Discover

(Redirected from 31 July)

Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Liturgical feasts

External links

Events

★ 432 - Election of Pope Sixtus III.

★ 781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).

★ 904 - Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.

★ 1009 - Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV.

★ 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): Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it would hold 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 United States 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 issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

★ 1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.

★ 1865 - First narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia.

★ 1910 - Dr. Crippen arrested for murdering wife.

★ 1913 - The Balkan States sign an armistice at Bucarest.

★ 1917 - The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.

★ 1919 - German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)

★ 1930 - The radio mystery program ''The Shadow'' airs 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 were to be held in Tokyo. However, the games were given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and were 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)

★ 1940 - A doodlebug train in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio collides with a multi-car freight train heading the opposite way, 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, 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 extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of 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.

★ 1964 - US country singer Jim Reeves is killed in a light airplane crash near Nashville, Tennessee. The crash also claims the life of his manager, and piano player, Dean Manuel.

★ 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.

★ 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 were killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapsed in Butterworth, Malaysia.

★ 1991 - The Medininkai Massacre in Lithuania. Soviet OMON attacks Lithuanian customs post in Medininkai and kills 7 officers, 1 of severely wounded (after a head shot) becomes disabled.

★ 1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.

★ 1996 - MIL-STD-1750A is declared inactive for use in new designs.

★ 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.

Births

★ 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)

★ 1803 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d. 1889)

★ 1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)

★ 1835 - Henri Brisson, French statesman (d. 1912)

★ 1835 - Paul du Chaillu, French explorer (d. 1903)

★ 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 poet

★ 1883 - Fred Quimby, American film producer (d. 1965)

★ 1884 - Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German politician (d. 1945)

★ 1887 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (d. 1969)

★ 1892 - Joseph Charbonneau, French Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop of Montreal (d. 1959)

★ 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

★ 1912 - Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize 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, baseball player, coach, and official (d. 2006)

★ 1916 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)

★ 1916 - Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist, and writer

★ 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, founder of Amnesty International (d. 2005)

★ 1923 - Ahmet Ertegün, Turkish-born record company executive (d. 2006)

★ 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)

★ 1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer

★ 1935 - Yvon Deschamps, French Canadian author, comedian and humorist

★ 1935 - Geoffrey Lewis, American actor

★ 1936 - Vic Davalillo, baseball player

★ 1936 - Sir Richard Greenbury, British retailing giant

★ 1939 - France Nuyen, French actress

★ 1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician

★ 1943 - William Bennett, 3rd 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, U.K. journalist and television presenter

★ 1944 - Robert C. Merton, Leading Scholar and Nobel Prize Winner

★ 1945 - Gary Lewis, American drummer and vocalist (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)

★ 1946 - Bob Welch, American musician

★ 1946 - Karen Zerby, current leader of Children of God

★ 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, actor and politician

★ 1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian hockey player

★ 1952 - João Barreiros, Portuguese writer

★ 1953 - James Read, American actor

★ 1954 - Derek Smith, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1956 - Michael Biehn, American actor

★ 1957 - Daniel Ash, British musician (Bauhaus)

★ 1957 - Leon Durham, American baseball player

★ 1957 - Dirk Blocker, American actor

★ 1958 - Bill Berry, American drummer (R.E.M.)

★ 1958 - Mark Cuban, American businessman, producer, 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 - Fatboy Slim, British musician

★ 1964 - Jim Corr, Irish singer and musician (The Corrs)

★ 1965 - John Laurinaitis, American professional wrestler

★ 1965 - J. K. Rowling, British writer

★ 1965 - Scott Brooks, American basketball player

★ 1966 - Dean Cain, American actor

★ 1967 - Minako Honda, Japanese singer and musical actress (d. 2005)

★ 1968 - Julian Richards, Welsh film director

★ 1969 - David Cash, American professional wrestler

★ 1969 - Loren Dean, American actor

★ 1969 - Kenneth D. Schisler, American politician

★ 1971 - Gus Frerotte, American football player

★ 1971 - John Lowery (John 5), American guitarist

★ 1973 - Chandra North, American supermodel

★ 1974 - Emilia Fox, English actress

★ 1974 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player

★ 1975 - Simon Hirst, British radio DJ

★ 1975 - Allan von Schenkel, American musician

★ 1975 - Bloodshed American rapper (d. 1997)

★ 1975 - Randy Flores, American baseball player

★ 1975 - Mike Lincoln, American baseball player

★ 1976 - Joshua Cain, American guitarist (Motion City Soundtrack)

★ 1976 - Annie Parisse, American actress

★ 1976 - Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer

★ 1977 - Tim Couch, American football player

★ 1978 - Justin Wilson, English race car driver

★ 1978 - Will Champion, English drummer (Coldplay)

★ 1979 - Jade Kwan, Hong Kong singer

★ 1979 - Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer

★ 1979 - J.J. Furmaniak, American baseball player

★ 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 - Ira Losco, Maltese singer

★ 1981 - Matthew "M. Shadows" Sanders, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)

★ 1982 - Blessing Mahwire, Zimbabwean cricketer

★ 1982 - Melanie Vallejo, Australian TV actress

★ 1986 - Evgeni Malkin, Russian hockey player

★ 1990 - Olga Galchenko, Russian juggler

Deaths

★ 855 - Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim Jurisprudent (b. 780)

★ 1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044)

★ 1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)

★ 1508 - Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1494)

★ 1556 - Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest and founder of the Jesuits

★ 1653 - Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)

★ 1726 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)

★ 1750 - King John V of Portugal (b. 1689)

★ 1784 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encylopedist (b. 1713)

★ 1864 - Louis Hachette, French publisher (b. 1800)

★ 1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)

★ 1886 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (b. 1811)

★ 1914 - Jean Jaurès, French politician (d. 1859)

★ 1917 - Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)

★ 1917 - Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans), Welsh poet (b. 1887)

★ 1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)

★ 1953 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio and Presidential candidate (b. 1889)

★ 1943 - Hedley Verity, English Test cricketer (b. 1905)

★ 1954 - Onofre Marimón, Argentine racing driver (b. 1923)

★ 1964 - Jim Reeves, American singer (b. 1923)

★ 1966 - Bud Powell, American jazz pianist (b. 1924)

★ 1972 - Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)

★ 1980 - Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)

★ 1980 - Mohd. Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)

★ 1981 - Omar Torrijos, Panamanian military leader

★ 1986 - Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)

★ 1986 - Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist (b. 1912)

★ 1990 - Albert Leduc, French Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)

★ 1993 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (b. 1930)

★ 2001 - Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)

★ 2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)

★ 2004 - Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1917)

★ 2004 - Laura Betti, Italian actress (b. 1927)

★ 2005 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker (b. 1935)

★ 2006 - Paul Eells, "Voice of the Arkansas Razorbacks" sportscaster (b. 1935)

★ 2007 - Maarten Stekelenburg, Dutch football player. (b. 1982)

Holidays and observances

★ Hari Pahlawan - Malaysian warrior's day.

★ Ka Hae Hawai‘i - Hawaiian Flag Day.

★ Republic of the Congo - Upswing of the Revolution.

Liturgical feasts

Roman Catholicism

★ Saint Banthus, confessor at Trier [Trier]

★ Saint Everard Hanse, martyr

★ Saint Germanus (died 448), bishop of Auxerre, confessor [Bruges; Paris]

★ Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits

★ Blessed John Columbini (died 1367)

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On This Day in Canada
----