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