April 24

### Up to 1900

- 1184 BC – Traditional date of the Fall of Troy.
- 1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries future King Francis II of France.
- 1585 – Felice Peretti is elected Pope, becoming Pope Sixtus V.
- 1704 – The first regular newspaperin Colonial America, the News–Letter, is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1715 – Following defeat in the naval Battle of Fehmarn, Sweden sinks its own flagship, _Hedvig Sophia_, to prevent Denmark from taking it.
- 1800 – The Library of Congress in Washington, DC opens.
- 1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
- 1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired to be part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
- 1895 – Joshua Slocum sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts on his boat _Spray_, on his way to becoming the first person to sail single–handedly around the world.
- 1898 – The Spanish-American War begins.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1904 – The Lithuanian press ban ends after over 40 years.
- 1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey exclusively for his employees, opens.
- 1913 – New York City's Woolworth building is opened.
- 1914 – The Franck–Hertz Experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
- 1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
- 1916 – The Irish Easter Rising begins in Dublin.
- 1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans–Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from the uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organize a rescue for the ice–trapped ship _Endurance_.
- 1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield, Oxfordshire, England and Cairo, Egypt, begins operations.
- 1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other, for the next five years.
- 1933 – Nazi Germany begins with the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society in Magdeburg.
- 1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1955 – End of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia: 29 non–aligned Asian and African countries condemn colonialism, racism and the Cold War.
- 1957 – Following the Suez Crisis, the Suez Canal is re–opened.
- 1957 – The BBC first broadcasts the long–running astronomy TV programme The Sky at Night, presented by Patrick Moore until his death in 2012.
- 1964 – The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is beheaded.
- 1965 – A civil war starts in the Dominican Republic.
- 1967 – Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when his parachute fails to open.
- 1968 – Mauritius joins the UN.
- 1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
- 1970 – The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
- 1971 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
- 1974 – President of Austria Franz Jonas dies in office aged 74, following a long period of illness.
- 1990 – Gruinard Island in Scotland is declared free of Anthrax.
- 1990 – STS–31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from Space Shuttle _Discovery_.
- 1993 – An Irish Republican Army bomb hits the Bishopsgate area of London.

### From 2001

- 2004 – In Cyprus, a referendum on reunification results in the Turkish population mainly voting yes, but the Greek population mainly voting no, meaning that only Greek Cyprus joins the EU the following week.
- 2004 – The United States lifts (ends) economic sanctions on Libya.
- 2005 – Josef Alois Ratzinger is officially inaugurated as Pope Benedict XVI.
- 2005 – Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, is born in South Korea.
- 2007 – Iceland announces that Norway will take responsibility of its defence in peacetime.
- 2013 – 1,127 people are killed when an eight–storey clothing factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapses. Over 2,500 are injured.
- 2016 – The candidates of the traditional political parties are rejected in Austria's Presidential election, with Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer advancing to the second round.

### Up to 1900

- 1086 – Ramiro II of Aragon (d. 1157)
- 1492 – Sabina of Bavaria (d. 1564)
- 1533 – William I of Orange (d. 1584)
- 1580 – Vincent de Paul, French saint (d. 1660)
- 1620 – John Graunt, English statistician (d. 1674)
- 1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (d. 1780)
- 1718 – Nathaniel Hone, Irish–born painter (d. 1784)
- 1719 – Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, Italian poet (d. 1789)
- 1721 – Johann Philipp Kirnberger, German composer and music theorist (d. 1783)
- 1743 – Edmund Cartwright, British inventor (d. 1823)
- 1777 – Maria Clementina of Austria (d. 1801)
- 1787 – Mathieu Orfila, Spanish–French chemist (d. 1853)
- 1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist (d. 1882)
- 1819 – Klaus Groth, German writer (d. 1899)
- 1825 – R. M. Ballantyne, Scottish writer (d. 1894)
- 1829 – James Sheakley, Territorial Governor of Alaska (d. 1917)
- 1831 – George Nares, British admiral and polar explorer (d. 1915)
- 1841 – Charles Sprague Sargent, American botanist (d. 1927)
- 1845 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
- 1851 – Morgan Earp, American Western figure and brother of Wyatt Earp (d. 1882)
- 1856 – Henri Philippe Pétain, French soldier and statesman (d. 1951)
- 1871 – Blanche Ring, American singer (d. 1961)
- 1876 – Erich Raeder, German naval commander (d. 1960)
- 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
- 1879 – Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian–American centenarian and circus performer (d. 1984)
- 1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish engineer, businessman and developer of the zipper (d. 1954)
- 1882 – Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish fighter pilot (d. 1970)
- 1889 – Sir Stafford Cripps, British politician (d. 1952)
- 1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter (d. 1924)
- 1896 – Charlie Rivel, Spanish clown (d. 1983)
- 1896 – Benjamin Whorf, American linguist (d. 1941)
- 1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, President of Mexico (d. 1955)
- 1899 – Oscar Zariski, Russian–born mathematician (d. 1986)

### 1901 – 1925

- 1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician (d. 1936)
- 1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch painter (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American poet (d. 1989)
- 1906 – William Joyce, Irish fascist (d. 1946)
- 1907 – William Sargant, British psychiatrist (d. 1988)
- 1908 – Viktor Abakumov, Soviet politician (d. 1954)
- 1908 – Marceline Day, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1908 – Jozef Goslawski, Polish sculptor (d. 1963)
- 1909 – Bernhard Grzimek, German zoologist, naturalist, writer and movie maker (d. 1987)
- 1913 – Dieter Grau, German–American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
- 1914 – William Castle, American movie director and producer (d. 1977)
- 1916 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler (d. 2002)
- 1919 – Glafcos Clerides, 4th President of Cyprus (d. 2013)
- 1919 – César Manrique, Spanish artist, architect and conservationist (d. 1992)
- 1922 – Susanna Agnelli, Italian politician (d. 2009)
- 1922 – J.D. Cannon, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Sir Clement Freud, British writer, radio personality, and politician (d. 2009)

### 1926 – 1950

- 1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, former Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Frank Lucchesi, American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 2019)
- 1927 – Josy Barthel, Luxembourgish middle–distance runner (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer
- 1929 – Hella Pick, Austrian–British journalist
- 1929 – Rajkumar, Indian actor (d. 2006)
- 1930 – Jerome Callet, American musician
- 1930 – Richard Donner, American movie director and producer
- 1930 – José Sarney, former President of Brazil
- 1931 – Bridget Riley, British artist
- 1933 – Claire Davenport, British actress (d. 2002)
- 1933 – Helmuth Lohner, Austrian actor (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress and writer
- 1935 – Kuaima Riruako, Namibian politician (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Jill Ireland, British actress (d. 1990)
- 1936 – Akwasi Afrifa, Ghanaian politician  (d. 1979)
- 1936 – David Crombie, 56th Mayor of Toronto
- 1937 – Joe Henderson American jazz saxophonist (d. 2001)
- 1940 – Sue Grafton, American writer (d. 2017)
- 1940 – Michael Parks, American actor (d. 2017)
- 1941 – Silvio Moser, Swiss racing driver (d. 1974)
- 1941 – John Williams, Australian guitarist
- 1941 – Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (d. 2010)
- 1942 – Richard M. Daley, American politician
- 1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, and director
- 1942 – George Vella, 10th President of Malta
- 1944 – Tony Visconti, American music producer
- 1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- 1945 – Dick Rivers, French singer (d. 2019)
- 1947 – Josep Borrell, Spanish politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
- 1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American chemist
- 1948 – Paul Cellucci, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2013)

### 1951 – 1963

- 1951 – Nigel Harrison, English musician and songwriter
- 1951 – Enda Kenny, Irish Taoiseach
- 1952 – Jean-Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
- 1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
- 1954 – Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, political activist, and death–row inmate
- 1954 – Captain Sensible, British guitarist (The Damned)
- 1954 – Jack Blades, American musician
- 1955 – John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
- 1955 – Eamon Gilmore, Irish politician
- 1957 – David J, British musician
- 1957 – Boris Williams, British musician (The Cure)
- 1958 – Brian Paddick, English deputy police officer and politician
- 1958 – Valery Lantratov, Russian ballet dancer
- 1958 – Susan Tsvangirai, (d. 2009) wife of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
- 1958 – Steve Wright, British serial killer
- 1960 – Paula Yates, British television presenter (d. 2000)
- 1961 – Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician
- 1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer and manager
- 1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby player
- 1963 – Billy Gould, American musician (Faith No More)

### 1964 – 1976

- 1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian and actor
- 1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Benin–born actor
- 1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer
- 1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1968 – Stacy Haiduk, American actress
- 1968 – Hashim Thaci, Kosovan politician
- 1968 – Yuji Nakata, Japanese wrestler
- 1968 – Roxanna Panufnik, British composer
- 1969 – Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish politician
- 1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian guitarist and singer (Evil Superstars and dEUS)
- 1971 – Alejandro Fernández, Mexican singer
- 1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
- 1972 – Jure Košir, Slovenian skier
- 1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
- 1972 – Adhemar Ferreira de Camargo Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
- 1973 – Lee Westwood, British golfer
- 1973 – Gabby Logan, British television presenter
- 1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player
- 1974 – Comedy Dave, British television and radio host
- 1974 – Joseph Bruce, American rapper (Insane Clown Posse)
- 1974 – Stephen Wiltshire, British artist
- 1975 – Sam Doumit, American actress
- 1975 – Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau
- 1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish footballer

### From 1977

- 1977 – Carlos Beltran, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- 1977 – Siarhiej Bałachonaŭ, Belarusian writer
- 1978 – Eric Balfour, American actor
- 1980 – Austin Nichols, American actor
- 1980 – Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (d. 2008)
- 1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
- 1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
- 1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer
- 1982 – Shayna Nackoney, Canadian synchronized swimmer
- 1984 – Tyson Ritter, American singer and bassist (All-American Rejects)
- 1985 – Joséphine Jobert, French actress and singer
- 1985 – Kaori Nazuka, Japanese voice actress
- 1986 – Kellin Quinn, American singer
- 1987 – Simone Corsi, Italian motorcycle racer
- 1987 – Ben Howard, British singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian footballer
- 1989 – David Boudia, American diver
- 1992 – Laura Kenny, English cyclist
- 1992 – Doc Shaw, American actor, singer, rapper and model
- 1993 – Laura Gil, American basketball player
- 1996 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
- 1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
- 1998 – Ryan Whitney (actress), American actress
- 2005 – Snuppy, cloned dog

### Up to 1900

- 624 – Mellitus, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 709 – Wilfrid, English archbishop and saint
- 1185 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
- 1342 – Pope Benedict XII (b. 1285)
- 1479 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)
- 1617 – Concino Concini, Italian–French politician (b. 1575)
- 1622 – Fidelis Sigmaringen, German friar and saint (b. 1577)
- 1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
- 1678 – Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, German aristocrat (b. 1630)
- 1731 – Daniel Defoe, English writer (b. 1660)
- 1748 – Anton thor Helle, German–Estonian clergyman and translator (b. 1683)
- 1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish statesman and soldier (b. 1719)
- 1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (b. 1783)
- 1852 – Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1790)
- 1884 – Marie Taglioni, Swedish dancer (b. 1804)
- 1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (b. 1800)
- 1900 – George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1823)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1901 – Arvid Posse, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1820)
- 1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and educator (b. 1844)
- 1926 – Sunjong of the Korean Empire (b. 1874)
- 1931 – David Kldiashvili, Georgian writer (b. 1862)
- 1938 – George Gray Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
- 1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
- 1941 – Karin Boye, Swedish writer (b. 1900)
- 1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian novelist (b. 1874)
- 1942 – Leonid Kulik, Russian scientist (b. 1882)
- 1947 – Willa Cather, American writer (b. 1878)
- 1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist (b. 1897)
- 1962 – Emilio Prados, Spanish poet (b. 1899)
- 1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German  doctor,  won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine  (b. 1895)
- 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
- 1967 – Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1927)
- 1968 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
- 1974 – Franz Jonas, President of Austria (b. 1899)
- 1974 – Bud Abbott, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)
- 1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Ville Ritola, Finnish runner (b. 1896)
- 1983 – Rolf Stommelen, German racing driver (b. 1943)
- 1986 – Wallis Simpson, wife of the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1896)
- 1993 – Oliver Tambo, South African politician (b. 1917)
- 1993 – Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Donald Cammell, Scottish film director (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian and politician (b. 1927)

### From 2001

- 2004 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)
- 2005 – Ezer Weizman, former President of Israel (b. 1924)
- 2011 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Tadeusz Rozewicz, Polish poet, dramatist and writer (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Ricardo Bauleo, Argentine actor (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and designer (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Arturo Licata, Sicilian supercentenarian and oldest–living man (b. 1902)
- 2014 – Konstantin Orbelyan, Armenian pianist and composer (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1968)
- 2015 – Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Polish politician, writer and Holocaust survivor (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Sid Tepper, American songwriter (b. 1918)
- 2015 – George C. Young, American lawyer and judge (b. 1916)
- 2015 – Rustum Ghazaleh, Syrian military officer (b. 1953)
- 2015 – Ismail Hussain, Indian politician (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Ken Birch, British footballer (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Valentine Lamb, British journalist (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Sabeen Mahmud, Pakistani human rights activist (b. 1974)
- 2016 – Nina Arkhipova, Russian actress (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Robert Dolan, American marine geologist (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Manuel de la Torre, American golf instructor (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Walter Jackson Freeman III, American biologist, neuroscientist and philosopher (b. 1927)
- 2016 – Tommy Kono, American weightlifter (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Thinle Lhondup, Nepalese actor (b. 1944)
- 2016 – Benjamin Manglona, Northern Marianas politician (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Billy Paul, American singer (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Klaus Siebert, German biathlete and coach (b. 1955)
- 2016 – Papa Wemba, Congolese singer and musician (b. 1949)
- 2017 – Benjamin Barber, American political theorist and author (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Robert M. Pirsig, American writer and philosopher (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Agnes Giebel, German soprano (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Don Gordon, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Nicholas Sand, American chemist (b. 1941)
- 2017 – Ken Sears, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- 2018 – Dinu C. Giurescu, Romanian historian and politician (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Paul Gray, Australian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1963)
- 2018 – Henri Michel, French footballer and coach (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Hariton Pushwagner, Norwegian artist (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Martin Kilson, American political scientist (b. 1931)
- 2019 – Jean-Pierre Marielle, French actor (b. 1932)
- 2019 – Sergey Pogorelov, Russian handball player (b. 1974)
- 2019 – Dick Rivers, French singer (b. 1945)

## Observances

- Democracy Day (Nepal)
- Genocide Day (Armenia)
- Republic Day (The Gambia)
- Latest date for Holy Saturday
- Second–latest date for Easter, last occurred on this date in 2011