1931

Year '1931' ('MCMXXXI') was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents

Events of 1931

January-February

March-April

May-June

July-August

September-October

November-December

Undated

Ongoing

Births

January-February

March-April

May-June

July-August

September-October

November-December

Deaths

January - June

July - December

Nobel prizes

Ship events

See also

Notes

External links

Table of Contents

Events of 1931

January-February

★ January 4 - Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.

★ January 6 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.

★ January 22 - Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

★ January 25 - Mohandas Gandhi released again.

★ January 27 - Pierre Laval forms a government in France.

★ February 3 - Napier earthquake - much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.

★ February 10 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.


★ February 14 - The original film version of ''Dracula'' with Bela Lugosi is released.

★ February 16 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud elected president of Finland.



★ February 20 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

★ February 21 - Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima.

March-April

★ March 1 - USS ''Arizona'' placed back in full commission after a refit.

★ March 3 - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.

★ March 4 - British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi negotiate.

★ March 7 - New House of Representatives opened in Helsinki, Finland.

★ March 11 - ''Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR'' programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.

★ March 17 - Nevada legalizes gambling.

★ March 23 - Revolt for Independent India leaders Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are hanged by the British Government.

★ March 25 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.

★ March 27 - British writer Arnold Bennett dies in Paris when he drinks local water to prove it safe to drink - but is poisoned.

★ March 31 - An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua killing 2000 people.

★ April 6 - Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores because of an attempted military takeover in Funchal.

★ April 9 - Execution of Argentinian anarchist Severino Digiovanni.

★ April 14 - 2nd Spanish Republic proclaimed in Spain.

★ April 15 - The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as ''capo di tutti i capi'', "boss of all bosses" and undisputed ruler of the American mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.

★ April 18 - An incorporation of Cheverly, Maryland is made.

★ April 22 - Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and USA recognize the Spanish Republic.

May-June

★ May 1 - Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.

★ May 4 - Kemal Atatürk re-elected president of Turkey.

★ May 13 - Paul Doumer elected president of France.

★ June 12 - Charlie Parker equals J.T. Hearne's record for the earliest date to reach 100 wickets.

★ June 14 - Yacht ''St Philiebert'' sinks in river Loire in France - over 500 drown

★ June 23 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane. [1]

July-August

★ July - John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron big butt lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic

★ July 1 - Official opening of Milan Central Station

★ July 16 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia

★ Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people - the most deadly historic natural disaster.

★ August 24 - Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain - replaced by National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald.

★ August 31 - Yangtze River floods - 23 million made homeless

September-October

★ September 5 - John Thomson, soccer player, dies in an accident during a Celtic - Rangers match

★ September 10 - The worst hurricane in Belize history kills an estimated 1,500 people.

★ September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes in Royal Navy due to decreased salaries

★ September 18 - Mukden Incident. After that, Japan uses it to occupy Manchuria.

★ September 18 - Geli Raubal is found shot dead in Hitler's apartment

★ October - The Caltech Department of Physics Faculty and graduate students meet with Albert Einstein as a guest.

November-December

★ November 6 - Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba arrives in America for the first time.

★ November 7 - Chinese Soviet Republic proclaimed by Mao Tse Tung.

★ November 8

★
★ French police launch a large scale raid against Corsican bandits.

★
★ Panama Canal is closed for couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes.

★ December 10 - Niceto Alcalá-Zamora elected president of Spanish republic.

★ December 11 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.

★ December 13 - Wakatsuki Reijiro resigned as Prime Minister of Japan.

★ December 26 - Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest existing Latino fraternity is founded.

Undated

★ Deuterium discovered by Harold Clayton Urey.

★ Ust-Abakanskoye becomes Abakan.

★ National Committee for Modification of the Volstead Act formed to work for repeal of prohibition in United States.

★ Radio Vaticana first broadcast.

★ The Persistence of Memory is put on display for the first time in Paris at the Galerie Pierre Colle.

Ongoing

★ Rise of the NAZI party.

Births

January-February

★ January 5

★
★ Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)

★
★ Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist

★
★ Robert Duvall, American actor and director

★ January 6 - E. L. Doctorow, American author

★ January 8 - Bill Graham, German concert promoter (d. 1991)

★ January 10 - Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)

★ January 12 - Roland Alphonso, Jamaican musician (d. 1998)

★ January 13 - Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor (d. 2007)

★ January 14 - Caterina Valente, French singer and actress

★ January 16 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)

★ January 17 - James Earl Jones, American actor

★ January 19 - Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist

★ January 20 - David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

★ January 22 - Sam Cooke, American singer (d. 1964)

★ January 26 - Alfred Lynch, English actor (d. 2003)

★ January 27 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)

★ January 30 - Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author

★ January 31 - Ernie Banks, baseball player

★ February 1 - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia (d. 2007)

★ February 2

★
★ Dries van Agt, Dutch politician

★
★ Les Dawson, British comedian (d. 1993)

★ February 6 - Rip Torn, American actor and director

★ February 8 - James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)

★ February 10 - Thomas Bernhard, Dutch author (d. 1989)

★ February 11 - Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator

★ February 13 - Geoff Edwards, American actor and game show host

★ February 16 - Ken Takakura, Japanese actor

★ February 18 - Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)

★ February 18 - Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate

★ February 18 - Bob St. Clair, American football player

★ February 24 - Brian Close, British cricketer

★ February 26 - Ally McLeod, Scottish football manager

★ February 28 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach

March-April

★ March 2

★
★ Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

★ March 4

★
★ Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)

★
★ William Henry Keeler, American Roman Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal

★
★ Alice Rivlin, American economist

★ March 11 - Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born publisher

★ March 22

★
★ Burton Richter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

★
★ William Shatner, Canadian actor

★ March 26 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director

★ March 29 - Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut

★ April 1 - Rolf Hochhuth, German writer

★ April 11 - Johnny Sheffield, American actor

★ April 27 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist

★ April 29

★
★ Frank Auerbach, German-born painter

★
★ Lonnie Donegan, Scottish musician (d. 2002)

May-June

★ May 6 - Willie Mays, baseball player

★ May 7 - Teresa Brewer, American singer

★ May 13

★
★ Jim Jones, American cult leader (d. 1978)

★
★ Jiri Petr, Czech university president

★ May 14 - Alvin Lucier, American composer

★ May 15

★
★ Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

★
★ Ken Venturi, American golfer

★ May 16 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician

★ May 18 - Robert Morse, American actor

★ May 19 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor

★ May 20 - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)

★ May 25 - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut

★ May 31

★
★ John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

★
★ Shirley Verrett, American mezzo-soprano

★ June 3 - Lindy Remigino, American athlete

★ June 7 - Malcolm Morley, English-born painter

★ June 9 - Joe Santos, American actor

★ June 13 - Moysés Baumstein, Brazilian Holographer and artist

★ June 14 - Ross Higgins, Australian actor

★ June 27 - Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

July-August

★ July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress

★ July 4 - Stephen Boyd, Irish actor (d. 1977)

★ July 6 - Della Reese, American singer and actress

★ July 10 - Alice Munro, Canadian writer

★ July 23 - Te Atairangi Kaahu, Māori Queen (d. 2006)

★ July 26 - Fred Foster, American songwriter and record producer

★ August 7 - Charles E. "Charlie" Rice, Legal Scholar and Author

★ August 12 - William Goldman, American author

★ August 15 - Joe Feeney, American singer

★ August 18 - Bramwell Tillsley, General of The Salvation Army

★ August 19 - Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)

★ August 23 - Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

★ August 25 - Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (d. 2007)

★ August 25 - Regis Philbin, American television personality

★ August 28 - John Shirley-Quirk, English bass-baritone

★ August 31 - Jean Béliveau, Canadian hockey player

September-October

★ September 8 - Jack Rosenthal, English playwright (d. 2004)

★ September 12 - George Jones, American singer and songwriter, king of country music

★ September 17 - Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)

★ September 21 - Larry Hagman, American actor

★ September 22

★
★ Fay Weldon, British author

★
★ George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (d. 2003)

★ September 23 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator and statesman (d. 2004)

★ September 29

★
★ James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

★
★ Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress

★ September 30

★
★ Angie Dickinson, American actress

★
★ Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer

★ October 6 - Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

★ October 7

★
★ Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)

★
★ Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

★ October 13 - Eddie Mathews, baseball player (d. 2001)

★ October 15 - Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, President of India

★ October 16 - James Chace, American historian (d. 2004)

★ October 17 - Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer

★ October 19 - John le Carré, English novelist

★ October 20 - Mickey Mantle, baseball player (d. 1995)

★ October 23

★
★ Jim Bunning, baseball player and U.S. Senator

★
★ Diana Dors, English actress (d. 1984)

★ October 25 - Jimmy McIlroy, Irish footballer and football manager

★ October 31 - Dan Rather, American television news reporter

November-December

★ April 20 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (d. 2007)

★ November 5 - Ike Turner, American singer and songwriter

★ November 7 - G. Edward Griffin, American political commentator, writer and documentary filmmaker

★ November 15 - Mwai Kibaki, third President of Kenya

★ November 21

★
★ Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer (d. 2003)

★
★ Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian physicist (d. 1985)

★ November 23 - Dervla Murphy, Irish author

★ November 26 - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

★ November 28 - Hope Lange, American actress (d. 2003)

★ December 1

★
★ Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)

★
★ Jim Nesbitt, singer

★ December 2

★
★ Edwin Meese, American attorney general

★
★ Nigel Calder, British science writer

★ December 11 - Rita Moreno, Academy award-winning Puerto Rican actress

★ December 12 - Lionel Blair, British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, headmaster and TV presenter

★ December 23 - Ronnie Schell, American actor

★ December 24 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer

★ December 30 - Skeeter Davis, American singer (d. 2004)

★ December 31 - Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)

Deaths

January - June

★ January 11 - James Milton Carroll, Baptist pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852)

★ January 14 - Hardy Richardson, baseball player (b. 1855)

★ January 22 - Alma Rubens, American actress (b. 1897)

★ January 23 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)

★ February 11 - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (b. 1854)

★ February 16 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, German photographer (b. 1856)

★ February 23 - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano (b. 1861)

★ February 26 - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)

★ March 5 - Arthur Tooth, Anglican clergyman (b. 1839)

★ March 7 - Akseli Gallén-Kallela, Finnish painter (b. 1865)

★ March 11 - F.W. Murnau, German director (b. 1888)

★ March 20 - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)

★ March 21 - Bhagat Singh, Indian revolutionary (b. 1908)

★ March 27 - Arnold Bennett, novelist (b. 1867)

★ March 31 - Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)

★ April 8 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)

★ April 10 - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and painter (b. 1883)

★ April 30 - Sammy Woods, English cricketer (b. 1867)

★ May 9 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)

★ May 14 - David Belasco, American writer (b. 1853)

July - December

★ July 4 - Buddie Petit, American jazz musician

★ July 12 - Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1866)

★ August 6 - Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1903)

★ August 26 - Hamaguchi Osachi, 27th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1870)

★ August 27

★
★ Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)

★
★ Francis Marion Smith, American businessman (b. 1846)

★ September 5 - John Thomson, Scottish footballer (b. 1909)

★ October 13 - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer (b. 1868)

★ October 18 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)

★ November 11 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)

★ December 2 - Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)

★ December 5 - Vachel Lindsay, American poet (b. 1879)

★ ''date unknown'' - Joseph Tabrar, British songwriter (b. 1857)

Nobel prizes

★ Physics - not awarded

★ Chemistry - Carl Bosch, Friedrich Bergius

★ Physiology or Medicine - Otto Heinrich Warburg

★ Literature - Erik Axel Karlfeldt

★ Peace - Jane Addams, Nicholas Murray Butler

Ship events

★ List of ship launches in 1931

★ List of ship commissionings in 1931

★ List of ship decommissionings in 1931

★ List of shipwrecks in 1931

See also

★ 20th century

Notes

External links

Table of Contents

__TOC__