24 December
Notable Births
Alexis Mac Allister
b. 1998
Argentine footballer (born 1998)
Neeraj Chopra
b. 1997
Indian javelin thrower (born 1997)
William Contreras
b. 1997
Venezuelan baseball player (born 1997)
Anett Kontaveit
b. 1995
Estonian tennis player (born 1995)
Fa'amanu Brown
b. 1994
Samoa international rugby league footballer
Miguel Castro
b. 1994
Dominican baseball player (born 1994)
Matt Frawley
b. 1994
Australian rugby league footballer
Han Seung-woo
b. 1994
South Korean singer (born 1994)
Davante Adams
b. 1992
American football player (born 1992)
Serge Aurier
b. 1992
Ivorian footballer (born 1992)
Lara Michel
b. 1991
Swiss tennis player
Eric Moreland
b. 1991
American basketball player (born 1991)
Louis Tomlinson
b. 1991
English singer-songwriter (born 1991)
Taylor Zakhar Perez
b. 1991
American actor (born 1991)
Beloved Promise
b. 1990
American high jumper
Ryo Miyake
b. 1990
Japanese fencer (born 1990)
Matt Calvert
b. 1989
Canadian ice hockey player (born 1989)
Stefanos Athanasiadis
b. 1988
Greek footballer (born 1988)
Emre Özkan
b. 1988
Turkish footballer
Howard Hughes
b. 1905
American aviator, aerospace engineer and business magnate (1905–1976)
Notable Deaths
Richard Perry
d. 2024
American record producer (1942–2024)
Cheri Barry
d. 2023
American politician (died 2023)
Richard Bowes
d. 2023
American writer (1944–2023)
Troy Dargan
d. 2023
Cook Islands international rugby league footballer (1997–2023)
Martha Érika Alonso
d. 2018
Mexican politician (1973–2018)
Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas
d. 2018
Mexican politician (1968–2018)
Jerry Kindall
d. 2017
American baseball player (1935–2017)
Heather Menzies
d. 2017
Canadian actress (1949–2017)
Rick Parfitt
d. 2016
British rock musician (1948–2016)
Richard Adams
d. 2016
English writer (1920–2016)
Turid Birkeland
d. 2015
Norwegian politician (1962–2015)
Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
d. 2015
Filipina journalist and editor
Adriana Olguín
d. 2015
Chilean lawyer and politician
Buddy DeFranco
d. 2014
American jazz clarinetist (1923–2014)
Edward Greenspan
d. 2014
Canadian lawyer and author
Herbert Harris
d. 2014
American politician (1926–2014)
Krzysztof Krauze
d. 2014
Polish film director (1953–2014)
Frédéric Back
d. 2013
Canadian animator
Allan McKeown
d. 2013
British television and stage producer (1946–2013)
Norman Vincent Peale
d. 1993
American minister, author, and positive thinking proponent
On This Day in History
All 56 ›
2021
Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.
Tatmadaw
2018
A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.
2018 Puebla helicopter crash
2008
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
Lord's Resistance Army
2005
Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
Chad–Sudan relations
2003
The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
ETA (separatist group)
1999
Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
Indian Airlines Flight 814
1997
The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.
Sid El-Antri massacre
1996
A Learjet 35 crashes into Smarts Mountain near Dorchester, New Hampshire, killing both pilots on board.
Learjet 35
1994
Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.
Air France Flight 8969
1983
Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, Russia, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.
Aeroflot Flight 601
1979
The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre.
Ariane 1
1974
Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
Cyclone Tracy
1973
District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
District of Columbia Home Rule Act
1971
LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91.
LANSA Flight 508
1969
Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.
Umuahia
1968
Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.
Apollo program
1968
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736
1966
A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 111.
Canadair CL-44
1964
Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
Vietnam War
1964
Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three.
Flying Tiger Line Flight 282