January 31 - Definition and Overview

January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 334 days remaining, (335 in leap years). Also, this is the final day of January.

Events

• 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital.
• 1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1849 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
• 1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1915 - World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
• 1917 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
• 1930 - 3M markets Scotch Tape.
• 1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• 1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1945 - Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
• 1946 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1950 - President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1958 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
• 1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1961 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• 1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
• 1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
• 1988 - Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.
• 1990 - The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.
• 1993 - Super Bowl XXVII: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17.
• 1995 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
• 1999 - Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19.
• 2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
• 2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crash into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2004 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Births

• 1752 - Gouverneur Morris, lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
• 1797 - Franz Schubert, composer (d. 1828)
• 1872 - Zane Grey, writer (d. 1939)
• 1884 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (d. 1963)
• 1892 - Eddie Cantor, actor, singer (d. 1964)
• 1894 - Isham Jones, jazz musician (d. 1956)
• 1901 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz, writer (d. 1974)
• 1902 - Alva Mydral, politician (d. 1986)
• 1902 - Tallulah Bankhead, actress (d. 1968)
• 1905 - John O'Hara, writer (d. 1970)
• 1914 - Jersey Joe Walcott, boxer (d. 1994)
• 1915 - Thomas Merton, monk and author (d. 1968)
• 1915 - Garry Moore, American comedian, game show host (d. 1993)
• 1915 - Alan Lomax, American singer and musicologist (d. 2002)
• 1919 - Jackie Robinson, first African-American major league baseball player (d. 1972)
• 1920 - Paul Warnke, diplomat (d. 2001)
• 1921 - Carol Channing, actress
• 1921 - Mario Lanza, singer, actor (d. 1959)
• 1921 - E. Fay Jones, architect
• 1921 - John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1922 - Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1923 - Norman Mailer, writer and journalist
• 1925 - Benjamin Hooks, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• 1929 - Jean Simmons, actress
• 1931 - Ernie Banks, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1934 - James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1937 - Suzanne Pleshette, actress
• 1937 - Philip Glass, composer
• 1938 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 1938 - James G. Watt, former American politician
• 1940 - Stuart Margolin, American actor
• 1940 - Jessica Walter, American actress
• 1941 - Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt, American politician
• 1942 - Derek Jarman, director, writer (d. 1994)
• 1942 - Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
• 1944 - Charlie Musselwhite, blues musician
• 1946 - Terry Kath, musician (d. 1978)
• 1947 - Nolan Ryan, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1949 - Ken Wilber, philosopher
• 1956 - Johnny Rotten, British singer with the Sex Pistols
• 1959 - Kelly Lynch, American actress
• 1959 - Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
• 1961 - Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter
• 1963 - John Dye, American actor
• 1964 - Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer and songwriter.
• 1970 - Minnie Driver, actress
• 1973 - Portia DeRossi, Australian actress
• 1974 - Ian Huntley, responsible for the Soham murders
• 1976 - Buddy Rice, race car driver, winner of the 2004 Indianapolis 500
• 1977 - Kerry Washington, American actress
• 1980 - Tiffany Limos, actress
• 1981 - Justin Timberlake, musician

Deaths

• 743 - Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam
• 1561 - Menno Simons, founder of Mennonite church (b. 1496)
• 1606 - Guy Fawkes, executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
• 1851 - David Spangler Kaufman, American politician, first Jewish Congressman from Texas (b. 1813)
• 1892 - Charles Spurgeon, preacher and evangelist
• 1907 - Timothy Eaton, department store founder (b. 1834)
• 1933 - John Galsworthy, writer (b. 1867)
• 1945 - Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
• 1956 - A. A. Milne, author (Winnie the Pooh) (b. 1882)
• 1967 - Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
• 1970 - Slim Harpo, blues singer (b. 1924)
• 1974 - Samuel Goldwyn, film studio executive (b. 1882)
• 1976 - Ernesto Miranda, Miranda v. Arizona litigant
• 1990 - Rashad Khalifa, imam, stabbed to death (b. 1935)
• 1992 - Willie Dixon, blues musician (b. 1915)
• 1995 - George Abbott, director and producer on Broadway, dies at 107 (b. 1887)
• 2000 - Gil Kane, comic book writer
• 2001 - Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction writer (b. 1923)
• 2002 - Francis S. Gabriski, American flying ace
• 2004 - Eleanor Holm, American swimmer

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Bosco.

January 30 - February 1 - December 31 - February 28 (February 29) -- listing of all days