What Happened on October 24
Historical 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.
- More Historical Events
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
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)
More Weddings & Divorces
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?