24 January

Hadrian
24 January 76 – 10 July 138
Roman emperor.

William Congreve
24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729
English playwright, wrote ‘The Way of the World’. » more

Andrew Ellicott
24 January 1754 – 28 August 1820
American surveyor, who completed the layout for Washington DC (initiated by Pierre L’Enfant).

Ernst Hoffmann
24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822
German author and composer, immortalised in Offenbach’s ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’. » more

Edwin Chadwick
24 January 1800 – 6 July 1890
English doctor who reformed public health standards and public health laws. » more

Vasily Surikov
24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916
Russian artist whose paintings can be seen in the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum, Nizhni Novgorod Art Museum, Russia; Joslyn Art Museum, Nebraska.

Marguerite Durand
24 January 1864 – 16 March 1936
French feminist and journalist who established a newspaper (La Fronde) staffed entirely by women.

Ethel Turner
24 January 1872 – 8 April 1958
Australian author of novels and children’s books. Wrote ‘Seven Little Australians’. » more

Robert Motherwell
24 January 1915 – 16 July 1991
American Abstract Expressionist artist whose paintings can be seen in the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Kunstmuseum Basel; TATE Modern, London.

Today’s Quote
Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That’s what I have to say. The second is only a part of the first.
… Anna Quindlen

Today’s No. 1 Hit
1986 – That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne & Friends

Today’s events
24 January 1848 – GOLD discovered at Sutters Creek, California.
24 January 1857 – The first Asian university founded: The University of Calcutta.
24 January 1888 – The typewriter ribbon invented by Jacob Wortman
24 January 1984 – The first Apple Macintosh computer sold.