What happened on January 31? There are more than 287 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About January 31
January 31 is the 31st day of the year 2024. There are 335 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 5th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Sheffield, Illinois 61361 sunrise occured at 07:10 AM and sunset occured at 05:14 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aquarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Garnet while the mystical birthstone is Emerald.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 10 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (February 10, 2024).
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Historical Events For January 31
- 314Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.
- 1504France cedes Naples to Aragon.
- 1606Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
- 1747The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1814Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
- 1846After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- 1848John C. Fremont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
- 1849Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
- 1862Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5 in telescope now located at Northwestern University.
- 1865American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1865American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, submitting it to the states for ratification.
- 1867Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria
- 1876The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
- 1891The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
- 1900Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion
- 1900New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Metal Rat in Chinese astrology.
- 1915World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia
- 1917World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
- 1918A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
- 1919The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1929The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
- 19303M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1942World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.
- 1943German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of World War II’s fiercest battles.
- 1944World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
- 1944World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
- 1945US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
- 1945World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
- 1946Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
- 1950President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1953A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
- 1957Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
- 1958Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
- 1958James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1966The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
- 1968Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1968Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
- 1971Apollo program: Apollo 14 – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
- 1971The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1990The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
- 1995President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
- 1996An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
- 1996Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.
- 2000Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
- 2001In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2003The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
- 2007Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
- 2009In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
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Who Were Born On January 31?
- 36 BCAntonia Minor, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor (d. 38 AD)
- 877Taejo of Goryeo of Korea (d. 943)
- 1512King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
- 1543Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan (d. 1616)
- 1550Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)
- 1597John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
- 1624Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
- 1673Louis de Montfort, French catholic priest and saint (d. 1716)
- 1686Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
- 1752Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
- 1759François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
- 1797Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
- 1820William B. Washburn, American politician and 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
- 1825Miska Magyarics, Slovene poet in Hungary (d. 1883)
- 1835King William Charles Lunalilo of Hawaiʻi (d. 1874)
- 1857George Jackson Churchward, British railroad engineer. (d. 1933)
- 1865Henri Desgrange, French sports figure and journalist (d. 1940)
- 1865Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
- 1868Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
- 1872Zane Grey, American novelist (d. 1939)
- 1881Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
- 1884Theodor Heuss, German statesman (d. 1963)
- 1889Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- 1892Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
- 1894Isham Jones, American musician (d. 1956)
- 1896Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
- 1902Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
- 1902Nat Bailey, Canadian restaurateur (d. 1978)
- 1902Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1905John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
- 1911Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
- 1913Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
- 1914Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
- 1914Faye Wright, American spiritual figure (d. 2010)
- 1914Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
- 1915Alan Lomax, American musicologist (d. 2002)
- 1915Garry Moore, American comedian (d. 1993)
- 1915Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
- 1919Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1920Bert Williams, English footballer
- 1920Stewart Udall, American politician and 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
- 1921Carol Channing, American actress and singer
- 1921E. Fay Jones, American architect (d. 2004)
- 1921John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1921Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1922Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1923Norman Mailer, American writer and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1925Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights activist (d. 2010)
- 1926Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1927Norm Prescott, American animation producer (d. 2005)
- 1928Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
- 1929Jean Simmons, English American actress (d. 2010)
- 1929Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1930Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
- 1930Lynn Carlin, American actress
- 1931Christopher Chataway, English athlete, newscaster and politician
- 1931Ernie Banks, American baseball player
- 1933Bernardo Provenzano, Sicilian organized crime figure
- 1933Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
- 1934Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1934James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1935Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel laureate
- 1937Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
- 1937Philip Glass, American composer
- 1937Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
- 1937Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1938James G. Watt, American politician and 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1938Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- 1939Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1940Kitch Christie, South African rugby union coach (d. 1998)
- 1941Gerald McDermott, American filmmaker, children’s book author & illustrator
- 1941Jessica Walter, American actress
- 1941Richard A. Gephardt, American politician
- 1942Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
- 1942Derek Jarman, British director and writer (d. 1994)
- 1944Charlie Musselwhite, American musician
- 1944Connie Booth, American writer and actress
- 1945Joseph Kosuth, American conceptual artist
- 1946Glynn Turman, American actor
- 1946Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)
- 1947Elena Nathanael, Greek actress (d. 2008)
- 1947Jonathan Banks, American actor
- 1947Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
- 1948Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
- 1949Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
- 1949Ken Wilber, American author
- 1949Norris Church Mailer, American model and widow of Norman Mailer (d. 2010)
- 1950Alexander Korzhakov, Soviet bodyguard for Boris Yeltsin
- 1951Dave Benton, Aruban singer
- 1951Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician (KC and the Sunshine Band)
- 1951Phil Manzanera, English guitarist (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
- 1952Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
- 1954Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician (Whitesnake)
- 1956John Lydon, English singer (Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
- 1957Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
- 1959Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
- 1959Kelly Lynch, American actress
- 1959Kelly Moore, American stock car driver
- 1960Grant Morrison, British comic author
- 1961Lloyd Cole, British singer
- 1962Sophie Muller, British music video director
- 1964Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer
- 1964Jeff Hanneman, American musician (Slayer)
- 1964Martha MacCallum, American news anchor
- 1964Sylvie Bernier, French-Canadian diver
- 1966Dexter Fletcher, English actor
- 1966Dr Umar Alisha, Indian Sufi master
- 1967Chad Channing, American musician
- 1967Fat Mike, American musician
- 1967Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
- 1967Jason Cooper, English musician (The Cure)
- 1967Joey Wong, Taiwanese actress
- 1968Matt King, British actor and comedian
- 1968Patrick Stevens, Belgian athlete
- 1970Danny Michel, Canadian Musician
- 1970Minnie Driver, British actress
- 1971Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
- 1971Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress
- 1971Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan actress and model
- 1971Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
- 1973Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
- 1974Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
- 1974Othella Harrington, American basketball player
- 1974Wil Anderson, Australian comedian
- 1975Fred Coleman, American football player
- 1975Jackie O, Australian radio host
- 1975Preity Zinta, Indian actress
- 1976Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- 1976Paul Scheer, American comedian and actor
- 1976Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
- 1976Tyrone Nesby, American basketball player
- 1977Bobby Moynihan, American comedian (Saturday Night Live)
- 1977Jim Kleinsasser, American football player
- 1977Kate Shindle, American actress
- 1977Kerry Washington, American actress
- 1977Mark Dutiaume, Canadian hockey player
- 1977Shingo Katori, Japanese actor and singer (SMAP)
- 1978Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, English noble
- 1978Brad Rutter, American game show contestant
- 1978Fabián Caballero, Argentine footballer
- 1978Ray Shah, Irish radio presenter
- 1979Daniel Tammet, British savant and author
- 1980James Adomian, American actor
- 1980Tiffany Limos, American actress
- 1981Amrita Arora, Indian actress
- 1981Julio Arca, Argentinian football player
- 1981Justin Timberlake, American singer
- 1982Allan McGregor, Scottish football player
- 1982Andreas Görlitz, German football player
- 1982Brad Thompson, American baseball player
- 1982Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese actor, comedian and TV host
- 1982Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
- 1982Jānis Sprukts, Latvian hockey player
- 1982Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
- 1982Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
- 1983James Sutton, British actor
- 1983Tom Vangeneugden, Belgian swimmer
- 1984Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
- 1984Jeremy Wariner, American track and field athlete
- 1984Vernon Davis, American football player
- 1985Adam Federici, Australian footballer
- 1985Kalomira, Greek singer
- 1985Mario Williams, American football player
- 1986Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Belgian footballer
- 1987Kenny McKinley, American football player (d. 2010)
- 1987Raúl Richter, German actor
- 1987Sargon Duran, Austrian footballer
- 1988Justine Ozga, German tennis player
- 1990Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
- 1990Kota Yabu, Japanese actor and singer
- 1990Nicolò De Cesare, Italian footballer
- 1992Tyler Seguin, Canadian hockey player
- 1996Joel Courtney, American film actor
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Who Died On January 31?
- 1398Emperor Sukō (b. 1334)
- 1435Emperor Xuande of China (b. 1398)
- 1561Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
- 1561Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
- 1580King Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
- 1606Ambrose Rokewood – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. c.1578)
- 1606Guy Fawkes – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1570)
- 1606Thomas Wintour – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1571)
- 1615Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
- 1632Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1665Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- 1686Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
- 1720Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (b. c. 1654)
- 1729Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
- 1736Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect (b. 1678)
- 1788Charles Edward Stuart, the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1720)
- 1790Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
- 1794Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
- 1811Manuel Alberti, Argentine priest and head of state (b. 1763)
- 1815José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
- 1828Alexander Ypsilantis, Phanariot Greek military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence (b. 1792)
- 1836John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (b. 1777)
- 1844Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
- 1856Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
- 1888John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
- 1892Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
- 1907Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
- 1923Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
- 1933John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
- 1942Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
- 1942Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (b. 1917)
- 1944Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
- 1945Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
- 1954Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor of the FM radio (b. 1890)
- 1955John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- 1956A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- 1966General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army Officer (b. 1887)
- 1967Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
- 1969Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
- 1970Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
- 1971Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
- 1973Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1882)
- 1976Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
- 1976Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
- 1981Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
- 1987Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1907)
- 1989Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (b. 1896)
- 1990Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)
- 1995George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
- 1997John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
- 1999Barış Manço, Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity. (b. 1943)
- 1999Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 1999Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1938)
- 2000Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
- 2001Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
- 2002Francis Gabreski, American, fighter pilot ace (b. 1919)
- 2004Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
- 2006Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina (b. 1926)
- 2007Adelaide Tambo, South African activist, widow of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)
- 2007Kirill “Kirka” Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
- 2007Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2007Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author (b. 1944)
- 2008Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug dog (b. 1997)
- 2009Nagesh, Indian comedian actor in Kollywood (b. 1933)
- 2011Eunice Sanborn, 114, American supercentenarian, world’s oldest living person at time of her death (b. 1896)
- 2011Mark Ryan, 51, British musician (Adam and the Ants) (b. 1959)
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