July 31
July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining, as the final day of July. Events1009 - Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV1423 - 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. 1790 - First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins. 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. 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. 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 Airlines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 891975 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing. 1976 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 11987 - A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage. 1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain south 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.
Births1396 - Philip III of Burgundy, duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)1803 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d. 1889)1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)1901 - Jean Dubuffet, painter and sculptor (d. 1985)1911 - George Liberace, musician (d. 1983)1912 - Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics 1912 - Irv Kupcinet, newspaper columnist (d. 2003)1913 - William Todman, game show producer1914 - Louis de Funès, actor and comedian (d. 1983)1916 - Bill Todman, game show producer (d. 1979)1918 - Hank Jones, pianist1919 - Curt Gowdy, sports announcer 1919 - Primo Levi, author, chemist (d. 1987)1921 - Whitney Young, civil rights activist (d. 1971)1923 - Ahmet Ertegun, record company executive1928 - Kurt Sontheimer, political scientist1929 - Don Murray, actor1930 - Oleg Popov, clown1931 - Kenny Burrell, guitarist1939 - France Nuyen, actress1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, politician1943 - William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education and drug czar 1943 - Susan Flannery, actress1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, actress1946 - Gary Lewis, rock and roll musician1946 - Bob Welch, rock and roll musician1951 - Evonne Goolagong, tennis star 1951 - Barry Van Dyke, actor1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, mayor of Fresno, California 1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian ice-hockey player1958 - Bill Berry, rock and roll musician (of the band R.E.M) 1958 - Mark Cuban, billionaire businessman, producer, Dallas Mavericks owner1959 - Stanley Jordan, jazz guitarist1962 - Wesley Snipes, actor1964 - Jim Corr, singer, musician ("The Corrs")1965 - J. K. Rowling, novelist1966 - Dean Cain, actor1974 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player1974 - Luca Tiengo, Italian guitar player1977 - Tim Couch, American football quarterback1981 - Eric Lively, actor 1981 - Ira Losco, Maltese singer
Deaths1099 - Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"), Spanish warrior1108 - King Philip I of France1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury1547 - King Francis I of France (b. 1494)1556 - Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)1886 - Franz Liszt, composer1914 - Jean Jaurès, French Socialist politician (d. 1859)1917 - Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet1937 - Charles Martine, Apache scout 1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer1953 - Robert Taft, Senator from Ohio, former candidate for President of the United States, son of William Howard Taft, "Mr. Republican"1980 - Mohd. Rafi, Bollywood playback singer. (b. 24 December1924)1993 - Baudouin I of Belgium2001 - Poul Anderson, science fiction author2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist
Holidays and observances
July 30 - August 1 - June 30 - August 31 -- listing of all days
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