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May 31

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This date in recent years

May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1678 - The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
1775 - Patriots in Charlotte, North Carolina adopt the Mecklenburg Resolutions urging the American Colonies to declare independence from Great Britain.
1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Seven Pines.
1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Cold Harbor begins.
1866 - In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
1884 - John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes.
1889 - Johnstown Flood: Over 2200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1902 - Second Boer War: The last Afrikaner resistance forces sign a peace treaty with the British at Pretoria, ending the war, and ensuring British control of South Africa.
1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa.
1913 - The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing direct election of United States Senators, is declared ratified.
1916 - World War I: The German and British navies clash in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the war.
1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma,USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
1921 - Comedian Buster Keaton marries actress Natalie Talmadge.
1924 - The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect
1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
1942 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia; the Luftwaffe bombs Coventry, England
1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service in the United States Army.
1961 - Creation of the Republic of South Africa.
1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves
1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono record Give Peace a Chance, the first single recorded by a solo Beatle, from their hotel bed.
1970 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
1972 - AFC Ajax Wins the Europecup 1 (UEFA Champions League) for the 2nd time in a row, making it their 2nd
1974 - Syria and Israel sign a disengagement agreement to resolve the Yom Kippur War
1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
1985 - The US-Canadian Outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1990 - The pilot episode of Seinfeld premires
1997 - Canada's Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.
2002 - The 17th Football World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, begins with a 1-0 upset of France by Senegal. The tournament ends on June 30, with Brazil winning a record fifth World Cup title.
2002 - The Secretary of the Navy directed all United States Navy ships to fly the first naval ensign in honor of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The ensign will be flown for the duration of the War on Terrorism.
2003 - The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
2003 - 1996 Atlanta Olympic Bomber Eric Rudolph is captured in Murphy, North Carolina.
2004 - A foul-up during routine software update at the Royal Bank of Canada leads to a three-day misplacement of 10 million account balances.
2005 - W. Mark Felt admits in the magazine Vanity Fair that he is the anonymous source Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal.

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Births

1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1131)
1443 - Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
1469 - King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
1535 - Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
1557 - Feodor I, Tsar of Russia (d. 1598)
1613 - John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
1640 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
1656 - Marin Marais, French composer and viol player (d. 1728)
1753 - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French Revolutionary (d. 1793)
1773 - Ludwig Tieck, German poet and writer (d. 1853)
1801 - Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
1819 - Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
1838 - Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
1857 - Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
1860 - Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
1863 - Francis Younghusband, British explorer (d. 1942)
1872 - Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander, President of Finland (d. 1942)
1887 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 - Michel Kikoine, Belarus painter (d. 1968)
1892 - Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)
1894 - Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
1908 - Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
1911 - Maurice Allais, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1912 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
1922 - Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
1923 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005)
1930 - Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, and producer
1931 - John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 - Shirley Verrett, American soprano
1932 - Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
1935 - Jim Bolger, Prime Minister of New Zealand
1938 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (d. 2003)
1938 - John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1938 - Peter Yarrow, American folk singer (Peter, Paul and Mary)
1939 - Terry Waite, British humanitarian
1941 - Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1943 - Sharon Gless, American actress
1943 - Joe Namath, American football player
1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982)
1948 - John Bonham, British musician (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
1949 - Tom Berenger, American actor
1950 - Gregory Harrison, American actor
1957 - Jim Craig, American hockey player
1960 - Chris Elliott, American comedian
1961 - Lea Thompson, American actress
1962 - Corey Hart, Canadian singer and songwriter
1963 - Wesley Willis, American musician
1963 - Jeremy Hotz, Canadian stand-up comedian
1965 - Brooke Shields, American model and actress
1967 - Kenny Lofton, baseball player
1972 - Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier
1975 - Sienna Guillory, English Actress
1976 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor
1977 - Scott Klopfenstein, American Vocalist/Guitarist/Keyboardist for Reel Big Fish and The Littlest Man Band
1980 - Andrew Hurley, American Drummer for Fall Out Boy
1984 - Jason Smith, Australian actor

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Deaths

1246 - Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England
1349 - Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
1408 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
1410 - King Martin I of Aragon (b. 1356)
1495 - Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, (b. 1415)
1558 - Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)
1594 - Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)
1680 - Joachim Neander, German clergyman (b. 1650)
1740 - King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
1747 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
1799 - Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
1809 - Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
1809 - Jean Lannes, French marshal (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1769)
1831 - Samuel Bentham, British mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
1832 - Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
1846 - Philip Marheineke, German clergyman (b. 1780)
1847 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, author, and scientist (b. 1780)
1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, French writer (b. 1805)
1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (b. 1821)
1957 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
1960 - Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
1960 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
1962 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (b. 1906)
1976 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
1977 - William Castle, American director (b. 1914)
1978 - József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
1983 - Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
1996 - Timothy Leary, American professor and free-thinker (b. 1920)
1996 - Paul Peter Piech, American artist (b. 1920)
1997 - James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b. 1905)
2000 - Tito Puente, American musician (b. 1923)
2000 - Johnnie Taylor, American singer (b. 1938)
2004 - Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)

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Holidays and observances

Feast day of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces
The Godiva procession
World No Tobacco day
Syaday (Discordianism) (5th day of the season of Confusion, honors Apostle Sri Syadasti)

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