12 History Lessons + 7 Births & 6 Deaths for July 24, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands in Canada and claims it for France.
- 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and is replaced by her one-year-old son, James VI.
- 1847 – Brigham Young leads the first group of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
- 1911 – American historian Hiram Bingham III rediscovers the Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru.
- 1929 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, goes into effect.
- 1943 – Operation Gomorrah: RAF begins a bombing campaign on Hamburg, Germany during WWII.
- 1959 – During the “Kitchen Debate,” U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev debate capitalism vs. communism in a model kitchen in Moscow.
- 1969 – Apollo 11 astronauts safely return to Earth after the first moon landing, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1974 – U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Nixon must turn over the Watergate tapes.
- 1983 – George Brett of the Kansas City Royals is ejected for having too much pine tar on his bat; the call is later overturned.
- 2005 – Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France, later stripped due to doping.
- 2019 – Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Theresa May.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1941 – Dan Hedaya, actor known for “Clueless” and “Cheers” (84)
- 1951 – Lynda Carter, actress best known as Wonder Woman (74)
- 1964 – Barry Bonds, MLB home run record holder (61)
- 1969 – Jennifer Lopez, singer, actress, and businesswoman (56)
- 1979 – Rose Byrne, Australian actress (“Bridesmaids,” “Insidious”) (46)
- 1982 – Elisabeth Moss, actress known for “Mad Men” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” (43)
- 1989 – Mara Wilson, former child actress (“Matilda”) and writer (36)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1862 – Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States (79)
- 1965 – Constance Bennett, actress and Hollywood star of the 1930s (60)
- 1974 – James Chadwick, English physicist who discovered the neutron (82)
- 1980 – Peter Sellers, actor known for “The Pink Panther” series (54)
- 2012 – Sherman Hemsley, actor known for “The Jeffersons” (74)
- 2020 – Regis Philbin, television host and personality (88)
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