Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

July 24

1993
Fans have a blast: Vince Coleman of the New York Mets tosses an explosive - equivalent to a quarter stick of dynamite - at fans after a game, injuring three people.

1992
Tires are recalled for blasphemy, by Japanese tire manufacturer Yokohama Rubber Co., after it was discovered their computer-designed tread resembled the Islamic word for Allah.

1973
Watergate: U.S. Supreme Court rules that Pres. Nixon must turn over 64 tapes of White House conversations to Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski.

1967
A full page ad calling for the legalization of marijuana is placed in the London Times. Its list of signers included the Beatles.

1961
First airplane hijacked from the U.S. to Cuba.

1956
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis: The legendary comedy duo perform at the Copacabana, NY together for the last time as a team.

1946
First underwater atomic explosion: The U.S. explodes a device near Bikini Island in the Pacific. It sank ten ships which had been set up as targets.

1851
Window tax of England is repealed, it was first levied in 1696.

1794
First public opinion poll is taken.

1951
Lynda Carter, American actress, TV's Wonder Woman.

1942
Chris Sarandon, American actor. Film: Dog Day Afternoon (1975). TV: The Guiding Light (Tom Halverson).

1936
Ruth Buzzi, American actress, comic. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

1936
Mark Goddard, American actor. TV: Lost in Space (Maj. Don West).

1935
Pat Oliphant, Australian-born Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist.

1920     d. 1998
Bella Abzug, American politician and leader of the women's movement.  She was the first Jewish woman elected to the U.S. Congress (House of Representatives, New York 1971-77).

1917
Morrie Brickman, American cartoonist, created (1966) small society.

1914
Frances Kelsey, Canadian-born American pharmacologist. She prevented the use of the drug thalidomide in the U.S. (1958) due to safety concerns. It later caused 7,000 babies in Europe to be born with flipper-like arms and legs.

1898     d. 1937
Amelia Earhart, American aviator.

1802     d. 1870
Alexandre Dumas (Dumas père), French author. Writings: The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1845).

1783     d. 1830
Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan general, "The Liberator." He led revolutions that freed Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela from Spanish rule.

1725     d. 1807
John Newton, English clergyman, hymn writer. Music: Amazing Grace (1779). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1997     b. 1906
William Joseph Brennan Jr., American lawyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1956-90).

1992     b. 1898
Arletty (Leonie Bathiat), famed French actress.

1991     b. 1904
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born American Nobel-winning Yiddish author.

1980     b. 1925
Peter Sellers, British actor. Film: The Pink Panther (1964, Inspector Clouseau) and Being There (1979, the gardner).

1974     b. 1891
Sir James Chadwick, English Nobel-winning physicist. He discovered the neutron (1932), for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

1921     b. 1843
Cyrus Ingersoll Scofield, American Bible teacher, editor of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909) and founded the Central American Mission (1890). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1883     b. 1848
Matthew Webb, Navy Captain, first person to swim the English Channel without a life preserver (Aug 24-25, 1875).  He died attempting to swim across the Niagara River. (source: Guinness Book of World Records)

1862     b. 1782
Martin Van Buren, 8th U.S. President (1837-41) and 8th U.S. Vice-President (1833-37).

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com