24 June AD 109
In Rome, the emperor Trajan inaugurates a huge aqueduct, Aqua Traiana, taking water from Lake Bracciano into the imperial capital.
24 June 1509
Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are jointly crowned in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham. A coronation banquet is then held in Westminster Hall and the celebrations continue for several days.
24 June 1812
Start of Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia. Of more than half a million soldiers of many nationalities in the army, less than a fifth were to return.
24 June 1850
Birth in Ireland of British soldier Herbert Kitchener. After service in the Sudan, South Africa and India, he became secretary of war in 1914. He died near the Orkney Islands in 1916 when travelling on a ship which hit a mine.
24 June 1943
Armed fighting broke out in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, after white US military policemen entered a pub in order to arrest a black American soldier who was out without a pass.
24 June 1981
The Humber Bridge opened for traffic. Linking Yorkshire and Lincolnshire it was, at the time of its opening, the world’s longest single span suspension bridge.
!["Screenshot]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2010/09/Screenshot-2021-09-09-at-17.22.22-8857e91.png?quality=45&resize=556,556" "\"Screenshot")