Date·Lore

On This Day · The 24th day of the year

January 24

January 24 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 41 and 2003. Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.

♒ZodiacAquarius ◈BirthstoneGarnet ❀Birth flowerCarnation

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on January 24?

January 24 is the 24th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 41 and 2003. Famous people born on January 24 include Joachim Gauck, Gong Lijiao and Moon Jae-in.

The shape of the day

Few dates reach as far back as January 24: its recorded history runs unusually deep, stretching to 41. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Aquarius is the sign for January 24 — read more on the Aquarius page, or see January's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on January 24

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Game Mark of the Deep
  • Game Synduality: Echo of Ada

2023

  • Game Forspoken

2022

  • TV The Gilded Age

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 41

    AD 41

    Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.

  2. 1857

    University of Calcutta

    The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.

  3. 1915

    World War I

    World War I: British Grand Fleet battle cruisers under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty engage Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper's battle cruisers in the Battle of Dogger Bank.

  4. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.

  5. 1943

    Franklin D. Roosevelt

    World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.

  6. 1968

    Vietnam War

    Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.

  7. 1972

    Shoichi Yokoi

    Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.

  8. 1987

    1987 Forsyth County protests

    About 20,000 protestors march in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.

  9. 1990

    Hiten (spacecraft)

    Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.

  10. 2003

    United States Department of Homeland Security

    The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

Famous birthday twins

Born on January 24

Joachim Gauck

b. 1940

German pastor and politician, 11th President of Germany

Gong Lijiao

b. 1989

Chinese shot putter

Moon Jae-in

b. 1953

South Korean politician, 19th President of South Korea

John Belushi

b. 1949

American actor and screenwriter

Luis Suárez

b. 1987

Uruguayan footballer

Matthew Lillard

b. 1970

American actor

Frederick the Great

b. 1712

Prussian king

Deaths

  • 2015Otto Carius
  • 2007Krystyna Feldman
  • 1983George Cukor
  • 1965Winston Churchill
  • 1125David IV

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Babylas of Antioch
  • —Christian feast day: Exuperantius of Cingoli
  • —Christian feast day: Felician of Foligno
  • —Christian feast day: Francis de Sales
  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Marie Poussepin
  • —Christian feast day: Pratulin Martyrs (Greek Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: January 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Day of the Unification of the Romanian Principalities (Romania)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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