July 31
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Events
- 781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781)
- 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.
- 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.
- 1667 - The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- 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.
- 1777 - The United States Congress passes a resolution that 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 due to 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).
- 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
- 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 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1
- 1981 - General Omar Torrijos of Panama dies in a plane crash
- 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.
- 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 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
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)
- 1843 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet (d. 1918)
- 1860 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (d. 1940)
- 1884 - Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German politician (d. 1945)
- 1887 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (d. 1969)
- 1893 - Fatima Jinnah, Prominent leader of Pakistan Movement and sister of Jinnah (d. 1967)
- 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
- 1912 - Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (d. 2003)
- 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)
- 1918 - Paul D. Boyer, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1918 - Hank Jones, American pianist
- 1919 - Curt Gowdy, American sports announcer
- 1919 - Primo Levi, Italian author and chemist (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Whitney Young, American civil rights activist (d. 1971)
- 1923 - Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-born record company executive
- 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
- 1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer
- 1939 - France Nuyen, French actress
- 1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician
- 1943 - William Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education
- 1943 - Susan Flannery, American actress
- 1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
- 1944 - Robert Carhart Merton, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 - Bob Welch, American musician
- 1950 - Steve Miller, American writer
- 1951 - Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player
- 1951 - Barry Van Dyke, American actor
- 1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and Mayor of Fresno, California
- 1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian hockey player
- 1952 - João Barreiros, Portuguese writer
- 1953 - James Read, American actor
- 1957 - Daniel Ash, Gothic Rock artist in such bands as Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets
- 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 - Wesley Snipes, American actor
- 1962 - Kevin Greene, professional American football player
- 1964 - Jim Corr, Irish singer and musician (The Corrs)
- 1965 - John Laurinaitis, American professional wrestler
- 1965 - J. K. Rowling, English novelist
- 1965 - Scott Brooks, former pro basketball player
- 1966 - Dean Cain, American actor
- 1967 - Minako Honda, Japanese singer and musical actress (d. 2005)
- 1969 - David Cash (Kid Kash), American professional wrestler
- 1971 - Gus Frerotte, American football player
- 1973 - Chandra North, American supermodel
- 1974 - Emilia Fox, English actress
- 1974 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player
- 1975 - Simon Hirst, British radio DJ (hit40uk)
- 1976 - Annie Parisse, American actress
- 1976 - Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer
- 1977 - Tim Couch, American football player
- 1978 - Justin Wilson, English race car driver
- 1979 - Jade Kwan, Hong Kong singer
- 1979 - Per Kroldrup, Danish footballer
- 1979 - J.J. Furmaniak, Professional baseball player
- 1980 - Fictional character Harry Potter
- 1981 - Ira Losco, Maltese singer
- 1981 - Matthew "M. Shadows" Sanders, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)
- 1982 - Blessing Mahwire, Zimbabwean cricketer
Deaths
- 855 - Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim Jurisprudent (b. 780)
- 1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044)
- 1108 - King Philip I of France (b. 1052)
- 1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)
- 1508 - Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1494)
- 1547 - King Francis I of France (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)
- 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)
- 1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)
- 1953 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio and Presidential candidate (b. 1889)
- 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)
- 1993 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (b. 1930)
- 2001 - Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)
- 2005 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker and 1st president of the European Central Bank
Holidays and observances
- La Hae Hawai‘i - Hawaiian Flag Day
- Republic of the Congo - Upswing of the Revolution
- Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 3 saints:
- *St. Saint Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits)
- *St. Helen of Skofde
- *St. John Columbini
- *St. Conrode (son of Leo and Kurt / El Gauchito Gil's former wife)
External links
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