What Happened in 2024?

2024 was the biggest election year in history, with around half the world’s population living in countries that went to the polls, including Britain, the United States, India and Russia. It also brought a total solar eclipse, the Paris Olympics and the end of coal power in Britain. Here is what happened in 2024, month by month.

In this year

1January

On 1 January, ITV began showing Mr Bates vs The Post Office, a drama about the hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted because of errors in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system. Public anger was so great that Parliament passed a law in May overturning their convictions. The same day, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula.

2February

On 16 February, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony. Days later, on 22 February, a spacecraft called Odysseus, built by the American company Intuitive Machines, became the first privately built craft to land on the Moon, although it tipped over onto its side.

3March

Vladimir Putin was declared the winner of Russia’s presidential election in mid-March, giving him another six years in power. On 26 March, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after a container ship, the Dali, lost power and hit one of its supports. Six road workers on the bridge were killed.

4April

On 8 April, a total solar eclipse swept across Mexico, the United States and Canada. Tens of millions of people along its path saw day briefly turn to night, and the next total eclipse visible from the mainland US will not come until 2044.

5May

On 22 May, Rishi Sunak announced a general election, standing in the pouring rain outside 10 Downing Street. A week later, on 30 May, Donald Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime, when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

6June

On 6 June, world leaders and some of the last surviving veterans gathered in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. On 14 June, the Euro 2024 football tournament kicked off in Germany.

7July

On 4 July, Labour won the UK general election by a landslide, taking 411 seats, and Keir Starmer became prime minister, ending 14 years of Conservative government. In the US, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July, and on 21 July Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, handing over to Kamala Harris. England reached the final of Euro 2024 but lost 2-1 to Spain, and on 26 July the Paris Olympics opened with a parade of boats along the River Seine.

8August

The Paris Olympics ended on 11 August. The United States and China both won 40 gold medals, with the US topping the table thanks to more silvers, while Team GB won 65 medals, including 14 golds. The Paralympic Games followed, opening on 28 August.

9September

On 30 September, Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire shut down, ending 142 years of coal-fired electricity in Britain. Britain was the first major economy to stop using coal for power. Earlier in the month, Hurricane Helene caused deadly flooding across the southeastern United States.

10October

On 1 October, Jimmy Carter became the first former US president to reach his 100th birthday. Later in the month, King Charles and Queen Camilla toured Australia and Samoa, his first visit to Australia as king.

11November

On 5 November, Donald Trump won the US presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris and winning all seven of the key swing states. He became only the second president, after Grover Cleveland in the 1890s, to win two terms that were not back to back.

12December

On 7 December, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened, five years after a fire destroyed its roof and spire. The next day, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow as rebel forces took Damascus, ending more than 50 years of rule by his family. On 29 December, Jimmy Carter died at the age of 100.

2024 was the year of the…dragon!

2024 was the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, beginning on 10 February 2024. People born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 and 2024 are Dragons, said to be confident, ambitious and lucky. The next Year of the Dragon is 2036.

Famous People We Lost in 2024

• Franz Beckenbauer (Died January 7th, German football legend)
• Alexei Navalny (Died February 16th, Russian opposition leader)
• Peter Higgs (Died April 8th, physicist who predicted the Higgs boson)
• O. J. Simpson (Died April 10th, American football player and actor)
• Willie Mays (Died June 18th, baseball legend)
• Donald Sutherland (Died June 20th, actor)
• Shannen Doherty (Died July 13th, actor)
• Sven-Göran Eriksson (Died August 26th, former England football manager)
• Dame Maggie Smith (Died September 27th, actor)
• Kris Kristofferson (Died September 28th, singer and actor)
• Alex Salmond (Died October 12th, former First Minister of Scotland)
• Liam Payne (Died October 16th, One Direction singer)
• Quincy Jones (Died November 3rd, music producer)
• John Prescott (Died November 20th, former Deputy Prime Minister)
• Jimmy Carter (Died December 29th, 39th US president)