December 31 - Americola, the celebrity encyclopedia [edit] Americola's celebrity biographies are provided by AmericolaWiki , a celebrity wiki . You can help contribute to Americola and edit this article .
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.
Contents
1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances 5 External links
Events 406 - Vandals , Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine , beginning an invasion of Gallia .
535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily , defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse , and ending his consulship for the year.
1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (nowadays Palma de Mallorca , Spain ) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Mallorca .
1599 - British East India Company is chartered.
1660 - James II of England is created Duke of Normandy by King Louis XIV .
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 : Battle of Quebec British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold .
1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City .
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).
1862 - American Civil War : The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee .
1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
1891 - A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island , New York .
1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square , then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York .
1909 - Manhattan Bridge opens.
1923 - The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC .
1929 - Guy Lombardo performs Auld Lang Syne Roosevelt Hotel in New York City for the first time.
1944 - World War II : Hungary declares war on Germany .
1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II .
1955 - General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
1960 - The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom .
1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe .
1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia , Malawi and Rhodesia .
1967 - The Green Bay Packers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in the Ice Bowl . Bart Starr would get the last touchdown on a quarterback sneak .
1968 - Marien Ngouabi assumed the presidency of the Republic of the Congo .
1983 - The AT&T Bell System is 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.
1991 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is officially dissolved.
1991 - The civil war in El Salvador ends.
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.
1994 - This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14 , respectively.
1995 - Last Calivin and Hobbes strip published "...let's go exploring"
1997 - Quaker Oats settles a lawsuit involving the immoral use of child subjects in radioactivity experiments circa 1945 -1956 .
1998 - Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia , leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
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 United States Government handed Panama Canal control over to Panama as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone . This act compelled with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter treaties
2004 - The official opening of Taipei 101 , the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet ).
Births 1378 - Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458 )
1491 - Jacques Cartier , French explorer (d. 1557 )
1514 - Andreas Vesalius , Flemish anatomist (d. 1564 )
1572 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan , (d. 1617 )
1668 - Herman Boerhaave , Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738 )
1720 - Charles Edward Stuart , pretender to the British throne (d. 1788 )
1738 - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis , British general (d. 1805 )
1763 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve , French admiral (d. 1806 )
1815 - George G. Meade , American Civil War general (d. 1872 )
1830 - Isma'il Pasha , Governor of Egypt (d. 1895 )
1860 - Joseph S. Cullinan , American oil industrialist, founder of Texaco (d. 1937 )
1869 - Henri Matisse , French painter (d. 1954 )
1877 - Lawrence Beesley , English journalist and author, who also survived the RMS Titanic (d. 1967 )
1878 - Elizabeth Arden , Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966 )
1880 - George C. Marshall , United States Secretary of State , Nobel Laureate (d. 1959 )
1880 - Fred Beebe , baseball player (d. 1957 )
1881 - Max Pechstein , German painter (d. 1955 )
1882 - Martin O'Meara , Australian soldier (d. 1935 )
1884 - Bobby Byrne , American baseball player (d. 1964 )
1894 - Pola Negri , Polish actress (d. 1987 )
1899 - Silvestre Revueltas , Mexican composer (d. 1940 )
1902 - Lionel Daunais , Quebec singer and composer (d. 1982 )
1903 - Nathan Milstein , Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992 )
1905 - Jule Styne , English-born composer (d. 1994 )
1908 - Simon Wiesenthal , Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005 )
1909 - Jonah Jones , American jazz trumpeter (d. 2000 )
1910 - Carl Dudley , American film director (d. 1973 )
1919 - Tommy Byrne , baseball player
1920 - Rex Allen , American actor and singer (d. 1999 )
1924 - Taylor Mead , American actor
1928 - Siné , French cartoonist
1930 - Odetta , American singer
1931 - Bob Shaw , Irish writer (d. 1996 )
1933 - Edward Bunker , American author, screenwriter and actor (d. 2005 )
1934 - Akram Awan , Islamic scholar
1937 - Avram Hershko , Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate
1937 - Anthony Hopkins , Welsh actor
1938 - Rosalind Cash , American actress (d. 1995 )
1941 - Alex Ferguson , Scottish football manager
1941 - Sarah Miles , English actress
1942 - Andy Summers , British guitarist (The Police )
1943 - John Denver , American singer/songwriter (d. 1997 )
1943 - Ben Kingsley , English actor
1943 - Pete Quaife , English bassist (The Kinks )
1944 - Taylor Hackford , American film producer and director
1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg , Belgian-born fashion designer
1945 - Connie Willis , American writer
1947 - Burton Cummings , Canadian singer & keyboardist (The Guess Who )
1947 - Tim Matheson , American actor
1948 - Donna Summer , American singer
1948 - René Robert , National Hockey League player
1949 - Ellen Datlow , American editor
1949 - Susan Shwartz , American writer
1951 - George Thorogood , American singer & guitarist
1951 - Tom Hamilton , American bassist (Aerosmith )
1953 - James Remar , American actor
1953 - Jane Badler , American actress
1954 - Alex Salmond , Scottish politician
1958 - Bebe Neuwirth , American actress
1959 - Phill Kline , American politician
1959 - Val Kilmer , American actor
1959 - Paul Westerberg , American singer & guitarist (The Replacements )
1960 - John Allen Muhammad , American serial killer
1961 - Rick Aguilera , baseball player
1962 - Heather McCartney , British activist
1963 - Scott Ian , American guitarist (Anthrax )
1964 - Allen D'Nulderf , American stuntman
1964 - Lowri Turner , British TV presenter
1965 - Gong Li , Chinese actress
1965 - Nicholas Sparks , American author
1971 - Brent Barry , American basketball player
1971 - Esteban Loaiza , Mexican Major League Baseball player
1972 - Joe McIntyre , American singer and songwriter (New Kids on the Block )
1976 - Vanessa Kerry , daughter of American Senator John Kerry
1977 - Wardy Alfaro , Costa Rican footballer
1977 - Donald Trump Jr. , son of entrepreneur Donald Trump
1978 - Papoose , American rapper
1979 - Bob Bryar , American drummer (My Chemical Romance )
1980 - Richie McCaw , New Zealand rugby player
1980 - Matt Cross , American professional wrestler
1981 - Jason Campbell , American football player
1981 - Matthew Pavlich , Australian football player
1993 - Jess Bonner , American singer and actress
1989 - Jak Smallman , Electrician
Deaths 192 - Commodus , Roman Emperor (b. 161 )
335 - St. Silvester , Pope
1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124 )
1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157 )
1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford , English soldier (b. 1249 )
1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238 )
1384 - John Wycliffe , English theologian and Bible translator
1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter , English military leader
1460 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland , brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443 )
1460 - Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury , English politician (b. 1400 )
1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza , wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472 )
1535 - William Skeffington , Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465 )
1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi , Japanese warlord (b. 1493 )
1575 - Pierino Belli , Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502 )
1583 - Thomas Erastus , Swiss theologian (b. 1524 )
1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen , German mathematician (b. 1540 )
1650 - Dorgon , Chinese emperor (b. 1612 )
1673 - Oliver St John , English statesman and judge
1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli , Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608 )
1691 - Dudley North , English economist (b. 1641 )
1719 - John Flamsteed , English astronomer (b. 1646 )
1742 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661 )
1799 - Jean-François Marmontel , French historian and writer (b. 1723 )
1872 - Aleksis Kivi , Finnish author (b. 1834 )
1877 - Gustave Courbet , French painter (b. 1819 )
1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch , German rabbi (b. 1808 )
1889 - Ion Creangă , Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839 )
1894 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes , Dutch mathematician (b. 1856 )
1905 - Alexander Popov , Russian physicist (b. 1859 )
1921 - Boies Penrose , U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860 )
1936 - Miguel de Unamuno , Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864 )
1948 - Malcolm Campbell , English race car driver (b. 1885 )
1953 - Albert Plesman , Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889 )
1964 - Ólafur Thors , Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892 )
1964 - Bobby Byrne , baseball player (b. 1884 )
1969 - George Lewis , American clarinetist (b. 1900 )
1971 - Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940 )
1971 - Marin Sais , American actress (b. 1890 )
1971 - Vikram Sarabhai , Indian physicist (b. 1919 )
1972 - Roberto Clemente , Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1934 )
1977 - Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah , ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924 )
1980 - Marshall McLuhan , Canadian writer (b. 1911 )
1980 - Raoul Walsh , American film director (b. 1887 )
1985 - Rick Nelson , American singer (b. 1940 )
1986 - Lloyd Haynes , American actor (b. 1934 )
1990 - Vasili Lazarev , Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928 )
1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia , first President of Georgia (b. 1939 )
1994 - Woody Strode , American actor and decathlete (b. 1914 )
1997 - Floyd Cramer , American musician (b. 1933 )
1997 - Michael Kennedy , American politician (b. 1958 )
1999 - Elliot Richardson , American politician (b. 1920 )
2000 - Alan Cranston , American politician (b. 1914 )
2000 - José Greco , Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choregrapher (b. 1918 )
2001 - Eileen Heckart , American actress (b. 1919 )
2002 - Kevin MacMichael , American guitarist (Cutting Crew (b. 1951 )
2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898 )
2004 - Gerard Debreu , French-born economist, Bank of Sweden Prize laureate (b. 1921 )
2005 - Phillip Whitehead , British politician (b. 1937 )
2006 - George Sisler, Jr. , baseball executive (b. 1917 )
Holidays and observances
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