August 31

August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (244th in
leap years), with 122 days remaining.

Events

   * 1535 - King Henry VIII of England is excommunicated by Pope Paul II
   * 1876 - Ottoman sultan Murat V was deposed and succeeded by his brother
     Abd-ul-Hamid II.
   * 1886 - Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina
   * 1888 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack
     the Ripper's victims
   * 1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie camera
   * 1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente
   * 1957 - Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom
   * 1962 - Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent
   * 1978 - Symbionese Liberation Army founders William and Emily Harris
     plead guilty to 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst
   * 1980 - Solidarity labor union formed in Poland
   * 1985 - Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker" killer, is arrested in Los
     Angeles, California
   * 1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares independent from the USSR
   * 1994 - Irish Republican Army declares a cease-fire

Births

   * 12 - Caligula, Roman Emperor
   * 1811 - Theophile Gautier, poet, novelist († 1872)
   * 1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer
   * 1870 - Maria Montessori, educator († 1952)
   * 1879 - Alma Mahler, composer († 1969)
   * 1880 - Queen Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands († 1962)
   * 1885 - DuBose Heyward, playwright († 1940)
   * 1897 - Fredric March, actor († 1975)
   * 1903 - Arthur Godfrey, television host († 1983)
   * 1907 - William Shawn, editor
   * 1907 - Ramon Magsaysay, Philippine president
   * 1908 - William Saroyan, novelist, playwright († 1981)
   * 1914 - Richard Basehart, actor († 1984)
   * 1916 - Daniel Schorr, journalist
   * 1918 - Alan Jay Lerner, composer
   * 1924 - Buddy Hackett, actor, comedian
   * 1928 - James Coburn, actor
   * 1935 - Frank Robinson, baseball player, manager
   * 1935 - Eldridge Cleaver, political activist († 1998)
   * 1938 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
   * 1945 - Van Morrison, musician
   * 1945 - Itzhak Perlman, musician
   * 1949 - Richard Gere, actor
   * 1958 - Edwin Moses, Olympic Games gold medalist in track and field
   * 1970 - Debbie Gibson, singer
   * 1971 - Chris Tucker, actor

Deaths

   * 1688 - John Bunyan, poet
   * 1867 - Charles Baudelaire, writer
   * 1941 - Marina Tsvetaeva, poet
   * 1969 - Rocky Marciano, boxer
   * 1973 - John Ford, film director
   * 1979 - Sally Rand, stripper
   * 1986 - Henry Moore, sculptor
   * 1986 - Urho Kekkonen, president of Finland
   * 1997 - Princess Diana of Wales
   * 1997 - Dodi Fayed, film producer
   * 2002 - Lionel Hampton, vibraphone virtuoso

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