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This day in history

This day in history: 31 July

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day216 · 93

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Key facts

364 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 31 July.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2020: A De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser collide over Soldotna, Alaska, killing all seven people on board both aircraft, including state representative Gary Knopp.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Abanoub

Christian feast day: Blessed Cecília Schelingová

Christian feast day: Blessed Solanus Casey

Christian feast day: Fabius

Christian feast day: Germanus of Auxerre

Christian feast day: Giustino de Jacobis

Christian feast day: Helena of Skövde

Christian feast day: Ignatius of Loyola

Christian feast day: July 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Neot

Earliest day on which the Feast of Kamál (Perfection) can fall, while August 1 is the latest; observed on the first day of the eighth month of the Baháʼí calendar. (Baháʼí Faith)

End of the Trinity term (sitting of the High Court of Justice of England)

Events

2020A De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser collide over Soldotna, Alaska, killing all seven people on board both aircraft, including state representative Gary Knopp.

2014Gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung kill at least 20 people and injure more than 270.

2012Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.

2008East Coast Jets Flight 81 crashes near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota, killing all eight people on board.

2007Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

2006Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.

1999Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector: NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon's surface.

1997FedEx Express Flight 14 crashes at Newark International Airport, injuring five.

1992China General Aviation Flight 7552 crashes during takeoff from Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport, killing 108.

1992Space Shuttle program: Atlantis is launched on STS-46 to deploy the European Retrievable Carrier and the Tethered Satellite System.

1992Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all 113 people on board.

1992The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.

1991The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

1988Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.

1987A tornado occurs in Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people.

1975The Troubles: Three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.

1973A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723, crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, killing 89.

1972The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independ

1971Apollo program: The Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.

1970Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.

1966The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappears off the Cornwall coast with the loss of all 31 aboard.

1964Ranger 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.

1948At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

1948USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.

1945Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

1941The 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 ca

1941World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.

1938Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.

1938Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).

1932The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

1917World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.

1904Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.

1874Patrick Francis Healy becomes the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.

1865The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.

1856Christchurch, New Zealand, is chartered as a city.

1790The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

1777The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission o

1763Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War.

1741Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.

1715Seven days after a Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.

Born on this day

2003Calvin Ramsay, Scottish footballer

2002João Gomes, Brazilian singer

2002Will Penisini, Australian-Tongan rugby league player

2000Kim Sae-ron, South Korean actress (died 2025)

1998Rico Rodriguez, American actor

1997Bobbi Althoff, American podcaster and influencer

1997Thomas Bryant, American basketball player

1995Lil Uzi Vert, American hip hop artist

1993Linus Ullmark, Swedish professional hockey player

1992José Fernández, Cuban-American baseball player (died 2016)

1992Kyle Larson, American race car driver

1992Ryan Johansen, Canadian ice hockey player

1991Réka Luca Jani, Hungarian tennis player

1989Alexis Knapp, American actress

1989Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player

1988A. J. Green, American football player

1988Alex Glenn, New Zealand rugby league player

1988Charlie Carver, American actor and writer

1987Michael Bradley, American soccer player

1986Brian Orakpo, American football player

1986Evgeni Malkin, Russian ice hockey player

1985Daniel Ciofani, Italian footballer

1985Rémy Di Gregorio, French cyclist

1982Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spanish tennis player

1982DeMarcus Ware, American football player

1981Paul Whatuira, New Zealand rugby league player

1981Titus Bramble, English footballer

1981Vernon Carey, American football player

1980Mikko Hirvonen, Finnish race car driver

1980Mils Muliaina, New Zealand rugby player

1979B. J. Novak, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1979Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer

1979Jaco Erasmus, South African-Italian rugby player

1979J. J. Furmaniak, American baseball player

1979Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer

1978Justin Wilson, English race car driver (died 2015)

1978Nick Sorensen, American football player and sportscaster

1978Will Champion, English drummer (Coldplay)

1978Zac Brown, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist

1976Joshua Cain, American guitarist and producer

Died on this day

2026Franco Baresi, Italian footballer (born 1960)

2026Glenn A. Baker, Australian journalist and author (born 1952)

2026Jakob Butturff, American bowler (born 1994)

2024Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian politician, political leader of Hamas (born 1962/1963)

2024Paul Bucha, United States Army Medal of Honor recipient (born 1943)

2023Angus Cloud, American actor (born 1998)

2022Bill Russell, NBA Hall of Fame player and coach (born 1934)

2022Fidel V. Ramos, 12th President of the Philippines (born 1928)

2020Alan Parker, English filmmaker (born 1944)

2019Harold Prince, Broadway producer and director, who received more Tony awards than anyone else in history (born 1928)

2018Tony Bullimore, British sailor and businessman (born 1939)

2017Jeanne Moreau, French actress (born 1928)

2016Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 58th Yokozuna (born 1955)

2016Seymour Papert, South African mathematician (born 1928)

2015Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (born 1940)

2015Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1927)

2015Howard W. Jones, American surgeon and academic (born 1910)

2015Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (born 1926)

2015Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler and actor (born 1954)

2014Jeff Bourne, English footballer (born 1948)

2014Nabarun Bhattacharya, Indian journalist and author (born 1948)

2014Warren Bennis, American scholar, author, and academic (born 1925)

2014Wilfred Feinberg, American lawyer and judge (born 1920)

2013John Graves, American captain and author (born 1920)

2013Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (born 1922)

2013Michel Donnet, English-Belgian general and pilot (born 1917)

2013Trevor Storer, English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (born 1930)

2012Alfredo Ramos, Brazilian footballer and coach (born 1924)

2012Gore Vidal, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (born 1925)

2012Mollie Hunter, Scottish author and playwright (born 1922)

Quote of the day

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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