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This day in history

This day in history: 31 December

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 day225 · 129

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Key facts

416 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 31 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2020: The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: December 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Pope Sylvester I (Catholic Church)

International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan)

New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: First Night (United States)

New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Last Day of the Year or Bisperás ng Bagong Taón, special holiday between Rizal Day and New Year's Day (Philippines)

New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Novy God Eve (Russia)

New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Ōmisoka (Japan)

New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: The first day of Hogmanay or "Auld Year's Night" (Scotland)

The seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

The sixth and penultimate day of Kwanzaa (United States)

Events

2020The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

2019The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2018Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia.

2015A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, anoth

2014A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.

2011NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.

2010Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touche

2009Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

2004The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

2001Rwanda adopts a new national flag and anthem.

1999Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.

1999The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.

1999The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

1998The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.

1995The final comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published.

1994The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.

1994This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

1992Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

1991All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

1986Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others, making it the second-deadliest hotel fire in American history.

1983Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.

1983In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.

1983The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

1981A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

1968MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.

1968The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.

1965Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.

1963The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

1961RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.

1956The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.

1955General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

1951Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.

1946President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

1944World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major Wehrmacht offensive on the Western Front, begins.

1942USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.

1942World War II: The Royal Navy defeats the Kriegsmarine at the Battle of the Barents Sea. This leads to the resignation of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder a month later.

1907The first ever ball drop in Times Square.

1906Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.

1879Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1878Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.

Born on this day

2002Joe Scally, American soccer player

2002Ryan Flamingo, Dutch footballer

2002Sophia Laforteza, Filipino-American singer

2001Katie Volynets, American tennis player

2000Alycia Parks, American tennis player

1999Calvin Bassey, Italian-Nigerian footballer

1999Leif Davis, English footballer

1997Bright Osayi-Samuel, Nigerian footballer

1997Cameron Carter-Vickers, English-American soccer player

1997Ludovic Blas, French footballer

1996J. J. Arcega-Whiteside, Spanish-American football player

1995Edmond Sumner, American basketball player

1995Gabby Douglas, American gymnast

1992Amy Cure, Australian track cyclist

1992Karl Kruuda, Estonian racing driver

1991Brandon Tanev, Canadian ice hockey player

1991Dennis Everberg, Swedish ice hockey player

1991Djené, Togolese footballer

1991ND Stevenson, American cartoonist

1989Kelvin Herrera, Dominican baseball player

1989Ryo Aitaka, Japanese kickboxer and professional wrestler

1988Michal Řepík, Czech ice hockey player

1987Danny Holla, Dutch footballer

1987Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player

1987Nemanja Nikolić, Hungarian footballer

1987Seydou Doumbia, Ivorian footballer

1986Kade Snowden, Australian rugby league player

1986Nate Freiman, American baseball player

1985Jan Smit, Dutch singer and television host

1985Jonathan Horton, American gymnast

1984Ben Hannant, Australian rugby league player

1984Calvin Zola, Congolese footballer

1984Corey Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player

1984Édgar Lugo, Mexican footballer

1983Jana Veselá, Czech basketball player

1982Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer

1982Julio DePaula, Dominican baseball player

1982Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player

1982The Rocket Summer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1981Francisco García, Dominican basketball player

Died on this day

2024Arnold Rüütel, Estonian politician, 3rd President of Estonia (born 1928)

2024Johnnie Walker, British radio DJ (born 1945)

2023Cale Yarborough, American Hall of Fame racing driver and founder of Cale Yarborough Motorsports, NASCAR Cup Series champion (1976, 1977, 1978) (born 1939)

2022Barry Lane, English golfer (born 1960)

2022Pope Benedict XVI, German Roman Catholic cardinal and theologian, pope (2005–2013) and archbishop of Munich and Freising (1977–1982) (born 1927)

2021Betty White, American actress, comedian and producer (born 1922)

2018Kader Khan, Indian actor (born 1937)

2016William Christopher, American actor (born 1932)

2015Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1950)

2015Wayne Rogers, American actor and investor (born 1933)

2014Abdullah Hussain, Malaysian author (born 1920)

2014Edward Herrmann, American actor (born 1943)

2014Norm Phelps, American author and activist (born 1939)

2014S. Arthur Spiegel, American captain, lawyer, and judge (born 1920)

2014Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, British soldier and politician (born 1915)

2013Bob Grant, American radio host (born 1929)

2013Irina Korschunow, German author and screenwriter (born 1925)

2013James Avery, American actor (born 1945)

2013Roberto Ciotti, Italian guitarist and composer (born 1953)

2012Günter Rössler, German photographer and journalist (born 1926)

2012Jovette Marchessault, Canadian author and playwright (born 1938)

2012Tarak Mekki, Tunisian businessman and politician (born 1958)

2010Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

2010Raymond Impanis, Belgian cyclist (born 1925)

2009Cahal Daly, Irish cardinal and philosopher, Archbishop of Armagh (born 1917)

2009Justin Keating, Irish surgeon, journalist, and politician, Minister for Industry and Commerce (born 1930)

2008Donald E. Westlake, American author and screenwriter (born 1933)

2007Bill Idelson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1919)

2007Ettore Sottsass, Austrian-Italian architect and designer (born 1917)

2007Michael Goldberg, American painter and educator (born 1924)

Quote of the day

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

attributed to Marcus Aurelius

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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