May 24

May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). There are 221 days remaining.

Events

• 1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
• 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
• 1487 – Imposter Lambert Simnel is crowned as "King Edward VI" at Dublin.
• 1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
• 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
• 1668 – Glen Cove, New York is founded.
• 1689 – The Act of Toleration passes the English Parliament protecting Protestants (Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded).
• 1738 – The Methodist Church is established.
• 1787 – The United States Constitutional Convention is convened after a quorum of delegates arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1798 – Irish nationalists rebel against British occupation forces, believing that French troops were going to invade Ireland.
• 1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of Quito.
• 1830 – Mary had a little lamb by Sarah Hale is published.
• 1844 – The first electric telegram is sent by Samuel F. B. Morse, from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C., saying "What hath God wrought?".
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey, Mexico.
• 1856 – John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas
• 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
• 1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
• 1895 – Henry Irving becomes the first personage from the theatre to be knighted.
• 1899 – The first public parking garage in the United States is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1900 – Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
• 1911 – The New York Public Library opened.
• 1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1921 – Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.
• 1929 – The Cocoanuts, the first film to star the Marx Brothers, opens.
• 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
• 1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
• 1941 – World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
• 1943 – Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer in Auschwitz concentration camp.
• 1956 – In Lugano, Switzerland, Lys Assia wins the first Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland singing "Refrain".
• 1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
• 1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
• 1962 – American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
• 1968 – Students set fire to the Paris bourse.
• 1968 – FLQ separatists bomb American consulate in Quebec City
• 1968 – The Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, Missouri, is dedicated.
• 1974 – After a nine-year run, the Dean Martin Show airs for the last time.
• 1976 – London to Washington, DC Concorde service begins.
• 1980 – The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran.
• 1981 – First International Women's Day for Disarmament
• 1988 – Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
• 1989 – Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded a six-figure sum in damages after winning a libel action against Private Eye.
• 1990 – A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.
• 1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
• 1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
• 1993 – Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
• 1993 – Microsoft unveils Windows NT.
• 2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
• 2001 – Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
• 2003 – In Riga, Latvia, Sertab Erener wins the forty-eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Turkey singing "Everyway [sic] That I Can".

Births

• 1544 – William Gilbert (d. 1603)
• 1616 – John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, (d. 1682)
• 1619 – (baptised) Philips Wouwerman, Dutch painter (d. 1668)
• 1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionary (d. 1793)
• 1794 – William Whewell, philosopher (d. 1866)
• 1810 – Abraham Geiger, rabbi and scholar (d. 1874)
• 1811 – Charles Clark, Governor of Mississippi
• 1816 – Emanuel Leutze, painter (d. 1868)
• 1819 – Queen Victoria (d. 1901)
• 1831 – Richard Hoffman, pianist
• 1836 – Joseph Rowntree, British social reformer (d. 1925)
• 1854 – John Riley Banister, law officer, cowboy and Texas Ranger (d. 1918)
• 1855 – Arthur Wing Pinero, playwright (d. 1934)
• 1858 – Johan C Braakensiek, political cartoonist
• 1863 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (d. 1938)
• 1865 – Zo d'Axa, French anarchist, satirist, and traveller
• 1866 – Armando Frid (d. 1990)
• 1870 – Jan Christian Smuts (d. 1950)
• 1870  – Benjamin Cardozo, American jurist (d. 1938)
• 1878 – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, mother of modern management (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Paul Paray, conductor and composer (d. 1979)
• 1891 – William F. Albright, American archeologist and Biblical scholar (d. 1971)
• 1899 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player
• 1899 – Henri Michaux, French poet
• 1991 – Jack Ostrand, Duke of Wellington
• 1905 – Zdenek Blazek, composer (d. 1988)
• 1909 – Wilbur Mills, American politician (d. 1992)
• 1910 – Nils-Eric Fougstedt (d. 1961)
• 1912 – Joan Hammond, soprano
• 1913 – Willi Daume, German Olympic organizer (d. 1996)
• 1914 – Lilli Palmer, actress (d. 1986)
• 1917 – John Robert Russell, Duke of Bedford (d. 2002)
• 1922 or 1923 – Siobhan McKenna, actress (d. 1986)
• 1925 – Mai Zetterling, entertainer (d. 1994)
• 1926 – Stanley Baxter, actor
• 1928 – William Trevor, writer
• 1930 – Hans-Martin Linde, conductor
• 1934 – Jane Byrne, Mayor of Chicago
• 1935 – Joan Micklin Silver, director, writer
• 1936 – Harold Budd, musician
• 1938 – Tommy Chong, actor, comedian
• 1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet (d. 1996)
• 1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter
• 1942 – Derek Quinn, musician
• 1943 – Gary Burghoff, actor
• 1944 – Arthur Brown, musician
• 1944  – Patti LaBelle, singer
• 1945 – Priscilla Presley, actress
• 1946 – Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska, Russian-born Polish athlete
• 1949 – Jim Broadbent, actor
• 1953 – Alfred Molina, actor
• 1955 – Rosanne Cash, singer
• 1960 – Kristin Scott Thomas, actress
• 1962 – Bev Lidyoff, volleyball player
• 1963 – Joe Dumars, basketball star
• 1965 – John C. Reilly, actor
• 1966 – Eric Cantona, French footballer
• 1967 – Heavy D, rap musician and actor
• 1972 – Greg Berlanti, American television writer and producer
• 1973 – Dermot O'Leary, TV presenter
• 1973 – Bartolo Colón, baseball pitcher
• 1974 – Ruslana, Ukrainian singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
• 1979 – Tracy McGrady, basketball player
• 1988 – Billy Gilman, singer
• 1990 – Vincent Lamperski, singer of band D-Day, chess guru, writer

Deaths

• 592 – St. Simon Stylites the Younger
• 1153 – King David I of Scotland (b. 1084)
• 1543 – Nicolas Copernicus, astronomer (b. 1473)
• 1612 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Viscount Cranborne (b. 1563)
• 1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, writer, publisher (b. 1805)
• 1881 – Samuel Palmer, English artist (b. 1805)
• 1883 – Abdel Kadir, Algerian leader (b. 1808)
• 1903 – Marcel Renault, automobile racer
• 1933 – Percy C. Mather, pioneer missionary to Eastern Turkestan
• 1937 – Edward Dunne, mayor of Chicago (b. 1853)
• 1947 – C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
• 1950 – Archibald Wavell, general (b. 1883)
• 1959 – John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
• 1963 – Elmore James, blues musician (b. 1918)
• 1969 – Willy Ley, rocket scientist (b. 1906)
• 1974 – Duke Ellington, composer, musician (b. 1899)
• 1981 – George Jessel, vaudevillian (b. 1898)
• 1991 – Wilhelm Kempff, German conductor (b. 1895)
• 1995 – Harold Wilson, British statesman and prime minister (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Edward Mulhare, actor (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Lady Rachel Kempson, actress (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Henry Ries, American photographer (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

• Canada: Victoria Day, on this date or the Monday before it. In Quebec, it is known as Patriotes Day (Journée nationale des patriotes).
• Bermuda: Bermuda Day
• Eritrea: National Day
• Bulgaria: Sts. Cyril and Methodius Day
• Saint Sarah is celebrated in Carmague, France by the Roma (gypsies).

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 23 – May 25 – April 24 – June 24 – listing of all days