Daily Almanac: June 24, 2023

Sunrise/Sunset

RISE: 6:18 a.m.
SET: 9:22 p.m.

High/Low Temperatures:

HIGH: 88 °F
LOW: 62 °F

Today is…

• World UFO Day
• Global Smurfs Day
• Swim a Lap Day

What Happened On This Day:

• 2002 Africa’s worst ever train disaster kills 281. The crash occurred near Msagali, Tanzania, when a passenger train with some 1200 passengers rolled back down Igandu hill after its brakes had failed.
• 1948 The Berlin Blockade begins. In reaction to the currency reform in West Germany, the Soviet Union blocked all access to West Berlin. It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. Western Allies launched the Berlin airlift to transport supplies to the blocked area. In Germany, the planes became known as “raisin bombers” or “candy bombers”.
• 1901 Pablo Picasso opens his first exhibition. The 18-year-old Spanish artist was featured for the first time in Ambroise Vollard’s gallery in 6 Rue Laffite in Paris. Neither of the two art critics that visited the show thought much about the works. Picasso went on to become one of the most influential artists of all time.

Births On This Day

• 1987 Lionel Messi

Argentine footballer
• 1895 Jack Dempsey

American boxer

Deaths On This Day

• 1987 Jackie Gleason

American actor, singer

• 1908 Grover Cleveland

American lawyer, politician, 22nd President of the United States