History of Today in India – 24 April

Explore the history of today 24 April in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 24 April 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 24 April in World History

• 24 Apr 2025: A mass stabbing at a school in Nantes, France, leaves one person dead and three others wounded. Read more
• 24 Apr 2013: A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people and injuring about 2,500 others. Read more
• 24 Apr 2013: Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people. Read more
• 24 Apr 2011: WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak. Read more
• 24 Apr 2006: Bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Dahab kill 23 people and injure about 80. Read more
• 24 Apr 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI. Read more
• 24 Apr 2004: The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction. Read more
• 24 Apr 1996: In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law. Read more
• 24 Apr 1994: A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive. Read more
• 24 Apr 1993: An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London. Read more
• 24 Apr 1990: STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery. Read more
• 24 Apr 1990: Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine. Read more
• 24 Apr 1980: Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis. Read more
• 24 Apr 1979: Blair Peach, a New Zealand teacher, dies after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London. Read more
• 24 Apr 1970: China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster. Read more
• 24 Apr 1970: The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily". Read more
• 24 Apr 1965: Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch. Read more
• 24 Apr 1963: Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London. Read more
• 24 Apr 1957: Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. Read more
• 24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Read more
• 24 Apr 1944: World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece. Read more
• 24 Apr 1933: Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg. Read more
• 24 Apr 1932: Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom. Read more
• 24 Apr 1926: The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years. Read more
• 24 Apr 1924: Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark (first term). Read more
• 24 Apr 1922: The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation. Read more
• 24 Apr 1918: World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs. Read more
• 24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic. Read more
• 24 Apr 1916: Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance. Read more
• 24 Apr 1915: The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian genocide. Read more
• 24 Apr 1914: The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society. Read more
• 24 Apr 1913: The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened. Read more
• 24 Apr 1895: Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop Spray. Read more
• 24 Apr 1885: American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Read more
• 24 Apr 1877: Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire. Read more
• 24 Apr 1837: The great fire in Surat city of India causes more than 500 deaths and destruction of more than 9,000 houses. Read more
• 24 Apr 1800: The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress". Read more

🎂 Important Births on 24 April in World History

• 24 Apr 2002: Olivia Gadecki, Australian tennis player Olivia Gadecki is an Australian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 83, achieved on 7 October 2024 and a best doubles ranking of No. 52, reached on 8 December 2025. She won two mixed doubles titles in the 2025 and 2026 editions of the Australian Open with compatriot John Peers. Read more
• 24 Apr 1999: Ziyu He, Chinese violinist Ziyu He is a Chinese violinist. In 2011, he moved to Salzburg, Austria. At the age of 15, he won the 2014 Eurovision Young Musicians. He also won the Menuhin Competition in 2016. Read more
• 24 Apr 1999: Jerry Jeudy, American football player Jerry Davarus Jeudy is an American professional football wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was awarded the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the season's outstanding college football receiver as a sophomore in 2018, and was selected by the Denver Broncos with the 15th overall pick of the 2020 NFL draft. Read more
• 24 Apr 1998: Ryan Newman, American actress Ryan Whitney is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ginger Falcone in Disney XD's Zeke and Luther, Allison in The Thundermans, Cindy Collins in Zoom and Emily Hobbs in See Dad Run. Read more
• 24 Apr 1997: Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer Dame Lydia Ko is a New Zealand professional golfer, member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the reigning Olympic champion. She first reached number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings on 2 February 2015 at 17 years, 9 months and 9 days of age, making her the youngest player of either gender to be ranked No. 1 in professional golf. Read more
• 24 Apr 1997: Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova is a Russian professional tennis player.
  She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a career-high WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. She is a doubles major champion at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships with Elise Mertens. She has won an additional nine WTA Tour doubles titles including three WTA 1000 and being crowned champion at the 2022 and 2025 WTA Finals editions. In addition, she reached the doubles final of Wimbledon in 2021, with Elena Vesnina. She has also won two WTA Tour singles titles. Read more
• 24 Apr 1996: Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player Ashleigh Jacinta Barty is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 121 weeks, and was ranked world No. 5 in doubles. Barty won 12 WTA Tour-level singles titles, and three majors at the 2019 French Open, 2021 Wimbledon Championships, and 2022 Australian Open, as well as the 2019 WTA Finals. She also won 12 doubles titles, including a major at the 2018 US Open with CoCo Vandeweghe. Read more
• 24 Apr 1995: Kehlani, American singer-songwriter Kehlani Ashley Parrish is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. They initially started as a member of the teen pop group PopLyfe in 2011 as contestant on America's Got Talent. After leaving the group, Parrish self-released the mixtapes Cloud 19 (2014) and You Should Be Here (2015), both of which were critically acclaimed and received gold certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while the latter marked their first entry on the US Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Read more
• 24 Apr 1994: Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor Jordan William Fisher is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He began his career with recurring roles on several television series, including The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2012 and Liv and Maddie from 2015 to 2017. He also had supporting roles in the television films Teen Beach Movie (2013), Teen Beach 2 (2015) as well as Grease Live (2016) and the CW series The Flash (2021–2022). He starred in Rent: Live (2019). Read more
• 24 Apr 1994: Caspar Lee, British-South African YouTuber Caspar Richard George Lee is a British-South African YouTuber and investor. He was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2020 for his work in media and advertising. Read more
• 24 Apr 1993: Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer Benjamin Thomas Davies is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a left-back and centre-back for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Wales national team. Read more
• 24 Apr 1992: Joe Keery, American actor Joseph David Keery, also known by his musical stage name Djo, is an American actor, singer, musician, and songwriter. He rose to international prominence for his role as Steve Harrington in the sci-fi horror series Stranger Things (2016–2025). He has also starred in films such as Spree (2020) and Free Guy (2021) and the fifth season of the crime drama series Fargo (2023–2024). Read more
• 24 Apr 1992: Laura Kenny, English cyclist Dame Laura Rebecca Kenny, Lady Kenny, is an English former professional track and road cyclist who specialised in track endurance events. These included the team pursuit, omnium, scratch race, and madison disciplines. She won six Olympic medals during her career—five golds and one silver. Her five Olympic gold medals are an all-time record for a British female Olympian, and her overall tally of six medals is a joint-record alongside Charlotte Dujardin. Read more
• 24 Apr 1992: Jack Quaid, American actor Jack Henry Quaid is an American actor. The son of actors Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, he is also the nephew of character actor Randy Quaid. He made his acting debut with a minor role in the dystopian film The Hunger Games (2012). Quaid was part of the main cast of the drama series Vinyl (2016) and had a supporting role in the film Logan Lucky (2017). His breakout role was as vigilante Hughie Campbell in the satirical superhero series The Boys (2019–2026). Read more
• 24 Apr 1991: Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model Sigrid Agren is a French model from Martinique, who rose to prominence during the Elite Model Look in 2006. Read more
• 24 Apr 1991: Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater Morgan Ciprès is a French former competitive pair skater. With partner Vanessa James, born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, he is the 2019 European Champion, the 2018 World bronze medalist, the 2017 European bronze medalist, the 2018 Grand Prix Final champion and a six-time French national champion. They have also won medals in Grand Prix and Challenger Series competitions. James and Ciprès represented France at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. Read more
• 24 Apr 1991: Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer Batuhan Karadeniz is a former Turkish professional footballer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1990: Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress Kim Tae-ri is a South Korean actress. Known for her work in both television and film, she has received various accolades, including three Baeksang Arts Awards and a Blue Dragon Film Award, in addition to a nomination for a Grand Bell Award. Read more
• 24 Apr 1990: Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player Jan Veselý is a Czech professional basketball player for FC Barcelona of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. Standing at 2.10 m, he can play both the power forward and center positions. He was selected sixth overall in the 2011 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards. Veselý is a Three-time All-EuroLeague First Team selection. Read more
• 24 Apr 1989: Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player Elīna Babkina is a Latvian former basketball player. Read more
• 24 Apr 1989: David Boudia, American diver David Alasdair Boudia is an American diver. He won the gold medal in the 10 metre platform diving competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal in the same event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also won a bronze medal with Nick McCrory in the men's synchronized 10 metre platform at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a silver medal in the same event with Steele Johnson at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 24 Apr 1989: Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player Taja Mohorčič is a retired Slovenian tennis player. On 25 February 2008, Mohorčič reached her best singles ranking of world number 957. On 26 November 2007, she peaked at world number 733 in the doubles rankings. Read more
• 24 Apr 1987: Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Benjamin John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut extended play (EP) Games in the Dark (2008) was followed by two more EPs, These Waters (2009) and Old Pine (2010). Signed to Island Records, his debut studio album came in 2011 titled Every Kingdom. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Howard later released two more EPs, Ben Howard Live (2011) and The Burgh Island E.P. (2012). Read more
• 24 Apr 1987: Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player Kristopher Joseph Pierre Irwin Letang is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman and alternate captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played juniors in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with Val-d'Or Foreurs for three seasons, during which time he was selected 62nd overall by the Penguins in the 2005 NHL entry draft. In his second full NHL season, Letang won the 2009 Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh. He became a two-time Stanley Cup champion when the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks in 2016, and a three-time Stanley Cup champion when the Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators in 2017. Internationally, he has competed for Canada at the under-18 and under-20 levels, winning back-to-back gold medals at the World Junior Championships in 2006 and 2007. Read more
• 24 Apr 1987: Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist Rein Taaramäe is an Estonian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Continental team Kinan Racing Team. Read more
• 24 Apr 1987: Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer Jan Bert Lieve Vertonghen is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Mainly a centre-back, he also played as a left-back. Read more
• 24 Apr 1987: Varun Dhawan, Indian actor Varun Dhawan is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, Dhawan has appeared in a variety of genres, from romantic-comedies to action. Between 2012 and 2018, he appeared in eleven consecutive commercially successful films. During the 2010s, he was featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list, reflecting his commercial presence within the Indian film industry. Read more
• 24 Apr 1986: Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player Aaron Roe Ward Cunningham is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, and Cleveland Indians. Read more
• 24 Apr 1985: Mike Rodgers, American sprinter Michael Rodgers is an American professional track and field sprinter who specializes in the 100 m and the 60 m. He won the gold medal in the 100 m relay in Doha 2019. He is also the Pan-Am Games Champion. Read more
• 24 Apr 1983: Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete Hanna Anatoliïvna Kasyanova is a Ukrainian heptathlete. Read more
• 24 Apr 1982: Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, talk show host Kelly Brianne, known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Rising to fame after winning the first season of American Idol, she has established a multi-decade career in music and television and is credited with having a lasting impact on televised talent shows. Known as a vocal powerhouse and versatile performer, she was ranked one of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone and one of the 21st century's Greatest Pop Stars by Billboard. Read more
• 24 Apr 1982: David Oliver, American hurdler David Oliver, is the Director of Track & Field at Howard University and a retired American hurdling athlete. As a professional athlete, he competed in the 110 meter hurdles event outdoor and the 60 meter hurdles event indoors. He is the former 110 meter hurdles champion winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow in 2013 with a time of 13 seconds. He won the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympic Games and won another bronze at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Read more
• 24 Apr 1982: Simon Tischer, German volleyball player Simon Tischer is a German retired volleyball player. He was born in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Read more
• 24 Apr 1981: Taylor Dent, American tennis player Taylor Phillip Dent is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles. Read more
• 24 Apr 1981: Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer Yuko Nakanishi is a Japanese butterfly swimmer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1980: Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer Fernando Enrique Arce Ruiz is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
• 24 Apr 1980: Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (died 2008) Karen Asrian was an Armenian chess player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998, he was a three-time Armenian champion. Asrian was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team in the 37th Chess Olympiad. Read more
• 24 Apr 1978: Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer Diego Jesús Quintana is an Argentine footballer who spent his career mostly playing for Skoda Xanthi in Greece. Read more
• 24 Apr 1977: Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player Carlos Iván Beltrán Valdés is a Puerto Rican former outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for seven teams from 1998 to 2017. A nine-time All-Star, he hit 20 home runs twelve times and 30 doubles eleven times, with eight seasons of 100 runs batted in (RBI) and seven seasons of 100 runs scored. He was named the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals after batting .293 with 112 runs and 108 RBI, and leading the league's center fielders in putouts and assists. He led the Royals in runs, RBI, triples and stolen bases every year from 2001 to 2003, always with over 20 home runs and twice batting over .300. In June 2004, he was traded to the Houston Astros in the National League (NL), and became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases after changing leagues midseason. After joining the New York Mets as a free agent, he led the team to a tie for the best record in the major leagues in 2006, posting career highs in home runs (41), runs (127), RBI (116), walks (95), and slugging percentage (.594). Read more
• 24 Apr 1977: Diego Placente, Argentine footballer Diego Rodolfo Placente is an Argentine manager and former footballer who played as a left-back. He is the current manager of the Argentina U20 national team and Argentina national under-17 football team. Read more
• 24 Apr 1976: Hedda Berntsen, Norwegian skier Hedda Berntsen is a Norwegian sportsperson who has competed internationally in telemark skiing, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and skicross. She is world champion in Telemark classic from 1997. She later concentrated on the alpine slalom, her career peaking in the 2000–01 season with consistent performances in the World Cup as well as a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. She later switched to skicross, receiving a silver medal at the 2008 Winter X Games. In the Vancouver Winter Olympics on 23 February 2010 she won the silver medal in the women's skicross competition. Read more
• 24 Apr 1976: Steve Finnan, Irish international footballer Stephen John Finnan is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He is the only player to have played in the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Intertoto Cup, Premier League, all three levels of the Football League, and non-League. Read more
• 24 Apr 1976: Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach Frédéric Niemeyer is a Canadian retired, professional tennis player and was tennis coach at Tennis Canada for 10 years and he is now a freelance Tennis Consultant and Coach. Read more
• 24 Apr 1975: Marte Mjøs Persen, Norwegian politician Marte Mjøs Persen is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. She served as minister of labour and social inclusion from 2022 to 2023, and minister of petroleum and energy from 2021 to 2022. She served as the mayor of Bergen from 2015 until being elected to the Storting in 2021. Read more
• 24 Apr 1975: Dejan Savić, Yugoslavian and Serbian water polo player Dejan Savić is a Serbian professional water polo coach and former player. Read more
• 24 Apr 1974: Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter Eric Kripke is an American writer and television producer. Kripke came to prominence in the late 2000s for creating The WB/CW fantasy drama series Supernatural (2005–2020). He served as the showrunner during the first five seasons of the series. Since then, he has created and/or produced a number of television series including Revolution (2012–2014), Timeless (2016–2018), and The Boys (2019–present). Read more
• 24 Apr 1974: Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator Stephen Wiltshire is a British architectural artist and autistic savant. He is known for his ability to draw a landscape from memory after seeing it just once. His work has gained worldwide fame. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Gabby Logan, English gymnast, television and radio host Gabrielle Nicole Logan is an English television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted Final Score for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also presented live sports events for the BBC, including a revived episode of Superstars in December 2012 and the London Marathon since 2015. Since 2013, she has co-hosted Sports Personality of the Year for the BBC and she presented the second series of The Edge in 2015. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he has received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter Brian Aubrey Marshall is an American musician best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach Eric Snow is an American former basketball player and coach. He played the point guard position in the National Basketball Association from 1995 to 2008 and appeared in three NBA Finals. Known for his defense, Snow was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2003. Following his playing career, Snow served as an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic for two years (2014–2016) after having worked two seasons at SMU (2012–14) as the director of player development under Larry Brown, his former coach. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. Often dubbed the "God of Cricket" in India, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He holds several world records, including being the all-time highest run-scorer in international cricket, receiving the most player of the match awards in international cricket, and being the only batsman to score 100 international centuries. Tendulkar was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha by presidential nomination from 2012 to 2018. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer Toomas Tohver is a retired Estonian international football goalkeeper, with 24 caps to his name. Tohver started his professional career at Flora Tallinn and had two spells abroad, first in Sweden and then in Norway. Read more
• 24 Apr 1973: Lee Westwood, English golfer Lee John Westwood is an English professional golfer. He is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He has also won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. He was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2020 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 and 2020 Race to Dubai. He has frequently been mentioned as one of the best golfers without a major championship victory, and he holds the record of playing in the most majors without winning one. Read more
• 24 Apr 1972: Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer Robert James Douglas, known professionally as Rab Douglas is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for several clubs, including Livingston, Dundee, Celtic, Leicester City, Forfar Athletic and was a goalkeeping coach with Arbroath. Douglas was part of the Celtic side that reached the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, under the management of Martin O'Neill. He also represented Scotland at international level, playing 19 times between 2002 and 2005.
  In 2017, Douglas was inducted into the Dundee FC Hall of Fame. Read more
• 24 Apr 1972: Chipper Jones, American baseball player Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves from 1993 to 2012. The Braves chose Jones with the first overall pick in the 1990 MLB draft. He was also a member of their 1995 World Series championship team that beat the Cleveland Indians. An eight-time All-Star, Jones won the 1999 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Award and the 1999 and 2000 NL Silver Slugger Award for third basemen. He was the MLB batting champion in 2008 after hitting .364. Read more
• 24 Apr 1972: Jure Košir, Slovenian skier and singer Jure Košir is a Slovenian former alpine skier. Read more
• 24 Apr 1971: Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire Deshabandu Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena is a Sri Lankan cricket umpire and former international cricketer. He is a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and the first person to participate in an ICC Cricket World Cup final both as a player and an umpire. A right-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler, Dharmasena was a member of the Sri Lankan side that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and the side which were joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with India. Read more
• 24 Apr 1971: Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist Evil Superstars was a Belgian indie rock band led by Mauro Pawlowski. Among its members was Millionaire and Eagles of Death Metal guitarist Tim Vanhamel. Read more
• 24 Apr 1970: Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster Damien William Fleming is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for the Australian national cricket team and domestic cricket for Victoria. He played in 20 Tests and 88 ODIs from 1994 to 2001 and was part of the all-conquering Australian teams under Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor. In recent years Fleming has spent time refining his theory of Bowlology, a set of scientific coaching principles to help developing bowlers. Fleming was a part of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Read more
• 24 Apr 1969: Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer Ilias Atmatsidis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the director of Football at AEK Athens B. Read more
• 24 Apr 1969: Rory McCann, Scottish actor Rory McCann is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying Sandor "The Hound" Clegane on the HBO series Game of Thrones, Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Edgar Wright's crime-comedy Hot Fuzz (2007), Jurgen the Brutal in the adventure comedy Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) and the voice of Megatron in Transformers: EarthSpark. Read more
• 24 Apr 1969: Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician Eilidh Whiteford is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Banff and Buchan from 2010 to 2017. Read more
• 24 Apr 1968: Aidan Gillen, Irish actor Aidan Murphy, known professionally as Aidan Gillen, is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, a Tony Award, and a Drama Desk Award. Read more
• 24 Apr 1968: Todd Jones, American baseball player Todd Barton Jones is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was an effective middle reliever for several teams and also filled the role of closer, most notably with the Detroit Tigers for whom he earned 235 of his 319 career saves, most in Tigers history. On September 16, 2007, Jones became the 21st member of the 300-save club during his second stint with the Tigers. Read more
• 24 Apr 1968: Roxanna Panufnik, English composer

  Roxanna Panufnik is a British composer of Polish descent. She is the daughter of the Polish composer and conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and his second wife Camilla, née Jessel. Read more

• 24 Apr 1968: Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi is a Kosovo Albanian politician. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo (2008–2014) and the Foreign minister and deputy prime minister (2014–2016) in the cabinet led by Isa Mustafa. He served as President of Kosovo from 2016 until his resignation in 2020. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player Dino Rađa is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup championships. He spent three and a half seasons with the Boston Celtics, being one of the European pioneers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rađa was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991, and one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, as a member of the 2018 class. He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame, in 2022. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach Omar Enrique Vizquel González, nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop and coach. During his 24-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays. In Venezuela, he played for Leones del Caracas. Read more
• 24 Apr 1966: Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor Pierre Brassard is a French-Canadian actor, comedian, television personality, and radio broadcaster. He is associated with CKOI-FM in Montreal and known for his phone call hoaxes. Read more
• 24 Apr 1966: Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager Alessandro "Billy" Costacurta is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Read more
• 24 Apr 1966: David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter David Usher is a Canadian musician, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and activist best known as the front man for the band Moist. He has also released a number of solo albums. He is the founder of Reimagine AI, an artificial intelligence creative studio. Read more
• 24 Apr 1965: Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager Jeff Jackson is a Canadian ice hockey executive and retired ice hockey winger who is the CEO of hockey operations of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jackson played 263 games in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques, and Chicago Blackhawks. Read more
• 24 Apr 1964: Helga Arendt, German sprinter (died 2013) Helga Arendt was a West German sprinter who competed mainly in the 400 metres. Read more
• 24 Apr 1964: Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer Cedric Antonio Kyles, better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and television host. He hosted BET's ComicView during the 1993–1994 season and Def Comedy Jam in 1995. He is best known for co-starring with Steve Harvey on The WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, as one of The Original Kings of Comedy, and for starring as Eddie Walker in Barbershop. He starred in the TV Land original series The Soul Man, which aired from 2012–16 and hosted the 12th season of the daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from 2013–14. He has also done voice work for Ice Age, the Madagascar film series, Charlotte's Web, Planes and Planes: Fire & Rescue. He currently stars on the CBS sitcom The Neighborhood. In 2019, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read more
• 24 Apr 1964: Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer Djimon Gaston Hounsou is a Beninese-American actor. He began his career appearing in music videos and made his film debut in Without You I'm Nothing (1990). He then earned widespread recognition for his role as Cinqué in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad (1997), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. For his performances in In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), Hounsou was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Read more
• 24 Apr 1964: Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator Witold Smorawiński is a Polish classical guitarist, composer and teacher. He comes from a family of musicians and therefore he had a chance to perform in public since his childhood. Read more
• 24 Apr 1963: Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Paula A. Frazer is an American singer-songwriter. She grew up in Georgia and Arkansas and moved to San Francisco in 1981. Her music is frequently described as melancholic alternative country, but with an eclectic mix of folk, blues and pop, among other genres. She first came to notice by fronting the band Tarnation in the 1990s and has appeared on recordings and in concert with many bands and solo artists including Cornershop, Sean Lennon, Frightwig, Tindersticks, the Czars, and Handsome Boy Modeling School. Read more
• 24 Apr 1963: Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer William David Gould is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the rock band Faith No More. Read more
• 24 Apr 1963: Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2010) Mano Solo, born Emmanuel Cabut, was a French singer. He was born in Châlons-sur-Marne on 24 April 1963 to the illustrator Cabu and Isabelle Monin, co-founder of the ecology-related magazine, La Gueule ouverte. Read more
• 24 Apr 1962: Clemens Binninger, German politician Clemens Binninger is a German politician of the CDU. Binninger was a member of the Bundestag from 2002 until 2017. Read more
• 24 Apr 1962: Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager Stuart Pearce is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. Read more
• 24 Apr 1962: Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster Stephen David Roach, nicknamed Blocker or Blocker Roach, is an Australian former professional rugby league who played as a prop forward in the 1980s and early 1990s. Read more
• 24 Apr 1961: Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy Surgeon Commander Andrew William Murrison is a British doctor, naval officer and Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since 2001. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Families from October 2022 to July 2024. Read more
• 24 Apr 1959: Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author (died 2000) Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer. She was best known for presenting the Channel 4 television programmes The Tube and The Big Breakfast. She was subjected to intense media attention and scrutiny, owing to her popularity and her relationships with musicians Bob Geldof and Michael Hutchence. Read more
• 24 Apr 1958: Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick, is a British life peer and retired police officer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2008 and of 2012, and until his retirement in May 2007 was a deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service. Read more
• 24 Apr 1957: Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he was appointed a life peer in 1998. Read more
• 24 Apr 1956: James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral James Alexander "Sandy" Winnefeld Jr. is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. While on active duty, Winnefeld served as the ninth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from August 4, 2011, to July 31, 2015. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician Marion Caspers-Merk is a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She was a member of the Bundestag, representing Lörrach – Müllheim, and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. Alongside other prominent figures such as Kofi Annan and Javier Solana, Caspers-Merk served on the Global Commission on Drug Policy which advocates reforms in drug policies towards the regulation of all substances. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: John de Mol Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol Johannes Hendrikus Hubert "John" de Mol Jr. is a Dutch media proprietor. De Mol is one of the men behind production companies Endemol and Talpa. He created the reality television formats Big Brother, Star Academy and The Voice, and the game shows Fear Factor, Deal or No Deal and The Floor. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland Eamon Gilmore is an Irish diplomat and former Labour Party politician. He has served as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He has also been the European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process since 2015. He was Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2014, Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2012 to 2013, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine from 1994 to 1997. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1989 to 2016. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Margaret Moran, British politician and criminal Margaret Mary Moran is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. Moran was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South from the 1997 general election to 2010. In November 2012, jurors at Southwark Crown Court ruled that she had falsified her parliamentary expenses; she had been unable to stand trial because of mental health issues, but the case was nevertheless heard without her. Her fraudulent claims totalled more than £53,000, the highest amount by any politician in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver (died 1992) Guy Nève de Mevergnies, commonly known as Guy Nève, was a Belgian racing driver. He was the younger brother of fellow racer Patrick Nève, who he had competed with and against. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Michael O'Keefe, American actor Michael O'Keefe is an American actor known for his roles as Danny Noonan in Caddyshack, Ben Meechum in The Great Santini, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Darryl Palmer in the Neil Simon movie The Slugger's Wife. He also appeared as Fred on the television sitcom Roseanne from 1993 to 1995. Read more
• 24 Apr 1955: Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player William Michael Osborne is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth and centre, Osborne represented Wanganui and Waikato at a provincial level. Started his club career with the local Kaierau Rugby Union Club in Wanganui. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, between 1975 and 1982, playing 48 matches including 16 internationals. Read more
• 24 Apr 1954: Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, activist, and convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death row, he wrote and commented on the criminal justice system in the United States. After numerous appeals, his death sentence was overturned by a federal court. In 2011, the prosecution agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. He entered the general prison population early the following year. Read more
• 24 Apr 1954: Jack Blades, American singer-songwriter and bass player Jack Martin Blades is an American rock musician. He has worked in the bands Rubicon, Night Ranger, and Damn Yankees. He has also recorded with Tommy Shaw under the name Shaw Blades and has done work alongside the Tak Matsumoto Group. Blades' most recent efforts include a second solo album and three albums with Revolution Saints, which he was a member of until 2022. Read more
• 24 Apr 1953: Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer Eric Michael Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University of Chicago and Oberlin College. His play Talk Radio was a finalist for the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Bogosian also wrote and starred in the 1988 film adaptation, winning the Silver Bear. Read more
• 24 Apr 1952: Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1952: Ralph Winter, American film producer Ralph Frederick Winter is an American film producer who has helped to produce blockbuster movies such as the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Star Trek series as well as I, Robot and Planet of the Apes. Read more
• 24 Apr 1951: Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic Ron Arad is a British-Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer. He is best known for his furniture designs, including the postmodern chair Rover. Read more
• 24 Apr 1951: Christian Bobin, French author and poet (died 2022) Christian Bobin was a French author and poet. Read more
• 24 Apr 1951: Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter Nigel Harrison is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s. Read more
• 24 Apr 1951: Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland Enda Kenny is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2011, Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997 and Minister of State at the Department of Labour and Department of Education with responsibility for Youth Affairs from 1986 to 1987. He served as Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo West from 1975 to 1997 and for Mayo from 1997 to 2020. Read more
• 24 Apr 1950: Rob Hyman, American singer-songwriter and musician Robert Andrew Hyman is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, and arranger, best known for being a founding member of the rock band the Hooters. Read more
• 24 Apr 1949: Eddie Hart, American sprinter Edward James "Eddie" Hart is an American former track and field sprinter and Olympic champion in the men's 4 × 100 m relay race at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 24 Apr 1949: Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer Véronique Marie Line Sanson is a three-time Victoires de la Musique award-winning French singer-songwriter and record producer with an avid following in her native country. Read more
• 24 Apr 1948: Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (died 2013) Argeo Paul Cellucci was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 69th governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2001 and as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2005. He also served as 68th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1999, as well as in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate from 1977 to 1991. Read more
• 24 Apr 1948: Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author Eliana Gil, is a lecturer, writer, and clinician of marriage, family and child. She is on the board of a number of professional counselling organizations that use play and art therapies, and she is the former president of the Association for Play Therapy (APT). Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell Fontelles is a Spanish politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served as President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007 and as Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation from 2018 to 2019. Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal João Braz de Aviz is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2011 to 2025. He began his career working for twenty years as a parish priest and seminary teacher. He became a bishop in 1994 and was bishop of Ponta Grossa from 1998 to 2002, archbishop of Maringá from 2002 to 2004, and archbishop of Brasília from 2004 to 2011. Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Claude André Dubois is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician Denise Patricia Byrne Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill CBE is a British Labour peer. She was appointed as a life peer in 2006 after practising as a solicitor in personal injury, trade union and employment law. Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Roger David Kornberg is an American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kornberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 for his studies of the process by which genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA, "the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription." Read more
• 24 Apr 1946: Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (died 2013) Douglas Hewson Christie, Jr. was a Canadian lawyer and political activist based in Victoria, British Columbia, who was known nationally for his defence of clients such as Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, former Nazi prison guard Michael Seifert, and neo-Nazi Paul Fromm among others. Read more
• 24 Apr 1946: Phil Robertson, American hunter and television personality (died 2025) Phil Alexander Robertson was an American professional hunter, businessman and television personality who was the founder of hunting products company Duck Commander. A reality television star on the popular television series Duck Dynasty, he was also featured on the television show Duck Commander, a hunting program on the Outdoor Channel. He served as patriarch of the Duck Dynasty Robertson family. Read more
• 24 Apr 1945: Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter Douglas Raymond "Cosmo" Clifford is an American drummer. He is best known as a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revival for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. After the group disbanded in late 1972, Clifford released a solo album and later joined CCR bassist Stu Cook in the Don Harrison Band. In 1995, Clifford and Cook formed the band Creedence Clearwater Revisited, performing live versions of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs. Read more
• 24 Apr 1944: Peter Cresswell, English judge
  Sir Peter John Cresswell, DL was an English High Court judge, and a judge of the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. Read more
• 24 Apr 1944: Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect Maarja Nummert was an Estonian architect who designed a number of school buildings. Read more
• 24 Apr 1944: Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's "Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of many hits in collaboration with Marc Bolan. Visconti's lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie: intermittently from 1968 to his final album Blackstar in 2016, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on Blackstar was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo's Djin Djin received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Read more
• 24 Apr 1943: Richard Sterban, American country and gospel bass singer Richard Anthony Sterban is an American singer. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. In 1972, he joined the country and gospel quartet the Oak Ridge Boys, in which he sings bass. Read more
• 24 Apr 1943: Gordon West, English footballer (died 2012) Gordon West was an English professional football goalkeeper. He won three international caps in a career that included a long stint at Everton. Read more
• 24 Apr 1942: Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago Richard Michael Daley is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year mayoralty of his father, Richard J. Daley. Read more
• 24 Apr 1942: Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress, songwriter, and filmmaker. Over a career spanning more than six decades, Streisand's success in the entertainment industry has included Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. Read more
• 24 Apr 1941: Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (died 2010) Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world, assisting in brokering a peace agreement among the warring factions in Bosnia leading to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. Holbrooke was a prime contender to succeed Warren Christopher as Secretary of State but was passed over in 1996 as President Bill Clinton chose Madeleine Albright instead. Read more
• 24 Apr 1941: John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer John Christopher Williams is an Australian and English guitarist known for his solo and ensemble playing as well as his interpretation and promotion of the modern classical guitar repertoire. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category with fellow guitarist Julian Bream for Together. Guitar historian Graham Wade has said that "John is perhaps the most technically accomplished guitarist the world has seen." Read more
• 24 Apr 1940: Sue Grafton, American author (died 2017) Sue Taylor Grafton was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she said the strongest influence on her crime novels was author Ross Macdonald. Before her success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies. Read more
• 24 Apr 1937: Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (died 2001) Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note, Milestone, Contemporary Records and Verve. Read more
• 24 Apr 1936: David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto David Edward Crombie is a former Canadian academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, he served as minister of national health and welfare from 1979 to 1980, minister of Indian affairs and northern development from 1984 to 1986, and secretary of state for Canada from 1986 to 1988. Read more
• 24 Apr 1936: Jill Ireland, English actress (died 1990) Jill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress and singer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1934: Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (died 2015) D. Jayakanthan, popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he joined the Communist Party of India. In a career spanning six decades, he authored around 40 novels, 200 short stories, apart from two autobiographies. Outside literature, he made two films. In addition, four of his other novels were adapted into films by others. Read more
• 24 Apr 1934: Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer Shirley MacLaine is an American actress and author. With a career spanning over 70 years, she has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, two BAFTA Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Volpi Cups, and two Silver Bears. She has been honored with the Film Society of Lincoln Center Tribute in 1995, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1998, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2012, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014. MacLaine is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Read more
• 24 Apr 1931: Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager (died 2013) Abdelhamid Kermali was an Algerian footballer and football manager of the Algerian national team. Read more
• 24 Apr 1931: Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator Bridget Louise Riley is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Read more
• 24 Apr 1930: Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author (died 2019) Jerome Callet was a brass embouchure clinician, and designer of brass instruments and mouthpieces. Read more
• 24 Apr 1930: Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer (died 2021) Richard Donner was an American filmmaker. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the most financially successful films of the 1970s and 1980s. His career spanning more than six decades crossed genres and influenced trends among filmmakers across the world. Read more
• 24 Apr 1930: José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 31st President of Brazil José Sarney de Araújo Costa is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and writer who served as the 31st president of Brazil from 1985 to 1990. He briefly served as the 20th vice president of Brazil for a month between March and April 1985. Read more
• 24 Apr 1929: Dr. Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer (died 2006) Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj, better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and versatile actors in the history of Indian cinema, he is considered a cultural icon and holds a matinée idol status in the Kannada diaspora, among whom he is popularly called as Nata Saarvabhouma, Bangarada Manushya, Vara Nata, Gaana Gandharva, Rasikara Raja, Kannada Kanteerava and Rajanna/Annavru. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1983 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1995. He is the only lead actor to win National Award for Playback singing. His 39 movies have been remade 63 times in 9 languages by 34 actors making him the first actor whose movies were remade more than fifty times and the first actor whose movies were remade in nine languages. He was the first actor in India to enact a role which was based on James Bond in a full-fledged manner. The success of his movie Jedara Bale is credited to have widely inspired an Indian bond genre in other Indian film industries. On the occasion of the "Centenary of Indian Cinema" in April 2013, Forbes included his performance in Bangaarada Manushya on its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". Upon his death, The New York Times had described him as one of India's most popular movie stars. Read more
• 24 Apr 1928: Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager (died 2020) Thomas Henderson Docherty, commonly known as "The Doc", was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times between 1951 and 1959. He then managed a total of 13 clubs between 1961 and 1988, as well as the Scotland national team. Docherty was manager of Manchester United between 1972 and 1977, during which time they were relegated to the Second Division but promoted back to the First Division as champions at the first attempt. Read more
• 24 Apr 1928: Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (died 2008) John Arnold Griffin III was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin began his career in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of his death. A pioneering figure in hard bop, Griffin recorded prolifically as a bandleader in addition to stints with the pianist Thelonious Monk and the drummer Art Blakey, in partnership with his fellow tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and as a member of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band after he moved to Europe in the 1960s. In 1995, Griffin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. Read more
• 24 Apr 1928: Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist (died 2012) Anahit Georgievna Perikhanian was a Soviet-born Armenian academic. An Iranologist, Perikhanian specialized in Sasanian jurisprudence, history and society. In addition to her work on many aspects of ancient and medieval Iran, Perikhanian was also interested in ancient inscriptions of Asia Minor and the Middle East, as well as Middle Iranian languages and Armenian language. She also spent much time researching Armenian philology and etymology, especially in relation to Iranian loanwords in the Armenian language, and contributed to the understanding of Aramaic inscriptions found in Armenia. Read more
• 24 Apr 1927: Josy Barthel, Luxembourgish runner and politician, Luxembourgish Minister for Energy (died 1992) Joseph "Josy" Barthel was a Luxembourgish athlete and politician. He was the surprise winner of the Men's 1500 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the only athlete representing Luxembourg to have won a gold medal at the Olympics. Besides athletics, Barthel also led successful careers in both chemistry and politics. Read more
• 24 Apr 1926: Marilyn Erskine, American actress Marilyn Erskine is an American retired actress who started performing at the age of three on radio, and has since appeared in radio, theater, film and television roles from the 1920s through the 1970s. Read more
• 24 Apr 1926: Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden (died 2016) Nils Olof Thorbjörn Fälldin was a Swedish politician and farmer who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1979 to 1982. From 1971 to 1985, he was leader of the Centre Party. Read more
• 24 Apr 1925: Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter (died 1992) Franco Leccese was an Italian sprinter. Read more
• 24 Apr 1924: Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician (died 2009) Sir Clement Raphael Freud was a British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as a child and later worked as a prominent chef and food writer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1924: Ruth Kobart, American actress and singer (died 2002) Ruth Kobart was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television. Read more
• 24 Apr 1923: Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2005) August Bodnar was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who was the Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the National Hockey League's rookie of the year for the 1943–44 season. He played 12 seasons in the NHL from 1943 to 1955, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins. Read more
• 24 Apr 1923: Doris Burn, American author and illustrator (died 2011) Doris "Doe" Burn was an American children's book author and illustrator. She lived most of her life on Waldron Island in the San Juan Islands archipelago of Washington. Read more
• 24 Apr 1922: Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic (died 2014) Marc-Adélard Tremblay, was a Canadian anthropologist. Read more
• 24 Apr 1920: Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver (died 2011) Luigi "Gino" Valenzano was an Italian racing driver. He entered 39 races between 1947 and 1955 in Abarths, Maseratis and Lancias as a teammate of drivers like Robert Manzon and Froilán González. Read more
• 24 Apr 1919: David Blackwell, American mathematician and academic (died 2010) David Harold Blackwell was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the Rao–Blackwell theorem, and is also known for the Blackwell channel, Blackwell's contraction mapping theorem, Blackwell's approachability theorem, and the Blackwell order. He wrote one of the first Bayesian statistics textbooks, his 1969 Basic Statistics. He was the first African American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, the first African American full professor with tenure at the University of California, Berkeley, and the seventh African American to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. By the time he retired, he had published more than 90 papers and books on dynamic programming, game theory, and mathematical statistics. In 2012, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Blackwell the National Medal of Science. Read more
• 24 Apr 1919: Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (died 2013) Glafcos Ioannou Clerides was a Cypriot statesman who served as President of Cyprus in 1974 and from 1993 to 2003. Read more
• 24 Apr 1916: Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (died 2002) Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler and wrestling coach. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers and wrestling world champions in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion. Read more
• 24 Apr 1914: William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1977) William Castle was an American filmmaker and actor. He was best known as a director of horror and thriller B-movies in the 1950s and '60s, for which he devised innovative and distinctive promotional gimmicks. Read more
• 24 Apr 1914: Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1991) Joseph Philippe Henri Watson was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League. He played for the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers between 1936 and 1948, and coached the Rangers from 1955 to 1960 and the Boston Bruins from 1961 to 1963. He was born in Montreal, Quebec. Read more
• 24 Apr 1914: Justin Wilson, American chef and author (died 2001) Justin Elmer Wilson was a Southern American chef and humorist known for his brand of Cajun-inspired cuisine, humor and storytelling. Read more
• 24 Apr 1913: Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer (died 2014) Dieter Grau was a German-born American aerospace engineer and member of the "von Braun rocket group", at Peenemünde (1939–1945) working on the V-2 rockets in World War II. He was among the engineers who surrendered to the United States and traveled there, providing rocketry expertise via Operation Paperclip, which took them first to Fort Bliss, Texas. Grau was sent by the U.S. Army to White Sands in 1946 to work on the assemblage and testing of the V-2. His wife joined him there in 1947. While von Braun was on standby at Fort Bliss, Grau and other German aerospace engineers busily launched V-2s for U.S. scientists to analyze. A total of 67 V-2s were launched at White Sands. Read more
• 24 Apr 1912: Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower (died 1994) Ruth Osburn was an American athlete who competed mainly in the discus. She was born in Shelbyville, Missouri, United States. Read more
• 24 Apr 1908: Marceline Day, American actress (died 2000) Marceline Day was an American motion picture actress whose career began as a child in the 1910s and ended in the 1930s. Read more
• 24 Apr 1908: Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner (died 1991) Inga Kristina Gentzel was a Swedish runner who won a bronze medal in the 800 m at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Shortly before the Olympics, she set a new world record in this event, broken two weeks later, but remained a national record until 1943. Gentzel won the silver medal in the 1000 m at the 1926 Women's World Games. Read more
• 24 Apr 1908: Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (died 1963) Józef Jan Gosławski was a Polish sculptor and medallic artist. He was a designer of coins, monuments and medals. Laureate of many artistic competitions; decorated with the Silver Cross of Merit. Read more
• 24 Apr 1907: Gabriel Figueroa, Mexican cinematographer (died 1997) Gabriel Figueroa Mateos was a Mexican cinematographer, regarded as one of the greatest cinematographers of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. He worked on over 200 films, which cover a broad range of genres, and is best known for his technical dominance, his careful handling of framing and chiaroscuro, and affinity for the aesthetics of artists. Read more
• 24 Apr 1906: William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster (died 1946) William Brooke Joyce, nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, Joyce became a member of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) from 1932, before finally moving to Germany at the outset of the war where he took Nazi German citizenship in 1940. Read more
• 24 Apr 1906: Mimi Smith, English nurse (died 1991) Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith, informally known as Aunt Mimi, was a maternal aunt and the parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. She was born in Toxteth, Liverpool, as the oldest of five daughters. She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital and later worked as a private secretary. On 15 September 1939, she married George Toogood Smith, who ran his family's dairy farm and a shop in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Read more
• 24 Apr 1905: Al Bates, American long jumper (died 1999) Alfred Hilborn Bates was an American athlete from Philadelphia Pennsylvania, who competed mainly in the long jump. Read more
• 24 Apr 1905: Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (died 1989) Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for All the King's Men (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry. Yale awarded Warren an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1973. Read more
• 24 Apr 1904: Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (died 1997) Willem de Kooning was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter Elaine Fried. Read more
• 24 Apr 1903: José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (died 1936) José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella GE, often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish national syndicalist politician who founded the Falange Española, later Falange Española de las JONS. Read more
• 24 Apr 1900: Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator (died 1984) Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge FRSL was an English writer of fiction and children's books. She won the Carnegie Medal for British children's books in 1946 for The Little White Horse. Goudge was long a popular author in the UK and the US and regained attention decades later. In 1993 her book The Rosemary Tree was plagiarised by Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen; the "new" novel set in India was warmly reviewed in The New York Times and The Washington Post before its source was discovered. In 2001 or 2002, J. K. Rowling identified The Little White Horse as one of her favourite books and one of few to have a direct influence on the Harry Potter series. Read more
• 24 Apr 1899: Oscar Zariski, Russian-American mathematician and academic (died 1986) Oscar Zariski was an American mathematician. The Russian-born scientist was one of the most influential algebraic geometers of the 20th century. Read more
• 24 Apr 1897: Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico (died 1955) Manuel Ávila Camacho was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the president of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Having participated in the Mexican Revolution and achieving a high rank, he came to the presidency of Mexico because of his direct connection to General Lázaro Cárdenas and served him as the Chief of his General Staff during the Mexican Revolution and afterwards. He was called affectionately by Mexicans "The Gentleman President". As president, he pursued "national policies of unity, adjustment, and moderation." His administration completed the transition from military to civilian leadership, ended confrontational anticlericalism, reversed the push for socialist education, and restored a working relationship with the US during World War II. Read more
• 24 Apr 1897: Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer (died 1941) Benjamin Atwood Lee Whorf was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer best known for proposing the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. He believed that the structures of different languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. Whorf saw this idea, named after him and his mentor Edward Sapir, as having implications similar to those of Einstein's principle of physical relativity. However, the concept originated from 19th-century philosophy and thinkers like Wilhelm von Humboldt and Wilhelm Wundt. Read more
• 24 Apr 1889: Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1952) Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. Read more
• 24 Apr 1889: Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic (died 1924) Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova was a Russian-Soviet avant-garde artist, painter and designer. Read more
• 24 Apr 1888: Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator (died 1973) Pe Maung Tin was a scholar of Pali and Buddhism and educator in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Born to an Anglican family at Pauktaw, Insein Township, Rangoon, he was the fifth child of U Pe and Daw Myaing. His grandfather was the first Burmese pastor of Henzada. He learnt the basic Buddhist texts at a local private school before he went to Rangoon Government High School where he won a scholarship at age 14. Read more
• 24 Apr 1887: Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter (died 1931) Denys George Finch-Hatton MC was a British aristocratic big-game hunter and the lover of Baroness Karen von Blixen, a Danish noblewoman who wrote about him in her autobiographical book Out of Africa, first published in 1937. In the book, his name is hyphenated: "Finch-Hatton". Read more
• 24 Apr 1885: Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper (died 1962) Thomas Francis Cronan was an American athlete who competed mainly in the triple jump. Read more
• 24 Apr 1885: Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer (died 1961) Cornelius Edward "Con" Walsh was an Irish Canadian athlete who represented Canada at the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was born in Carriganimma. He won a bronze medal in the hammer throw, finishing third behind fellow Irishmen John Flanagan and Matt McGrath, both of whom represented the United States. Another Irishman, Robert Kerr also represented Canada at the same games. Walsh had earlier played Gaelic football and represented Cork. Read more
• 24 Apr 1882: Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal (died 1970) Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defence, and hence, the defeat of Operation Sea Lion, Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain. Read more
• 24 Apr 1880: Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (died 1954) Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who is most commonly associated with his work in the development of the zipper. Read more
• 24 Apr 1880: Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist (died 1964) Josef Müller, also known as Giuseppe Müller, was a Croatian entomologist. Read more
• 24 Apr 1879: Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer (died 1984) Susanna Bokoyni, also known as "Princess Susanna", was a Hungarian centenarian and circus performer who was listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-lived dwarf on record. Read more
• 24 Apr 1878: Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter (died 1958) Jean Crotti was a French painter. Read more
• 24 Apr 1876: Erich Raeder, German admiral (died 1960) Erich Johann Albert Raeder was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II and was convicted of war crimes after the war. He attained the highest possible naval rank, that of grand admiral, in 1939. Raeder led the Kriegsmarine for the first half of the war; he resigned in January 1943 and was replaced by Karl Dönitz. At the Nuremberg trials he was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released early owing to failing health in 1955. Read more
• 24 Apr 1868: Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer (died 1944) Alexander Herd was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake. Read more
• 24 Apr 1862: Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist (died 1957) Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany", having been one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Linnaeus. His research resulted in collecting more than 500,000 specimens, many of which are represented in his Makino's Illustrated Flora of Japan. Despite having dropped out of grammar school, he eventually attained a Doctor of Science degree, and his birthday is remembered as Botany Day in Japan. Read more
• 24 Apr 1860: Queen Marau, last Queen of Tahiti (died 1935) Johanna Marau Taʻaroa a Tepau Salmon was the last Queen of Tahiti as the wife of King Pōmare V, who ruled from 1877 to 1880. Her name means "Much unique cleaning of the splash" in the Tahitian language. Read more
• 24 Apr 1856: Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (died 1951) Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain, better known as Marshal Pétain, was a French military officer who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the collaborationist regime of Vichy France, from 1940 to 1944, during World War II. Read more
• 24 Apr 1845: Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1924) Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919 "in special appreciation of his epic Olympian Spring". His work includes both pessimistic and heroic poems. Read more
• 24 Apr 1829: Luisa Cappiani, Austrian soprano, educator and essayist (died 1919) Luisa Kapp-Young, was an Austrian dramatic operatic soprano, musical educator, and essayist who used the principle of the Aeolian harp emission of tone, which excluded all effort in the throat, and preserved the voice. Kapp-Young made her debut after the death of her husband, Gisbert Kapp, in 1859. In 1861, she sang Wagner roles in Rotterdam. In the United States, she appeared in 1867 as Mme. Kapp-Young. After several seasons in Italy, she came back to the United States, and established herself under the name of Cappiani as a teacher in Boston and New York City. In 1884, she was one of the original founders of the American Federation of Musicians, and the only woman initially elected. After 1899, she lived permanently in Milan, and died in Zürich in 1919. Her essays on the voice were reproduced in many musical papers in the U.S. and other countries. She died in 1919. Read more
• 24 Apr 1823: Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico (died 1889) Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral was a Mexican liberal politician and jurist who served as the 31st president of Mexico from 1872 to 1876. Read more
• 24 Apr 1815: Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (died 1882) Anthony Trollope was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the Palliser novels, as well as The Way We Live Now. His novels address political, social, and gender issues and other topical matters. He also wrote an autobiography, a book on William Makepeace Thackeray, a book on Lord Palmerston, five travel books, and 42 short stories. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 24 April in World History

• 24 Apr 2025: Roy Phillips, British musician (born 1941) Roy Godfrey Phillips was a British musician. He was a member of The Soundtracks, The Saints and The Peddlers. Read more
• 24 Apr 2024: Bob Cole, Canadian sports announcer (born 1933) Robert Cecil Cole was a Canadian sports television announcer who worked for CBC and Sportsnet and a competitive curler. He was known primarily for his work on National Hockey League's Hockey Night in Canada and Olympic ice hockey. Read more
• 24 Apr 2024: Terry Hill, Australian rugby league player (born 1972) Terence Christopher Hill was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Wests Tigers as well as representative football for New South Wales and Australia. He was also well known for his promotional television work with Lowes Menswear. Read more
• 24 Apr 2024: Donald Payne Jr., American politician (born 1958) Donald Milford Payne Jr. was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 10th congressional district from 2012 until his death in 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, Payne served as president of the Newark city council from 2010 to 2012. Read more
• 24 Apr 2024: Mike Pinder, British musician (born 1941) Michael Thomas Pinder was an English rock musician. He was a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of their ninth album, Octave, in 1978. Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions to rock music, most notably in the development and emergence of the Mellotron in 1960s rock music. In 2018, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues. Read more
• 24 Apr 2023: Wang Xiaolong, Chinese Coast guardsman (born 1995) Wang Xiaolong was a Chinese Coast Guard who was killed whilst intercepting a smuggling operation. He is the first China Coast Guard (CCG) member to be killed in the line of duty and the first CCG member to be made a martyr for heroism. Read more
• 24 Apr 2022: Andrew Woolfolk, American saxophonist (born 1950) Andrew Paul Woolfolk II was an American saxophonist. Woolfolk was a longtime member of the band Earth, Wind & Fire from 1973 to 1985, and from 1987 to 1993. He also collaborated with artists such as Deniece Williams, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Collins, Twennynine, Philip Bailey, and Level 42. Read more
• 24 Apr 2017: Robert Pirsig, American author and philosopher (born 1928) Robert Maynard Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher. He is the author of the philosophical books Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife and editor, Wendy Pirsig. Read more
• 24 Apr 2016: Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach (born 1930) Tamio "Tommy" Kono was an American weightlifter of Japanese descent. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Kono set world records in four different weight classes: lightweight, middleweight, light-heavyweight and middle-heavyweight. Read more
• 24 Apr 2015: Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1922) Władysław Bartoszewski was a Polish professor of History, politician, social activist, journalist, writer, historian and insurgent. A former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, he was a World War II resistance fighter as part of the Polish underground and participated in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war he was persecuted and imprisoned by the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) of the Polish People's Republic regime due to his membership in the Home Army and opposition activity. Read more
• 24 Apr 2014: Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House (born 1934) Hans Hollein was an Austrian architect and designer and key figure of postmodern architecture. Some of his most notable works are the Haas House and the Albertina extension in the inner city of Vienna. Read more
• 24 Apr 2014: Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1948) William "Sandy" Pullar Jardine was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Rangers, Hearts and represented Scotland. He played over 1000 professional games and twice won the Scottish Football Writers Association Player of the Year award. He won several honours with Rangers, including two domestic trebles in 1976 and 1978, and was part of the Rangers team that won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972. He won 38 caps for Scotland and played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. Jardine was also co-manager of Hearts with Alex MacDonald and later worked for Rangers. Read more
• 24 Apr 2014: Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (born 1968) Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy was an Indian politician from Andhra Pradesh, India. She represented the Allagadda constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh for four terms until 2012 when she resigned due to political turmoil in her party. She served as the chairperson of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and was the spokesperson for Prajarajyam party, having previously been General Secretary and also a state committee member in Telugu Desam Party. In 2012, she left the Prajarajyam party and joined the newly formed YSR Congress. Her husband Bhuma Nagi Reddy was also a politician who served twice as a Member of Legislative Assembly and thrice as a Member of Parliament. Read more
• 24 Apr 2014: Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright (born 1921) Tadeusz Różewicz was a Polish poet, playwright, writer, and translator. Różewicz was in the first generation of Polish writers born after Poland regained its independence in 1918, following the century of foreign partitions. He was born in Radomsko, near Łódź, in 1921. He first published his poetry in 1938. During World War II, he served in the Polish underground Home Army. His elder brother, Janusz, also a poet, was executed by the Gestapo in 1944 for serving in the Polish resistance movement. His younger brother, Stanisław, became a noted film director and screenwriter. Read more
• 24 Apr 2011: Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (born 1926) Sathya Sai Baba was an Indian godman and philanthropist. At the age of 14, he claimed to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba and left his home for religious cause. Read more
• 24 Apr 2008: Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (born 1921) James Peter Giuffre, Italian pronunciation: [d͡ʒufˈfrɛ]; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is known for developing forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation. Read more
• 24 Apr 2006: Brian Labone, English footballer (born 1940) Brian Leslie Labone was an English footballer who played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship twice and the FA Cup once. He also played 26 times for the England national team. Read more
• 24 Apr 2006: Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author (born 1914) Moshe (Moses) Teitelbaum was a Hungarian-American Hasidic rebbe and the world leader of the Satmar Hasidim. Read more
• 24 Apr 2005: Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (born 1924) Ezer Weizman was an Israeli major general and politician who served as the president of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense. Read more
• 24 Apr 2005: Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic (born 1910) Fei Xiaotong or Fei Hsiao-tung was a Chinese anthropologist and sociologist. He was a pioneering researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist. Starting in the late 1930s, he and his colleagues established Chinese sociology and his works were instrumental in laying a foundation for the development of sociological and anthropological studies in China, as well as in introducing social and cultural phenomena of China to the international community. His last post before his death in 2005 was as Professor of Sociology at Peking University. Read more
• 24 Apr 2004: José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer (born 1923) Joseph Damiani, known by the pen name José Giovanni, was a French-Swiss writer, filmmaker, and a convicted criminal. He was known for his realistic, gritty crime novels which drew upon his own personal experiences and knowledge of the French underworld. Read more
• 24 Apr 2004: Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (born 1906) Estée Lauder was an American businesswoman. She co-founded her eponymous cosmetics company with her husband, Joseph Lauter. Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. Read more
• 24 Apr 2003: Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (born 1910) Hatice Nüzhet Gökdoğan was a Turkish astronomer, mathematician and academic. After studying mathematics and astronomy in France as a young adult, Gökdoğan joined the faculty of Istanbul University in 1934 and completed her PhD. She was elected Dean of the university's Faculty of Science in 1954, becoming the first Turkish woman to serve as a university dean, and she was later made Chair of the astronomy department, significantly expanding her department's capacity and working to improve national and international collaboration between astronomers. Read more
• 24 Apr 2002: Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgish sculptor (born 1908) Lucien Wercollier was a sculptor from Luxembourg. While he worked primarily in bronze and marble, some of his work is sculpted in wood, alabaster, stone and onyx. His public monuments in bronze and marble are of particular importance. Works by Wercollier can be found in public places and museums in Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United States. Read more
• 24 Apr 2001: Josef Peters, German racing driver (born 1914) Josef Peters was a racing driver from Düsseldorf, Germany. He participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, on August 3, 1952. He failed to finish, scoring no championship points. Read more
• 24 Apr 2001: Johnny Valentine, American wrestler (born 1928) John Theodore Wisniski, better known by his ring name Johnny Valentine, was an American professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades. He has been inducted into four halls of fame for his achievements in wrestling. Wisniski is the father of professional wrestler Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Read more
• 24 Apr 1997: Allan Francovich, American director and producer (born 1941) Allan James Francovich was an American film maker. He is best known for creating a number of films critical of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), linking them to terrorist attacks during the Cold War in Africa, South America and Europe. The most notable of these are the Gladio (1992) series about Operation Gladio which featured on BBC's Timewatch and The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie (1994) about Pan Am Flight 103. Read more
• 24 Apr 1997: Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist (born 1927) Patrick Layton Paulsen was an American comedian and satirist known for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers television shows, and for his satirical campaigns for President of the United States between 1968 and 1996. Read more
• 24 Apr 1997: Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle (born 1922) Eugene Morrison Stoner was an American machinist and firearms designer who is most associated with the development of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle that was redesigned and modified by Colt's Patent Firearm Company for the United States military as the M16 rifle. Read more
• 24 Apr 1995: Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter (born 1903) Lodewijk Karel "Loki" Bruckman was a Dutch magic realist painter. He lived and worked in the Netherlands, the United States, and Mexico. Museum de Oude Wolden in the village of Bellingwolde has a permanent exhibition of his paintings. Read more
• 24 Apr 1993: Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and activist (born 1917) Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and activist who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. Read more
• 24 Apr 1993: Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher and theorist (born 1917) Trần Đức Thảo was a Vietnamese philosopher. His work attempted to unite phenomenology with Marxist philosophy. His work had some currency in France in the 1950s and 1960s, and was cited favorably by Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard and Louis Althusser. Read more
• 24 Apr 1986: Wallis Simpson, American socialite, Duchess of Windsor (born 1896) Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a constitutional crisis that led to Edward's abdication. Read more
• 24 Apr 1984: Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Spanish author (born 1891) Rafael Pérez y Pérez, was a popular Spanish writer of over 160 romantic novels from 1909 to 1971. He was one of the first writers to publish romance novels written in Spanish language. His novels have been translated into 22 languages, and had sold over 5 million copies by the year 1977, and some of his novels were adapted to film. Read more
• 24 Apr 1983: Erol Güngör, Turkish sociologist, psychologist, and academic (born 1938) Erol Güngör was a Turkish social psychologist and writer. His work focused on the socially derived nature of language, morality, and values. Güngör wrote extensively on nationalism and culture at a time when Turkey was attempting to develop a national democratic identity. Read more
• 24 Apr 1983: Rolf Stommelen, German racing driver (born 1943) Rolf Johann Stommelen was a German racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1969 to 1978. In endurance racing, Stommelen was a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche. Read more
• 24 Apr 1982: Ville Ritola, Finnish runner (born 1896) Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola was a Finnish long-distance runner. Known as one of the "Flying Finns", he won five Olympic gold medals and three Olympic silver medals in the 1920s. He holds the record of winning most athletics medals at a single Games – four golds and two silvers in Paris 1924 – and ranks second in terms of most athletics gold medals at a single Games. Read more
• 24 Apr 1980: Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (born 1904) Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French and Russian parentage, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba, and despite his European birthplace, he strongly identified as Cuban throughout his life. He traveled extensively, particularly in France, and to South America and Mexico, where he met prominent members of the Latin American cultural and artistic community. Carpentier took a keen interest in Latin American politics and often aligned himself with revolutionary movements, such as Fidel Castro's Communist Revolution in Cuba in the mid-20th century. Carpentier was jailed and exiled for his leftist political philosophies. Read more
• 24 Apr 1976: Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator (born 1890) Mark George Tobey was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School. Senior in age and experience, he had a strong influence on the others; friend and mentor, Tobey shared their interest in philosophy and Eastern religions. Similar to others of the Northwest School, Tobey was mostly self-taught after early studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1921, Tobey founded the art department at The Cornish School in Seattle, Washington. Read more
• 24 Apr 1974: Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer (born 1897) William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known as the straight man in the comedy duo Abbott and Costello. Read more
• 24 Apr 1972: Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (born 1892) Fernand Amorsolo y Cueto was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines. He was recognized as such for his "pioneering use of impressionistic technique" as well as his skill in the use of lighting and backlighting in his paintings, "significant not only in the development of Philippine art but also in the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity." Read more
• 24 Apr 1970: Otis Spann, American singer and pianist (born 1930) Otis Spann was an American blues musician many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Read more
• 24 Apr 1968: Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (born 1876) John Walter Beardsley Tewksbury was an American track and field athlete. At the 1900 Summer Olympics, he won five medals, including two golds. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and cosmonaut (born 1927) Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He became the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space twice when he was selected as the solo pilot of Soyuz 1, its first crewed test flight. A parachute failure caused his Soyuz capsule to crash into the ground after re-entry on 24 April 1967, making him the first human to die in a space flight incident. Read more
• 24 Apr 1967: Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (born 1885) Robert Stanley Richards was an Australian politician. He served as premier of South Australia for two months in 1933, leading the Parliamentary Labor faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the aftermath of a major party split. His government was defeated in a landslide at the 1933 state election. He returned as leader of the reunited ALP from 1938 to 1949, leading the party to three consecutive electoral defeats as leader of the opposition in the face of severe electoral malapportionment. He later served as administrator of Nauru, a UN trust territory administered by Australia, from 1949 to 1951. Read more
• 24 Apr 1966: Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author (born 1902) Simon Ivanes dze Chikovani was a prominent Georgian poet. He set out to be the leader of the Georgian Futurist movement and ended up as a Soviet establishment figure. Read more
• 24 Apr 1965: Louise Dresser, American actress (born 1878) Louise Dresser was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the many films in which she played the wife of Will Rogers, including State Fair and David Harum. Read more
• 24 Apr 1964: Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist (born 1895) Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk was a German pathologist and bacteriologist. Read more
• 24 Apr 1962: Milt Franklyn, American composer (born 1897) Milton J. Franklyn was an American musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons, working alongside and later succeeding Carl Stalling. Read more
• 24 Apr 1961: Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter (born 1888) Lee Moran was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Read more
• 24 Apr 1960: Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1879) Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 "for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals." Read more
• 24 Apr 1954: Guy Mairesse, French racing driver (born 1910) Guy Mairesse was a French racing driver. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 3 September 1950. He scored no championship points. Read more
• 24 Apr 1948: Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (born 1863) Jāzeps Vītols was a Latvian composer, pedagogue and music critic. He is considered one of the fathers of Latvian classical music. Read more
• 24 Apr 1947: Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (born 1873) Willa Sibert Cather was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I. Read more
• 24 Apr 1945: Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (born 1899) Ernst-Robert Grawitz was a German physician and an SS functionary during the Nazi era. Grawitz funded Nazi programs involving experimentation on inmates in Nazi concentration camps and was part of the group in charge of the murder of mentally ill and physically disabled people in the Aktion T4 programme. In April 1945, as the Soviet Red Army advanced on Berlin, Grawitz killed himself and his family. Read more
• 24 Apr 1944: Charles Jordan, American magician (born 1888) Charles Thorton Jordan was an American magician. Read more
• 24 Apr 1942: Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (born 1874) Lucy Maud Montgomery, published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. Read more
• 24 Apr 1941: Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet (born 1900) Karin Maria Boye was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden, she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally, she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel Kallocain (1940). Read more
• 24 Apr 1939: Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (born 1881) Louis Trousselier was a French racing cyclist who won the 1905 Tour de France. His other major wins were Paris–Roubaix, also in 1905, and the 1908 Bordeaux–Paris. He came third in the 1906 Tour de France and won 13 stages of the Tour de France over his career. He also competed in the men's 25 kilometres event at the 1900 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the Men's points race. Read more
• 24 Apr 1938: George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (born 1863) George Grey Barnard, often written George Gray Barnard, was an American sculptor who trained in Paris. He is especially noted for his heroic sized Struggle of the Two Natures in Man at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his twin sculpture groups at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, and his Lincoln statue in Cincinnati, Ohio. His major works are largely symbolical in character. His personal collection of medieval architectural fragments became a core part of The Cloisters in New York City. Read more
• 24 Apr 1935: Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general (born 1857) Anastasios Papoulas was a Greek general, most notable as the Greek commander-in-chief during most of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22. Originally a firm royalist, after 1922 he shifted towards the republican Venizelists, and was executed in 1935 for supporting a failed republican coup. Read more
• 24 Apr 1931: David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright (born 1862) David Kldiashvili was a Georgian prose-writer whose novels and plays are concentrated on the degeneration of the country’s gentry and the miseries of the peasantry, boldly exposing the antagonisms of Georgian society. Read more
• 24 Apr 1924: G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (born 1844) Granville Stanley Hall was an American psychologist and educator who earned the first doctorate in psychology awarded in the United States of America at Harvard University in the nineteenth century. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association and the first president of Clark University. A 2002 survey by Review of General Psychology ranked Hall as the 72nd most cited psychologist of the 20th century, in a tie with Lewis Terman. Read more
• 24 Apr 1891: Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (born 1800) Graf Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field and one of the finest military minds of his generation. He commanded troops in Europe and the Middle East, in the Second Schleswig War, Austro-Prussian War, and Franco-Prussian War. He is described as embodying "Prussian military organization and tactical genius". He was fascinated with railways and pioneered their military use. He is often referred to as Moltke the Elder to distinguish him from his nephew Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who commanded the German army at the outbreak of the First World War. He is notably the earliest-born human whose recorded voice is preserved, being born in the year 1800. He made four recordings; two that were recorded in October 1889 are preserved to this day. Read more
• 24 Apr 1889: Zulma Carraud, French author (born 1796) Zulma Carraud was a French author. She is best known for her children's books and textbooks particularly La Petite Jeanne ou le devoir and Maurice ou le travail. Read more
• 24 Apr 1852: Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (born 1783) Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century. He held a high position at the Romanov court as tutor to the Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna and later to her son, the future tsar Alexander II. Read more

Why is 24 April Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 24 April, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 24 April in World history?

On 24 April, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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