History of 24th January

41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula), known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.
772 - Stephen III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
817 - St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV
1076 - Synod of Worms: German King Henry IV fires Pope Gregory VII
1118 - Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
1328 - King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen
1458 - Matthias I Corvinus chosen king of Hungary
1534 - Francois I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy
1556 - Heavy earthquake strikes Shaaxi China, kills 830,000
1568 - Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire
1568 - In Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw
1613 - Amsterdams merchant Hans Bontemantel baptized
1616 - Jacques Le Maire discovers Street Lemaire/Cape Receiver
1634 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor
1639 - Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1644 - Battle at Nantwich Cheshire: Parliamentary armies win
1652 - Duke of Orleans joins Fronde rebels
1656 - 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1659 - Pierre Corneille's "Oedipe," premieres in Paris
1679 - King Charles II disbands English parliament
1722 - Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
1722 - Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st US divinity professor (Harvard)
1742 - German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor
1764 - Gov Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire
1776 - Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
1839 - Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
1847 - 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Col Price
1848 - James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, Calif
1857 - The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.
1859 - Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
1861 - Arsenal at Augusta, Ga seized by Confederacy
1861 - Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pikens
1862 - Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza
1862 - Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
1874 - Gen J van Swieten conquerors Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die
1874 - Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov," premieres in St Petersburg
1875 - Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre," premieres
1878 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
1892 - battle at Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack Brit missionaries
1899 - Belgium govt of Vandenpeereboom forms
1899 - Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan
1900 - Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900 - Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, forms in England
1901 - 1st games played in baseball's American League
1901 - Emily Hobhouse view lord Kitcheners concentration camp at Bloemfontein
1902 - Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1908 - Gen Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts
1913 - Franz Kafka stops working on "Amerika"; it will never be finished
1914 - Opera "Madeleine," premieres in NYC
1915 - German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
1922 - -54°F (-48°C), Danbury, Wisconsin (state record)
1922 - Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K Nelson of Iowa (not an Eskimo)
1922 - Lehman Caves National Monument established
1923 - Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM established
1924 - Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union
1924 - Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
1925 - Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Is
1925 - Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
1927 - Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
1930 - J E Mills scores 117 on Test Cricket debut, NZ v England, Wellington
1930 - Stewie Dempster scores New Zealand's 1st Test century
1933 - Noel Coward's "Design for Living," premieres in NYC
1935 - 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," is sold by Kruger Brewing Co
1936 - Benny Goodman & orch record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records
1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
1939 - 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile
1939 - Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler & George Sisler elected to Hall of Fame
1939 - Spanish govt moves to Figueras
1941 - British troops march into Abyssinia
1942 - Musical "Star & Garter," premieres in NYC
1943 - Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death
1943 - Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
1944 - Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
1945 - Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1947 - NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs
1948 - "Music in My Heart" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 124 perfs
1948 - Australia all out 674 v India (Bradman 201, Hassett 198*)
1948 - Dutch Liberal Party forms-People's party for Freedom & Democracy (VVD)
1950 - Jackie Robinson signs highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history
1951 - Dutch govt Drees-van Schaik resigns
1952 - 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly NY Yanks
1952 - Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
1952 - Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
1954 - BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Tampa Women's Golf Open
1956 - 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
1958 - After warming to 100,000,000 degrees, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion
1959 - "Party with Comden & Green" closes at John Golden NYC after 38 perfs
1959 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's comedy "Cheryomushk," premieres in Moscow
1959 - WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford, CT (IND) begins broadcasting
1960 - Algeria uprises against French president De Gaulle
1961 - Edward Albee's "American Dream," premieres in NYC
1961 - Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68
1962 - 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany
1962 - Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles
1962 - Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1962 - Mickey Wright/Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Naples Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1963 - Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champ
1964 - CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million
1964 - Martin Kresses final comic strip of Eric the Viking

1964 - 24th Amendment to US Constitution goes into effect & states voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes
1966 - WDIO TV channel 10 in Duluth, MN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1969 - Queen Juliana appointed honorary citizen of Addis Ababa
1969 - Spanish Gen Franco announces state of emergency
1970 - 3rd ABA All-Star Game: West 128 beats East 98 at Indiana
1970 - Valeri Muratov skates world record 500m (38.99 sec)
1971 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 27-6
1972 - WRIP (now WDSI) TV channel 61 in Chattanooga, TN (IND) 1st broadcast
1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
1973 - Warren Spahn is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1975 - "Hot l Baltimore" situation comedy premieres on ABC TV
1975 - Fastest Earth-bound object, 7200 kph, in vacuum centrifuge, England
1976 - Cleve Cavaliers biggest margin victory-43 pts (beat Milwaukee 132-89)
1976 - George Foreman KOs Ron Lyle in 5th round of a real slugfest
1977 - 5 lawyers murdered by fascist in Madrid
1977 - Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
1978 - 31st NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 3-2 (OT) at Buffalo
1978 - Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (# 12036)
1978 - Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - Islanders scored 5 power play goals against Nordiques
1981 - Kim Hughes scores 213 v India at Adelaide
1982 - Superbowl MVP: Joe Montana, San Francisco, QB
1982 - Superbowl XVI: SF 49ers beat Cin Bengals, 26-21 in Pontiac Mich
1983 - Hulk Hogan pins Iron Sheik for World Wrestling Federation title
1984 - Apple Computer Inc unveila its Macintosh personal computer
1985 - 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
1986 - 43th Golden Globes: Whoopi Goldberg, Color Purple win
1986 - NY Islander Mike Bossy scores his 1,000th point
1986 - South Yemen Premier Haydar Bakr al-Attas becomes interim-president
1986 - Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons
1987 - 61st Australian Womens Tennis: H Mandlikova beat M Navratilova (75 76)
1988 - 1st WWF Royal Rumble - Jim Duggan wins
1988 - 76th Australian Mens Tennis: M Wilander beats P Cash (63 67 36 61 86)
1988 - 9th ACE Cable Awards
1988 - Australia beat New Zealand 2-0 to win Cricket's World Series Cup
1988 - Cerebral Palsy telethon
1989 - 1st reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex
1990 - Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon
1991 - "Les Miserables," opens at Theatre St Denis, Montreal
1993 - 14th annual star-athon $24,000,000
1993 - Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed
1993 - Soyuz TM-16 launches
1993 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Davis
1993 - Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
1994 - Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for 1st time (3,914.48)
2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
2009 - Pope Benedict XVI rescinds the excommunications of four bishops consecrated without papal consent in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.