YEAR

DAY

EVENT

729

Apr 24

Egbertus (89), English bishop, St. Egbert, died in Iona.

1061

Apr 24

Halley’s Comet inspired an English monk to predict that England would be destroyed.

1288

Apr 24

Jews of Yroyes France were accused of ritual murder.

1547

Apr 24

Charles V’s troops defeated the Protestant League of Schmalkalden at the battle of Muhlburg.

1558

Apr 24

Mary, Queen of Scotland, married the French dauphin, Francis.

1570

Apr 24

Spanish troops battled followers of Sultan Suleiman.

1778

Apr 24

US Ranger Captain John Paul Jones captured the British ship Drake.

1792

Apr 24

Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, an officer stationed in Strasbourg, composed “La Marseillaise,” which later became the national anthem of France.

1801

Apr 24

The 1st performance of Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons).”

1833

Apr 24

A patent was granted for the first soda fountain.

1850

Apr 24

Louis Alexandre Piccinni (70), composer, died.

1872

Apr 24

Mt. Vesuvius erupted.

1877

Apr 24

Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

1884

Apr 24

Otto von Bismarck cabled Cape Town that South Africa had become a German colony.

1898

Apr 24

Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.

1904

Apr 24

Friedrich Siemens (77), German industrialist, died.

1923

Apr 24

Colonel Jacob Schick patented Schick razors.

1928

Apr 24

The fathometer, used to measure underwater depth, was patented.

1941

Apr 24

British army began the evacuation of Greece.

1941

Apr 24

Dutch Prince Bernhard became an RAF pilot.

1950

Apr 24

“Peter Pan” opened at Imperial Theater in NYC for 320 performances.

1961

Apr 24

President Kennedy accepted “sole responsibility” following Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

1962

Apr 24

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Ca., and Westford, Mass.

1967

Apr 24

Frank Overton (b.1918), American film and TV actor, died. His films included “The Dark At the Top of the Stairs” (1960).

1972

Apr 24

Natalie Clifford Barney (b.1876), lesbian writer and US expatriate, died in Paris. In 2002 Suzanne Rodriguez authored “Wild Heart, A Life: Natalie Clifford Barney’s Journey From Victorian America to the Literary Salons of Paris.”

1987

Apr 24

In Greece 18 people, including 12 US military personnel, were injured when a roadside bomb exploded in the port of Piraeus; the guerrilla group November 17 claimed responsibility. In 2003 Dimitris Angelopoulos testified that he drove a truck in the bus bombing.

1988

Apr 24

Three sailors were killed and 22 injured when fire broke out aboard the submarine USS Bonefish off the Florida coast.

1989

Apr 24

President Bush led a memorial service at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia for the 47 sailors killed in a gun-turret explosion aboard the USS Iowa.

1991

Apr 24

A Kurdish rebel leader announced the guerrillas had reached an agreement in principle with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to end the Kurds’ two-week rebellion.

1993

Apr 24

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a truck bomb in London’s financial district. It killed a photographer and injured 44 people and cost millions of dollars’ worth of damage.

1995

Apr 24

Dow Jones Index hit a record 4303.98.

1996

Apr 24

Negotiators for Congress and the White House agreed on a permanent budget for fiscal year 1996.

1998

Apr 24

The American Health for Women magazine reported that Seattle was the healthiest city for women and that SF rated # 2 and Boston # 3.

1998

Apr 24

Rwanda executed 22 people by firing squad.

1999

Apr 24

It was reported that the details of US sorties flown in Yugoslavia were not being shared with NATO allies in order to prevent leaks from compromising the missions.

2000

Apr 24

Concerned about the disappearance of a laptop computer with highly sensitive documents, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced a five-point plan to help guard against such lapses in the future.

2001

Apr 24

Pres. Bush said that the annual process of selling arms to Taiwan, a US policy since 1982, would end. China condemned the recent $5 billion arms sale.

2002

Apr 24

On the 10th anniversary of “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” the Ms. Foundation announced that boys would be included next year.

2003

Apr 24

Iceland opened a filling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

2006

Apr 24

Speaking in Irvine, Calif., President Bush said those calling for massive deportation of the estimated 11 million foreigners living illegally in the United States were not being realistic.

2007

Apr 24

In a harsh exchange, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home, a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush’s “attack dog” lashing out.

2008

Apr 24

UC Berkeley officials defended an arrangement that allowed campus Police Chief Victoria Harrison (54) to retire last year with a $2.1 million package and then return to the same job for more money.

2009

Apr 24

US federal regulators privately began telling the nation’s 19 largest financial institutions how well they performed in stress tests to assess their soundness. The results were scheduled for public release on May 4.

2010

Apr 24

In Mississippi a devastating tornado sliced through the state killing 10 people including 3 children. Tornadoes also were reported in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama with 2 deaths in Alabama.

2011

Apr 24

In New Mexico Margaret Salcedo (48) was mauled to death by a pack of four pit bulls in the town of Truth or Consequences.

2012

Apr 24

Mitt Romney swept five GOP primaries, including Pennsylvania and New York, and solidified his lead in the race to reach the 1,144 delegates necessary to claim the GOP nomination.

2013

Apr 24

Robert Shearer (68), a former San Francisco State Univ. official, was charged with 128 felonies for allegedly taking bribes for a waste-disposal contract that ultimately cost the university millions in additional dollars. Stephen Cheung (47) of Chemical Hazardous Material Technology was charged with 118 felonies, including commercial bribery.

2014

Apr 24

US postal workers in cities large and small rallied against a US Postal service pilot program to open counters in Staples stores.