NOW & THEN
24 JUNE
1314: King Robert the Bruce inflicted a crushing defeat on Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn.
1348: The Order of the Garter was instituted.
1497: John Cabot, explorer and navigator, landed at Cape Breton Island.
1509: The coronation of King Henry VIII took place.
1717: The first Freemason Lodge in England was inaugurated, in London.
1722: Queen Anne ordered French people in Nova Scotia to take oath of allegiance to her government within one year or leave.
1859: Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman travelling through Italy, saw the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino and was inspired to found the International Red Cross.
1887: The St John Ambulance Brigade was established by bringing under central control several local corps which had been formed by people qualified in first aid under the St John Ambulance Association (formed ten years earlier).
1917: Russian Black Sea fleet mutinied at Sebastopol.
1947: A series of flying saucer stories started when a pilot reported seeing nine discshaped objects over Mount Rainier, Washington.
1948: Russia began the blockade of Berlin, stopping all land traffic between the capital and the west.
1953: The Honours of Scotland, Crown, Sword of State, and Sceptre, were carried in procession before the Queen on her first state visit to Scotland after her accession. It was the first occasion that the regalia had been borne in public since the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822.
1970: Japanese students clashed with police in Tokyo in a huge demonstration against continuing United States-japan security pact.
1989: British television series Thomas The Tank Engine won an Emmy Award in United States for outstanding direction.
1990: The Reverend Irene Templeton and the Reverend Kathleen Young became first women to be ordained as Anglican priests, at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.
1995: South Africa won the Rugby Union World Cup, beating New Zealand 15-12 in extra time.
2002: The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania killed 281, the worst train accident in African history.
2004: In New York state, capital punishment was declared unconstitutional.
2007: Gordon Brown vowed to deliver “power to the people” when he was confirmed as Labour Party leader at a party conference in Manchester, three days before taking over from Tony Blair as prime minister.
2007: The Angora Fire started near South Lake Tahoe, California, destroying over 200 structures in its first 48 hours.
2010: John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history.
2016: David Cameron announced he would step down as British Prime Minister, following the referendum in which a majority of the voting public elected to leave the European Union.