Wikipedia: August 31

August 31
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining.

Events

1535 - King Henry VIII of England is excommunicated by Pope Paul II
1876 - Ottoman sultan Murat V was deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
1886 - Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina
1888 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims
1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie camera
1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente
1957 - Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom
1962 - Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent
1978 - Symbionese Liberation Army founders William and Emily Harris plead guilty to 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst
1980 - Solidarity labor union formed in Poland
1985 - Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker" killer, is arrested in Los Angeles, California
1986 - An Aeromexico Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California killing 82, including 15 on the ground
1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares independence from the USSR
1994 - Irish Republican Army declares a cease-fire

Births

12 - Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
161 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (d. 192)
1811 - Theophile Gautier, poet, novelist († 1872)
1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer
1870 - Maria Montessori, educator († 1952)
1879 - Alma Mahler, composer († 1969)
1880 - Queen Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands († 1962)
1885 - DuBose Heyward, playwright († 1940)
1897 - Fredric March, actor († 1975)
1903 - Arthur Godfrey, television host († 1983)
1907 - William Shawn, editor
1907 - Ramon Magsaysay, Philippine president
1908 - William Saroyan, novelist, playwright († 1981)
1914 - Richard Basehart, actor († 1984)
1916 - Daniel Schorr, journalist
1918 - Alan Jay Lerner, composer
1924 - Buddy Hackett, actor, comedian
1928 - James Coburn, actor († 2002)
1935 - Frank Robinson, baseball player, manager
1935 - Eldridge Cleaver, political activist († 1998)
1938 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
1945 - Van Morrison, musician
1945 - Itzhak Perlman, musician
1949 - Richard Gere, actor
1958 - Edwin Moses, Olympic Games gold medalist in track and field
1970 - Debbie Gibson, singer
1971 - Chris Tucker, actor

Deaths

1688 - John Bunyan, poet
1867 - Charles Baudelaire, writer
1941 - Marina Tsvetaeva, poet
1969 - Rocky Marciano, boxer
1973 - John Ford, film director
1979 - Sally Rand, stripper
1986 - Henry Moore, sculptor
1986 - Urho Kekkonen, president of Finland
1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales
1997 - Dodi Fayed, film producer
2002 - Lionel Hampton, vibraphone virtuoso

Holidays and observances

Malaysia: National Day

See Also:

August 30 - September 1 - July 31 - September 30 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n