Today in History for Year 1931

Months in Year 1931: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 266

Jan 3rd - Nels Stewart of Montreal Maroons scores 2 goals in 4 sec (record)
Jan 5th - 1st woman to purchase a baseball team Lucille Thomas purchases Topeka franchise in the Western League
Jan 6th - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
Jan 7th - Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
Jan 8th - Phila Quakers set then NHL record of 15 straight loses
Jan 10th - Phila Quakers defeat Montreal, ends NHL-record 15-game losing streak
Jan 16th - Bradman scores 223 Australia v WI, 297 mins, 26 fours
Jan 22nd - French government of Steeg falls
Jan 22nd - VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs Amsterdam
Jan 22nd - Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
Jan 26th - Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty
Jan 26th - Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs," premieres in NYC
Jan 28th - Bradman scores 220 NSW v Victoria, 308 mins, 13 fours
Jan 30th - Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" premieres at Los Angeles Theater
Jan 31st - NHL's Quebec Bulldogs' Joseph Malone scores a record 7 goals
Jan 31st - Philip Barry's "Tomorrow & Tomorrow," premieres in NYC
Feb 2nd - 1st siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students
Feb 2nd - 1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
Feb 3rd - Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of H L Mencken after he calls state "apex of moronia"
Comedian Charlie Chaplin Feb 3rd - The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258
Feb 4th - National League adopts a deader baseball
Feb 5th - Maxine Dunlap becomes 1st US women to earn a glider pilot license
Feb 7th - US opera, "Peter Ibbetson," by Deems Taylor premieres at Met Opera NYC
Feb 8th - Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
Feb 10th - New Delhi becomes capital of India
Feb 10th - Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Harts premieres in NYC
Feb 12th - Vatican Radio begins broadcasting with the callsign HVJ
Feb 14th - Bradman scores 152 Aust v WI, 154 minutes, 13 fours 2 fives
Feb 14th - Spanish government of General Damasco Berenguer falls
Feb 15th - 1st Dracula movie released
Feb 15th - Spring training site of NY Yankees in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late manager
Feb 16th - Extreme right wing Svinhufvud becomes president of Finland
Feb 17th - 1st telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball)
Feb 17th - Hockey's Hershey Bears (now with AHL) 1st game
Feb 20th - Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge
Feb 21st - Alka Seltzer introduced
Feb 21st - Chicago White Sox & NY Giants play 1st exhibition night game
Feb 28th - Canadian Rugby Union adopts the forward pass
Feb 28th - Oswald Mosley founds his New Party
Mar 3rd - "Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem
Mar 3rd - Cab Calloway records "Minnie Moocher" (Jazz's 1st million seller)
Mar 4th - Bradman bowled by Herman Griffith for a duck as W I win the Test
Mar 4th - West Indies beat Australia for the 1st time, by 30 runs at SCG
Pacifist and Spiritual Leader Gandhi Mar 5th - Gandhi & British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact
Mar 10th - British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
Mar 11th - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
Mar 14th - 1st theater built for rear movie projection (NYC)
Mar 16th - Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Neth)
Mar 17th - Stalin throws Krupskaya Lenin out of Central Committee
Mar 18th - 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)
Mar 18th - Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain
Mar 19th - Nevada legalizes gambling
Mar 20th - Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin
Mar 21st - KRO-broadcast studio initiated in Hilversum Holland
Mar 21st - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
Mar 21st - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
Mar 23rd - Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
Mar 25th - Hal Kemp & his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis
Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin Mar 25th - Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama
Mar 26th - Iraq & Trans-Jordan sign peace treaty
Mar 26th - Leo Bentley bowls 3 consecutive perfect games in Lorain, Ohio
Mar 26th - New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies
Mar 27th - Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor
Mar 27th - John McGraw says night baseball will not catch on
Apr 1st - Earthquake devastate Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000
Apr 1st - Jackie Mitchell became 1st female in professional baseball
Apr 2nd - Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Apr 6th - 1st Scottsboro (Ala) trial begins - 9 blacks accused of rape
Apr 6th - 1st broadcast of "Little Orphan Annie" on NBC-radio
Apr 7th - Seals Stadium opens in SF
Apr 8th - "White Horse Inn" opens in London
Apr 8th - Dmitri Sjostakovitch' ballet "The Arrow," premieres
Apr 9th - Chicago Cy Wentworth beats Mont Canadiens at 13:50 of 6th period
Apr 12th - Joe McCarthy debuts as NY Yankee manager
Apr 12th - Spanish voters reject the monarchy
Apr 14th - Spain becomes republic with overthrow of King Alfonso XIII
Apr 14th - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 3 games to 2
Apr 15th - 1st walk across American backwards begins
Apr 20th - 35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan of Mass in 2:46:45.8
Apr 20th - British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday
Apr 22nd - Egypt & Iraq sign peace treaty
Apr 26th - Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season
Apr 27th - 100°F (38°C), Pahala, Hawaii (state record)
Apr 28th - Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track & field
Apr 29th - Cleve Indian Wes Ferrell no-hits St Louis Browns, 9-0
May 1st - Empire State Building opens in NYC
May 1st - Norway claims Peter I Island
May 1st - Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS
May 4th - Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish president
May 8th - Operette "Land of Smiles," premieres in London
May 9th - 57th Preakness: George Ellis aboard Mate wins in 1:59
May 10th - Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington NJ
May 11th - Credit-Anstalt, Austria's largest bank, fails beginning financial collapse of Central Europe
May 13th - Paul Doumer elected president of France
May 14th - Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
May 15th - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno
May 16th - 57th Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on Twenty Grand wins 2:01.8
May 19th - Ironclad cruiser Germany launched in Kiel
May 21st - Belgian government of Jaspar falls
May 22nd - Canned rattlesnake meat 1st goes on sale in Florida

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 661

Jan 1st - Carel Brons, composer
Jan 1st - Siddig El Nigoumi, ceramicist
Jan 2nd - Toshiki Kaifu, premier of Japan (1989-91)
Jan 4th - Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji (d. 2004)
Jan 4th - Sir William Deane, Governor-General of Australia 1996-2001
Jan 5th - Alfred Brendel, Wiesenberg Moravia, Austrian pianist
Jan 5th - Alvin Ailey, choreographer (American Dance Theater)
Jan 5th - Robert Duvall, San Diego California, actor (Great Santini, Taxi Driver)
Jan 5th - Walter Davis, US, running high jumper (Olympic-gold-1952)
Jan 5th - Joan Coxsedge, Australian politician
Jan 6th - Gerard van Muiden, Dutch MP (CDA)
Jan 6th - Graeme Hole, cricketer (Australian batsman of the fifties)
Jan 6th - Capucine, [Germaine Lefebvre], Toulon France, actress (Pink Panther, What's New Pussycat?) (d. 1990)
Jan 6th - E. L. Doctorow, American author
Jan 7th - Mack Mattingly, (Sen-R-GA, 1981-86)
Jan 8th - Bill Graham, Germany, rock promoter (Fillmore)
Jan 8th - May Wynn, [Donna Lee Hickey], NYC, actress (Caine Mutiny, Noah's Ark)
Jan 9th - Algi[rda]s [Jonas] Budrys, Prussia, sci-fi author (Man of Earth)
Jan 9th - Geoffrey Wragg, British(?) reorganizer
Jan 10th - Alexander L "Alex" Boraine, South Africa vicar/MP
Jan 10th - Ron Galella, celebrity photographer (sued by Jackie O)
Jan 10th - Peter Barnes, English writer (d. 2004)
Jan 11th - Ed Hall, Roxbury Mass, actor (Dr Bicker-Medical Center)
Jan 11th - Betty Churcher, director of the National Gallery of Australia
Jan 13th - Charles Nelson Reilly, NYC, actor (Match Game, Ghost & Mrs Muir)
Jan 13th - Ian Hendry, English actor (d. 1984)
Jan 14th - Juraj Pospisil, composer
Jan 14th - Frank Costigan, Australian lawyer
Jan 15th - Derek Meddings, special effects technician
Jan 15th - Murad Kazhlayev, composer
Jan 15th - Thomas Hoving, NYC, news correspondent (20/20)
Jan 16th - Vladimir Skutina, writer playwright/journalist
Jan 16th - Johannes Rau, German politician (d. 2006)
Jan 17th - Frederick Alfred Fox, composer
Jan 17th - James Earl Jones, Miss, actor (Darth Vader, Exorcist II, Soul Man)
Jan 17th - L Douglas Wilder, (Gov-D-Va)
Jan 17th - Don Zimmer, American baseball coach
Jan 19th - Robert MacNeil, Montreal, news anchor (NBC Weekend News, 1965-67)
Jan 19th - Ron Packard, (Rep-R-CA, 1983- )
Jan 20th - Sawako Ariyoshi, Japanese writer (Compound Pollution, Doctor's Wife)
Jan 20th - Thomas Roy Garrett, museum curator
Jan 20th - Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese songwriter and pianist (d. 1992)
Jan 22nd - Galina Zybina, USSR, discus thrower (15 world records between 1952-58)
Jan 22nd - Sam Cooke, American singer (d. 1964)
Jan 24th - Ib Norholm, composer
Jan 25th - Dean Jones, Decatur Ala, actor (Ensign O'Toole, Company, Love Bug)
Jan 25th - Harold Lloyd Jr, actor (Frankenstein's Daughter)
Jan 25th - Paavo J Haavikko, finnish writer/poet/husband of Marja-Liisa Vartio
Jan 25th - Stikkan, Stig Anderson, music entrepreneur
Jan 26th - Mary Murphy, Wash DC, actress (A Man Alone, Maggie-Investigators)
Jan 27th - John Hopkins, writer
Jan 27th - Mordecai Richler, Montreal author, (Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz)
Jan 27th - Rudi Maugeri, rocker (Crew Cuts)
Jan 27th - Vinson, Lord
Jan 28th - Timothy Kitson, former MP
Jan 29th - Leslie Bricuse, English/US composer (Stop the world I want to get off)
Jan 30th - Jack Bowman, Chief Constable (Tayside)
Jan 30th - Shirley Hazzard, Australian author (Transit of Venus)
Jan 30th - Stewart B McKinney, (Rep-R-CT, 1971- )
Jan 30th - John Crosbie, Canadian politician
Jan 30th - Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author
Jan 31st - Bill Watson, cricketer (NSW & Australian opening batsman mid-50s)
Jan 31st - Christopher Chataway, British MP/athlete (world record 5k)
Hall of Fame MLB shortstop Ernie Banks (Jan 31st) Jan 31st - Ernie Banks, Dallas Texas, "Mr Cub" Chicago Cubs, Hall-of-Famer (short stop/1st baseman)
Jan 31st - Jean Burroughs, educationalist
Jan 31st - Nicholas Gordon Lennox, diplomat
Feb 1st - Barrel, [ABM] Frinking, teacher/Dutch MP (CVP)
Feb 1st - Boris Yeltsin, Ural Mts USSR, president of Russian SSR
Feb 1st - Madeline Berthod, Switzerland, downhill skier (Olympic-gold-1956)
Feb 1st - Mark Richmond, CEO (Science & Engineering Research Council)
Feb 1st - Ton [ABM] Frinking, Dutch MP (CDA)
Feb 2nd - Andreas "Andries" van Agt, Dutch premier (CDA, 1977-82)
Feb 2nd - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
Feb 2nd - Les Dawson, British comedian (d. 1993)
Feb 2nd - Judith Viorst, American author
Feb 4th - Argentina Rioja
Feb 4th - Isabel Peron, [Maria Martinez], dancer/president Argentina
Feb 6th - Fred Trueman, [Fiery Fred], English cricket player
Russian President Boris Yeltsin (Feb 1st) Feb 6th - Freddie Trueman, cricketer ("Fiery Fred", 307 wickets for England)
Feb 6th - Rip Torn, Tx, actor (Coma, Summer Rental, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
Feb 6th - Mamie Van Doren, American actress
Feb 8th - James Dean, Marion IN, stage/film actor (Giant, Rebel Without a Cause)
Feb 9th - Robert Morris, sculptor
Feb 9th - Xavier Benguerel, composer
Feb 9th - Josef Masopust, Czech footballer
Feb 10th - Gerhard Rosenfeld, composer
Feb 10th - Makoto Shinohara, composer
Feb 10th - Thomas Bernhard, writer
Feb 10th - Doug Young, American voice actor
Feb 11th - Larry Merchant, author/boxing commentator (Showtime)
Feb 12th - Constance A Morella, (Rep-R-Maryland)
Feb 12th - Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch author
Feb 14th - Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, NHL right wing (Canadiens, Rangers)
Actor James Dean (Feb 8th) Feb 14th - Lord Rossmore
Feb 14th - Phyllis McGuire, Middletown Oh, vocalist (McGuire Sisters)
Feb 14th - Vic Morrow, Bronx NY, actor (Combat, Roots, Twilight Zone the Movie)
Feb 14th - Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)
Feb 15th - W K Reid, British ombudsman
Feb 15th - [Patricia] Claire Bloom, London, actress (Charly, Look Back in Anger)
Feb 15th - Geoff Edwards, American television game show host

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 4 of 4

Jul 4th - Irish writer (Ulysses) James Joyce and Nora Barnacle finally marry in London registry office after meeting in 1904.
Sep 26th - Earl Claus von Stauffenberg marries Freiin Nina von Lerchenfeld
Dec 3rd - Silent film actress Clara Bow (26) weds actor and politician Rex Bell (28) in Las Vegas
Dec 26th - SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich marries Lina von Osten

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 118

Jan 1st - Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
Jan 3rd - Joseph J C Joffre, French marshal, dies at 78
Jan 4th - Art Acord, western actor (Set Free, Spurs & Saddles), dies at 40
Jan 9th - Claude Anet [Jean Schopfer], French writer (La fille perdue), dies
Jan 9th - Wayne Munn, wrestler (b. 1896)
Jan 11th - Oscar Fetras, composer, dies at 76
Jan 11th - James Milton Carroll, American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author (b. 1852)
Jan 14th - William Ernst Johnson, British mathematician, dies
Jan 21st - Felix Blumenfeld, composer, dies at 67
Jan 22nd - Alma Rubens, American actress (b. 1897)
Jan 23rd - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (Diaghilew, Dying Swan), dies
Feb 2nd - Theodor Batthynyi, Hungarian contra-revolutionary, dies at 71
Feb 3rd - Hans Schardt, Swiss geologist, dies at 72
Feb 7th - Ion Vidu, composer, dies at 67
Feb 11th - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (steam turbine), dies at 76
Feb 11th - Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine, dies
Feb 12th - Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (b. 1855)
Feb 18th - Milan Šufflay, Croatian politician (b. 1879)
Feb 23rd - Nellie Melba, [Helen Mitchell], Australian soprano, dies
Feb 26th - Otto Wallach, German chemist (Nobel 1910), dies at 83
Feb 28th - Ban Johnson, created (baseball's AL), dies after a long illness
Mar 5th - Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, Anglican Clergyman prosecuted and imprisoned for ritualist activities (b. 1839)
Mar 7th - Akseli V Gallen-Kallela, Finnish painter/illustrator, dies at 65
Mar 7th - Theo van Doesburg, [Christian Kupper], painter/architect, dies at 47
Mar 8th - Clara Kathleen Rogers, composer, dies at 87
Mar 9th - Ida B Wells-Barnett, famous black, dies in Chicago at 78
Mar 11th - F.W. Murnau, German film director (b. 1888)
Mar 20th - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
Mar 22nd - Ban Johnson, founder of baseball's American League, dies at 67
Mar 23rd - Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev Indian freedom fighters
Mar 27th - Arnold Bennett, novelist, dies
Mar 31st - Knute Rockne, football player/coach, dies in a plane crash at 43
Apr 4th - George Whitefield Chadwick, composer, dies at 76
Apr 6th - Giuseppi Radiciotti, composer, dies at 73
Apr 8th - Eric Axel Karlfeldt, poet, dies
Apr 9th - Paul Antonin Vidal, composer, dies at 67
Apr 10th - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and painter (b. 1883)
Apr 25th - A J Y (Bert) Hopkins, cricketer (20 Tests for Aust, 509 runs), dies
Apr 30th - Sammy Woods, cricketer (3 Tests for Australia, 3 for England), dies
May 3rd - Frank Hoyt Losey, composer, dies at 59
May 3rd - Otto Winter-Hjelm, composer, dies at 93
May 5th - Glen Kidston, British aviator and racing driver (b. 1899)
May 9th - A[lbert] A[braham] Michelson, US physicist (1907 Nobel), dies at 78
May 12th - Eugene Ysaye, composer, dies at 72
May 12th - Eugene-Auguste Ysaye, composer, dies at 72
May 13th - Josif Marinkovic, composer, dies at 79
May 14th - David Belasco, American theatrical producer (b. 1853)
May 14th - Denys Finch Hatton, English big-game hunter (b. 1887)
May 17th - Johan [Eliza J] de Master, art critic/writer, dies
May 17th - Timothy Cole, wood engraver, dies
May 31st - Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, French Canadian cardinal, archbishop of Quebec (b. 1866)
Jun 4th - Ibn Ali Hussein, King of Hejaz, dies
Jun 9th - Henrique Oswald, composer, dies at 79
Jun 13th - Shibasaburo Kitasato, Japanese physician (b. 1851)
Jun 22nd - Armand Fallières, French president (b. 1841)
Jun 29th - Nérée Beauchemin, Quebec poet (b. 1850)
Jul 4th - Emanuele F duke of Aosta, Italian WW I-general/fascist, dies at 62
Jul 4th - Hussein ibn-Ali, sjarif Mecca/king/kalief of Hedzjaz (1917-24), dies
Jul 7th - Johannes Jacobus "Kodgee" Kotze, cricketer (South Africa 1902-07), dies
Jul 15th - Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian economist (b. 1868)
Jul 16th - Charles Studd, cricketer (5 Tests for England 1882-83), dies
Jul 24th - Marie WF Treub, Dutch economist/minister of finance, dies at 75
Jul 27th - Auguste-Henri Forel, Swiss entomologist (b. 1848)
Aug 4th - Daniel H Williams, doctor (pioneer in surgery), dies
Heart surgeon Daniel Williams (Aug 4th) Aug 4th - Daniel Williams, American heart surgeon, dies at 73
Aug 5th - Ullrich Haupt, actor (Morocco, Du Barry-Woman of Passion), dies at 43
Aug 6th - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903)
Aug 7th - Leon Bismarck "Bix" Beiderbecke, jazz cornetist (In Mist), dies at 29
Aug 20th - Waldemar von Baussnern, composer, dies at 64
Aug 27th - Willem H Nolens, priest/2nd Chamber member, dies
Aug 27th - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)
Aug 27th - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (b. 1846)
Aug 29th - David Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch founder
Aug 31st - Marcel Planiol, French private law scholar, dies
Sep 5th - John Thomson, football player who died in an accidental collision during a match (b. 1909)
Sep 9th - Lujo [Ludwig J von] Brentano, German economist dies at 86
Sep 10th - Alfonso Randano, composer, dies at 78
Sep 10th - Dmitri Egorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1869)
Sep 11th - Salvatore Maranzano, American crime boss (b. 1868)
Sep 18th - Hazrat Babajan, a Baloch Muslim saint (b. c. 1806)
Sep 20th - Sam Morris, cricketer (one Test Aust v Eng 1884), dies
Oct 2nd - Thomas Johnstone Lipton, sportsman/merchant, dies
Oct 3rd - Carl August Nielsen, composer, dies at 66
Oct 8th - Sir John Monash, Australian soldier general (b. 1865)
Oct 10th - Karl von Bach, German engineer (Maschinenelemente), dies at 84
Oct 13th - Ernst Didring, Swedish author (b. 1868)
Oct 17th - Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist (b. 1884)
Inventor Thomas Edison (Oct 18th) Oct 18th - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor, dies in West Orange, NJ, at 84
Oct 20th - Emanuel Moor, composer, dies at 68
Oct 21st - A Schnitzler, writer, dies at 69
Oct 24th - Murray Bisset, cricketer (S Afr)/Chief Justice of Rhodesia, dies
Oct 26th - Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b. 1859)
Oct 29th - Luciano Gallet, composer, dies at 38
Nov 2nd - Arthur James Cook, union leader (coal miners), dies at 47
Nov 2nd - Harry Musgrove, cricketer (Test for Australia 1885), dies
Nov 3rd - Rudolf W Canne, Fries playwright (Peaske), dies at 60
Nov 4th - Charles Buddy Bolden, US jazz musician, dies
Nov 11th - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
Nov 15th - Cornelis A J van Dishoeck, publisher, dies
Nov 17th - Georgi Atanasov, composer, dies at 50