On This Day: 24 April

St. Augustine of Hippo is baptised		387
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats the Protestants at Muhlberg		1547
Mary Queen of Scots (aged 16) marries the Dauphin of France, the future Charles II		1558
Boston News–Letter first published – the first regular newspaper in British colonial America		1704
George Stevenson dies after a bout with Jack Broughton in Taylor's Booth, Tottenham Court Road, London – the first fighter to die as a direct result of a prize fight		1741
La Marseillaise – words and music – composed by Rouget de Lisle		1792
Robespierre issues the Declaration of Human Rights		1793
US Congress votes to establish the Library of Congress, Washington		1800
Ku Klux Klan formed		1866
The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire		1877
Sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West (Show)		1885
Garrick Theatre, London, opens		1889
Actuary Society of America founded		1890
Joshua Slocum leaves Boston, Massachusetts in his sloop Spray, on the first solo circumnavigation		1895
Spain declares war on the USA		1898
Daily Express , founded by Sir Arthur Pearson, first published		1900
The Woolworth Building (a New York skyscraper) is opened		1913
Young Turks government of the Ottoman Empire orders the arrest of 235 political and intellectual leaders of the Armenian community in Istanbul		1915
Easter rising, Dublin, begins (Easter Monday)		1916
Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans–Arctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from Elephant Island to SouthGeorgia, to organise a rescue for the remaining crew of Endurance		1916
In signing the Treaty of Berlin, Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party, for the next five years		1926
Nazis win many seats in the German elections		1932
Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, which would lead to substantial reforms in UK land access law		1932
Robert Menzies becomes prime minister of Australia		1939
US forces liberate Dachau concentration camp		1945
Rationing of sweets and chocolates ends in Great Britain		1949
Winston Churchill is knighted		1953
The first Bandung Conference, in which 29 non–aligned nations of Asia and Africa condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War, ends		1955
The Suez Canal is re–opened following the introduction of UN peacekeepers		1957
The Sky at Night , introduced by Patrick Moore, first broadcast		1957
Princess Alexandra marries Angus Ogilvy in Westminster Abbey		1963
The Pennine Way – Britain's first official long–distance footpath – is officially opened		1965
Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov becomes the first human to die on a space mission, as Soyuz I crashes when its parachute fails to open		1967
Lerner and Loewe's musical Man of La Mancha first performed		1968
The Gambia is declared a republic		1970
China launches its first satellite		1970
Eight US servicemen die in a failed attempt to free 53 hostages from its embassy in Beirut (Operation Eagle Claw)		1980
Herbert von Karajan, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, resigns due to ill health		1989
Space shuttle Discovery launched, carrying the Hubble telescope		1990
Gruinard Island, off the west coast of Scotland, is officially declared free of anthrax, after being quarantined for 48 years		1990
London's Bishopsgate area is devastated by an IRA bomb		1993
A nail bomb explodes in Brick Lane in London's East End		1999
Tariq Aziz, former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Iraq, surrenders to US forces in Baghdad		2003
US economic sanctions on Libya, imposed in 1986, are lifted in recognition of its co–operation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction		2004
Three explosions in the Egyptian resort of Dahab, Sinai, leave at least 23 dead and 150 wounded		2006
1,129 people lose their lives, and 2,500 others are injured, when a building collapses near Dhaka (Bangladesh)		2013

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On This Day: 24 April