Famous Events For May 24 – Today In History

May 24: Today in History – Historical Events

Early Centuries – May 24 Historic Events – Before the 1700s

1. 24th May 1086: On this day Abbott Dauferio/Desiderius became Pope Victor III.
2. 24th May 1153: Malcolm IV became the King of Scots today.
3. 24th May 1276: Magnus Ladulas was today coroneted in Uppsala Cathedral as the king of Sweden.
4. 24th May 1300: Earl Gwijde was captured and King Philip IV occupied Flanders.

5. 24th May 1370: A peace treaty was signed by Hanzesteden with Danish king Waldemar IV.
6. 24th May 1607: Captain Christopher Newport who left England with 144 members lost 39 members before arriving at Virginia. He and his 105 followers founded James Town on the mouth of the James River in Virginia.
7. 24th May 1610: The hash civil code “laws divide moral and marshal” was instituted for Jamestown on this day by Sir Thomas Gates.
8. 24th May 1653: Ferdinand II was selected as the king of Austria by the German Parliament.
9. 24th May 1660: King Charles II of England visited the Netherlands today.
10. 24th May 1689: The Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants was today passed by the English Parliament. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from the exemption.
11. 24th May 1697. King William II of England traveled through northern Europe.

18th Century – What Happened on May 24 – The 1700s

12. 24th May 1738: This day marks the establishment of The Methodist Church.
13. 24th May 1764: “Taxation without representation” was denounced today by James Otis, a Bostonian lawyer. He called for the colonies to unite in the demonstration of their opposition to the new tax measures by Britain.
14. 24th May 1775: John Hancock was today elected President of the Continental Congress unanimously.

19th Century – May 24 This Day That Year – The 1800s

15. 24th May 1809: Today Dartmoor Prison was opened to house French prisoners of war.
16. 24th May 1822: Bolivar today secured the independence of Quinto from Spain in the Battle of Pichincha.
17. 24th May 1830: Boston firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon published the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for the first time.

18. 24th May 1830: This day marks the opening of the first passenger railroad service in the United States. This ran between Baltimore and Elliott’s Mills.
19. 24th May 1844: The first Morse electronic telegram was sent on this day on the line that was built between Baltimore and Washington at the behest of the US government.
20. 24th May 1854: In Pennsylvania, Miller Dickey and Sarah Emlen Cresson founded Lincoln University, which was the first Black college in the US.
21. 24th May 1856: John Brown and his Free State volunteers who were members of the pro-slavery Law and Order Party but not slave owners themselves, murdered five men and were settled on the Pottawatomie Creek in south-eastern Kansas.
22. 24th May 1861: Slaves were declared today as “contraband of war”, by Union Major General Benjamin Butler.
23. 24th May 1861: Today the federal troops occupied Alexandria in Virginia.
24. 24th May 1862: The Westminster Bridge across the Thames River in London was opened today.
25. 24th May 1881: Nearly 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London Ontario.
26. 24th May 1883: This day marks the opening to traffic, of the Brooklyn Bridge which connects Brooklyn with Manhattan across the East River.

27. 24th May 1884: People’s Party in the US was formed today by the Anti-Monopoly Party and the Greenback Party.
28. 24th May 1890: German Chancellor Bismarck was succeeded today by Caprivi.
29. 24th May 1899: In Boston, the first auto repair shop was opened today.

20th Century – Important Events On This Day May 22nd – The 1900s

30. 24th May 1901: In the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales, Seventy-eight miners lost their lives.
31. 24th May 1909: Royal Charter was today granted to Bristol University.
32. 24th May 1915: “Telescribe”, a device to record telephone conversations was invented by Thomas Edison.
33. 24th May 1916: Conscription began in Britain today.
34. 24th May 1921: North Ireland elected its first Parliament today.

35. 24th May 1922: A trade agreement between Russia and Italy was signed today.
36. 24th May 1922: Netherlands records 35.6° C which was a record.
37. 24th May 1923: Andrew Bonar Law became British Prime Minister today. He succeeded Stanly.
38. 24th May 1926: Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi ran 3000 m in 8:25.4, which was the world record. He was nicknamed “Flying Finn”.
39. 24th May 1930: Don Bradman scored 252 runs for Australia against Surrey in 290 minutes. He hit 29 fours.
40. 24th May 1930: Amy Johnson, who undertook a solo flight from England in her Gypsy Moth plane, completed her solo flight, the first solo flight by a woman, and landed in Darwin Australia.
41. 24th May 1931: B&O Railroad installed the first air-conditioned train.
42. 24th May 1934: Fighting broke out today at the Auto-Lite Plant in Toledo Ohio between the union members of the plant and nonunion members who were protected by the National Guard. Stones were pelted by the union members. Gas grenades were used to disperse the crowd.

43. 24th May 1939: Many lives were lost when the US Submarine Squalus sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Five members survived by sacrificing twenty-six of their crewmates by closing the bulkhead door to the battery compartment to stop the rest of the submarine from flooding.
44. 24th May 1940: Dutch Queen Wilhelmina spoke on the BBC radio today.
45. 24th May 1941: HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck during a battle in the Denmark Strait. 1400 lives were lost when a shell exploded in the armory.
46. 24th May 1943: A Sunderland seaplane was shot down by German U-boat U-441 over the Gulf of Biskaje.
47. 24th May 1944: All ties with Denmark were severed by Icelandic voters today.
48. 24th May 1946: Rail Strike in the USA crippled America. The impact of the strike was felt supply of food fuel and other commodities. The strike highlighted the extent of damage a longer strike can cause to the economy.
49. 24th May 1951: The US performed its atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak.
50. 24th May 1951: Racial segregation in restaurants was ruled illegal in Washington D.C.
51. 24th May 1953: Encyclical Doctor Mellifluous was today published by Pope Pius XII.

52. 24th May 1954: Dr Peter Murray Marshall today became the first African American to head a unit of the American Medical Association at New York County.
53. 24th May 1954: Germany forms its airline Lufthansa today.
54. 24th May 1954: IBM today announced a vacuum tube “electronic” brain capable of performing 10 million operations per hour.
55. 24th May 1956: in Taipei in Taiwan anti-American riots broke out today.
56. 24th May 1958: United Press International was formed with the merger of UP and International News Service.
57. 24th May 1958: In Cuba, President Batista opened an offensive against the rebellion led by Fidel Castro.
58. 24th May 1959: A report on the US economy indicates the continuing growth of the economy with more jobs and higher incomes across all sectors. Americans probably were never better off than this.
59. 24th May 1959: Today in Pleasant Hills in Pennsylvania the first house with a built-in bomb shelter was exhibited.
60. 24th May 1959: Britain renames Empire Day as Commonwealth Day.

61. 24th May 1961: The city police officers in Jackson, Mississippi arrested 27 Freedom Riders, black and 2 whites, traveling in two buses and charged them with disobeying an officer and causing a breach of peace.
62. 24th May 1961: Cyprus today joined the Council of Europe.
63. 24th May 1964: Riots broke out in the Soccer match between Argentina and Peru in the qualifier of the 1964 Olympics when the referee disallowed a goal in the last few minutes. Lack of crowd control resulted in 300 fans being crushed and killed in the riots.
64. 24th May 1968: In France President Charles de Gaulle issued an ultimatum to unions and students who had brought the country to a standstill during the three weeks of demonstrations against reforms introduced by him, saying the French people would have a choice during the coming referendum to either Back me or Sack me.
65. 24th May 1972: The US performed a nuclear test at their Nevada test site.
66. 24th May 1974: President Nixon during his interview with David Frost on a TV interview, defended the right that the President is within his rights to order phone tapping and burglaries if it is in the interest of public safety and justified the use of these in the Watergate Scandal.
67. 24th May 1976: Air France and British Airways cut travel time from 7 hours to 3½ hours from Paris and London respectively by starting Concord service to Dulles Airport, Washington.
68. 24th May 1976: The notion that France is the foremost producer of the world’s best wines was challenged in the Judgment of Paris wine testers when they rated wines from California higher than their French counterparts.
69. 24th May 1978: Sister of Queen Elizabeth II of England, Princes Margret divorced her husband Earl Snowdon after 18 years of marriage.

70. 24th May 1979: The USSR today performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk in the USSR.
71. 24th May 1980: The call of the World Court to release US hostages was rejected by Iran today.
72. 24th May 1983: The Supreme Court today ruled that the government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students.
73. 24th May 1985: A severe cyclone hit Bangladesh killing over 10,000 people.
74. 24th May 1986: British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher visited Israel. She became the first British Prime Minister to visit Israel.
75. 24th May 1987: Jane Geddes won the 33rd LPGA Championship.
76. 24th May 1988: The Parliament in the UK today passed Section 28 as a law that prohibits the promotion of homosexuality.
77. 24th May 1989: In a monastery in Nice French war criminal Paul Touvier was arrested today.
78. 24th May 1993: Five citizens in Turkey and 33 soldiers were killed in the Kurd rebellion.
79. 24th May 1995: Heidi Fleiss, who ran a prostitution ring catering to the rich and famous in Hollywood, was sentenced to 3 years in prison and a $1,500 fine for running a call girl ring.
80. 24th May 1997: Successful launch of Telstar-5 Proton.
81. 24th May 1997: In Michigan, actor Tim Allen was today arrested for drunken driving.
82. 24th May 1999: Venezuela today entered the Antarctic Treaty System.

21st Century – May 24 This Day In History – The 2000s

83. 24th May 2000: After 22 years of occupation Israeli troops today withdrew from southern Lebanon.
84. 24th May 2001: The collapse of a dance floor at a wedding party in Israel left 20 people dead and several others injured.
85. 24th May 2001: Sherab Temba Tsheri, at the age of 15 became the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.

86. 24th May 2001: For the first time since 1994, The Democrats today gained control of the US Senate when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandoned the Republican Party and declared himself an independent.
87. 24th May 2002: The Moscow Treaty was today signed by Russia and the United States.
88. 24th May 2004: North Korea today banned mobile phones.
89. 24th May 2006: In Thailand a major flood occurred after three consecutive days of rain at the beginning of the rainy season, over a hundred people went missing and many were found dead. It also caused massive damage to property and displacement of thousands of people.
90. 24th May 2007: A mine blast in the Yubileynaya coal mine in Siberia caused by a methane explosion killed 36 workers and left several injured. Fifty workers were successfully rescued. Two were said to be missing.
91. 24th May 2008: The former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo who was in exile was today arrested for war crimes near Brussels in Belgium. Palme d’Or was won by “The White Ribbon” directed by Michael Haneke.
92. 24th May 2009: In the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
93. 24th May 2010: Trade between North Korea and South Korea was suspended after North Korea was blamed for sinking a South Korean ship. South Korea demanded an apology from North Korea before lifting the freeze.
94. 24th May 2012: In Norway today, tens of thousands of public sector workers went on strike demanding a rise in pay and improvement in working conditions. Trondheim and Oslo were affected by the strike.
95. 24th May 2013: In Ecuador today Rafael Correa was sworn in as President of Ecuador for an unprecedented third term. He has said that this would be his last term.
96. 24th May 2014: After a military Coup, the army detained former prime minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra.
97. 24th May 2014: In the 22nd UEFA Champions League Final at Lisbon Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4-1.
98. 24th May 2015: In the Indian Premier League 20/20 match Mumbi Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings to win the championship.
99. 24th May 2016: Actor and Comedian Bill Cosby was ordered to stand trial in a sexual assault case in Norristown.
100. 24th May 2016: As moth destroys 80% of tomato crops Kaduna state in Nigeria declares a state of emergency due to “Tomato Ebola”.

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