Major Events
- 1534 French explorer Jacques Cartier claims for France the lands around Gaspé by erecting a 30ft cross at Pointe-Penouille [1]
- 1567 Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots
- 1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming's South Pass
- 1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas
- 1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF begins bombing Hamburg (till 3rd August), creating a firestorm and killing 42,600 people
- 2019 Global warming is the fastest in 2,000 years and scientific consensus that humans are the cause is at 99%, according to three major reports published in journals "Nature" and "Nature Geoscience"
- More July 24 Events
Jul 24 in Film & TV
- 1952 "High Noon", American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and Thomas Mitchell, is released
Jul 24 in Music
- 1982 Single "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor from "Rocky III" soundtrack starts 6-week run at #1 on US charts (Grammy for Best Rock Performance)
- 2022 Singer-songwriter icon Joni Mitchell makes a surprise concert appearance, joining Brandi Carlile at Newport Folk Festval; Mitchell's first public performance in 19 years
Jul 24 in Sport
- 2005 92nd Tour de France: no winner; Lance Armstrong retires after winning a record seventh consecutive victory but disqualified in 2012 for doping
Did You Know?
Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes results of 1st public opinion poll, with a clear lead for Andrew Jackson
Simón Bolívar
Alexandre Dumas
Bill the Butcher
Francisco Solano López
Ilya Repin
Amelia Earhart
Frank Wedekind
Jennifer Lopez
Elisabeth Moss
Ernest Bloch
Karl Malone
Barry Bonds
Fun Fact About July 24
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
Famous Weddings
- 1554 Queen Maria of England marries Philip, king of Naples/Jerusalem
- 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Howard Hanson (49) weds Margaret Elizabeth Nelson at the Chautauqua Institution in New York
- 1972 Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (24) weds Sarah Hugill
More July 24 Weddings
Maria Szymanowska
Martin Van Buren
Matthew Webb
James Chadwick
Peter Sellers
Jackie MasonArticles, Photos and Quiz
Light and Air For All – With No Charge!
One of Britain's most hated taxes, which had been in force for more than 250 years, was finally abolished on this day.
July 24, 1851
Hiram Bingham Discovers Machu Picchu
A photo Hiram Bingham took in 1911 after discovering the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu
July 24, 1911
Kitchen Debate
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (left) and US Vice President Richard Nixon (right) debate each other in Moscow
July 24, 1959
