January 31

January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 334 days remaining until the end of the year (335 in leap years).

Events

• 314 – Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.
• 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
• 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 1848 – John C. Fremont is court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders.
• 1849 – Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
• 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch telescope now located at Northwestern University.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, submitting it to the states for ratification.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
• 1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship for Algeria
• 1876 – The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1891 – The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
• 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion
• 1915 – World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia
• 1917 – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
• 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
• 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
• 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.
• 1943 – German Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of World War II's fiercest battles.
• 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1944 – World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
• 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
• 1946 – Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
• 1957 – Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
• 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
• 1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
• 1968 – Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
• 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
• 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 Mission – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
• 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1990 – The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
• 1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
• 2000 – Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.
• 2001 – In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2003 – The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
• 2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
• 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

Births

• 36 BC – Antonia Minor, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor (d. 38 AD)
• 877 – Taejo of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (d. 943)
• 1512 – King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
• 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan (d. 1616)
• 1550 – Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (d. 1588)
• 1597 – John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
• 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
• 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French catholic priest and saint (d. 1716)
• 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
• 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
• 1759 – François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
• 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
• 1820 – William B. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
• 1835 – King William Charles Lunalilo of Hawaiʻi (d. 1874)
• 1857 – George Jackson Churchward, British railroad engineer. (d. 1933)
• 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French sports figure and journalist (d. 1940)
• 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
• 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
• 1872 – Zane Grey, American novelist (d. 1939)
• 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
• 1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
• 1884 – Theodor Heuss, 1st President of Germany (Bundespräsident) (d. 1963)
• 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
• 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
• 1894 – Isham Jones, American musician (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
• 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
• 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
• 1905 – John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
• 1911 – Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
• 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Sri Daya Mata, Indian religious figure
• 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
• 1915 – Alan Lomax, American musicologist (d. 2002)
• 1915 – Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
• 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian (d. 1993)
• 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
• 1920 – Stewart Udall, American politician (d. 2010)
• 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer
• 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
• 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
• 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Norman Mailer, American writer and journalist (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights leader
• 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animation producer (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
• 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1929 – Jean Simmons, English American actress (d. 2010)
• 1930 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
• 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish racecar driver (d. 1972)
• 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player
• 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English athlete, newscaster and politician
• 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
• 1933 – Bernardo Provenzano, Sicilian organized crime figure
• 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1935 – Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel laureate
• 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
• 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
• 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1938 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 1938 – James G. Watt, American politician
• 1939 – Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby union coach (d. 1998)
• 1941 – Richard A. Gephardt, American politician
• 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
• 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
• 1942 – Derek Jarman, British director and writer (d. 1994)
• 1944 – Charlie Musselwhite, American musician
• 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American conceptual artist
• 1946 – Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)
• 1946 – Glynn Turman, American actor
• 1947 – Jonathan Banks, American actor
• 1947 – Elena Nathanael, Greek actress (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
• 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
• 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
• 1949 – Ken Wilber, American author
• 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Soviet bodyguard for Boris Yeltsin
• 1951 – Dave Benton, Aruban singer
• 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician (KC and the Sunshine Band)
• 1951 – Phil Manzanera, English guitarist (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
• 1952 – Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
• 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician (Whitesnake)
• 1956 – John Lydon, English singer (Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
• 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
• 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
• 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American actress
• 1959 – Kelly Moore, American stock car driver
• 1960 – Grant Morrison, British comic author
• 1961 – Lloyd Cole, British singer
• 1962 – Sophie Muller, British music video director
• 1964 – Sylvie Bernier, Quebec diver
• 1964 – Jeff Hanneman, American musician (Slayer)
• 1964 – Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer
• 1966 – Dr Umar Alisha, Indian Sufi master
• 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor
• 1967 – Fat Mike, American musician
• 1967 – Chad Channing, American musician
• 1967 – Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
• 1967 – Joey Wong, Taiwanese actress
• 1968 – Matt King, British actor and comedian
• 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian athlete
• 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian Musician
• 1970 – Minnie Driver, British actress
• 1971 – Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress
• 1971 – Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
• 1971 – Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
• 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan actress and model
• 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
• 1974 – Wil Anderson, Australian comedian
• 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
• 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player
• 1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player
• 1975 – Jackie O, Australian radio host
• 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress
• 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
• 1976 – Tyrone Nesby, American basketball player
• 1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian and actor
• 1977 – Mark Dutiaume, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 – Shingo Katori, Japanese actor and singer (SMAP)
• 1977 – Jim Kleinsasser, American football player
• 1977 – Kate Shindle, American actress
• 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
• 1977 – Bobby Moynihan, American comedian (Saturday Night Live)
• 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentine footballer
• 1978 – Brad Rutter, American game show contestant
• 1978 – Ray Shah, Irish radio presenter
• 1978 – Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, English noble
• 1979 – Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant
• 1980 – James Adomian, American actor
• 1980 – Tiffany Limos, American actress
• 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian football player
• 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer
• 1981 – Amrita Arora, Indian actress
• 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
• 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish football player
• 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German football player
• 1982 – Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese actor, comedian and TV host
• 1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
• 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian hockey player
• 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
• 1983 – James Sutton, British television actor
• 1983 – Tom Vangeneugden, Belgian swimmer
• 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
• 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American track and field athlete
• 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
• 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
• 1985 – Kalomoira, Greek singer
• 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
• 1986 – Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Belgian footballer
• 1987 – Raúl Richter, German actor
• 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese actor and singer
• 1992 – Tyler Seguin, Canadian hockey player

Deaths

• 1398 – Emperor Sukō (b. 1334)
• 1435 – Xuande, Emperor of China (b. 1398)
• 1561 – Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
• 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
• 1580 – Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
• 1606 – Guy Fawkes – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1570)
• 1606 – Ambrose Rokewood – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. c.1578)
• 1606 – Thomas Wintour – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1571)
• 1615 – Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
• 1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
• 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
• 1686 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
• 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (b. c. 1654)
• 1729 – Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
• 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect (b. 1678)
• 1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1720)
• 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
• 1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
• 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
• 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Phanariot Greek military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence (b. 1792)
• 1836 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (b. 1777)
• 1844 – Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
• 1856 – Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
• 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
• 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
• 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
• 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
• 1933 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
• 1942 – Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (b. 1917)
• 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
• 1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
• 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor of the FM radio (b. 1890)
• 1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
• 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
• 1966 – General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army Officer (b. 1887)
• 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
• 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
• 1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
• 1971 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
• 1973 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1882)
• 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
• 1981 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
• 1987 – Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1907)
• 1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian spymaster (b. 1896)
• 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)
• 1995 – George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
• 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
• 1999 – Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1938)
• 1999 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity. (b. 1943)
• 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
• 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
• 2002 – Francis Gabreski, American, fighter pilot ace (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Kirka Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
• 2007 – Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author (b. 1944)
• 2007 – Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist, widow of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug dog (b. 1997)
• 2009 – Nagesh, Indian comedian actor in Kollywood (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Blessed Ludovica
  • Geminianus
  • John Bosco
  • Marcella
  • Pedro Nolasco
  • January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of (Nauru) from Australia in 1968.
• World Leprosy Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada