Updated January 23, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Jan. 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.
On Jan. 24 , 1862, Edith Wharton, the American novelist, was born. Following her death on Aug. 11, 1937, her obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1908 The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell. 1924 The Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of late revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin. 1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco. 1965 Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in London at age 90. 1972 The Supreme Court struck down laws that denied welfare benefits to people who had resided in a state for less than a year. 1986 The Voyager 2 space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet from the sun. 1987 Gunmen in Lebanon kidnapped educators Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh. (All were later released.) 1989 Confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair. 1993 Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died at age 84. 1995 The prosecution gave its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. 2003 The new federal Department of Homeland Security officially opened as Tom Ridge was sworn in as secretary. 2004 NASA’s Opportunity rover landed on Mars three weeks after its identical twin, Spirit. 2008 French bank Societe Generale announced it had uncovered a $7.14 billion fraud by a single futures trader. 2011 Jared Lee Loughner pleaded not guilty in Phoenix to federal charges he’d tried to kill U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides in a Tucson shooting rampage that had claimed six lives. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Ernest Borgnine turns 95 years old today.
AP Photo/Vince Bucci
Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond turns 71 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
1939 Ray Stevens, Country singer, turns 73 1941 Aaron Neville, Singer, turns 71 1951 Yakov Smirnoff, Comedian, turns 61 1958 Jools Holland, Rock musician (Squeeze), turns 54 1959 Nastassja Kinski, Actress, turns 53 1966 Shaun Donovan, Secretary of housing and urban development, turns 46 1968 Mary Lou Retton, Olympic gold-medal gymnast, turns 44 1970 Matthew Lillard, Actor, turns 42 1974 Ed Helms, Actor (“The Office,” “The Daily Show”), turns 38 1979 Tatyana Ali, Actress, singer, turns 33 1986 Mischa Barton, Actress (“The O.C.”), turns 26
Historic Birthdays
Edith Wharton 1/24/1862 – 8/11/1937 American author.Go to obituary »
58 William Congreve 1/24/1670 – 1/19/1729
English dramatist75 Christian Wolff 1/24/1679 – 4/9/1754
German philosopher77 Farinelli 1/24/1705 – 7/15/1782
Italian castrato singer67 Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais 1/24/1732 – 5/18/1799
French author89 Henry Barnard 1/24/1811 – 7/5/1900
American education commissioner49 Henry Jarvis Raymond 1/24/1820 – 6/18/1869
American journalist/politician86 Harold Babcock 1/24/1882 – 4/8/1968
American astronomer70 Ernst Heinkel 1/24/1888 – 1/30/1958
German rocket designer67 Cassandre 1/24/1901 – 6/19/1968
French graphic artist77 Mark Goodson 1/24/1915 – 12/18/1992
American radio/TV producer76 Robert Motherwell 1/24/1915 – 7/16/1991
American abstract painter
