December 24

Learn the most interesting events and historical facts that happened throughout history on December 24. From 1900 until now. December 24 is under the sign of Capricorn. Famous birthdays on this day include Louis Tomlinson (1991), Ricky Martin (1971) and Ava Gardner (1922). Several movies were released around December 24 over the years, such as Devdas in 1955 directed by Bimal Roy and Scarlet Street in 1945 directed by Fritz Lang.
But much more happened on December 24 over the years: find out below

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Historical Events

Which were the important events of December 24?

Holidays

December 24 is celebrated as the day before Christmas, thus called Christmas Eve.
It is the day when food is traditionally set out for Santa Claus and his reindeer. Children around the world are urged to go to bed early so they are not awake when he arrives.
In Hungary, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, the Czech Republic and Slovakia among others, this is the day that presents are exchanged and opened.
The Declaration of Christmas Peace takes place in the Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City, according to old traditions dating back to the Middle Ages.

Events

2018 The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 2.9%, its worst performance ever on Christmas Eve. (NPR)
2017 Typhoon Tembin: Officials raise the death total from this storm to 182, with at least 153 people missing and more than 70,000 displaced. (Malay Mail)
2016 Boko Haram insurgency: President Muhammadu Buhari announces that the Nigerian Armed Forces have successfully driven out Boko Haram militants from their last stronghold in the Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria. (BBC News) (Business Insider)
2015 2015 Zaria Shia Massacre: Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports Nigeria’s military has quickly buried the corpses of at least 300 Shia Muslims killed during raids at the house of Ibrahim Zakzaky in Zaria earlier in December. (BBC) (International Business Times)
2014 Iraqi insurgency:: A suicide bombing in Madaen among a group of pro-government Sunni militiamen kills at least 33 people and leaves 55 others wounded. (Reuters)
2013 Islamist protests in Egypt (July 2013–present):: A huge explosion hits the Dakahlia security directorate in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, killing 16 and injuring at least 134. (Al Ahram) (Reuters)
2012 Syrian civil war:: Seven Syrian rebel fighters are killed and a number of others injured at their base in Homs by toxic gas inhalation. (NBC) (RT)
2011 Arab League monitors meet Syria's foreign minister, a day after deadly bombings occurred in the capital Damascus. (Al Jazeera)
2010 At least 32 people are killed in bomb blasts detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations near the city of Jos, Nigeria, while at least six people die in attacks on churches by suspected Islamists in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.(BBC)
2009 The Barack Obama administration pledges to back mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to US$810 billion during 2010, up from the current US$200 billion, no matter how big their losses may be in the next three years.
2008 Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
2007 The Nepalese government announces that the country's 240-year-old monarchy will be abolished in 2008 and a new republic will be declared.
2006 United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warns of ampquottroubling developmentsampquot in Burundi that could lead to violence. (allAfrica)
2005 The Egyptian opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was found guilty of fraud and jailed for five years. (BBC)
2004 400 m asteroid 2004 MN4 (later named 99942 Apophis in July 2005) is estimated to have a roughly one-in-forty chance of colliding with Earth in 2029. Its Torino Scale rating is 4. (Space.com) (SpaceRef.com)
2003 A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States of America.
2002 A number of US Muslim groups have initiated a class action lawsuit against the US Attorney General, John Ashcroft and the US immigration services over the arrest and detention of Muslim men.
2000 The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is murdered during the robbery.
1997 The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
1993 Alexander Mackendrick, British/US director (Lady Killers, Whiskey Galore!), dies at age 81.
1992 US President Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of role in Iran-contra affair.
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Soviet Union
1990 Ramsewak Shankar is ousted as President of Suriname by a military coup .
1989 Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe.
1987 In the USA, the Illinois State Lottery draw for US$39.5 million is split between four winners.
1986 French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released.
1985 Right wing extremist David Lewis Rice murders civil rights attorney Charles Goldmark as well as Goldmark's wife and two children in Seattle, Washington.
1984 Palace coup in Mauritania.
1982 Chaminade, with a student body of only 850 students, beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic.
1981 Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa and Lisa Evers marry
1980 Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
1979 1st Ariane-rocket launched
1975 Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (Born 1911)
1974 Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
1973 In New Mexico, USA, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake occurs.
1972 Swedish Prime minister Olof Palme compares the American bombings of North Vietnam to Nazi massacres. The U.S. breaks diplomatic contact with Sweden.
1971 Peruvian Airlines Electra crashes at headwaters of Amazon, killing all except Juliane Margaret Koepcke (found ten days later).
1970 Buena Vista releases the animated feature film The Aristocats to theatres. It cost US$4 million to make. It is Disney's first animated feature film completed without Walt Disney.
1968 Apollo 8 Astronauts read passages from Book of Genesis
1967 Pirate Radio Pegasus starts broadcasting off New Zealand
1966 Joyful Noise closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 12 performances
1964 Shooting begins on The Cage the pilot for Star Trek
1962 Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
1961 Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game.
1960 Dutch bishops question papacy values.
1958 A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England during a test flight.
1956 I Love Lucy Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
1955 NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition.
1954 Council for the Children Protection forms in Netherlands.
1953 KHOL (now KHGI) TV channel 13 in Kearney, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1951 1st televised opera (Amahl & Night Visitor)
1950 Cleveland Browns win NFL championship, beat LA 30-28
1948 First US house completely sunheated is occupied (Dover, Massachusetts).
1946 US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor Nazis" amnesty.
1943 FDR appoints General Eisenhower Supreme Commander of Allied forces
1942 World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral Francois Darlan in Algiers.
1941 (about 0930 hours) US forces on Wake Island surrender to the Japanese.
1940 Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual non-violence leader writes his second letter to Adolf Hitler addressing him quotMy friendquot, requesting him to stop the war Germany had begun.
1939 World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
1937 Dutch government recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia.
1936 The first radioactive isotope medicine is administered in Berkeley, California.
1935 National Council of Negro Women forms
1934 Grimmett takes 9-180 for SA as Queensland make 430
1933 Paris express train derails and kills 160, injures 300 (France).
1932 Arturo Alessandri wins presidental election in Chile.
1930 Bandung, Java: ir Sukarno 4 years jail sentenced
1929 Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipolito Yrigoyen.
1928 George Abbott Theater (Adelphi, 54 St) opens at 152 W 54th St, New York City
1924 1st radio transmission of NCRV in the Netherlands
1922 BBC sends first British radio play "Truth about Father Christmas".
1920 Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (New York City, New York).
1914 German plane drops bombs on Dover England.
1913 In the Italian Hall Disaster, seventy-three men, women, and children are trampled to death when someone falsely yells quotfirequot at a crowded Christmas party.
1912 Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards.
1906 Reginald A Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio (Mass)
1904 German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children.
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Famous Birthday

Louis Tomlinson: English pop singer and songwriter, and...
Ricky Martin: Puerto-Rican singer, a pro from age 13...
Ava Gardner: American actress, onscreen from 1941 in...
Roselyne Bachelot: French politician, formerly pharmacist,...
Ryan Seacrest: American television host.
Lemmy (rock musician)
Doyle Bramhall II: American guitarist.
Stephenie Meyer: Young Adult Author.
Sandra Lou
Edwige Fenech: French-born Italian actress and film...
Elvis Aaron Presley Jr
Valérie Payet: French TV and radio presenter, and...
Pierre Soulages: French painter who was one of the most...
Ed Miliband: leader of the Labour Party.
Dean Corll: Shot, he raped and killed 26 boys.
Anil Kapoor
Noëlla Pontois: French dancer, a famed ballerina.
Carol Vorderman: British television presenter.
Christophe Miossec: French singer and songwriter who has...
Burak Özcivit
Mary Higgins Clark
Diane Tell: Canadian singer-songwriter and...
Hamid Karzaï
Amaury Nolasco: American actor.
Yann Andréa
Nicolas Chassagne groupe Kyo
Mark Valley: American actor.
Frédéric Demontfaucon: French judoka, who won the 2001 World...
Tarja Halonen: Finnish politician, the first Finnish...
Michael Curtiz: Hungarian-American actor director and...
Caroline Aherne: English actress producer and...
Diedrich Bader: American actor.
Lee Daniels: Director.
Cynthia Payne: British madam, a nice-looking, stylish...
François Loos: French politician, appointed Minister...
James Hadley Chase: English writer (Born 1906).
Riyo Mori: Japanese model and dancer Miss Universe...
May Hariri
Gérard Vergez
Richard Dutruel: French football/soccer player, a...
Stjepan Mesic: president of Socialist Federal Republic...
Air France Flight 8969 - Hijacking
Wade Williams: TV Actor.
Matt Passmore
Marleen Renders: Belgian track and field star, ran 24th...
William Pickering
Yoni Palmier
Anver Joffrey: American dancer and choreographer who...
Antoine Riboud: French businessman, the founder and...
Michael P Munkasey
Juan Trigo: Spanish Ph.
Nicholas Fairbairn: Scottish politician, a Conservative...
Yaffa Yarkoni
Mauricio Kagel: Argentinean conductor, music teacher,...
Claude Brosset
Paul Buissonneau: A leading francophone theatre director.
Fritz Leiber: American author and poet (d. 1992).
Herbert Reinecker: Very prolific German novelist, dramatist...
Stephen Griffiths
Virginie Arnold
Marcia Starck: American astrologer and a healer who...
Jeff Sessions: American captain lawyer and politician...
Ralph Inbar: Dutch talk show host, a leading figure...
Philippe Nahon
Donna Martell
Patrick Pons
George Cardinal Legros
Joseph Tyrode
Joseph Cornell: American sculptor and director (d....
Irina Krush
Vittorio Vettori
Warren Tredrea: Australian footballer and sportscaster.
Jeremy Davidson (actor)
Sophie Moone
Thure Lindhardt: Danish actor.
Nancy Sinatra (TV host)
Christopher Buckley: American author and political...
Satomi Ishihara: Japanese actress.
Paul Pressey: American basketball player and coach.
Chris Kluwe
Souleymane Diawara
Michael Raymond-James: TV Actor.
Sofia Black D'Elia
Ulrike Kriener
Victoire Belezy
Kevin Millwood
Steve Smith (comedian)
Lynn Chen
Sharon Farrell
Barra Grant
Samy Dayot
Yves Debay: Congolese-French commander and...
Sean Michael (South African actor)
Nneka (singer)
Dominique Jameux
Hugo Tout Seul
Serge Aurier
Katherine Kingsley
Mariya Nishiuchi: Japanese singer-songwriter and actress.
Marc Ferro: French historian.
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Famous Deaths

George Michael: Greek-British singer and songwriter,...
Samael Aun Weor: Columbian writer (Born 1917).
Maurice Couve de Murville: French diplomat and politician who was...
Peter Lawford: British-American star of some 57 movies...
Peyo : Belgian cartoonist, a giant in his...
Rossano Brazzi: Italian actor internationally known from...
Norma Talmadge: American actress of silent screen,...
John Osborne: England, United Kingdom -- Playwright...
Joop den Uyl: Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the...
Jake Thackray: English singer-songwriter guitarist and...
Joseph Gustav Mraczek: Composer, dies at 66.
Gaspar Cassado Moreu: Composer, dies at 69.
Ernst Kreuder: Writer, dies at 69.
Gardner F[rancis] Fox: Author (Kothar-Barbarian Swordsman),...
Geoffrey Pinnington: Journalist, dies at 76.
Nicolaas G Pierson director Suriname/Dutch Bank: dies at age 80.
Eduard David: German minister (constitution of...
Walter Hudson: 1,025-pound man, dies at age 46.
Pierre Culliford [Peyo]: Belgian cartoonist (Smurfs), dies at age...
Abdulkadir Widjojoatmodjo: Java diplomat, dies.
Alan Fluck: musical educationalist, dies at age 69.
Anthea Joseph: music producer, dies at age 57.
William M Branham: Christian minister (Born 1906).
Karl Donitz: German naval admiral, and last leader of...
Camille Tourville: Professional wrestler (Born 1927).
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith: Last Lincoln descendant (Born 1904).
M G Ramachandran: Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu (Born...
Thorbj?rn Egner: Norwegian author (Born 1922).
Bobby LaKind: American musician and singer (The Doobie...
Pierre Peladeau: Quebec businessman, founder of Quebecor...
Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo: President of Brazil (Born 1918).
''Braguinha'': Brazilian songwriter (Born 1907).
Nicholas Pumfrey: British judge (Born 1951).
Akbar Radi: Iranian dramatist and playwright (Born...
Orestes Quercia: Brazilian politician (Born 1938).
John Muir: Scottish naturalist, explorer and writer...
Laci Peterson: American homicide victim, Laci Peterson...
Francois Darlan: vice-premier of Vichy France (Born...
John Cooper: English race car designer (Born 1923).
Syl Apps: Canadian pole vaulter ice hockey player...
Toshiro Mifune: Chinese-Japanese actor and producer (d....
Maria Koepcke: German-Peruvian ornithologist and...
Gardner Fox: American writer (Born 1911).
Melville Ruick: American actor (Born 1898).
Gisela Richter: English archaeologist and art historian...
Nick Massi: American singer and bass player (The...
Bill Bowerman: American track and field coach (Born...
Francisco Pujol: Composer, dies at 67.
Ian Hendry: Actor (Assassin, Get Carter, Repulsion),...
Eyvind Alnaes: Composer, dies at 60.
Friedrich Klose: Composer, dies at 80.
Jean LXF Darlan: French Admiral, murdered by gaullists.
K Balmont: Writer, dies at 75.
Tilly Losch: Actress (Duel in the Sun, Good Earth),...
Victor Stanitsin: Actor (War & Peace, Jubilee), dies at...
Alec Lafayette Chew Wilder: Composer, dies at 73.
Jimmy Buddy Lee Land Ace: Singer, dies at 57.
Julie Haydon [Donella Donaldson]: US actress (Scoundrel), dies at age 84.
Louise H "Lous" Hensen: Actress (Uncle Wanja, Charlotte), dies...
Edward Leadbitter: Politician, dies at 77.
Bruno Taut: German architect (Born 1880).
Michael Vale: American commercial actor (Born 1922).
Juliaan Dillens Flemish sculptor: dies at age 55.
Henry A "Hans" Kramers: Dutch theoretical physicist, dies at age...
Rudi [Rudolf] Dutschke: German student leader, dies at age 39.
Dirk Uipko Stikker: Dutch CEO (Heineken)/Secretary-General...
John M "Joop" de Uyl: Dutch social-democratic premier...
John Keith Wright: English Assistant Secretary of State...
John James Osborne (Entertainer Luther): playwright, dies of cardiac arrest at...
John Eastburn Boswell: medievalist, dies at age 47.
Nathan I Daniel: inventor (Guitars), dies at age 82.
Harry McLevy: trade unionist, dies at age 59.
Peter Dormer: arts writer, dies at age 47.
Nguyen Huu Tho: President of Vietnam (1980-81), dies.
Francois-Auguste Gevaert: Belgian musicologist / composer, dies at...
Alban Berg: Austrian composer.
Rafael Caldera: lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker,...
Kjell Aukrust: Norwegian author poet and painter (d....
Siegfried Alkan: German composer (Born 1858).
Eino Tamberg: Estonian composer and educator (d....
Elisabeth Beresford: British author and creator of The...
Duarte Nuno: Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of...
Betty Noyes: singer who dubbed Debbie Reynolds'...
Yen Chia-kan: Chinese lawyer and politician President...
Burt Baskin: American entrepreneur, co-founder of...
Norman Vincent Peale: reverend (Power of Positive Thinking),...
Louis Aragon: French poet, novelist, essayist,...
Oskar Nedbal: Composer, dies at 56.
Alban Maria Johannes Berg: Composer, dies at 50.
Nana Bryant: Actress (Mrs Nestor-Our Miss Brooks),...
Guy de Lioncourt: Composer, dies at 76.
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