24 | Apr | 2014 | Adejokeiyabadan's Blog

This Day in History 24/04

APRIL 24TH

1872 – Volcano Vesuvius erupts

1877 – Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.

1898 – Spanish-American War: Spain delares war after rejecting US ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba

1928 – Fathometer, which measures underwater depth, patented

1945 – Delegates of 46 countries gather in SF (to discuss UN)

1950 – Independent republic of South Molukkas declared

1968 – Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.

1970 – Gambia becomes a republic within Commonwealth

1970 – Senegal adopts constitution

1981 – IBM-PC computer introduced

2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

1743 – Edmund Cartwright, England, cleric, inventor (power loom

1905 – Robert Penn Warren, 1st US poet laureate (All the King’s Men

1934 – Shirley MacLaine, Richmond Va, actress/mystic (Irma la Douce)

1942 – Barbra Streisand, Brooklyn New York, American singer/actress/award winner (People)

1978 – Stella Damasus Aboderin, Nigerian actress

1982 – Kelly Clarkson, Fort Worth, Texas, American singer and winner of the inaugural season of TV series American Idol

FAMOUS DEATHS

1731 – Daniel Defoe, English novelist (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70

1986 – Wallis Simpson [Duchess of Windsor], British King Edward VIII abdicated for her, dies at 89

2001 – Leon Sullivan, African-American civil rights leader and pastor (b. 1922)

2004 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)

2009 – John Michell, British writer, (b. 1933)