Title: May 31 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 1279 BC – Rameses II (the Great) becomes Pharaoh of Egypt. * 455 - Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. * 526 – Antioch, Turkey is hit by an earthquake kills 250,000 people. * 1578 – Henry II of France lays the first stone of the Point Neuf (New Bridge) in Paris. * 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada to mine fool's gold, used to pave the streets in London. * 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys makes the last entry in his diary. * 1740 - Frederick II of Prussia becomes King. * 1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the strait of Juan de Fuca. * 1795 - French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed. * 1813 - In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route crossing the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. * 1854 - The civil death procedure is banned in France. * 1859 – Big Ben in London, UK starts keeping time. * 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor. * 1884 - John Harvey Kellogg receives a patent for Cornflakes. * 1889 – Johnstown flood: A dam break causes a flash flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,000 people. * 1890 - In Ulm, southern Germany, Ulm Minster, the city's cathedral, is completed. === 1901 2000 === * 1902 - The Second Boer War ends, through the Treaty of Vereeniging, ensuring British control over South Africa. * 1906 – An attack on the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain kills more than 20 people. * 1910 – The Union of South Africa is formed. * 1911 – The hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic is launched. * 1911 – President Porfirio Díaz flees Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. * 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Jutland is fought. * 1921 – Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot: At least 39 people are killed. * 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line. * 1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse is released. * 1935 – An earthquake in Quetta, Pakistan, kills around 40,000 people. * 1941 – World War II: 38 people are killed in an air raid in Dublin. * 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy Submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia. * 1946 - A magnitude 6 earthquake in Turkey kills around 1,200 people. * 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower ends his service with the United States Military. * 1961 – The Republic of South Africa is founded. * 1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves. * 1962 – Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is executed. * 1970 – Ancash Earthquake: Southern Peru is hit by a major earthquake. Along with resulting avalanches, it kills 47,000 people. 20,000 people alone are killed in a single avalanche that hit the town of Yungay. * 1970 – Brasilia Cathedral, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, is completed. * 1970 - The 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico begins. * 1971 - Memorial Day in the United States is held on the last Monday in May for the first time, instead of the traditional May 30 date. * 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets in Cambodia. * 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline is completed. * 1981 - Burning of the Jaffna Library in Sri Lanka. * 1985 – 76 people are killed in a tornado outbreak in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. * 1991 – Civil War political parties in Angola agree on a ceasefire and fire elections. === From 2001 === * 2002 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan begins, where the Senegal national football team beats the France national football team 1-0. * 2003 – Aung San Suu Kyi is arrested in Burma. * 2005 – Mark Felt is revealed to have been 'Deep Throat', a key figure in the Watergate scandal. * 2009 – The last-living survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking, Millvina Dean, dies aged 97. * 2010 – Germany's President Horst Koehler resigns from office. Christian Wulff succeeds him over a month later. * 2010 – Israeli forces storm the Gaza-bound international flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 9 Turkish activists. * 2013 - A series of anti- government protests in Turkey begins in Istanbul. * 2013 - Asteroid (285263) 1998 GE-2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries. * 2013 - A tornado measuring 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) wide hits El Reno, Oklahoma. * 2017 - A massive bomb attack in central Kabul kills at least 150 people. * 2018 - The discovery of dunes of methane on the dwarf planet Pluto is announced. * 2018 - US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on products from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. * 2019 - Virginia Beach shooting: 12 government employees are shot dead by their colleague DeWayne Craddock in Virginia Beach, before he is killed in a shoot-out with police. == Births == === Up to 1800 === * 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher (d. 1131) * 1162 – Genghis Khan, Mongol ruler (d. 1227) * 1243 - King James II of Majorca (d. 1311) * 1443 – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509) * 1469 – King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521) * 1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish Jesuit (d. 1556) * 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607) * 1557 – Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598) * 1577 - Nur Jahan, Mughal Empress (d. 1645) * 1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680) * 1640 – Michael of Poland (d. 1673) * 1641 – Dositheus, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1707) * 1656 – Marin Marais, French composer and violin player (d. 1728) * 1683 - Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1755) * 1744 - Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Irish author and engineer (d. 1817) * 1750 – Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (d. 1822) * 1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French revolutionary (d. 1793) * 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817) * 1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet and writer (d. 1853) * 1791 - John Brown Francis, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1864) === 1801 1900 === * 1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887) * 1809 - Federico de Roncali, 1st Count of Alcoy, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1857) * 1816 - Dimitrie Ghica, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1897) * 1817 - Georg Herwegh, German poet (d. 1875) * 1817 - Edouard Deldevez, French violinist and conductor (d. 1897) * 1818 - John Albion Andrew, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867) * 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892) * 1825 - Domenico Agostini, Italian cardinal (d. 1891) * 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900) * 1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919) * 1852 - Julius Richard Petri, German bacteriologist (d. 1921) * 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939) * 1858 - Graham Wallas, English socialist, psychologist and educator (d. 1932) * 1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942) * 1862 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942) * 1863 - Francis Younghusband, English army officer, explorer and writer (d. 1942) * 1866 - Vladimir Rebikov, Russian composer (d. 1920) * 1872 – Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944) * 1872 – Charles Greeley Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973) * 1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956) * 1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942) * 1885 – Alois Hudal, Austrian Roman Catholic bishop, helped Nazi war criminals escape (d. 1963) * 1887 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (d. 1975) * 1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarussian painter (d. 1968) * 1892 - Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968) * 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German politician (d. 1934) * 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956) * 1898 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993) * 1899 - Madge Blake, American actress (d. 1969) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 - Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983) * 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993) * 1908 - Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2000) * 1909 - Aurore Gagnon, Canadian child abuse victim (d. 1920) * 1909 - Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000) * 1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist (d. 2010) * 1912 - Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist (d. 1997) * 1912 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979) * 1914 - Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (d. 2006) * 1915 - Carmen Herrera, Cuban-American artist * 1916 - Bert Haanstra, Dutch movie and documentary director (d. 1997) * 1916 - Bernard Lewis, British- American historian (d. 2018) * 1917 - Jean Rouch, French filmmaker and anthropologist (d. 2004) * 1921 - Alida Valli, Italian actress (d. 2006) * 1921 - Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014) * 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992) * 1923 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005) * 1923 - Ellsworth Kelly, American painter, sculptor and printmaker (d. 2015) * 1925 - Frei Otto, German architect (d. 2015) * 1926 - Domenico De Simone, Italian politician (d. 2019) * 1926 – James Krüss, writer (d. 1997) * 1927 – Red Holloway, American musician (d. 2012) * 1927 - Joe Robinson, British actor (d. 2017) * 1928 - Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2013) * 1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director, screenwriter and producer (d. 2014) * 1929 - Andreas Meyer-Landrut, German diplomat * 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer * 1930 – Elaine Stewart, American actress (d. 2011) * 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano (d. 2010) * 1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist * 1932 – Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994) * 1933 - Sadashiv Vasantrao Gorakshkar, Indian writer and curator (d. 2019) * 1935 – Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand * 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American country music singer (d. 2003) * 1938 – John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom * 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary") * 1939 – Terry Waite, British humanitarian * 1939 – Haraldur Sigurdsson, Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist * 1940 - Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach * 1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist * 1942 - Minos Kyriakou, Greek businessman (d. 2017) * 1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress * 1943 – Joe Namath, American football star * 1945 - Pepe Eliaschev, Argentine journalist and writer (d. 2014) * 1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor and director (d. 1982) * 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Ivory Coast * 1947 - Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter * 1948 - Svetlana Alexievich, Belarussian journalist and writer * 1948 – John Bonham, English musician, drummer with Led Zeppelin (d. September 25, 1980) * 1948 – Lynda Bellingham, English actress and broadcaster (d. 2014) * 1948 - Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer and politician * 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor * 1950 – Gregory Harrison, actor === 1951 1975 === * 1952 – Karl Bartos, German musician (Kraftwerk) * 1955 - Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist and singer * 1955 - Lynne Truss, English author * 1956 - Gerd Weber, East German footballer * 1959 - Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver (d. 2014) * 1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player * 1960 – Chris Elliott, American comedian * 1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress * 1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter * 1963 – Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary * 1963 – Wesley Willis, American musician * 1964 - Yukio Edano, Japanese politician * 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model and actress * 1966 - Roshan Mahamana, Sri Lankan cricketer * 1966 - Nick Scotti, American model, actor and singer * 1967 - Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress * 1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer * 1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier * 1972 - Sarah Murdoch, English-Australian model and actress * 1973 - Kate Howey, British judoka * 1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer * 1974 - Kenan Dogulu, Turkish singer * 1974 - Tristram Hunt, English politician * 1975 – Toni Nieminen, Finnish ski jumper * 1975 - Antonín Kinsky, Czech footballer === From 1976 === * 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor * 1976 - Matt Harping, American basketball player * 1976 - Tonka Tomicic, Chilean model and television host * 1977 – June Sarpong, British television presenter * 1977 - Eric Christian Olsen, American actor * 1977 - Katrín Jónsdóttir, Icelandic footballer * 1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer * 1978 - Eric Moussambani, Equatoguinean swimmer * 1978 - Robert Rinder, English barrister and television personality * 1979 - Jean- François Gillet, Belgian footballer * 1980 – Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy) * 1981 - Yoon Mi-rae, American-Korean singer and songwriter * 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer * 1981 - Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer * 1981 - Marlies Schild, Austrian skier * 1983 – Reggie Yates, British television presenter * 1984 – Jason Smith, Australian actor * 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player * 1984 - Daniela Samulski, German swimmer (d. 2018) * 1986 – Sopho Khalvashi, Georgian singer * 1988 – Lisa Bund, German singer * 1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer * 1989 - Pablo Alboran, Spanish singer * 1989 - Bas Dost, Dutch footballer * 1990 - Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player * 1991 - Azealia Banks, American rapper, singer and songwriter. == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 455 – Petronius Maximus, West Roman Emperor * 1076 - Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria (b. 1050) * 1162 – Geza II of Hungary (b. 1130) * 1246 – Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John of England (b. 1188) * 1349 – Thomas Wake * 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1358) * 1495 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415) * 1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518) * 1680 – Joachim Neander, German Calvinist 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 of Empire (b. 1769) * 1831 – Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer (b. 1757) * 1832 – Evariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811) * 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779) * 1846 – Philip Marheineke, German Protestant divine (b. 1780) * 1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, writer, and scientist (b. 1780) * 1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, writer (b. 1805) * 1881 - Hugh J. Anderson, Governor of Maine (b. 1801) * 1887 - Moritz Wagner, German geographer and naturalist (b. 1813) * 1899 - Elisha Baxter, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1827) === 1901 2000 === * 1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian author, poet and politician (b. 1839) * 1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States (b. 1821) * 1918 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (b. 1836) * 1920 – Nasrullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan * 1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi officer (b. 1904) * 1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek Resistance activist (b. 1890) * 1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878) * 1960 – Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890) * 1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882) * 1961 - Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877) * 1962 – Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (b. 1906) * 1963 – Edith Hamilton, German-American writer and teacher (b. 1867) * 1967 - Billy Strawhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger (b. 1915) * 1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929) * 1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist (b. 1910) * 1977 – William Castle, American director (b. 1914) * 1978 – Jozsef Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925) * 1981 – Gyula Lorant, Hungarian footballer (b. 1928) * 1981 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician (b. 1902) * 1982 - Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer (b. 1930) * 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895) * 1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917) * 1986 - Gaston Rebuffat, French mountaineer (b. 1921) * 1994 - Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (b. 1909) * 1996 – Paul Peter Piech, artist (b. 1920) * 1996 – Timothy Leary, American LSD advocate (b. 1920) * 1999 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902) * 2000 – Tito Puente, musician (b. 1923) * 2000 – Johnnie Taylor, vocalist (b. 1938) === From 2001 === * 2001 - Arlene Francis, American actress (b. 1907) * 2002 - Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (b. 1929) * 2003 - Francesco Colasuonno, Italian cardinal (b. 1925) * 2004 – Robert Quine, guitarist (b. 1942) * 2006 – Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist (b. 1914) * 2009 – Millvina Dean, last-living RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1912) * 2009 – George Tiller, American abortion doctor (b. 1941) * 2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-born sculptor (b. 1911) * 2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919) * 2011 - Andy Robustelli, American football player (b. 1925) * 2011 – Ezzatollah Sahabi, Iranian politician (b. 1930) * 2013 - Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923) * 2013 - Tim Samaras, American storm chaser (b. 1957) * 2013 - Paul Samaras, American storm chaser (b. 1988) * 2014 - Marilyn Beck, American entertainment journalist (b. 1928) * 2014 - Hoss Ellington, American NASCAR driver (b. 1935) * 2014 - Martha Hyer, American actress (b. 1924) * 2014 - Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet (b. 1936) * 2014 - Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, daughter of Winston Churchill (b. 1922) * 2014 - Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer (b. 1952) * 2015 - Karl Wlaschek, Austrian executive (b. 1917) * 2015 - Mario Saliwa, South African cricketer (b. 1984) * 2015 - Slim Richey, American guitarist (b. 1938) * 2016 - Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (b. 1947) * 2016 - Jan Crouch, American televangelist and broadcasting executive (b. 1938) * 2016 - Antonio Imbert Barrera, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1920) * 2016 - Carla Lane, English television writer (b. 1928) * 2016 - Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (b. 1939) * 2016 - David Tod Roy, Chinese translator (b. 1933) * 2016 - Corry Brokken, Dutch singer (b. 1932) * 2017 - Lubomyr Husar, Ukrainian religious figure (b. 1933) * 2017 - Tino Insana, American actor (b. 1948) * 2017 - Fred Kummerow, American science professor (b. 1914) * 2017 - Bern Nix, American jazz guitarist (b. 1947) * 2017 - Jiri Belohlavek, Czech conductor (b. 1946) * 2018 - Michael D. Ford, English art director and set decorator (b. 1928) * 2018 - Aníbal Quijano, Peruvian sociologist (b. 1928) * 2019 - Roky Erickson, American singer- songwriter (b. 1947) == Observances == * Anti-Tobacco Day * Castile-La Mancha Day Category:Days of the year