On This Day - 24th October
1537 Henry VIII's 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, died following the birth of future king, Edward VI.
1857 The founding of the world's first official football club, Sheffield Football Club, in Yorkshire, by a group of former students from Cambridge University. The club's finest hour came in 1904 when they won the FA Amateur Cup, a competition conceived after a suggestion by Sheffield. They are commemorated by the English Football Hall of Fame for their significant place in football history.
1895 The birth of Jack Warner OBE, the English film and television actor who is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon in the BBC television series Dixon of Dock Green, a part he played until the age of eighty.
1908 Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel were sent to prison for ‘inciting the public to rush the House of Commons’. Two Cabinet ministers were witnesses for the defence including Lloyd-George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1922 George Cadbury, the English chocolate manufacturer, died aged 83.
1945 The United Nations was formed with the aim to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.'
1961 Malta was granted independence from Britain.
1969 British actor Richard Burton bought his wife, American actress Elizabeth
Taylor, a 69.42 carat diamond costing more than half a million pounds. Born at Pontrhydyfen, this Richard Burton sculpture (see 
picture) is on the Richard Burton Trail in the Afan Forest Park in Neath - Port Talbot
1976 British Formula One driver James Hunt won the Japanese Grand Prix and secured the world championship.
1983 Civil servant Dennis Nilsen, from North London, went on trial accused of six murders and two attempted murders.
1985 The birth of Wayne Rooney, English footballer. He made his senior international debut in 2003 becoming the youngest player at that time to represent England.
1986 The UK government broke off diplomatic relations with Syria following revelations of complicity in a plot to blow up an El Al airliner.
1987 Heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno knocked out Joe Bugner in Britain's most hyped boxing match, held at White Hart Lane, London. Bruno took home £750,000, Bugner got £250,000.
1995 Britain's main church leaders attacked the setting up of Britain's first National Lottery, accusing it of undermining public culture and damaging society.
2003 The legendary supersonic aircraft, Concorde, made its last commercial passenger flight amid emotional scenes at Heathrow airport. Concorde was retired after 27 years due to a general downturn in the aviation industry after the 11th September terrorist attacks in 2001 and a decision by Airbus to discontinue maintenance support.
2008 'Bloody Friday' saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
2012 Sir Norman Bettison resigned as chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, saying that an inquiry into his role after the Hillsborough football tragedy of 1989 was 'a distraction' to the force. At the time he was a South Yorkshire Police inspector who attended the match as a spectator and later took part in an internal inquiry. He denied claims that he helped 'concoct' a false version of events.
2022 At 2:00pm today it was announced that Rishi Sunak will become the UK's next prime minister after Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the Tory leadership race.