Historical Events in Indian and World history on December 24.

1777: Capt. James Cook discovered the Kiritimati Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

1894: First Medical Conference organized in Calcutta.

1906: Reginald Fessenden broadcasted for the first time a radio reading of a poem, a violinist, and a speech.

1910: Swatantryaveer Savarkar was sentenced to life imprisonment and Kala Pani.

1924: Albania gained independence.

1989: The country’s first amusement park, Essel World, opened in Mumbai.

1999, 24th December: Indian Airlines Flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked by Taliban militants and flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

2000: Famous chess player Vishwanathan Anand became world champion.

2016: Jal Pujan and Bhumi Pujan of Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial to be erected in the Arabian Sea by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

Famous Birthdays and Birth anniversaries December 24

1166: John, the King of England.

1818: James Prescott Joule, an English physicist, mathematician, and brewer.

1880: Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, an Indian independence activist, and political leader.

1899: Pandurang Sadashiv Sane, Sane Guruji, a Marathi author, teacher, social activist, and freedom fighter.

1905: Howard Robard Hughes Jr., an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, film director, and philanthropist.

1910: Max Miedinger, a Swiss typeface designer.

1922: Ava Gardner, an American actress, and singer. 

1924: Mohammed Rafi, an Indian playback singer.

1924: Narayan Desai, an Indian Gandhian, and author.

1924: Rama Kant Shukla, an Indian scholar of Sanskrit and Hindi languages.

1956: Anil Kapoor, an Indian actor, and producer.

 

Death Anniversaries of Famous People– December 24

1524: Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, and the first European to reach India by sea.

1863: William Makepeace Thackeray, an English novelist, author, and illustrator.

1973: Periyar Ramasamy, an Indian social activist, and politician.

1977: Nalini Bala Devi, a noted Indian writer, and poet of Assamese literature.

1987: M. G. Ramachandran, an Indian politician, film actor, and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

1988: Jainendra Kumar, a Hindi writer.

1999: William Bill Bowerman, an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc.

2000: John Newton Cooper, a co-founder of the Cooper Car Company. 

2005: P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, an Indian film actress, director, music director, singer, producer, novelist, and lyricist.

2008: Harold Pinter, a British playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor.