24 August

The **24t o August** is the 236t day o the year (237t in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 129 days bidin.

## Events

* 79 - The volcanae Munt Vesuvius erupts in the present-day Sooth o Italy, destroyin the ceeties o Pompeii an Herculaneum (mair recent research suggests it may hae happened twa month later).
* 1349 - 6,000 Jews are kilt in Mainz efter bein blamed for the Bubonic Plague.
* 1456 - The Gutenberg Bible is completit.
* 1482 - The toun an castle in Berwick upon Tweed is captured bi Inglis troops.
* 1572 - Saunt Bartholomew's Day massacre in Fraunce: Thousands o Huguenots are kilt.
* 1814 - Breetish troops enter Washington, D.C. an burn mony biggins, incluidin the White Hoose.
* 1815 - The modren constitution o the Netherlands is signed.
* 1848 - The ship "Ocean Monarch" bursts intae flames aff Llandudno in North Wales: 208 fowk are saved, 178 are kilt.
* 1912 - Alaska becomes a Unitit States territory.
* 1929 - 67 fowk are kilt in a massacre in Hebron, leadin tae Jews bein expelled frae the ceety.
* 1932 - Amelia Earhart flies across the Contiguous Unitit States.
* 1954 - Preses o Brazil Getulio Vargas resigns an commits suicide.
* 1963 - The German fitbaa Bundesliga is foondit.
* 1968 - Fraunce detonates its first hydrogen bomb on the Sooth Paceefic Isles o Moruroa an Fangataufa.
* 1989 - Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes Prime meenister o Poland.
* 1991 - Ukraine gains unthirldom frae the Soviet Union.
* 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits Sooth Florida an the Bahamas.
* 2004 - 89 fowk are kilt in splosions at Moscow's Domodedovo Internaitional Airport.
* 2006 - Pluto is re-clessifee'd as a dwarf planet, rather than as a planet.
* 2008 - End o the 2008 Simmer Olympics in Beijing.
* 2011 - Steve Jobs resigns as CEO o Apple Inc..
* 2012 - Lance Armstrong is strippit o his seiven Tour de France teetles.
* 2012 - Anders Behring Breivik is convictit for committin the 2011 Norawa attacks.
* 2016 - A yirdquauk in Central Italy kills 276 fowk.
* 2016 - The discovery o "Proxima Centauri b", a planet orbitin aroond the starn Proxima Centauri, is annooncit.
* 2018 - Scott Morrison becomes the 30t Prime Meenister o Australie, replacin Malcolm Turnbull.

## Births

* 1198 - King Alexander II o Scotland (d. 1249)
* 1564 - Patrick Forbes, Scots kirkman (d. 1635)
* 1759 - William Wilberforce, Inglis politeecian (d. 1833)
* 1772 - King William I o the Netherlands (d. 1843)
* 1808 - William Lindsay Alexander, Scots kirk leader (d. 1884)
* 1865 - King Ferdinand I o Romanie (d. 1927)
* 1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian surfer an soummer (d. 1968)
* 1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine screiver (d. 1986)
* 1919 - Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, Preses o Ecuador (d. 2004)
* 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader (d. 2004)
* 1929 - Alix, Princess o Ligne (d. 2019)
* 1947 - Paulo Coelho, Brazilian screiver
* 1948 - Alexander McCall Smith, Scots screiver
* 1948 - Jean-Michel Jarre, French componer
* 1948 - Sauli Niinistö, 12t Preses o Finland
* 1953 - Sam Torrance, Scots gowfer
* 1955 - Mike Huckabee, American politeecian
* 1957 - Stephen Fry, Inglis actor, comedian, presenter an screiver
* 1961 - Tommy Wilson, Scots fitbawer
* 1962 - Ali Smith, Scots author, playwricht an jurnalist
* 1963 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video gemme designer, screenwriter, director an producer
* 1964 - Dana Gould, American comedian, actor an screiver
* 1965 - Marlee Matlin, American actress
* 1971 - Aileen McLeod, Scots politeecian
* 1977 - Robert Enke, German fitbawer (d. 2009)
* 1978 - Barry Nicholson, Scots fitbawer
* 1986 - Stewart McDonald, Scots politeecian
* 1988 - Rupert Grint, Inglis actor
* 1989 - Richie Gray, Scots rugby union player
* 1991 - John Fleck, Scots fitbawer
* 1995 - Cammy Smith, Scots fitbawer

## Daiths
* 79 - Pliny the Elder, Roman screiver an philosopher (b. 23)
* 1313 - Henry VII, Haly Roman Emperor (b. 1278)
* 1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French militar ingineer an pheesicist (b. 1796)
* 1935 - Tom Maley, Scots fitbawer (b. 1864)
* 1943 - Simone Weil, French philosopher (b. 1909)
* 1954 - Getulio Vargas, Preses o Brazil (b. 1882)
* 1989 - Jimmy Littlejohn, Scots fitbawer an manager (b. 1910)
* 1995 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer (b. 1898)
* 2000 - Bob McPhail, Scots fitbawer (b. 1905)
* 2013 - Julie Harris, American actress (b. 1925)
* 2013 - Gerry Baker, American-Scots fitbawer (b. 1938)
* 2014 - Richard Attenborough, Inglis actor an film director (b. 1923)
* 2016 - Walter Scheel, Preses o the Federal Republic o Germany (b. 1919)
* 2016 - Roger Y. Tsien, Cheenese-American biologist (b. 1952)

## Halidays

* Independence Day (Ukraine)
* Saunt Bartholomew's Day