July 31

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July 31 in recent years

2009 (Friday)

2008 (Thursday)

July 31 is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 153 days remaining until the end of the year.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).
904 - Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.
1423 - Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant - the French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
1451 - Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.
1498 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
1588 - The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1655 - Russo-Polish War (1654-1667): the Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
1658 - Aurangzeb is proclaimed Moghul emperor of India.
1667 - Second Anglo-Dutch War: Treaty of Breda ends the conflict.
1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1741 - Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
1777 - The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."
1790 - First U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1865 - The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia.
1913 - The Balkan States signs an armistice at Bucharest.
1919 - German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (which comes into force on August 14)
1930 - The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time.
1932 - The NSDAP wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1936 - The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo. However, the games are given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out, and are eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.
1938 - Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanta (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia)
1938 - Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis.
1940 - A doodlebug train in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio collides with a multi-car freight train heading in the opposite direction, killing 43 people.
1941 - Holocaust: under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."
1945 - Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
1945 - John K. Giles attempts to escape from Alcatraz prison.
1948 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
1951 - Japan Airlines is established.
1954 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.
1956 - Jim Laker sets an extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test, taking nineteen wickets in a first-class match (the previous best was seventeen).
1961 - At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain.
1964 - Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
1970 - Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1972
- Northeast Airlines flies its last flight before being integrated into Delta Air Lines the next day.
- Operation Motorman: British troops move into the no-go areas of Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland. End of Free Derry.
1973 - A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.
1975 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
1976 - Viking program: Viking 1 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo.
1981 - General Omar Torrijos of Panama dies in a plane crash.
1981 - 42-day strike of Major League Baseball ends in the United States.
1987 - A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
1988 - 32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
1991 - The Medininkai Massacre in Lithuania. Soviet OMON attacks Lithuanian customs post in Medininkai, killing 7 officers and severely wounding one other.
1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.
1999 - Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector - NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
2006 - Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro. This leads to a celebration in Little Havana (La Pequeña Habana in Spanish), Miami, Florida, where many Cuban Americans participated.
2007 - Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

1143 - Emperor Nijo of Japan (d. 1165)
1396 - Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)
1527 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)
1598 - Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (d. 1654)
1702 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (d. 1768)
1704 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (d. 1752)
1718 - John Canton, English physicist (d. 1772)
1724 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (d. 1801)
1737 - Princess Augusta Charlotte of Wales (d. 1813)
1777 - Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (d. 1849)
1803 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d. 1889)
1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)
1825 - William S. Clark, American senator and scholar (d. 1886)
1835 - Henri Brisson, French statesman (d. 1912)
1835 - Paul du Chaillu, French explorer (d. 1903)
1837 - William Quantrill, American Civil War rebel guerrilla leader (d. 1865)
1843 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet (d. 1918)
1858 - Richard Dixon Oldham, British geologist (d. 1936)
1860 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (d. 1940)
1867 - Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant and philanthropist (d. 1966)
1880 - Munshi Premchand, Indian Author (d. 1936)
1883 - Fred Quimby, American film producer (d. 1965)
1884 - Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German politician (d. 1945)
1886 - Salvatore Maranzano, Sicilian-born American organized crime figure (d. 1931)
1887 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (d. 1969)
1892 - Joseph Charbonneau, French-Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1959)
1894 - Fred Keenor, Welsh footballer (d. 1972)
1901 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
1904 - Brett Halliday, American writer (d. 1977)
1911 - George Liberace, American musician (d. 1983)
1912 - Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (d. 2008)
1912 - Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)
1912 - Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (d. 2003)
1913 - Bryan Hextall, Canadian hockey player (d. 1984)
1914 - Louis de Funès, French actor and comedian (d. 1983)
1916 - Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player and official (d. 2006)
1916 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)
1916 - Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist
1918 - Paul D. Boyer, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate
1918 - Hank Jones, American pianist
1919 - Curt Gowdy, American sports announcer (d. 2006)
1919 - Primo Levi, Italian author and chemist (d. 1987)
1920 - James Esdras Faust, American religious leader (d. 2007)
1921 - Whitney Young, American civil rights activist (d. 1971)
1921 - Peter Benenson, British founder of Amnesty International (d. 2005)
1922 - Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
1923 - Ahmet Ertegün, Turkish-born record company executive (d. 2006)
1923 - Jimmy Evert, American tennis coach and father of Chris Evert
1926 - Hilary Putnam, American philosopher
1929 - Don Murray, American actor
1929 - José Santamaria, Uruguayan footballer
1929 - Lynne Reid Banks, British author
1930 - Oleg Popov, Russian clown
1931 - Kenny Burrell, American guitarist
1931 - Nick Bollettieri, American tennis coach
1932 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (d. 1979)
1932 - John Searle, American philosopher
1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer
1935 - Yvon Deschamps, French-Canadian author and humorist
1935 - Geoffrey Lewis, American actor
1936 - Vic Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player
1939 - France Nuyen, French actress
1940 - Carol J. Clover, American academic
1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician
1943 - William Bennett, 3^rd United States Secretary of Education
1943 - Susan Flannery, American actress
1943 - Lobo, American singer and songwriter
1943 - Sab Shimono, Japanese-American actor
1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
1944 - Jonathan Dimbleby, British journalist and television presenter
1944 - Robert C. Merton, American mathematician
1945 - Gary Lewis, American vocalist (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)
1945 - William Weld, 68^th Governor of Massachusetts
1946 - Bob Welch, American musician
1946 - Karen Zerby, American religious leader
1950 - Lane Davies, American actor
1950 - Steve Miller, American writer
1951 - Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player
1951 - Barry Van Dyke, American actor
1952 - Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player
1952 - Alan Autry, American football player and politician
1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian hockey player
1952 - João Barreiros, Portuguese writer
1953 - Ted Baillieu, Australian Politician
1953 - James Read, American actor
1953 - Jimmy Cook, former South African cricketer
1954 - Derek Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 - Jakie Quartz, French singer
1956 - Michael Biehn, American actor
1956 - Deval Patrick, 71^st Governor of Massachusetts
1956 - Bill Callahan, American football coach
1957 - Daniel Ash, British musician (Bauhaus)
1957 - Leon Durham, American baseball player
1957 - Dirk Blocker, American actor
1958 - Bill Berry, American musician (R.E.M.)
1958 - Mark Cuban, American businessman and basketball team owner
1959 - Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist
1960 - Dale Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player
1962 - John Chiang, American politician
1962 - Kevin Greene, American football player
1962 - Wesley Snipes, American actor
1963 - Brian Skrudland, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 - Norman Cook, British musician (The Housemartins, Freak Power, Beats International, Fatboy Slim)
1964 - Jim Corr, Irish singer and musician (The Corrs)
1965 - Scott Brooks, American basketball player
1965 - John Laurinaitis, American professional wrestler
1965 - J. K. Rowling, British writer
1965 - Julian Richards, British film director
1966 - Dean Cain, American actor
1967 - Minako Honda, Japanese singer and musical actress (d. 2005)
1967 - Mitsuo Iwata, Japanese seiyū
1968 - Saeed-Al-Saffar, Former UAE cricketer
1969 - David Cash, American professional wrestler
1969 - Loren Dean, American actor
1969 - Kenneth D. Schisler, American politician
1970 - Ahmad Akbarpour, Iranian writer
1971 - Gus Frerotte, American football player
1971 - John Lowery, American guitarist
1973 - Chandra North, American supermodel
1973 - Nathan Brown, Australian rugby league player
1974 - Emilia Fox, English actress
1974 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player
1975 - Randy Flores, American baseball player
1975 - Simon Hirst, British radio DJ
1975 - Mike Lincoln, American baseball player
1975 - Poesy Liang, Founder of Helping Angels
1975 - Allan von Schenkel, American musician
1975 - Andrew Hall, Former South African cricketer
1976 - Joshua Cain, American musician (Motion City Soundtrack)
1976 - Annie Parisse, American actress
1976 - Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer
1977 - Tim Couch, American football player
1978 - Will Champion, English musician (Coldplay)
1978 - Zeta Makripoulia, Greek actress, model and TV presenter
1978 - Justin Wilson, English race car driver
1979 - J. J. Furmaniak, American baseball player
1979 - Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer
1979 - Jade Kwan, Hong Kong singer
1979 - Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer
1979 - B. J. Novak, American actor
1980 - Mils Muliaina, New Zealand and Waikato rugby player
1981 - Eric Lively, American actor
1981 - J.Son Dinant, American comedian
1981 - Ira Losco, Maltese singer
1981 - Matthew Sanders, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)
1982 - Blessing Mahwire, Zimbabwean cricketer
1984 - Glenn Holt, American football player
1986 - Evgeni Malkin, Russian ice hockey player
1987 - Michael Bradley, American soccer player
1987 - Brittany Byrnes, Australian Actress
1989 - Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player
1990 - Olga Galchenko, Russian juggler