What Happened on October 24
Important Events
- 1260 Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself
- 1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland's independence recognized
- 1929 "Black Thursday", start of stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%
- 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
- 2008 "Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
Oct 24 in Film & TV
- 1962 "The Manchurian Candidate", directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey, is released
Oct 24 in Music
- 1979 Guinness Book of Records presents Paul McCartney with a rhodium disc as all-time best selling singer-songwriter
Oct 24 in Sport
- 1857 Recognised by FIFA as oldest existing club still playing football in the world, Sheffield FC is founded in Yorkshire, England; now based in Dronfield, Derbyshire
Famous Birthdays
Domitian
(51 - 96)Melvin Purvis
(1903 - 1960)Kevin Kline
73 Years OldWayne Rooney
35 Years OldDrake
34 Years OldPewDiePie
31 Years Old
Would You Believe?
Alleged teleportation of Spanish soldier Gil Perez from the Philippines to Mexico
On October 24, 1593
Famous Weddings
- 1867 US Admiral George Dewey (29) weds daughter of New Hampshire's war governor Susan Goodwin
- 1957 Singer Bing Cosby marries second wife actress Kathryn Grant
- 1969 "Love Story" actress Ali MacGraw (30) weds film producer Robert Evans (39)
Articles, Photos and Quiz
The 17 Year-Old Witness to the Eruption of Vesuvius
17 year-old Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii made the event famous long after Pompeii was buried and forgotten.
October 24, 79 ADAnother Panic, Another Market Crash
Wall Street was gripped by panic on this day. It was not the first time nor the last. Anything from railways to a pandemic can cause a crash, it seems.
October 24, 1929Weekly Quiz for October 21 - 27
In which battle in 1805 was British Admiral Horatio Nelson killed in action? Who was the 1st European to sail into and then across the Pacific Ocean, in 1520?
October in History
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797Test of Time for the Date of Creation
The assertion by a 17th Century bishop that the universe was created on this day in the year 4004 BC was put to the test in a famous trial in the United States.
October 23, 4004 BCThe Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale
The Charge of the Light Brigade is infamous as an act of bravery in the face all insurmountable odds. An event immortalized in poetry by Alfred Tennyson.
October 25, 1854The Gunfight at OK Corral
Said to have lasted just 30 seconds, the gunfight at OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, is remembered as one of the great shootouts in the annals of the Wild West
October 26, 1881