What Happened on July 24

Important Events

  • 1534 Jacques Cartier lands in Canada, claims it for France
  • 1567 Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots
  • 1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming's South Pass
  • 1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas
  • 1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF begins bombing Hamburg (till 3rd August), creating a firestorm and killing 42,600 people
More Historical Events

July 24 in Film & TV

  • 1952 "High Noon", American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and Thomas Mitchell, is released

July 24 in Music

  • 1982 Single "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor from "Rocky III" soundtrack starts 6-week run at No. 1 on US charts (Grammy for Best Rock Performance)

July 24 in Sport

  • 2005 92nd Tour de France: no winner; Lance Armstrong retires after winning a record seventh consecutive victory but disqualified in 2012 for doping

Did You Know?

Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes results of 1st public opinion poll, with a clear lead for Andrew Jackson

On July 24, 1824

Famous Birthdays

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Would You Believe?

Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.

On July 24, 2001

Famous Weddings

  • 1554 Queen Maria of England marries Philip, king of Naples/Jerusalem
  • 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Howard Hanson (49) weds Margaret Elizabeth Nelson at the Chautauqua Institution in New York
  • 1972 Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (24) weds Sarah Hugill
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Famous Deaths

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July in History