Born on this day 24th January
76AD Emperor Hadrian
1287 Richard Aungerville
1540 Edmund Campion
1638 Charles Sackville
1670 William Congreve
1674 Thomas Tanner
1724 Frances Brooke
1901 Edward Turner
1909 Martin Lings
1909 Ann Todd
1927 Sir Patrick Macnaghten
1928 Desmond Morris
1930 Bernard Matthews
1935 Bamber Gascoigne
1935 Eric Ashton
1941 Neil Diamond
1948 Michael Des Barres
1949 John Belushi
1957 Adrian Edmondson
1958 Jools Holland
1959 Vic Reeves
1960 Natassia Kinski
1963 Martyn Grimley
1975 Isobel Cooper
1986 Mischa Barton
1988 Jade Ewen

Died on this day
1961 Elsa (the lioness)
1965 Sir Winston Churchill

Music

1969 Topping the US Singles chart was Marvin Gaye with ‘I heard it through The Grapevine’.

1977 David Soul was at the top of the UK singles chart with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’.

1984 ‘The Damned appeared on ‘The Tube’ performing their cover version of Barry Ryan’s ‘Eloise’.

Sport

1950 Joey Maxim of the UK knocked out Briton Freddie Mills to win the world light-heavyweight title.

1988 Sweden’s Mats Wilanders beat Pat Cash in five sets in the final of the Australian championships at Flinders Park.

1988 Manchester United beat Arsenal by 2 goals to 1 to climb into 3rd place in the Barclays League First Division

People & Showbiz

1986 Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan resigned over the Westland helicopter affair.

1992 Mariah Carey’s stepfather was suing the singer, claiming that he had paid for her apartment, car and dental work but that she had failed to repay him since hitting the big time.

General Events

1679 King Charles II of England disbands the Cavalier Parliament.

1935 Beer was sold in cans for the first time, in Richmond, Virginia, by the Krueger Brewing Company.

1989 Multiple murderer Theodore Bundy, who confessed to the murder of 22 women, was executed in Florida.

1993 Otters were seen on the River Severn near Shrewsbury after an absence of nearly 30 years.

1997 Prime Minister John Major ruled out British membership to a single European currency in the year 1999.