24 December

The **24t o December** is the 358t day o the year (359t in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 7 days bidin.

## Events

* 1717 - The North Sea Christenmas flood kills 11,500 fowk.
* 1726 - Montevideo, caipital ceety o Uruguay, is foondit.
* 1777 - James Cook reaches Kiritimati (cried Christenmas Island an aa) in the Line Islands in present-day Kiribati, Pacific Ocean.
* 1818 - The Silent Nicht Christenmas carol is first performed in Austrick.
* 1865 - The Ku Klux Klan is foondit.
* 1914 - The Christenmas Truce occurs during Warld War I.
* 1924 - Albanie becomes a republic.
* 1951 - Libie gains unthirldom frae Italy.
* 1953 - 153 fowk are kilt in the Tangiwai rail disaster in New Zealand.
* 1954 - Laos is declarit independent.
* 1968 - The crew o Apollo 8 taks a photograph o the yird.
* 1974 - Cyclone Tracy sweeps across the ceety o Darwin, Northren Territory, Australie.
* 1979 - The first European-biggit rocket, Ariane, is launched frae French Guiana.
* 1997 - Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal is sentencit tae 20 year in gaol bi a coort in Paris. 
* 2013 - Queen Elizabeth II pardons Alan Turing, who had been convictit o homosexuality when it was still illegal in the Unitit Kinrick.
* 2017 - Alberto Fujimori, umwhile Preses o Peru, is pardoned on heal groonds.
* 2017 - Guatemala propales its plan tae muive its Embassy in Israel frae Tel Aviv tae Jerusalem.
* 2018 - The govrenment o Burundi decides tae muive the kintra's caipital frae Bujumbura tae Gitenga.

## Births

* 3 BC - Galba, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
* 1166 - John, Keeng o Ingland (d. 1216)
* 1761 - Selim III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1808)
* 1786 - Gregor MacGregor, Scots sodger, adventurer an confidence trickster (d. 1845)
* 1798 - Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
* 1818 - James Prescott Joule, Inglis pheesicist (d. 1889)
* 1837 - Empress Elisabeth o Austrick (d. 1898)
* 1843 - Lydia Koidula, Estonie poet (d. 1886)
* 1845 - King George I o Greece (d. 1913)
* 1868 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
* 1905 - Howard Hughes, American business tycoon an aviator (d. 1976)
* 1927 - Mary Higgins Clark, American writer (d. 2020)
* 1938 - Philippe Nahon, French actor (d. 2020)
* 1943 - Tarja Halonen, umwhile Preses o Finland
* 1945 - Lemmy Kilmister, Inglis muisicker (Motörhead) (d. 2015)
* 1946 - Jeff Sessions, 84t Unitit States Attorney General
* 1957 - Hamid Karzai, umwhile Preses o Afghanistan
* 1958 - Philippa Whitford, Scots surgeon an politeecian
* 1961 - Ilham Aliyev, Preses o Azerbaijan
* 1962 - Kate Spade, American fashion designer (d. 2018)
* 1969 - Ed Miliband, Inglis politeecian
* 1971 - Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican sangster an actor
* 1973 - Stephenie Meyer, American author
* 1974 - Marcelo Salas, Chilean fitbawer
* 1981 - Dima Bilan, Roushie sangster

## Daiths
* 1524 - Vasco da Gama, Portuguese splorer (b. 1469)
* 1863 - William Makepeace Thackeray, Inglis writer (b. 1811)
* 1872 - William John Macquorn Rankine, Scots medicinar an ingineer (b. 1820)
* 1914 - John Muir, Scots-American conservationist (b. 1838)
* 1979 - Rudi Dutschke, German student leader (b. 1940)
* 1980 - Karl Dönitz, German admiral an politeecian (b. 1891)
* 1985 - Erich Schaedler, Scots fitbawer (b. 1949)
* 2008 - Harold Pinter, Inglis playwricht (b. 1930)
* 2011 - Johannes Heesters, Dutch-born actor an sangster (b. 1903)
* 2012 - Charles Durning, American actor (b. 1923)
* 2016 - Rick Parfitt, Inglis muisicker (b. 1948)
* 2016 - Richard Adams, Inglis writer (b. 1920)
* 2016 - Edwin Reinecke, American politeecian (b. 1924)

## Halidays

* Sowans nicht - Christenmas E'en
* Independence Day (Libie)