May 31
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May 31 is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 214 days remaining until the end of the year.
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Births [change]
- 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher (d. 1131)
- 1162 – Genghis Khan, Mongol ruler (d. 1227)
- 1443 – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
- 1469 – King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
- 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
- 1557 – Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)
- 1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
- 1640 – Michael of Poland (d. 1673)
- 1641 – Dositheus, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
- 1656 – Marin Marais, French composer and violin player (d. 1728).
- 1750 – Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (d. 1822)
- 1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French revolutionary (d. 1793)
- 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
- 1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet and writer (d. 1853)
- 1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
- 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
- 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
- 1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)
- 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
- 1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
- 1872 – Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
- 1872 – Charles Greeley Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973)
- 1882 – Sandor Graf Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)
- 1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
- 1885 – Alois Hudal, Austrian Roman Catholic bishop, helped Nazi war criminals escape (d. 1963)
- 1887 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarussian paitner (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German politician (d. 1934)
- 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
- 1898 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
- 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
- 1923 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005)
- 1926 – James Krüss, author (d. 1997)
- 1927 – Red Holloway, American musician (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director, screenwriter and producer
- 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer
- 1930 – Elaine Stewart, American actress (d. 2011)
- 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano (d. 2010)
- 1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist
- 1932 – Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
- 1935 – Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1938 – Johnny PayCheck, American country music singer (d. 2003)
- 1938 – John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary")
- 1939 – Terry Waite, British humanitarian
- 1939 – Haraldur Sigurdsson, Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist
- 1941 – Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist
- 1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
- 1943 – Joe Namath, American football star
- 1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, director (d. 1982)
- 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Ivory Coast
- 1948 – John Bonham, British musician, drummer with Led Zeppelin (d. September 25, 1980)
- 1948 – Lynda Bellingham, English actress and broadcaster
- 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor
- 1950 – Gregory Harrison, actor
- 1952 – Karl Bartos, German musician
- 1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
- 1960 – Chris Elliott, American comedian
- 1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress
- 1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1963 – Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary
- 1963 – Wesley Willis, American musician
- 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model and actress
- 1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer
- 1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
- 1975 – Toni Nieminen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- 1977 – June Sarpong, British television presenter
- 1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
- 1980 – Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
- 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1983 – Reggie Yates, British television presenter
- 1984 – Jason Smith, Australian actor
- 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
- 1986 – Sopho Khalvashi, Georgian singer
- 1988 – Lisa Bund, German singer
- 1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
Deaths [change]
- 455 – Petronius Maximus, West Roman Emperor
- 1162 – Geza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
- 1246 – Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England (b. 1188)
- 1349 – Thomas Wake
- 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1358)
- 1495 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415)
- 1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)
- 1680 – Joachim Neander, German Calvinist clergyman (b. 1650)
- 1740 – King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
- 1747 – Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
- 1799 – Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
- 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
- 1809 – Jean Lannes, French Marshal of Empire (b. 1769)
- 1831 – Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
- 1832 – Evariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
- 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779)
- 1846 – Philip Marheineke, German Protestant divine (b. 1780)
- 1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, author, and scientist (b. 1780)
- 1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, writer (b. 1805)
- 1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States (b. 1821)
- 1918 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (b. 1836)
- 1920 – Nasrullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan
- 1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi officer (b. 1904)
- 1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek Resistance activist (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
- 1960 – Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
- 1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
- 1962 – Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (b. 1906)
- 1963 – Edith Hamilton, German-American writer and teacher (b. 1867)
- 1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist (b. 1910)
- 1977 – William Castle, American director (b. 1914)
- 1978 – Jozsef Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
- 1981 – Gyula Lorant, Hungarian footballer (b. 1928)
- 1981 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician (b. 1902)
- 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
- 1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Paul Peter Piech, artist (b. 1920)
- 1996 – Timothy Leary, American LSD advocate (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Tito Puente, musician (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Johnnie Taylor, vocalist (b. 1938)
- 2004 – Robert Quine, guitarist (b. 1942)
- 2006 – Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Millvina Dean, last-living RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1912)
- 2009 – George Tiller, American abortion doctor (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-born sculptor (b. 1911)
- 2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Ezzatollah Sahabi, Iranian politician (b. 1930)
Events [change]
- 1279 BC – Rameses II (the Great) becomes Pharaoh of Egypt.
- 526 – Antioch, Turkey is hit by an earthquake kills 250,000 people.
- 1578 – Henry II of France lays the first stone of the Point Neuf (New Bridge) in Paris.
- 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys makes the last entry in his diary.
- 1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the strait of Juan de Fuca.
- 1859 – Big Ben in London, UK starts keeping time.
- 1889 – Johnstown flood: A Dam break causes a flash Flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,000 people.
- 1906 – An attack on the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain kills more than 20 people.
- 1910 – The Union of South Africa is formed.
- 1911 – The hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic is launched.
- 1911 – President Porfirio Diaz flees Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.
- 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Jutland is fought.
- 1921 – Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot: At least 39 people are killed.
- 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line.
- 1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse is released.
- 1935 – An earthquake in Quetta, Pakistan, kills around 40,000 people.
- 1941 – World War II: 38 people are killed in an air raid in Dublin.
- 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy Submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia
- 1961 – The Republic of South Africa is founded.
- 1962 – Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is executed.
- 1970 – Ancash Earthquake: Southern Peru is hit by a major earthquake. Along with resulting avalanches, it kills tens of thousands of people. 47, 000 people alone are killed in a single avalanche that hit the town of Yungay.
- 1970 – Brasilia Cathedral, designed by Oscar Niemeyer is completed.
- 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline is completed.
- 1985 – 76 people are killed in a tornado outbreak in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario.
- 1991 – Civil War political parties in Angola agree on a ceasefire and fire elections.
- 2002 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan begins, where the Senegal national football team beats the France national football team 1-0.
- 2003 – Aung San Suu Kyi is arrested in Burma.
- 2005 – W. Mark Felt is revealed to have been 'Deep Throat', a key figure in the Watergate scandal.
- 2009 – The last-living survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking, Millvina Dean dies aged 97.
- 2010 – Germany's President Horst Koehler resigns from office. Christian Wulff succeeds him over a month later.
- 2010 – Israeli forces storm the Gaza-bound international flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 9 Turkish activists.
Observances [change]
- Anti-Tobacco Day
