1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)

1304 – Muhammad ibn Battutah, Arab travel writer (Travels in Asia & Africa)

1304 – Ibn Battuta, Arabian explorer (d. 1368) ?

1917 – William Fairbank, Minneapolis, physicist (superconductivity)

1500 – Carlos V, King of Spain (1516-56)/Holy Roman Emperor

1919 – Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

1920 – Frank Rogers, CEO (NPA Telegraph)

1545 – Don John of Austria, Spanish military leader (d. 1578)

1547 – Jan of Austria, Spanish military man/land guardian of the Netherland

1950 – George Thorogood, American Singer and Guitarist

1951 – Derek Randall, cricketer (England batsman & animated cover fieldsman)

1921 – Gaston Reiff, Belgian athlete (b. 1992)

1619 – Charles Le Brun, French artist (d. 1690)

1952 – Simon Weinstock, businessman/racehorse owner

1922 – Steven Hill, Seattle WA, actor (Goddess, Raw Deal, Yentl, Law & Order)

1684 – Catherine I, Empress of Russia 1725-27, Dorpat, Estonia

1924 – Lionel Dakers, director (Royal School of Church Music)

1955 – Steven Jobs, co-founder (Apple Computer)

1697 – Bernard S Albinus, [Weiss], German surgeon/anatomist

1956 – Paula Zahn, Napperville Ill, news anchor (ABC, CBS This Morning)

1927 – David Mourao-Ferreira, poet/politician

1927 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress

1957 – Phil McConkey, NFL wide receiver (NY Giants)

1928 – Michael Harrington, St Louis, socialist/author (Fragments of Century)

1928 – Barbara Lawrence, American actress

1958 – Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer

1786 – Wilhelm Karl Grimm, Hanau Germany, story teller (Grimm’s Fairy Tales)

1930 – Barbara Lawrence, Carnegie OK, actress (Joe Dakota)

1931 – Brian Close, cricketer (played for England between 1949 & 1976)

1809 – Edwin H K Freiherr von Manteuffel, governor/viceroy (Elzas-Lutherian)

1811 – Daniel A Payne, Bishop/reformer/educator of AME Church

1931 – Maezumi Hakuyu Taizan Koun, teacher Rinzai/Soto lines of Zen Buddhism

1931 – Marta Marzotto, Italy, countess

1827 – Charles Davis Jameson, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1862

1932 – Andrew Jacobs Jr, (Rep-D-IN, 1965-73, 75- )

1932 – Everard Goodman, English real estate developer (TOPS Estates)

1964 – Todd Field, American actor and film director

1838 – Thomas Benton Smith, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1923

1842 – Arrigio Enrico Boito, composer

1846 – Luigi Denza, composer

1965 – Lloyd McGrath, former English footballer

1934 – Frank Chapot, US, equestrian (Olympic-silver-1960, 1972)

1934 – Linda Cristal, Buenos Aires Arg, actress (Victoria-High Chapparal)

1852 – George A Moore, Ireland, painter/novelist (Esther Waters)

1968 – John Velddman, soccer player (Sparta)

1935 – Renata Scotto, singer

1968 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (d. 2005)

1866 – Arthur Pearson, Wookey Somerset England, newspaper proprietor

1938 – James Farentino, Bkln NY, actor (Dead & Buried, Final Countdown)

1938 – Kathleen Richardson, president (Methodist Conference)

1970 – Kienast quintuplets, American quintuplets

1971 – Aki Rahunen, Finland, tennis star

1971 – Brian Savage, Sudbury, NHL left wing (Montreal Canadiens)

1940 – Jimmy Ellis, WBA heavyweight boxing champ (1968-70)

1940 – Theo Bosch, Dutch humanist/architect (Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam)

1940 – Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)

1940 – Denis Law, Scottish footballer

1941 – Joanie Sommers, American singer and actress

1973 – Alexei Kovalev, Moscow Rus, NHL right wing (NY Rangers)

1942 – Joe Lieberman, (Sen-D Connecticut)

1885 – Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski, Polish novelist/satirist (Black Wings)

1885 – Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1939)

1887 – Mary Ellen Chase, US linguistic/author (White Gate)

1943 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer

1943 – Terry Semel, American business executive

1898 – Kurt Tank, German WW II aircraft designer

1944 – Barry Bostwick, San Mateo Ca, actor (Rocky Horror Show, Megaforce)

1944 – Nicky Hopkins, rock pianist (Stones-Ruby Tuesday, Quicksilver)

1905 – Guillaume Landre, composer

1975 – Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian fiddler

1975 – Maurizio Giuliano, writer and traveller

1909 – Jean Yves Morvan Marin, broadcaster

1946 – Grigory Margulis, Russian mathematician

1976 – Bradley McGee, Australian cyclist

1910 – Lord Hazlerigg

1947 – Lonnie Turner, bassist/vocalist (Steve Miller Band-Abracadabra)

1947 – Rupert Holmes, English musician

1977 – Alexis Jose Grullon, NYC, vocalist (Menudo-Cannonball)

1948 – Lord Melchett

1948 – Lorri Menconi, playmate (Feb, 1969)

303 – Diocletian, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.

1303 – Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.

1387 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.

1538 – Treaty of Nagyvarad between Ferdinand I and John Zpolya.

1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.

1607 – L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its premire performance.

1711 – The London premire of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.

1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.

1809 – London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.

1822 – The 1st Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.

1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.

1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.

1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.

1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.

1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.

1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.

1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.

1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the second war for Cuban independence, that ends with the Spanish-American War in 1898.

1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.

1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.

1920 – The Nazi Party is founded.

1944 – Merrill’s Marauders: The Marauders begin their 1,000 mile journey through Japanese occupied Burma.

1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hu.

1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed 3 days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.

1976 – Cuba: national Constitution is proclaimed.

1980 – The United States Olympic Hockey team completes their Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal.

1981 – An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.

1983 – A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.

1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.

1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.

1996 – The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.

1999 – The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national convicted of murder during a botched bank robbery, in spite of Germany’s legal action to attempt to save him.

1999 – A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People’s Republic of China, killing 61.

2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.

2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.

2011 – Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).

Famous Birthdays On Feb 24 – Check Out february 24 astrology and february 24 horoscope