January 31

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.
• 1918 - A 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.
• 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 - US Army private 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.
• 1971 - The 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.
• 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. After the game, Family Guy aired its pilot episode.
• 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 crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2004 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.
  

  Births

• 1338 - King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
• 1550 - Henry I, Duke of Guise, leader of French Catholic faction (d. 1588)
• 1752 - Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
• 1797 - Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
• 1872 - Zane Grey, American Western writer (d. 1939)
• 1884 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (d. 1963)
• 1889 - Frank Foster, Warwickshire all-round cricketer (d. 1958)
• 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, American 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, American actress
• 1921 - Mario Lanza, American 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, American 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, 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 - Jonathan Banks, actor
• 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 de Rossi, 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
• 1984 - Ashley Blue, pornographic actress

  Deaths

• 743 - Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam (b. 676)
• 1398 - Emperor Suko of Japan (b. 1334)
• 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)
• 1999 - Norm Zauchin, Major League Baseball player (b. 1929)
• 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.
  

  External links

• BBC: On This Day