31 July
July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining.
Events
- 1423 - Hundred Years War: Battle of Cravant - The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
- 1498 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
- 1667 - Second Anglo-Dutch War ends: The Treaty of Breda ends the war.
- 1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet.
- 1790 - First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins.
- 1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
- 1919 - German national assembly adopts Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)
- 1930 - The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
- 1945 - Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
- 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."
- 1948 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
- 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 due to rain.
- 1964 - Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon (images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes).
- 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
- 1973 - A Delta Airlines jetliner crashed while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89
- 1975 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
- 1976 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1
- 1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain south of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113
- 1996 - MIL-STD-1750A was declared inactive for use in new designs.
- 1999 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
Births
- 1396 - Philip III of Burgundy, duke of Burgundy (+ 1467)
- 1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (+ 1870)
- 1901 - Jean Dubuffet, painter and sculptor (+ 1985)
- 1912 - Irv Kupcinet, newspaper columnist
- 1912 - Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics
- 1914 - Louis de Funès, actor and comedian (+ 1983)
- 1916 - Bill Todman, game show producer (+ 1979)
- 1919 - Curt Gowdy, sports announcer
- 1919 - Primo Levi, author, chemist (+ 1987)
- 1921 - Whitney Young, civil rights activist (+ 1971)
- 1923 - Ahmet Ertegun, record company executive
- 1928 - Kurt Sontheimer, political scientist
- 1930 - Oleg Popov, clown
- 1939 - France Nuyen, actress
- 1943 - William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education and "drug czar"
- 1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, actress
- 1946 - Gary Lewis, rock and roll musician
- 1946 - Bob Welch, rock and roll musician
- 1951 - Evonne Goolagong, tennis star
- 1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, mayor of Fresno, California
- 1958 - Bill Berry, rock and roll musician (of the band R.E.M. (band))
- 1959 - Stanley Jordan, jazz guitarist
- 1962 - Wesley Snipes, actor
- 1965 - J. K. Rowling, novelist
- 1966 - Dean Cain, actor
Deaths
- 1099 - Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"), Spanish warrior
- 1108 - King Philip I of France
- 1556 - Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits
- 1886 - Franz Liszt, composer
- 1937 - Charles Martine, Apache scout
- 1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer
- 1953 - Robert Taft, Senator from Ohio, former candidate for President of the United States, son of William Howard Taft, "Mr. Republican"
- 1993 - Baudouin I of Belgium
- 2001 - Poul Anderson, science fiction author
Holidays and observances
See Also:
July 30 - August 1 - June 30 - August 31 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Referenced By
Abner Read | Alan Meale | American Idle | American Idol | American Idol: The Search For A Superstar | Angus Ogilvy | Battle of Passchendaele | Baudouin | Baudouin I of Belgium | Baudouin I of the Belgians | Baudouin of Belgium | Bell XP-83 | Betty Helena Williams | Cockfosters tube station | Eagle class patrol craft | Federal councillors of Switzerland | George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood | Governor-General of Australia | Governor General of Australia | HMAS Adelaide | HMAS Ballarat | HMAS Dubbo | Humfrey Jonathon Malins | Humfrey Malins | Isaac Murphy | Jim Reeves | Joseph Alan Meale | King Baudouin of Belgium | List of Governors-General of the Bahamas | List of Presidents of the Dominican Republic | List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands | List of human spaceflights, 1986-1999 | List of human spaceflights, 1987-1999 | List of individuals executed in Missouri | List of individuals executed in Virginia | List of longest-serving members of the Ausdtralian House of Representatives | List of longest-serving members of the Australian House of Representatives | List of members of the Swiss Federal Council | Member of the Swiss Federal Council | Members of the Swiss Federal Council | Peter Nichols | Peter Rosegger | USS Arkansas (CGN-41) | USS Arkansas (DLGN-41) | USS Arnold J. Isbell | USS Arnold J. Isbell (DD-869) | USS Astoria (CA-34) | USS Boise (CL-47) | USS Bourbon | USS Bullhead | USS Bullhead (SS-332) | USS Canberra | USS Canberra (CA-70) | USS Canberra (CAG-2) | USS Core | USS Core (CVE-13) | USS Dace (SS-247) | USS Essex (CV-9) | USS Essex (CVA-9) | USS Essex (CVS-9) | USS Glacier (CVE-33) | USS Grampus (SS-4) | USS Grayback (SSG-574) | USS Grayling (SS-209) | USS Gridley (DLG-21) | USS Gridley CG-21 | USS Gridley DLG-21 | USS Growler (SSG-577) | USS Grunion | USS Grunion (SS-216) | USS Hancock (CV-19) | USS Hancock (CVA-19) | USS Kete (SS-369) | USS Mississippi (CGN-40) | USS Nevada (BB-36) | USS New Jersey (BB-62) | USS Runner (AGSS-476) | USS Runner (SS-476) | USS S-44 (SS-155) | USS Saratoga (CC-3) | USS Saratoga (CV-3) | USS Saury | USS Saury (SS-189) | USS Skate (SSN-578) | USS St. George (CVE-17) | USS Tang (SS-306) | USS Tennessee (BB-43) Part 3 | USS Texas (1895) | USS Texas (CGN-39) | USS Texas (DLGN-39) | USS Tilefish | USS Tilefish (SS-307) | USS Vermont (BB-20) | USS Will Rogers | USS Will Rogers (SSBN-659) | USS Wright (CVL-49) | XP-83
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