August 24 in History

79 (Volcano Eruption) Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash, although some scholars believe it was October 24th. Pop/Rock band Bastille wrote a song about the event in 2013.

1215 – Pope Innocent III declared the Magna Carta invalid.

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.

1635 – Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635, Colonial USA

1662 – The Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.

1682 – William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, essentially founding the city.

1875 – Navy Captain Matthew Webb began his swim as the first person to swim the English Channel without a life preserver

1891 – Thomas Edison applied for his patent (#589,168) for the motion picture projector (kinetograph). It was approved on August 31.

1919 – On August 24, 1919, Indians Pitcher Ray Cadwell was struck by lightning on the mound, winning the game.

1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.

#1 Hit August 24, 1959 – September 20, 1959: The Browns – The Three Bells

#1 Hit August 24, 1974 – September 13, 1974: Paul Anka and Odia Coates – (You’re) Having My Baby

1979 – The Facts of Life premiered on NBC.

#1 Hit August 24, 1985 – September 6, 1985: Huey Lewis and the News – The Power of Love

1989 – Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life.

1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation was tested in the United Kingdom.

#1 Hit August 24, 2019 – August 30, 2019: Billie Eilish – Bad Guy