December 31
December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years ) in the Gregorian Calendar . It is the final day of the Gregorian year.
Events
406 - Vandals , Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine , beginning an invasion of Gallia
1600 - British East India Company is chartered
1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope .
1695 - A window tax is imposed in England , causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax .
1775 - American Revolutionary War : British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec .
1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario , as the capital of Canada
1862 - American Civil War : Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee .
1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (Menlo Park, New Jersey ).
1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square , then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York .
1916 - The Hampton Terrace Hotel in North Augusta, South Carolina , one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the USA at the time, burns to the ground.
1929 - Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne 1944 - World War II : Hungary declares war on Germany
1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims an end of hostilities in World War II .
1955 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
1960 - The farthing coin , used in Britain since the 13th century , ceases to be legal tender .
1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe .
1963 - Central African Federation officially collapsed, and eventually became Zambia , Malawi and Rhodesia .
1968 - Marien Ngouabi assumed the presidency of the Republic of the Congo .
1972 - Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua .
1983 - The last day that the AT&T Bell System exists before being broken up by the United States Government.
1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico , kills 97 and injures 140.
1990 - Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov .
1991 - The Soviet Union officially dissolves.
1992 - In the last of the great ITV franchise renewals, Thames Television , Television South West and Television South cease broadcasting, replaced by Carlton Television , Westcountry Television and Meridian Television respectively.
1995 - The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia , to be replaced by Vladimir Putin
1999 - Five hijackers , who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
1999 - The Panama Canal comes completely under Panama 's jurisdiction.
Births
1378 - Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458 )
1491 - Jacques Cartier , French explorer (d. 1557 )
1514 - Andreas Vesal , physician (d. 1564 )
1790 - Antoine Adamberger , actress (d. 1867 )
1869 - Henri Matisse , painter and graphic artist (d. 1954 )
1880 - George Marshall , recipient of Nobel Prize in Peace 1953 for the Marshall Plan (d. 1959 )
1881 - Max Pechstein , painter and graphic artist (d. 1955 )
1894 - Pola Negri , Polish actress (d. 1987 )
1903 - Nathan Milstein , Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992 )
1905 - Jule Styne , composer (d. 1994 )
1908 - Simon Wiesenthal , concentration camp survivor, activist
1910 - Carl Dudley , American movie director (died 1973 )
1919 - Tommy Byrne , Major League Baseball player
1920 - Rex Allen , actor, singer (d. 1999 )
1930 - Odetta , singer
1932 - Mildred Scheel , physician, founder of Deutsche Krebshilfe (d. 1985 )
1932 - George Schlatter , television producer
1937 - Anthony Hopkins , actor
1938 - Rosalind Cash
1941 - Alex Ferguson , football player and manager
1943 - John Denver , country/pop musician (d. 1997 )
1943 - Ben Kingsley , actor
1945 - Taylor Hackford , producer, director
1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg , fashion designer
1947 - Burton Cummings , musician ("The Guess Who ")
1947 - Tim Matheson , actor
1948 - Donna Summer , singer
1951 - George Thorogood , musician
1953 - James Remar , actor
1958 - Bebe Neuwirth , actress
1959 - Val Kilmer , actor
1960 - John Allen Muhammad , convicted Beltway sniper
1963 - Scott Ian , lead singer of Anthrax
1971 - Brent Barry , NBA basketball player
Deaths
192 - Commodus , Roman Emperor (b. 161 )
1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria
1194 - Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157 )
1384 - John Wyclif , English theologian (b. 1328 )
1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza , daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi , Japanese daimyo (b. 1493 )
1877 - Gustave Courbet , French painter (b. 1819 )
1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch , rabbi (b. 1888 )
1936 - Miguel de Unamuno , Spanish writer, philosopher
1948 - Malcolm Campbell , Grand Prix race car driver (b. 1885 )
1969 - George Lewis , jazz musician (b. 1900 )
1972 - Roberto Clemente , Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1934 )
1980 - Marshall McLuhan , Canadian writer (b. 1911 )
1980 - Raoul Walsh , film director
1985 - Rick Nelson , singer (b. 1940 )
1990 - Vasili Lazarev , cosmonaut (b. 1928 )
1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia , scientist and writer, first President of the Republic of Georgia (b. 1939 )
1993 - Brandon Teena , murder victim (b. 1972 )
1997 - Floyd Cramer , musician
1997 - Michael Kennedy , son of Robert F. Kennedy , killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado .
1999 - Sarah Knauss , dies at the age of 119 years - at death, the world's oldest person alive. (b. 1880 ).
1999 - Elliot Richardson , U.S. politician (b. 1920 )
2000 - Alan Cranston , U.S. politician
2000 - José Greco , Spanish Flamenco dancer
2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born American scientist and professor at MIT
Holidays and observances
External links
December 30 - January 1 - November 30 - January 31 -- listing of all days
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