The Battle of Blanchetaque was fought on 24 August 1346, during the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, between an English army under King Edward III and a French force commanded by Godemar du Fay. The English army had burnt a path of destruction through some of the richest lands in France to within 20 miles (32 km) of Paris, then had marched north, hoping to link up with an allied Flemish army. The French king, Philip VI, garrisoned all of the bridges and fords over the River Somme and followed the English with his own field army. The area had previously been stripped of food stocks, and the English were essentially trapped. They launched an attack across a tidal ford at Blanchetaque, and after a disorderly mêlée the French blocking force there broke and fled. French casualties were reported as over half of their force, while English losses were light. Two days later, the main army under Philip was defeated at the Battle of Crécy. (Full article...)

Part of the Crécy campaign series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

Tomb of Imam Zamin

• ... that the Qutb Minar complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Delhi, houses the tomb (pictured) of one of Muhammad's descendants?
• ... that every Saturday for decades, Miriam Butterworth protested against wars such as those in Nicaragua, Iran, and Iraq, as well as in opposition to nuclear arms?
• ... that the swamp musk shrew scrambles around among aquatic vegetation in the dark?
• ... that Alejandro Finocchiaro, Argentina's current Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, produced the 2008 documentary Mujeres de la Shoá ('Women of the Holocaust')?
• ... that the story of the legendary Christian saints Barlaam and Josaphat is based on the Great Renunciation of the Buddha?
• ... that footballer Craig Bellamy was the first player to score for seven different teams in the Premier League?
• ... that West Palm Beach, Florida, was the site of the 2000 U.S. presidential election voter recount, which led to the Bush v. Gore decision certifying George W. Bush as the victor?
• ... that after pyrimethamine was price-hiked by 5000 percent, Sydney University chemists Matthew H. Todd and Alice Motion supported the high school students who showed it could be synthesised cheaply?

Ural Airlines Airbus A321 in 2013

• Brazil's National Institute for Space Research announces that it has detected more than 39,000 wildfires in the Amazon rainforest since January.
• At least 80 people are killed and 160 others injured in a bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
• All 233 people on board Ural Airlines Flight 178 (aircraft pictured) survive a crash following bird strikes in both engines of an Airbus A321.
• Typhoon Lekima impacts the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and East China, killing at least 80 people.

August 24: Independence Day in Ukraine (1991)

Pluto

• 1456 – The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book produced on a printing press, was completed.
• 1643 – A Dutch expedition arrived at the mouth of the Valdivia River in what is now Chile, with the aim of establishing a new colony in the ruins of the abandoned Spanish settlement of Valdivia.
• 1857 – The New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. collapsed following widespread embezzlement, leading to a severe recession that caused about 5,000 businesses to fail.
• 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ended as the first Allied victory in the war.
• 2006 – The International Astronomical Union redefined the term "planet", reclassifying Pluto (pictured) as a dwarf planet since it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

Magnus Barefoot (d. 1103) · William Wilberforce (b. 1759) · Anže Kopitar (b. 1987)