See what makes August 31 special at Famous Daily.
History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on August 31
- August 31, 1056 "Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later, without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty."
- August 31, 1142 "With the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah, The Great Peacemaker, the Iroquois tribes establish the Confederation of the Haudenosaunee."
- August 31, 1422 "Henry VI, becomes King of England at the age of 9 months."
- August 31, 1535 Pope Paul II deposed & excommunicated King Henry VIII
- August 31, 1688 "Death in London of John Bunyan, English author of The Pilgrim's Progress."
- August 31, 1772 Hurricane destroy ships off Dominica
- August 31, 1778 British kill 17 Stockbridge indians in the Bronx during Revolution
- August 31, 1803 Lewis and Clark start their expedition from Pittsburgh at 11 o clock in the morning.
- August 31, 1842 US Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress
- August 31, 1846 Committee established in Sydney to organise appeal for Irish famine.
- August 31, 1850 Calif pioneers organized at Montgomery & Clay Streets
- August 31, 1864 Atlanta Campaign-Battle of Jonesborough
- August 31, 1876 Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
- August 31, 1886 "A strong earthquake rocks Charleston, SC, killing more than 100 people."
- August 31, 1886 "Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina."
- August 31, 1886 "The first major earthquake recorded in eastern US, at Charleston, SC"
- August 31, 1887 "Thomas A Edison patents Kinetoscope, (produces moving pictures)"
- August 31, 1888 Jack the Ripper claims his first victim as the body of Mary Ann Nicholls is found in London.
- August 31, 1888 Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's known victims.
- August 31, 1888 "North Canterbury, New Zealand a 7+ earthquake in northern Canterbury, some 100 kilometers from Christchurch, caused the partial collapse of the cathedral's spire"
- August 31, 1902 Split skirt first worn by Mrs Adolph Landeburg (horse rider)
- August 31, 1907 "Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the Triple Entente alliance."
- August 31, 1907 "England, Russia & France form the Triple Entente"
- August 31, 1914 Ecuador becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- August 31, 1915 Brazil becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- August 31, 1919 Communist Labor Party of America formed in Chicago
- August 31, 1919 Petlyura's Ukranian Army kills 35 members of a Jewish defense group
- August 31, 1920 "First radio news program broadcast by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan."
- August 31, 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarw.
- August 31, 1935 FDR signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents
- August 31, 1939 "Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on Gleiwitz radio station, giving them an excuse to attack Poland the following day, starting World War II in Europe."
- August 31, 1940 Hollywood screen stars Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh are married.
- August 31, 1940 The FBI created a Disaster Squad to assist civilian authorities in identifying persons who died in a Virginia plane crash. FBI personnel were among the victims.
- August 31, 1941 "Great Gildersleeve, a spin-off of Fibber McGee & Molly debuts on NBC"
- August 31, 1942 "In Ternopil, western Ukraine, at 4.30 am, German SS organise the first deportation of Jews from Ternopil ghetto to death camp in Belzec, about 5,000 Jews were deported to face death in Belzec. When the Germans captured Ternopil, about 18,000 Jews lived in the city."
- August 31, 1943 "The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for a black person, is commissioned."
- August 31, 1945 The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.
- August 31, 1948 Actor Robert Mitchum was arrested in a Hollywood drug raid. He would later be found guilty of criminal conspiracy to possess marijuana and was sentenced to 60 days in prison.
- August 31, 1950 "Contingent of 80 men from First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, leaves for the Korean War."
- August 31, 1950 HMAS Sydney and Tobruk sail for Korea
- August 31, 1954 Census Bureau established
- August 31, 1954 "Hurricane Carol (1st major named storm) hits New England, 70 die"
- August 31, 1954 "Hurricane Carol hits New England, killing more than 60 people and causiAug 31, massive property damage."
- August 31, 1955 "The first microwave TV station operated (Lufkin, Tx)"
- August 31, 1955 "The first sun-powered automobile demonstrated, Chicago, Ill"
- August 31, 1957 Malaya (Malaysia) gains independence from Britain
- August 31, 1957 The Federation of Malaya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- August 31, 1959 Australia defeats US for tennis' Davis Cup
- August 31, 1960 Agricultural Hall of Fame established
- August 31, 1961 Number one hit on UK music charts - John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me
- August 31, 1962 Trinidad & Tobago gain independence from Britain
- August 31, 1962 Trinidad and Tobago become independent.
- August 31, 1963 Walter Cronkite began his stint as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
- August 31, 1965 House of Reps joins Senate establish Dept of Housing & Urban Develop
- August 31, 1965 The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Aircraft makes its first flight.
- August 31, 1968 "6,000 die in 7.8 quake destroys 60,000 buildings in NE Iran"
- August 31, 1968 Garfield Sobers becomes the first cricketer to hit 6 sixes in one over.
- August 31, 1968 "In Iran a 7.3 earthquake was centered about 250 kilometers south of Mashhad. There were 12,000 to 20,000 deaths, many injuries, and over 60,000 homeless"
- August 31, 1968 Private Eye magazine reports a John Lennon & Yoko Ono album will have a picture of them nude on the cover
- August 31, 1969 "25,000 attend New Orleans Pop Festival"
- August 31, 1969 "Boxer Rocky Marciano dies in an airplane crash in Iowa, at age 4Aug 31,"
- August 31, 1970 "Lonnie McLucas, a Black Panther activist, convicted"
- August 31, 1970 US defeats German FR for tennis' Davis Cup
- August 31, 1971 Dave Scott becomes first person to drive a car on the Moon
- August 31, 1972 "Olga Korbut, USSR, wins olympic gold medal in gymnastics"
- August 31, 1973 The first heavyweight championship fight in Japan (Foreman beats Roman)
- August 31, 1974 Number one hit on UK music charts - Osmonds - Love Me For A Reason
- August 31, 1977 "Aleksandr Fedotov sets aircraft alt rec of 38.26 km (125,524')"
- August 31, 1977 Ian Smith wins the Rhodesian general election with 80 per cent of the overwhelmingly white electorate's vote.
- August 31, 1978 Symbionese Liberation Army founders William & Emily Harris plead guilty to 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst
- August 31, 1978 "William and Emily Harris, founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, plead guilty to the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst."
- August 31, 1979 Comet Howard-Koomur-Michels collides with the Sun
- August 31, 1979 Donald McHenry named to succeed Andrew Young as UN ambassador
- August 31, 1979 "Movie actress Sally Rand dies of heart failure at age 76 in Glendora, CAug 31,"
- August 31, 1980 Poland's Solidarity labor union founded
- August 31, 1980 The Gdask Agreement is signed.
- August 31, 1984 Pinklin Thomas defeats Tim Witherspoon for the WBC heavyweight title
- August 31, 1985 Night Stalker suspect that terrorized S Calif captured in East LA
- August 31, 1985 Number one hit on UK music charts - UB 40 & Chrissie Hynde - I Got You Babe
- August 31, 1986 "A private plane collides with an Aeromexico jet over Cerritos, CA, killing 82 people.Aug 31,"
- August 31, 1986 Aeromexico jet & small plane collide kill 82
- August 31, 1986 "Aeromxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground."
- August 31, 1986 "Soviet passenger ship Adm Nakhimov, collides with a merchant vessel"
- August 31, 1986 "The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423."
- August 31, 1987 "Curtis Strange sets golf's earning for the year record ($697,385)"
- August 31, 1988 5-day power blackout of downtown Seattle begins
- August 31, 1988 "A Delta Boeing 727 crashes during takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, killing 14 passengers."
- August 31, 1991 Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- August 31, 1992 Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo .
- August 31, 1993 "Russians pull last 500 military personnel left from cold war, out of Lithuania"
- August 31, 1994 The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
- August 31, 1997 "Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris."
- August 31, 1998 "North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite."
- August 31, 1999 "A Boeing 737 jet crashes during takeoff from Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 72 people."
- August 31, 1999 "A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground."
- August 31, 1999 "Detroit area teachers begin a nine-day strike, postponing the first day of school for 170,000 students."
- August 31, 1999 "The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others."
- August 31, 2005 "A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people."
- August 31, 2006 "Ricky Hatton's WBA Welterweight title was vacated on this day after becoming champion on May 13, 2006"
- August 31, 2006 "Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream was recovered from a raid by Norwegian police. The paintings were said to be in a better-than-expected condition."
- August 31, 2007 "Pres. Bush announces a plan to use the Federal Housing Administration, to offer government-guaranteed loans to around 80,000 homeowners in default"
- August 31, 2009 American Airlines retires all of its Airbus A300 aircraft after flying for American Airlines for the past 21 years.
- August 31, 2009 Armenia and Turkey agree to establish diplomatic relations.
- August 31, 2009 "Britain will face widespread power cuts and rationing of energy in 2019 for the first time since the 1970s, according to Her Majesty's Government."
- August 31, 2009 "Disney reaches a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for US$4 billion, with Marvel shareholders being issued $30 and about 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own."
- August 31, 2009 Figures from 2008 reveal Ireland has experienced its highest number of births since 1896.
- August 31, 2009 Iraqi officials begin negotiations with Serbia over the return of 19 MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter jets sent to Yugoslavia in the 1980's for repairs.
- August 31, 2009 Jason Mraz's I'm Yours becomes the longest running single in the Billboard Hot 100's history at 71 weeks on the chart.
- August 31, 2009 Lesbians are granted equal birth rights in England and Wales.
- August 31, 2009 Nigeria charges several banking executives with financial crimes discovered following the $2.6 billion bail-out of five banks.
- August 31, 2009 "Russian forces state that they have killed an Algerian Al Qaeda operative and another militant during a raid on a house in Khasavyurt, Dagestan."
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