –
William Lassell discovers the moons
Umbriel, and
Ariel, orbiting
Uranus.
Snicker, anus.
1857 –
Sheffield F.C., the world's oldest association football club still in operation, is founded in Sheffield, England.
1861 – The
first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old
Pony Express.
1911 –
Orville Wright remains in the air nine minutes and 45 seconds in a
Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
1926 –
Harry Houdini's last performance takes place at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 –
"Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange. The beginning of
The Great Depression.
1931 – The
George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.
1945 – Founding of the
United Nations. Commemorated as
United Nations Day.
1946 – A camera on board the
V-2 No. 13 rocket takes
the first photograph of earth from outer space.
1947 – Famed animator
Walt Disney testifies before the
House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists. Snitches, man...
1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters is laid in New York City.
1954 – U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.
1973 – The
Yom Kippur War ends.
1975 – In Iceland,
90% of women take part in a national strike, refusing to work in protest of gaps in gender equality.
1977 –
Veterans Day is observed in the U.S. on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
1990 – Italian prime minister
Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of
Gladio, the Italian
"stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, which was implicated in
false flag terrorist attacks implicating communists and anarchists as part of the
strategy of tension from the late 1960s to early 1980s.
1998 – Launch of
Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission.
2002 – Police arrest spree killers
John Allen Muhammad and
Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the
Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, D.C.
2003 –
Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
2008 –
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
2015 – A driver, later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI),
crashes into the Oklahoma State Homecoming parade in Stillwater, Oklahoma, killing four people and injuring 34.
Births
1855 – James S. Sherman (27th VPOTUS); 1903 – Melvin Purvis (captured more public enemies than any other agent in FBI history, a record that still stands); 1904 – Moss Hart; 1915 – Bob Kane (co-created Batman); 1919 – Frank Piasecki (pioneer in tandem rotor aircraft); 1926 – Y. A. Tittle; 1930 – The Big Bopper (aka J.P. Richardson); 1933 – Reginald & Ronald Kray (English gangsters); 1936 – Jimmy Dawkins; 1936 – David Nelson; 1936 – Bill Wyman; 1939 – F. Murray Abraham; 1943 – Bill 'Superstar' Dundee; 1947 – Kevin Kline; 1954 – Doug Davidson; 1960 – Ian Baker-Finch; 1960 – B. D. Wong; 1962 – Dave Blaney; 1981 – Tila Tequila; 1983 – Brian Vickers; 1986 – Drake
Deaths
1537 – Jane Seymour (no, not
that one, there was another one); 1601 – Tycho Brahe; 1852 – Daniel Webster; 1922 – George Cadbury; 1935 – Dutch Schultz; 1944 – Louis Renault; 1945 – Vidkun Quisling; 1972 – Jackie Robinson; 1979 – Carlo Abarth; 1991 – Gene Roddenberry; 1997 – Don Messick; 2005 – Rosa Parks; 2015 – Maureen O'Hara; 2016 – Bobby Vee