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What happened in history on this day: August 31?
On August 31 in ...
- 1057 - Leofric husband of Lady Godiva, dies.
- 1535 - Pope Paul II deposed and excommunicated King Henry VIII.
- 1688 - John Bunyan preacher/novelist/author of "Pilgrim's Progress,", dies.
- 1772 - Hurricane destroy ships off Dominica.
- 1778 - British kill 17 Stockbridge Indians in the Bronx during Revolution.
- 1798 - $162,821 is stolen at night from vaults of the Bank of Pennsylvania, the first bank robbery in the USA.
- 1811 - Birth of Théophile Gautier in Tarbas, France; writer/poet (Albertus).
- 1834 - Birth of Amilcare Ponchielli in Paderno, Italy; composer (I Lituani).
- 1842 - US Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress.
- 1870 - Birth of Maria Montessori in Italy; educator (spontaneous response).
- 1879 - Death of William Barber, 6th US Mint Chief Engraver (1844-79).
- 1880 - Birth of Queen Mother Wilhelmina in the Netherlands (1890-1948).
- 1881 - First US tennis championships (Newport, Rhode Island).
- 1885 - Birth of DuBose Heyward; novelist (Porgy).
- 1886 - First major earthquake (7.3) recorded in eastern US, at Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1889 - Birth of A Provost Idell; father of modern volleyball.
- 1894 - Philadelphia Phillies' Billy Hamilton steals 7 bases.
- 1895 - First pro football game (quarterback John Brallier is paid $10 and won 12-0).
- 1897 - Thomas Edison receives a patent on the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
- 1897 - Birth of Frederic March in Wisconsin, USA; actor (Dr Jeckyll - Academy Awards 1932/1946).
- 1903 - Birth of Arthur Godfrey; radio, TV host (Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scout).
- 1903 - Birth of Bernard Lovell in England; radio astronomer, founded Jodrell Bank.
- 1905 - Birth of Dore Schary; producer/writer/director (Act One, Boys Town, Big City).
- 1907 - Birth of Ramón Magsaysay in Phillipines; statesman (US Legion of Merit-1952).
- 1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente.
- 1908 - Birth of William Saroyan; US novelist/playwright (Time of Your Life).
- 1914 - Birth of Richard Basehart in Zanesville, Ohio, USA; actor (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea).
- 1916 - Birth of Daniel Schorr; broadcast journalist (CBS).
- 1918 - Birth of Alan Jay Lerner; lyricist composer (Lerner and Leowe - My Fair Lady).
- 1919 - Petlyura's Ukranian Army kills 35 members of a Jewish defense group.
- 1920 - The first news radio program is broadcast in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1924 - Birth of Buddy (Leonard) Hackett in Brooklyn, New York, USA; comedian (God's Little Acre, Music Man).
- 1928 - Birth of James Coburn in Laurel, Nebraska, USA; actor (Our Man Flint, Magnificent Seven).
- 1930 - Birth of Tiny Little Junior in Worthington, Minnesota, USA; pianist (Lawrence Welk Show).
- 1931 - Birth of Jean Béliveau; Canadian hockey star (Montreal Canadiens).
- 1931 - Birth of Noble Willingham; American actor (Walker, Texas Ranger) (dies 2004).
- 1931 - The Yangtze River floods, leaving 23 million homeless.
- 1934 - First football all star game-Chicago Bears tie collegians 0-0 in Chicago.
- 1935 - First national skeet championship (Indianapolis, Indiana, USA).
- 1935 - Birth of Eldridge Cleaver; Black Panther turned Republican.
- 1935 - Birth of Frank Robinson; baseball player/manager (Most Valuable Player 1961-National League 1966-American League).
- 1935 - Chicago White Sox player Vern Kennedy no-hits Cleveland Indians, 5-0.
- 1935 - US President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents.
- 1937 - Birth of Warren Berlinger in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Larry - Joey Bishop Shop, Take Two).
- 1939 - In Cairo, Egypt, forty cases are packed with the sarcophagus of King Tut-ankh-Amen and items found in his tombs, and the cases are hidden in bombproof chambers underground to protect them from possible wartime destruction.
- 1939 - In England, full army and navy mobilization is commenced, censorship of all communications to and from the British Isles is imposed, the Stock Exchange is closed, and civil airplanes are banned from flying over half of Britain.
- 1940 - Birth of Alain Calmat in France; figure skater (Olympic-silver-1964).
- 1942 - Birth of Carole Wells in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA; actress (Pistols n Petticoats).
- 1945 - Birth of Leonid I Popov; cosmonaut (Soyuz 35, 40, T-7).
- 1945 - Birth of Van Morrison in Belfast, Ireland; singer ("Here Comes the Night", "Moon Dance").
- 1946 - At the Nuremberg Tribunal, defendants make closing statements before the court. Hermann Göring denies all. Joachim von Ribbentrop hopes America and Great Britain are more successful versus Bolshevism. Wilhelm Keitel says his loyalty was exploited for obscure reasons. Albert Speer predicts destruction if technology developments of the previous five years are exploited in another war.
- 1949 - Birth of Richard Gere in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Breathless, Cotton Club, Pretty Woman).
- 1950 - Brooklyn Dodgers' Gil Hodges hits four home runs and a single in a game versus Boston Braves.
- 1952 - Birth of Rudolf Schenker; heavy metal rocker (Scorpions - "No One Like You").
- 1954 - Birth of Tula [Barry Kenneth Cossey] in England; actor (For Your Eyes Only).
- 1954 - US Census Bureau is established.
- 1954 - Hurricane Carol (first major named storm) hits New England, 70 die.
- 1955 - NBC begins airing the Father Knows Best 30-minute comedy TV show.
- 1955 - First microwave TV station operated (Lufkin, Texas, USA).
- 1955 - First sun-powered automobile demonstrated, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- 1957 - Birth of Glenn Tilbrook; guitarist, vocalist (Squeeze - "Tempted").
- 1957 - Malaya (Malaysia) gains independence from Britain.
- 1958 - Birth of Edwin C Moses; track star (hurdler, Olympic-gold-1984).
- 1959 - Australia defeats US for tennis' Davis Cup.
- 1959 - Birth of Rachel Dennison in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; actress (Doralee Rhodes - 9 to 5).
- 1960 - Agricultural Hall of Fame established.
- 1961 - Birth of David Chastain; heavy metal rocker (Chastain - "Rule of Wasteland").
- 1962 - Trinidad and Tobago gain independence from Britain.
- 1963 - Birth of Reb Beach; heavy metal rocker (Winger-17).
- 1964 - Carole Coleman, singer ("Face the Music"), dies at age 42.
- 1964 - Rocky Marciano, former heavyweight champ, dies in a plane crash.
- 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson signs Food Stamp Act as Public Law 88-525.
- 1965 - US House of Representatives joins Senate in establishing Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- 1965 - The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Aircraft makes its first flight.
- 1965 - The U.S. Forest Service announces it has received six bids to develop a ski resort on Mineral King in California. A proposal from Disney is one of two leading candidates. Disney's US$35 million proposal includes up to 27 chair lifts with capacity for 11,400 seats per hour, hotels for up to 3000 guests, and ten-story underground parking for 3600 cars.
- 1968 - In Dasht-e Bayaz, Iran, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. 7,000 to 12,000 deaths. Five villages are totally destroyed, and another 6 from Kakhk to Salayan have at least half of the buildings destroyed.
- 1968 - Death of Dennis O'Keefe at age 60 from lung cancer; actor/director (The Dennis O'Keefe Show TV show (1959), Lux Video Theatre, Climax, Suspicion, Follow the Sun).
- 1969 - 25,000 attend New Orleans Pop Festival.
- 1970 - Birth of Debbie Gibson in Brooklyn, New York, USA; singer ("Only in My Dreams").
- 1970 - US defeats German Federal Republic for tennis' Davis Cup.
- 1971 - The NBC TV network airs the last The Bill Cosby Show in the USA.
- 1972 - Olga Korbut, USSR, wins Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.
- 1977 - Aleksandr Fedotov sets aircraft altitude record of 38.26 km (125,524 feet).
- 1977 - Birth of Paul Garber; helped establish Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
- 1978 - Symbionese Liberation Army founders William and Emily Harris plead guilty to 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
- 1979 - Donald McHenry named to succeed Andrew Young as United Nations ambassador.
- 1981 - A bomb explodes at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people.
- 1983 - Edwin Moses of USA sets the 400m hurdle record (47.02) in Koblenz.
- 1984 - Pinklin Thomas defeats Tim Witherspoon for the WBC heavyweight title.
- 1985 - Prakas sets trotting mile record of 1:53.4 at Du Quoin, Illinois.
- 1985 - Night Stalker suspect that terrorized South California captured in East Los Angeles.
- 1985 - Death of Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1899).
- 1986 - Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
- 1986 - Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov collides with merchant vessel Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
- 1986 - The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste.
- 1986 - Death of Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (born 1900).
- 1987 - Curtis Strange sets golf's earning for the year record (US$697,385).
- 1987 - Michael Jackson's Bad music album is released, including songs "Bad", "Man in the Mirror", and "Smooth Criminal". The 18-minute music video Bad premieres on US TV.
- 1988 - Five-day power blackout of downtown Seattle, Washington, USA begins.
- 1990 - The 570th and last episode of the show Win, Lose, or Draw is aired in syndication.
- 1990 - Nat (Sweetwater) Clifton, New York Knicks player, dies at age 65 of a heart attack.
- 1991 - The ABC TV network airs the last episode of the animated series New Kids on the Block.
- 1991 - In Noblesville, Indiana, USA a meteorite falls harmlessly to the ground.
- 1991 - Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan declare independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1994 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations."
- 1994 - Russian army leaves Estonia.
- 1996 - Iraqi forces launch an offensive into the northern No-Fly Zone and capture Arbil.
- 1996 - The Big 12 Conference is inaugurated with a football game between Kansas State University and Texas Tech University in Manhattan, Kansas.
- 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, is taken to hospital after a car crash shortly after midnight in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 a.m. that morning. Also, death of Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (the same automobile accident), and driver Henri Paul.
- 1998 - North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite. Although North Korea reports that it reached stable orbit, NORAD is not able to confirm this assertion.
- 2002 - Death of George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920).
- 2003 - US Warden of Guantánamo Bay prison Major General Geoffrey Miller arrives at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, to instruct on techniques of interrogation used at his prison.
- 2004 - Two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, Israel, kill at least 16 people and injure at least 60. Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks.
- 2004 - A woman commits a suicide attack near a subway station in northern Moscow, Russia, killing at least ten people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold Chechen rebels responsible.
- 2005 - A crowd crush on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad Iraq kills several hundred civilians.
- 2006 - Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna are recovered in a police raid in Oslo, Norway.
- 2007 - Canada begins arming customs officers along the border with the USA.
- 2009 - China's Shanghai Composite Index drops by 6.7 percent, leaving it down 20 percent since a high on August 4.
- 2009 - Florida governor Charlie Crist signs a gambling pact with the Seminole tribe, lasting 20 years, specifying payment of minimum US$12.5 million per month for the first 30 months for the privilege of running legal slot machines and blackjack at their seven casinos.
- 2009 - State-owned Chinese oil firm PetroChina agrees to pay CDN$1.9 billion (US$1.7 billion) to acquire a majority stake in two tar sands projects in Alberta, Canada.
- 2009 - The Walt Disney Company agrees to buy Marvel Entertainment for US$4 billion.
- 2012 - Researchers successfully perform the first implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes.
- 2012 - Armenia severs diplomatic relations with Hungary, following the extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardoning of Ramil Safarov, who was convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004.
- 2012 - Death of Carlo Maria Martini, Cardinal Archbishop of Milan (born 1927).
- 2016 - The Brazilian Senate votes (61 to 20) to impeach the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff. The Vice President of Brazil, Michel Temer, who had assumed the presidential powers and duties as Acting President of Brazil during Rousseff's suspension, takes office for the remainder of her term.
- 2020 - Death of Pranab Mukherjee, 13th President of India (born 1935).
- 2022 - Avril Lavigne receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- 2022 - Death of Charles Wilson at age 87; editor (Times).
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