January 31
January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 334 days remaining, (335 in leap years ). Also, this is the final day of January.
Events
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 Dock Hospital .
1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina .
1849 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom .
1865 - American Civil War : Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
1915 - World War I : Germany uses poison gas against Russians .
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.
1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky .
1930 - 3M markets Scotch Tape.
1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
1944 - World War II : American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese -held Marshall Islands .
1945 - US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
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 .
1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France .
1958 - The first successful American satellite , Explorer I , is launched into orbit.
1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt .
1961 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space .
1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon .
1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia .
1971 - Apollo program : Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to 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 .
1988 - Super Bowl XXII : The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s , 42-10.
1990 - The first McDonald's opens in Moscow , Russia .
1993 - Super Bowl XXVII : The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills , 52-17.
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 in Colombo , Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
1999 - Super Bowl XXXIII : The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons , 34-19. After the game, Family Guy pilot episode .
2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
2004 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel .
Births
1338 - King Charles V of France (d. 1380 )
1550 - Henry I, Duke of Guise , leader of French Catholic faction (d. 1588 )
1752 - Gouverneur Morris , American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816 )
1797 - Franz Schubert , Austrian composer (d. 1828 )
1872 - Zane Grey , American Western writer (d. 1939 )
1884 - Theodor Heuss , politician and publicist (d. 1963 )
1889 - Frank Foster , Warwickshire all-round cricketer (d. 1958 )
1892 - Eddie Cantor , actor, singer (d. 1964 )
1894 - Isham Jones , jazz musician (d. 1956 )
1901 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz , writer (d. 1974 )
1902 - Alva Mydral , politician (d. 1986 )
1902 - Tallulah Bankhead , American actress (d. 1968 )
1905 - John O'Hara , writer (d. 1970 )
1914 - Jersey Joe Walcott , boxer (d. 1994 )
1915 - Thomas Merton , monk and author (d. 1968 )
1915 - Garry Moore , American comedian, game show host (d. 1993 )
1915 - Alan Lomax , American singer and musicologist (d. 2002 )
1919 - Jackie Robinson , first African-American major league baseball player (d. 1972 )
1920 - Paul Warnke , diplomat (d. 2001 )
1921 - Carol Channing , American actress
1921 - Mario Lanza , American singer, actor (d. 1959 )
1921 - E. Fay Jones , architect
1921 - John Agar , American actor (d. 2002 )
1922 - Joanne Dru , American actress (d. 1996 )
1923 - Norman Mailer , American writer and journalist
1925 - Benjamin Hooks , head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
1929 - Jean Simmons , actress
1931 - Ernie Banks , Baseball Hall of Famer
1934 - James Franciscus , American actor (d. 1991 )
1937 - Suzanne Pleshette , actress
1937 - Philip Glass , composer
1938 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
1938 - James G. Watt , American politician
1940 - Stuart Margolin , American actor
1940 - Jessica Walter , American actress
1941 - Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt , American politician
1942 - Derek Jarman , director, writer (d. 1994 )
1942 - Daniela Bianchi , Italian actress
1944 - Charlie Musselwhite , blues musician
1946 - Terry Kath , musician (d. 1978 )
1947 - Jonathan Banks , actor
1947 - Nolan Ryan , Baseball Hall of Famer
1949 - Ken Wilber , philosopher
1956 - Johnny Rotten , British singer with the Sex Pistols 1959 - Kelly Lynch , American actress
1959 - Anthony LaPaglia , Australian actor
1961 - Lloyd Cole , British singer and songwriter
1963 - John Dye , American actor
1964 - Billey Shamrock , Swedish singer and songwriter.
1970 - Minnie Driver , actress
1973 - Portia de Rossi , Australian actress
1974 - Ian Huntley , responsible for the Soham murders
1976 - Buddy Rice , race car driver, winner of the 2004 Indianapolis 500
1977 - Kerry Washington , American actress
1980 - Tiffany Limos , actress
1981 - Justin Timberlake , musician
1984 - Ashley Blue , pornographic actress
Deaths
743 - Muhammad al-Baqir , Shia Imam (b. 676 )
1398 - Emperor Suko of Japan (b. 1334 )
1561 - Menno Simons , founder of Mennonite church (b. 1496 )
1606 - Guy Fawkes , executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570 )
1851 - David Spangler Kaufman , American politician, first Jewish Congressman from Texas (b. 1813 )
1892 - Charles Spurgeon , preacher and evangelist
1907 - Timothy Eaton , department store founder (b. 1834 )
1933 - John Galsworthy , writer (b. 1867 )
1945 - Eddie Slovik , American soldier (b. 1920 )
1956 - A. A. Milne , author (Winnie-the-Pooh 1882 )
1967 - Eddie Tolan , American athlete (b. 1908 )
1970 - Slim Harpo , blues singer (b. 1924 )
1974 - Samuel Goldwyn , film studio executive (b. 1882 )
1976 - Ernesto Miranda , Miranda v. Arizona 1990 - Rashad Khalifa , imam, stabbed to death (b. 1935 )
1992 - Willie Dixon , blues musician (b. 1915 )
1995 - George Abbott , director and producer on Broadway, dies at 107 (b. 1887 )
1999 - Norm Zauchin , Major League Baseball player (b. 1929 )
2000 - Gil Kane , comic book writer
2001 - Gordon R. Dickson , science fiction writer (b. 1923 )
2002 - Francis S. Gabriski , American flying ace
2004 - Eleanor Holm , American swimmer
Holidays and observances
External links
January 30 - February 1 - December 31 - February 28 (February 29 ) -- listing of all days
