This day in history - March 24 - News - Scotsman.com Published on Saturday 24 March 2012 00:00 Main events, birthdays, anniversaries and deaths occuring on March 24. 1267: St Louis of France called his knights to Paris to prepare for his second crusade to Holy Land. 1595: Peace of Boulogne ended England's war with France and Scotland. 1603: King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England to begin reign as James I of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth I. 1783: Spain recognised independence of United States. 1848: Sardinia declared war on Austria. 1877: The only dead heat in the history of the Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Race. 1882: Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, announced isolation of tuberculosis germs. 1891: Britain and Italy reached agreement in Ethiopia, defining frontiers of their Red Sea colonies. 1920: Royal Commission on decimal coinage reported against changing the existing system. 1922: Only three out of 32 starters finished the Grand National at Aintree. Music Hall was the winner. 1929: Fascists "won" single-party elections in Italy. 1942: The "national loaf" was introduced in Britain. 1946: Alistair Cooke read his first Letter from America on BBC radio. He read his weekly letter for 58 years, the last one a few weeks before his death at the age of 95 in 2004. 1956: The Queen Mother's horse Devon Loch collapsed 50 yards from the winning post while leading the Grand National. 1964: Stansted was provisionally chosen as the site of London's third airport. 1970: The world's rarest stamp - the British Guiana one cent black on magenta - was sold for £115,666. 1972: As political and military situation deteriorated in Northern Ireland, Westminster announced that direct rule would be imposed. 1974: Uganda crushed coup attempt against president Idi Amin following machine-gun and mortar battle with rebels. 1976: Isabel Peron ousted as president of Argentina in a military coup. 1980: In daylight, on a main road in Barking, Essex, 321 silver bars imported from Germany were hijacked. Ten weeks later, 309 ingots were found in a lock-up garage near Enfield. 1989: Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska polluted large areas of US north-western seaboard. 1990: Soviet tanks and troops moved into Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. 1991: Police shot dead 11 African NAtional Congress activists at a rally near Johannesburg. 1997: The British film The English Patient collected nine Oscars in Hollywood, including Best Picture and Director, Anthony Minghella. Archie Gemmill, footballer and coach, 65; Lara Flynn Boyle, actress, 42; Mo Farah, athlete, 29; Dario Fo, playwright, actor and Nobel laureate, 86; Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer, 61; Sonia Lannaman, athlete, 56; Kelly LeBrock, actress, 52; Nick Lowe, rock performer and composer, 63; Benjamin Luxon CBE, baritone, 75; Patrick Malahide, actor, 67; Liz McColgan MBE, athlete, 48. Births: 1820 Fanny Crosby, hymn-writer; 1834 William Morris, artist and poet; 1909 Clyde Barrow, one half of United States outlaws Bonnie and Clyde; 1930 Steve McQueen, film actor. Deaths: 1776 John Harrison, inventor of the chronometer; 1838 Thomas Attwood, organist and composer; 1905 Jules Verne, novelist; 1909 John Millington Synge, dramatist; 1953 Queen Mary, wife of King George V.