1924

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Years: 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 - 1924 - 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

• January 21 - Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
• January 22 - Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour[?] Prime Minister.
• January 24 - St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad
• January 25 - The first Winter Olympic Games are inaugurated (Chamonix in the French Alps[?])
• February 5 - GMT: Hourly time signals from Greenwich Observavdffdswereewrerrwertory[?] are broadcasted for the first time.
• February 8 - Death penalty: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.
• February 12 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
• February 14 - IBM corporation founded.
• April 1 - Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch." However he was only in jail for nine months.
• May 21 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing."
• February 22 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
• March 9 - Italy annexes Fiume[?]
• March 25 - Greece proclaims it is a republic.
• May 10 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• June 16 - Whampoa Military Academy is founded
• November - Calvin Coolidge defeats John W. Davis in the U.S. presidential election
• December 24 - Albania becomes a republic
• December 30 - Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies.

• Andre Breton founds surrealism, defining it as "pure psychic automatism"

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1924 in film
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) considers making a silent film of The Wizard of Oz. MGM and Frank J. Baum[?] failed to come to an agreement so the rights were sold to Chadwick Pictures[?].
• 1924 in literature
• 1924 in music
  • "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin
• 1924 in sports[?]
  • February 17 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds.
• February 24 - Johnny Weissmuller finishes the 100-meter swimming event[?] in 57 2/5 seconds breaking the world record.
  • Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France

Births

• January 3 - Hank Stram[?], American football coach, broadcaster
• January 6 - Earl Scruggs, bluegrass performer
• February 3 - Andrzej Szczypiorski[?], writer (+ 2000)
• January 11 - Slim Harpo[?], musician
• January 16 - Katy Jurado, actress (+ 2002)
• January 21 - Telly Savalas[?], actor (+ 1994)
• January 27 - Sabu[?], actor (+ 1963)
• January 29 - Luigi Nono[?], composer (+ 1990)
• January 30 - Lloyd Alexander, writer
• February 11 - Mary Tregear, Oriental art historian
• February 17 - Margaret Truman[?], novelist, daughter of President Harry S Truman
• February 19 - Lee Marvin, actor (+ 1987)
• February 20 - Gloria Vanderbilt, cosmetics entrepreneur
• February 21 - Robert Mugabe First Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
• February 29 - Al Rosen[?], baseball player
• March 27 - Sarah Vaughan, singer (+ 1990)
• March 28 - Freddie Bartholomew[?], actor (+ 1992)
• April 3 - Doris Day, actress
• April 3 - Marlon Brando, actor
• April 7 - Johannes Mario Simmel[?], Austrian writer
• April 24 - Clement Freud, British writer, radio personality and politician
• May 12 - Tony Hancock, comedian (+ 1968)
• May 17 - Hannes Messemer[?], actor (+ 1991)
• May 19 - Sandy Wilson, British composer
• May 22 - Charles Aznavour, singer, actor, composer
• July 4 - Eva Marie Saint, actress: North by Northwest, On the Waterfront
• September 22 - Rosamunde Pilcher, Novellist
• November 20 - Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician
• December 2 - Alexander M. Haig, Jr., US politician

Deaths

• January 21 - Vladimir Lenin, first leader of the USSR
• February 3 - Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States
• July 27 - Ferruccio Busoni, pianist and composer
• November 29 - Giacomo Puccini - Italian great opera composer

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn[?]
• Chemistry - not awarded
• Medicine - Willem Einthoven[?]
• Literature - Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont
• Peace - Not awarded.