This Day in History for 31st May

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 196

1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
70 - Rome captures 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem
1223 - Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
1417 - Jacoba van Bavarian becomes countess of Holland/Zealand/Henegouwen
1495 - Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella & Venice sign anti-French Saint League
1531 - "Women's Revolt" in Amsterdam: wool house in churchyard aborted
1564 - Battle on Gotland: Lubeck & Denmark beat Sweden
1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1621 - Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night
1634 - US colony Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony
1659 - Netherlands, England & France sign Treaty of The Hague
1665 - Jerusalem's rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1696 - John Salomonsz elected chief of Saint-Eustatius
1727 - France, England & Netherlands sign accord of Paris
1744 - French troops conquer Kortrijk
1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
1790 - US copyright law enacted
1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Statesman/Philosopher Francis Bacon 1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1821 - Cathedral of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, 1st US Catholic cathedral, is dedicated in Baltimore
1836 - HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope
1837 - Astor Hotel opens in NYC, it later becomes the Waldorf-Astoria
1847 - Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
1849 - Last edition of Orange sheet "Journal de La Haye"
1853 - Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves NY aboard Advance
1859 - Phila A's organize to play "town ball" became baseball 20 years later
1861 - Gen Beauregard is given command of Confederate Alexandria Line
1861 - Mint at New Orleans closes
1862 - Battle of Seven Pines VA (Fair Oaks)
1864 - Raid at Morgan's Kentucky
1868 - 1st Memorial Day parade held in Ironton, Ohio
1868 - Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
1870 - Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)
1870 - E J DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement
1875 - Reciprocity Treaty between US & Hawaii ratified
1878 - German battleship Grosser Kurfurst sinks, 284 killed
1878 - US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation
1879 - 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
4th US President James Madison 1879 - Madison Square Garden opens in New York, named after 4th President James Madison
1880 - League of American Wheelmen (1st US bicycle association), forms in Newport RI
1883 - French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar
1884 - Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal"
1889 - Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Penn
1891 - Work on trans-Siberian railway begins
1893 - Whitcomb Judson, Chicago, patents a hookless fastening (zipper)
1899 - -June 5] Conference of Bloemfontein fails
1899 - Bronx acquires Keltch Memorial Park
1900 - British troops under Lord Roberts occupy Johannesburg
1900 - Piet de Law captures Lt-Col Spragges Irish Yeomanry
1900 - Tom Hayward scores 1,000th cricket run of season (sets record 1074)
1900 - US troops arrive in Beijing, help put down Boxer Rebellion
1902 - Australia Cricket all out 36 v England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever
1902 - Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
1905 - Emperor Wilhelm II lands in Tanger
1906 - Attack on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid
1907 - Taxis 1st began running in NYC
1908 - Miss Pottelsberghe de la Pottery is 1st airplane passenger (Belgium)
1909 - 1st NAACP conference (United Charities Building, NYC)
1910 - Cape of Good Hope becomes part of Union of South Africa
1910 - Glenn Curtiss flies from Albany to NYC
1910 - Union of South Africa declares independence from UK
1911 - R.M.S. Titanic launched.
1912 - US marines land on Cuba
1913 - 17th amendment (direct election of senators) declared ratified
1913 - Alexis Ahlgren runs world record maraton (2:36:06.6)
1914 - Chic White Sox Joe Benz no-hits Cleve Indians, 6-1
1915 - An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London
1916 - Battle of Skagerrak: Brit-German sea battle at Jutland (10,000 dead)
1916 - British battle cruiser Invincible explodes, killing all but 6
1917 - 1st jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball)
1919 - NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic
1921 - Suffy McInnis (1st base) begins an errorless string of 1,700
1923 - China & USSR exchange diplomats
1926 - Portuguese president Bernardino Machedo resigns after coup
1926 - Sesquicentennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia
1927 - Ford Motor Company produces last "Tin Lizzie" (begins Model A)
1927 - Tiger 1st baseman Johnny Neun makes an unassisted triple play
1928 - 1st aerial cross of Pacific takes off from Oakland
1928 - Charlie Hallows scores his 1,000th run of Cricket season
1929 - Atlantic City Convention Center opens
1930 - Bradman gets his 1,000th run of the English Cricket season
1930 - Building begins on Albert Canal in Belgium
1930 - Comet 73P/1930 (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) approaches 0.0617 AUs of Earth
1931 - 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
Baseball Great Babe Ruth 1935 - Babe Ruth grounds out in his final at bat
1935 - Quake kills 50,000 in Quetta Pakistan
1937 - 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
1937 - Bkln Dodgers snap NY Giant Carl Hubbell's 24-game winning streak
1937 - German battleships bomb Almeria Spain
1938 - Bill Edrich scores his 1,000th run of cricket season, all at Lord's
1940 - Gen-major Bernard Montgomery leaves Duinkerken
1940 - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a seperate peace with Germany
1941 - -June 1) 32.0 cm rain falls on Burlington Kansas (state record)
1941 - 1st issue of "Parade" goes on sale
1941 - 41 U boats sunk this month (325,000 ton)
1941 - British troops vacate Kreta
1941 - German occupiers forbids Jews access to beach & swimming pools
1941 - A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, Ireland claims 38 lives.
1942 - 25th PGA Championship: Sam Snead at Seaview CC Atlantic City NJ

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 236

1443 - Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
1469 - Manuel I, King of Portugal (1495-1521) during era of exploration
1472 - Erardus van der Mark, prince-bishop of Luik/cardinal
1557 - Feodor I (Fyodor/Theodore Ivanovich), Czar of Russia (1584-98)
1640 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
1656 - Marin Marias, composer
1664 - Giulio Alberoni, Spanish/Italian minister/cardinal
1674 - Friedrich Erhard Niedt, composer
1701 - Alexander Cruden, compiler of a concordance to King James Bible
1744 - Richard Edgeworth, writer, Bath
1753 - Pierre V Vergniaud, French politician/police leader
1773 - Ludwig Tieck, writer
1801 - Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
1802 - Cesare Pugni, composer
1804 - Jeanne-Louise Farrenc, composer
1810 - Horatio Seymour, Gov (Union), died in 1886
1817 - Edouard Deldevez, composer
1817 - Georg Herwegh, writer
1818 - John Albion Andrew, Gov (Union), died in 1867
1819 - Walt Whitman, West Hills, NY, poet (Leaves of Grass)
1835 - Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese military leader (d. 1869)
1837 - Ernest Daudet, French writer (White Terror)
1837 - Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Mjr General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1837 - William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee, Major General (Confederate Army)
1838 - Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (Wife at University)
1852 - Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)
1857 - Pius XI, [Ambrogio DA Ratti], Italy, 259th Pope (1922-39)
1860 - Walter Richard Sickert Munich, Danish/English painter (The Miner)
1861 - Emily Perkins Bissell, welfare worker (1st christmas seal drive, 1907)
1863 - Francis E Younghusband, British journalist/explorer
1864 - Albert J M Bakker, Dutch actor (Teun the night watch)
1866 - Vladimir Ivanovich Rebikov, composer
1872 - Charles G Abbot, US, astronomer (Constant Sun)
1872 - William Heath Robinson, England, illustrator/cartoonist (Don Quixote)
1875 - Italo Montemezzi, composer
1879 - Mark Hambourg, composer
1882 - Sándor Graf Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)
1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
1885 - Alois Hudal, bishop, helped Nazis escape trial (d. 1963)
1887 - Saint-John Perse, France, poet/diplomat (Nobel 1960) [or Mar 31]
1888 - Jack Holt, US, golddigger/actor (Cat People, San Francisco, Brimstone)
1889 - Athene Seyler, London, actress (Make Mine Mink)
1892 - Gregor Strasser, German pharmacist/NSDAP-Reich organization leader
1892 - Konstatin G Paustovski, Russian author (Bespokojnaja Joenostj) [NS]
1892 - Louis Fourestier, composer
1892 - Willem Ravelli, baritone singer
1892 - Michel Kikoine, Belarus painter (d. 1968)
1892 - Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)
1894 - Fred Allen, Cambridge Mass, comedian (Fred Allen Radio Show)
1897 - Margalo Gillmore, London, actress (Skirts Ahoy, High Society)
1898 - Johan Brouwer, Dutch pianist/writer/resistance fighter
1898 - Norman Vincent Peale, Ohio, clergyman (Power of Positive Thinking)
1899 - Leonid Leonow, writer
1900 - Helma Wolf-Catz, Dutch author (Undercurrent, Coral Reef)
1901 - Alfredo Antonini, American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1902 - Billy Mayerl, composer
1902 - Henk Schaer, [Hendricus JM Schaareman], actor/conductor
1902 - Ralph Walter Wood, composer
1905 - Roy Peaches Davis, baseball pitcher
1905 - Florence Desmond, English actress and comedian (d. 1993)
1907 - Valston Hancock, British air marshal
1908 - Don Ameche, Kenosha WI, actor (Cocoon, Trading Places)
1908 - Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (d. 2000)
1909 - Jan Lewando, British director (Marks & Spencer)
1909 - Thor Thorvaldsen, Norway, yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1948, 52)
1910 - Francis Avery Jones, British gastro-enterologist
1911 - Edward Adamson, art therapist/collector
1912 - Barbara Pepper, NYC, actress (Doris Ziffel-Green Acres, Rogue Tavern)
1912 - Dave O'Brien, Big Springs TX, actor (Kiss Me Kate, 1st Aid)
1912 - Henry M "Scoop" Jackson, (Sen-D-Wash)
1912 - Martin Schwarzschild, US astronomer (evolution)
1912 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
1913 - Peter Gibson, British Rear-Admiral
1914 - Akira Ifukube, composer
1916 - Bert Haanstra, Holten Netherlands, director (Fanfare)
1916 - John Vivyan, actor (Mr Lucky, Wrong Man, Imitation of Life)
1916 - Judy Campbell, actress (Convoy, Bonnie Prince Charlie)
1919 - Chet Gierlach, music publisher/composer
1919 - Emmanual Tettey Mensah, musician
1920 - Edward Bennett Williams, lawyer/team owner (Redskins, Balt Orioles)
1921 - Alida Valli, Pola Italy, actress (Miracle of the Bells, 3rd Man)
1921 - Andrew Grima, British jeweller
1921 - Robert Arthur Ley, UK, sci-fi author (Telepath, Power of X)
1921 - Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer
1922 - Denholm Elliott, London, actor (Alfie, Cuba, Doll's House, King Rat)
1922 - Elisabeth, arch duchess of Austria/princess of Liechtenstein
1923 - Clint Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1949- )
1923 - Wolfgang Lesser, composer
1924 - Russell Endean, cricketer (28 Tests for South Africa, handled the ball 1956)
1926 - Derek Birley, British Vice-Chancellor (Ulster U)
1926 - Probir Sen, cricket wicketkeeper (India in late 40's/early 50's)
1926 - Viscount Ingleby
1927 - Isabel Stoate, British diplomat
1927 - James Eberle, Brit admiral/director (Royal Institute of Intl Affairs)
1927 - Michael Sandberg, British CEO (Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp)
1927 - Red Holloway [James], Helena, Arkansas, jazz tenor saxophonist, (d. 2012)
1928 - Jacob Lateiner, Havana Cuba, pianist/professor (Juiliard)
1928 - Pankaj Roy, cricketer (Indian opener, 413 partnership w/Vinoo Mankad)
1929 - Aladar Zoltan, composer
1929 - Elaine Stewart, Montclair NJ, actress (Take the High Ground)

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 4 of 4

1919 - 1st wedding held in an aircraft (over Houston, Texas)
1991 - Oldest bride - Minnie Munro, 102, weds Dudley Reid, 83, in Australia
2002 - "NYPD Blue" actress Sharon Lawrence (30) weds doctor Thomas Apostle at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles
2008 - "Law & Order" actress Alana De La Garza (31) weds writer Michael Roberts in Orlando, Orange County, Florida

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 116

455 - Petronius Maximus, senator/Emperor of Rome, lynched
1091 - Hendrik van Verdun, bishop of Luik (1075-91), dies
1198 - Moses ben Solomon Ha-Cohen, rabbi of Mainz, dies
1246 - Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England
1349 - Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
1408 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
1410 - King Martin I of Aragon (b. 1356)
1495 - Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, (b. 1415)
1504 - Engelbert II, earl of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz, dies
1551 - Aristotele "Basiano" da Sangallo, Italian set designer, dies
1558 - Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)
1567 - Pereguin de la Grange, French minister/martyr of Reform, dies
1567 - Guido de Bres, Belgian theologian (b. 1522)
1594 - Tintoretto, Italian Mannerist painter, dies at 75
1620 - Willem Louis, earl of Nassau-Dillenburg, dies at 59
1665 - Pieter J Saenredam, Dutch architectural painter, dies at 67
1680 - Joachim Neander, German clergyman (b. 1650)
1696 - Heinrich Schwemmer, composer, dies at 75
1740 - Frederick-William I, King of Prussia (1713-1740), dies at 51
1747 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
1799 - Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
1809 - Ferdinand von Schill, Prussian officer/rebel, dies in battle at 33
1809 - Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (Jahreszeiten), dies at 77
1809 - Jean Lannes, French marshal (b. 1769)
1831 - Samuel Bentham, British mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
1832 - Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
1837 - Joseph Grimaldi, greatest clown (king of pantomime), dies at 57
1846 - Philip Marheineke, German clergyman (b. 1780)
1847 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor (b. 1780)
1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, French writer (b. 1805)
1849 - Leonard PJ du Bus de Gisignies, gov-gen of Neth-Indies, dies at 69
1854 - Vatroslav Lisinski, composer, dies at 34
1862 - Robert Hatton, Confederate brig-general, dies in battle at about 34
1900 - James Loudon, gov-gen of Neth-Indies (1871-75), dies at 75
1900 - John Power, Irish baronet/whiskey manufacturer, dies in battle
1906 - Hermann Schell, German theologist (Gott und Geist), dies at 56
1906 - King Alfonso XIII, assassinated in Madrid
1906 - Victoria von Battenberg, assassinated in Madrid
1908 - C L "Boy" Johnson, cricketer (Test for South Africa 1895-96), dies
1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (b. 1839)
Physician Elizabeth Blackwell (1910) 1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell, 1st woman physician, dies at 89
1916 - Horace Hood, British spy (Battle of Jutland), dies in battle
1928 - Ludwig Enneccerus, German leader, dies at 85
1928 - Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Brazilian historian, dies at 60
1931 - Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, French Canadian cardinal, archbishop of Quebec (b. 1866)
1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, German protector of Bohemia & Moravia, assassinated
1947 - Adrienne Ames, actress (Black Sheep, 24 Hours), dies at 39
1947 - Henri G Casadesus, Fr altviolist/composer (viola d'amour), dies at 66
1948 - Jose Vianna da Motta, composer, dies at 80
1952 - Walter Schellenberg, German lawyer/headed spy (Venlo), dies
1955 - "Wild Bill" Vukovich, killed in Indy 500
1955 - Raoul Gunsbourg, composer, dies at 95
1957 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
1960 - Willem Elsschot, [Alfons de Ridder], Flemish writer (Kas), dies at 78
1960 - Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
1961 - Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
1962 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi war criminal, hanged at Ramie Prison in Israel at 56
1962 - Eduardo Toldra, composer, dies at 67
1962 - Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (b. 1874)
1963 - Carel C van Essen, archaeologist (Art of Ancient Rome), dies at 63
1967 - Billy Strayhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger (b. 1915)
1970 - Terry Sawchuk, hockey player (b. 1929)
1971 - Dainty Ironmonger, cricketer (74 wkts in 14 Tests after age 46), dies
1971 - Massimo Campigli, Italian painter/illustrator, dies at 75
1971 - Reinhold Niebuhr, US theologist, dies at 78
1972 - Walter Freeman, American physician (b. 1895)
1973 - Albert Egges van Giffen, Dutch archaeologist, dies at 89
1974 - Adelle Davis, US nutrionalist (Let's stay healthy), dies at 70
1976 - Jacques Monod, French biochemist, dies
1976 - Martha Mitchell wife of former Att Gen John Mitchell, dies in NY at 57
1977 - William Castle, American film director (b. 1914)
1978 - József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
1979 - Nigel Howard, cricketer (England captain 1951-52 tour of India), dies
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey (1982) 1982 - Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight boxing champ/actor, dies at 86
1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
1987 - Dorothy Patrick, actress (Torch Song, New Orleans, High Wall), dies
1989 - C L R James, cricket writer (distinguished Trinidadian), dies
1989 - Charles A Hufnagel, doc (artificial heart valve pioneer), dies at 72
1989 - Terry Drinkwater, CBS news correspondent, dies at 53 of cancer
1991 - Angus Wilson, [Johnstone-W], British writer (Wrong Set), dies
1991 - H N "Swanie" Swanson, literary agent, dies at 91 of a stroke
1992 - Lutz Stavenhagen, top aid to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, dies at 52
1993 - John Granger, actor (Advise & Consent), dies at 69
1993 - Spuds Mackenzie, American advertisement dog
1994 - Doug Freeman, cricketer (2 Tests of leg-spin for NZ 1933), dies
1994 - Emmanuel "Manny" Klein, trumpeter, dies at 86
1994 - Herva Nelli, soprano, dies at 85
1994 - Sidney Gilliat, British screenwriter/director, dies at 86
1995 - Tim Mara, owner (NY Giants), dies at 59
1996 - Colin Morris, playwright/documentary filmmaker, dies at 80
1996 - Elsbeary Hobbs, singer, dies at 59
1996 - Neela Sanjiva Reddy, president of India (1977-82), dies
1996 - Paul Peter Piech, artist, dies at 76
1996 - Peter Gordon Dorrell, archaeologist/photographer, dies at 68
1996 - Timothy Francis Leary, Harvard prof/LSD guru, dues of cancer at 75
1997 - Rosie Will Monroe, WW II icon (Rosie the riveter), dies at 76
1997 - James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b. 1905)
1998 - Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (b. 1912)
2000 - Tito Puente, American musician (b. 1923)
2000 - Johnnie Taylor, American singer (b. 1938)