1931
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| Centuries: | 19th century - 20th century - 21st century |
| Decades: | 1900s 1910s 1920s - 1930s - 1940s 1950s 1960s |
| Years: | 1928 1929 1930 - 1931 - 1932 1933 1934 |
| 1931 by topic: |
| Subject: Archaeology - Architecture - Art |
| Aviation - Film - Literature (Poetry) Meteorology - Music (Country) Rail transport - Radio - Science |
| Sports - Television |
| Countries: Australia - Canada - India - Ireland |
| Malaysia - New Zealand - Norway - Singapore South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe |
| Leaders: Sovereign states - State leaders |
| Religious leaders - Law |
| Categories: Births - Deaths - Works - Introductions |
| Establishments - Disestablishments - Awards |
Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
| Contents: |
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[edit] Events of 1931
[edit] 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 7 - 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 12 - Radio Vaticana first broadcast.
- 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.
[edit] 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 is 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.
[edit] 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 - Overloaded pleasure craft Saint-Philibert, carrying trippers home to Nantes from Île de Noirmoutier, sinks at the mouth of the river Loire in France - over 450 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]
[edit] July-August
- July - John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron 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
[edit] 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.
[edit] November-December
- November 6 - Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba arrives in America for the first time.
- November 7 - Chinese Soviet Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong.
- 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 12 - Eta Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi was founded at The University of Maine at Machias
- December 13 - Wakatsuki Reijiro resigned as Prime Minister of Japan.
- December 26 - Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest existing Latino fraternity is founded.
[edit] 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.
- The Persistence of Memory is put on display for the first time in Paris at the Galerie Pierre Colle.
[edit] Ongoing
- Rise of the NAZI party.
[edit] Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1931 MCMXXXI |
| Ab urbe condita | 2684 |
| Armenian calendar | 1380 ԹՎ ՌՅՁ |
| Bahá'í calendar | 87 – 88 |
| Berber calendar | 2881 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2475 |
| Burmese calendar | 1293 |
| Chinese calendar | 4567/4627-11-13 (庚午年十一月十三日) — to —
4568/4628-11-23(辛未年十一月廿三日) |
| Coptic calendar | 1647 – 1648 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1923 – 1924 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5691 – 5692 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1986 – 1987 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1853 – 1854 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5032 – 5033 |
| Holocene calendar | 11931 |
| Iranian calendar | 1309 – 1310 |
| Islamic calendar | 1349 – 1350 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 6 (昭和6年) |
| - Imperial Year | Kōki 2591 (皇紀2591年) |
| Korean calendar | 4264 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2474 |
[edit] 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
- George E. Sangmeister, American politician (d. 2007)
- 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
[edit] 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
- Norman Tebbit, British politician
- April 1 -
- Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
- Ita Ever, Estonian actress
- April 6 - Suchitra Sen (Roma Dasgupta), the legendary Bengali Actress, is born in Pabna (now in Bangladesh).
- 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)
[edit] May-June
- May 6 - Willie Mays, baseball player
- May 7 - Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (d. 2007)
- May 13
- 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 30 - Fr. John O'Brien, Irish priest and musician (d. 2008)
- 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 - Jackie Mason, American comedian
- 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
[edit] 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
- July 27 - Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian and actor
- August 7 - Charles E. "Charlie" Rice, Legal Scholar and Author
- August 12 - William Goldman, American author
- August 15 - Joe Feeney, American singer
- August 15 - Florian ZaBach, American musician and TV personality (d. 2006)
- 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 30 - Jack Swigert, American astronaut (d. 1982)
- August 31 - Jean Béliveau, Canadian hockey player
[edit] 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
- October 12 - Walt LeGette, Famous buffet eater
[edit] November-December
- November 3 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (d. 2007)
- November 5 - Ike Turner, American singer and songwriter (d. 2007)
- 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)
[edit] Deaths
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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
[edit] 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
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
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[edit] External links
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