July 31

Events
Up to 1900
781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781)
904 - Thessaloniki falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.
1009 - Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV
1423 - Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant - The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain, when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
1498 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to land on the island of Trinidad.
1588 - The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1655 - Russo-Polish War of 1654 to 1667: The Russian army enters the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
1658 - Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal Emperor of India.
1667 - The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam gets tranferred to British control, being renamed New York. The Dutch get the previously British colony in present-day Suriname.
1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1712 - Great Northern War: Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea, with an inconclusive result.
1715 - An 11-ship Spanish treasure fleet is lost in a hurricane between the Florida Keys and Havana, Cuba, killing at least 1,000 people.
1741 - Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
1763 - Pontiac's War: The Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run.
1790 - First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1865 - The first Narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
1901 1950
1901 - With hot-air balloon Preussen, Arthur Berson and Reinhard Suering reach a record height of 10,800 meters.
1913 - The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.
1914 - French Socialist politician Jean Jaures is assassinated in a Paris cafe by the Nationalist Raoul Villain.
1917 - The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.
1919 - German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)
1930 - The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
1932 - Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party wins over 38% of the vote in German elections.
1936 - The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics were to be held in Tokyo. However, the games were given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and were eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.
1941 - Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Goring orders SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."
1945 - Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
1948 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
1951 2000
1951 - Japan Airlines is established.
1954 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio, also involving Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The lack of credit given to Walter Bonatti causes a lot of controversy in the years to come.
1956 - Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first-class match (the previous best was seventeen.
1961 - At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
1964 - Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes).
1969 - The Mariner 6 probe flies by Mars and sends photographs to Earth.
1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1973 - A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89
1975 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
1976 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
1976 - Flooding on the Big Thompson River in Colorado kills 143 people.
1977 - David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam serial killer, carries out his last murder, shooting Stacey Moskowitz.
1981 - A 7-week strike by Major League Baseball players ends.
1987 - A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
1988 - 32 people are killed when a bridge collapses in Penang, Malaysia.
1991 - The United States and Soviet Union sign the START I arms reduction treaty.
1991 - A Soviet OMON attacks a Lithuanian customs post in Medininkai.
1992 - China General Aviation flight 7552 crashes at take-off from Nanking, to Xiamen.
1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain south of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.
1992 - The Republic of Georgia joins the United Nations.
1996 - MIL-STD-1750A is declared inactive for use in new designs.
1998 - The United Kingdom imposes a total landmine ban.
1999 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
2000 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) chooses Moshe Katsav as the next President.
From 2001
2006 - Fidel Castro transfers power in Cuba to his brother Raul Castro.
2007 - Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
2008 - Scientists report that the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water on the planet Mars.
2012 - Michael Phelps beats Larisa Latynina's record number of Olympic medals.
2013 - Zimbabwe holds a Presidential election. The main candidates are long-time President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe's ZANU-PF Party claims a landslide victory, but Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change declares the election null and void on the grounds of vote-rigging.
2014 - Shortly before midnight, gas explosions occur in the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, killing at least 26 people.
2015 - Beijing is given the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
2017 - Los Angeles, California, volunteers to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, effectively giving the 2024 Summer Olympics to Paris.
2017 - US President Donald Trump fires White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, only ten days after giving him the job.
Births
Up to 1900
1143 - Emperor Nijo of Japan (d. 1165)
1396 - Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)
1443 - Albert III, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
1526 - Augustus, Elector of Saxony (d. 1586)
1527 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)
1598 - Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (d. 1654)
1702 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (d. 1768)
1704 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (d. 1752)
1718 - John Canton, English physicist (d. 1772)
1720 - Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon, French soldier and statesman (d. 1788)
1724 - Noel-Francois de Wailly, French lexicographer (d. 1801)
1737 - Princess Augusta of Great Britain (d. 1813) (sources vary between July 31 and August 31)
1777 - Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (d. 1849)
1800 - Friedrich Wohler, German chemist (d. 1882)
1803 - John Ericsson, Swedish engineer (d. 1889)
1804 - George Baxter, English engraver and printer (d. 1867)
1812 - Amelie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil (d. 1873)
1816 - Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies (d. 1867)
1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)
1822 - Abram Stevens Hewitt, Mayor of New York City (d. 1903)
1824 - Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, French aristocrat (d. 1890)
1825 - William S. Clark, American senator and scholar (d. 1885)
1826 - George Hoadly, 36th Governor of Ohio (d. 1902)
1828 - Francois-Auguste Gevaert, Belgian composer (d. 1908)
1831 - Ilya Ulyanov, Russian teacher and father of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1886)
1835 - Henri Brisson, French politician (d. 1912)
1839 - Ignacio Andrade, 25th President of Venezuela (d. 1925)
1843 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet (d. 1918)
1847 - Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1905)
1854 - Jose Canalejas, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1912)
1858 - Richard Dixon Oldham, English geologist (d. 1936)
1863 - Sidney Johnston Catts, 22nd Governor of Florida (d. 1936)
1875 - Jacques Villon, French painter and printmaker (d. 1963)
1875 - Kunio Yanagita, Japanese scholar (d. 1962)
1877 - Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (d. 1970)
1880 - Munshi Premchand, Indian writer (d. 1936)
1886 - Fred Quimby, American movie producer (d. 1965)
1886 - Harry Tate, American soccer player (d. 1954)
1892 - Joseph Charbonneau, French-Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1959)
1892 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist (d. 1986)
1901 1950
1901 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
1902 - Gubby Allen, Australian-English cricketer (d. 1989)
1904 - John Carberry, American cardinal (d. 1998)
1907 - Roy Milton, American jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader (d. 1983)
1908 - Franz Meyers, German politician (d. 2002)
1911 - George Liberace, American musician (d. 1983)
1912 - Milton Friedman, American economist (d. 2006)
1912 - Irv Kupcinet, American columnist (d. 2003)
1913 - Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)
1914 - Louis de Funes, French actor and comedian (d. 1983)
1914 - Mario Bava, Italian movie director, cameraman and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1914 - Raymond Aubrac, French Resistance activist (d. 2012)
1916 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)
1918 - Paul D. Boyer, American chemist (d. 2018)
1918 - Hank Jones, American pianist (d. 2010)
1919 - Primo Levi, Italian writer and chemist (d. 1987)
1919 - Robert Morgenthau, American lawyer (d. 2019)
1921 - Peter Benenson, British founder of Amnesty International (d. 2005)
1922 - Lorenzo Antonetti, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
1923 - Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-born record company executive (d. 2006)
1923 - Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (d. 2015)
1923 - Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist, engineer and inventor of Kevlar (d. 2014)
1926 - Hilary Putnam, American philosopher (d. 2016)
1927 - Bunny Carr, Irish television presenter (d. 2018)
1928 - Bill Frenzel, American politician (d. 2014)
1929 - Don Murray, American actor
1929 - Jose Santamaria, Uruguayan footballer
1930 - Oleg Popov, Russian clown (d. 2016)
1931 - Nick Bollettieri, American tennis coach
1931 - Ivan Rebroff, German singer (d. 2008)
1932 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (d. 1979)
1932 - John Searle, American philosopher
1932 - Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern (d. 2016)
1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer
1935 - Yvon Deschamps, Canadian comedian, actor and author
1935 - Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (d. 2015)
1937 - Isabelle Daniels, American sprinter (d. 2017)
1938 - Saeed Saleh, Egyptian actor (d. 2014)
1939 - Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer (d. 2015)
1939 - France Nuyen, French actress
1940 - Roy Walker, Irish comedian, actor and television host
1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician (d. 2004)
1943 - Lobo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 - William Bennett, American politician
1944 - Jonathan Dimbleby, British journalist and TV presenter
1944 - Robert C. Merton, American economist
1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, American-British actress
1944 - David Norris, Irish scholar, senator and activist
1945 - William Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts
1947 - Richard Griffiths, British actor (d. 2013)
1947 - Hubert Vedrine, French politician
1948 - Russell Morris, Australian singer
1950 - Richard Berry, French actor, director and singer
1951 1975
1951 - Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player
1951 - Barry Van Dyke, American actor
1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor and politician
1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian ice hockey player
1952 - Faye Kellerman, American author
1953 - Ted Baillieu, Australian politician
1956 - Deval Patrick, American politician, 71st Governor of Massachusetts
1956 - Mark Arden, British actor
1956 - Michael Biehn, American actor and movie producer
1957 - Mark Thompson, English media executive, former Director-General of the BBC
1957 - Daniel Ash, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 - Bill Berry, American musician in band R.E.M.
1959 - Andrew Marr, British broadcast journalist
1959 - Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist
1960 - Dale Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 - Frank Gardner, English journalist and correspondent
1961 - Peter O'Brien, American drummer (Orleans)
1962 - Jackie Bird, Scottish broadcast journalist
1962 - Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist
1962 - Wesley Snipes, American actor
1963 - Brian Skrudland, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 - Fatboy Slim, English DJ and musician
1964 - Wendell Alexis, American basketball player
1964 - Jean-Paul Vonderburg, Swedish footballer
1964 - Jim Corr, Irish musician
1965 - J. K. Rowling, British writer (Harry Potter)
1965 - Pat Finn, American actor
1965 - Scott Brooks, American basketball coach
1965 - Mario Von Appen, German canoeist
1966 - Tatsuya Ishihara, Japanese animator and director
1966 - Yoshiyuki Matsuyama, Japanese footballer
1966 - Dean Cain, American actor
1966 - Valdas Ivanauskas, Lithuanian footballer and football manager
1967 - Minako Honda, Japanese singer and musical actress (d. 2005)
1969 - Antonio Conte, Italian footballer
1969 - Loren Dean, American actor
1970 - Ben Chaplin, English actor
1971 - Christina Cox, Canadian actress
1971 - Elivelton, Brazilian footballer
1973 - Jacob Aagaard, Danish-Scottish chess player
1973 - Abdulaziz Khathron, Saudi Arabian footballer
1973 - Wail al-Shehri, Saudi Arabian terrorist (d. 2001)
1974 - Emilia Fox, British actress
1975 - Ruben Patterson, American basketball player
From 1976
1976 - Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer
1978 - Will Champion, English musician (Coldplay)
1978 - Justin Wilson, English racing driver (d. 2015)
1978 - Zac Brown, American country music singer
1979 - Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer
1979 - B. J. Novak, American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director
1980 - Mils Muliaina, New Zealand rugby player
1981 - Clemente Rodriguez, Argentine footballer
1981 - Titus Bramble, English footballer
1981 - M. Shadows, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
1982 - Hayuma Tanaka, Japanese footballer
1982 - Mira Craig, Norwegian singer
1982 - Michael Jung, German equestrian
1982 - DeMarcus Ware, American football player
1984 - Joseph Benavidez, American mixed martial artist
1985 - Alissa White-Gluz, Canadian singer
1986 - Shinzo Koroki, Japanese footballer
1987 - Michael Bradley, American footballer
1987 - Brittany Byrnes, American actress
1988 - Krystal Meyers, American singer-songwriter
1988 - Michelle Sabogal, Colombian actress
1989 - Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player
1989 - Zelda Williams, American actress
1990 - Besart Abdurahimi, Macedonian footballer
1992 - Lizzy, South Korean singer, dancer and actress
1992 - Kyle Larson, American racing driver
1996 - Blake Michael, American actor, director and producer
2000 - Kim Sae-ron, South Korean actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
54 BC - Aurelia Cotta, mother of Julius Caesar (b. 120 BC)
855 - Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Arab scholar and theologian (b. 780)
1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044)
1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury
1508 - Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle)
1556 - Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest, founder of the Jesuits (b. 1491)
1726 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
1750 - King John V of Portugal (b. 1689)
1784 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1713)
1805 - Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian soldier (b. 1756)
1849 - Sandor Petofi, Hungarian poet (b. 1823)
1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
1884 - Kien Phuc, Vietnamese Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty (b. 1869)
1886 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (b. 1811)
1901 2000
1914 - Jean Jaures, French politician (b. 1859)
1917 - Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
1920 - Ion Dragoumis, Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary (b. 1878)
1929 - Jose de Castro, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1868)
1940 - Udham Singh, Indian revolutionary (b. 1899)
1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer disappeared (b. 1900)
1952 - Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (b. 1880)
1953 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio and Presidential candidate (b. 1889)
1966 - Bud Powell, American pianist (b. 1924)
1969 - Charles Edison, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1890)
1971 - Walter P. Carter, American activist (b. 1923)
1972 - Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)
1973 - Azumafuji Kin'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1921)
1980 - Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)
1980 - Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)
1981 - Omar Torrijos, military leader of Panama (b. 1929)
1986 - Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)
1990 - Albert Leduc, French-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
1993 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (b. 1930)
From 2001
2001 - Poul Anderson, science fiction writer (b. 1926)
2001 - Francisco da Costa Gomes, 16th President of Portugal (b. 1914)
2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)
2004 - Laura Betti, Italian actress and singer (b. 1927)
2004 - Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1907)
2005 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker and economist (b. 1935)
2009 - Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
2010 - Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Italian screenwriter (b. 1914)
2010 - Mitch Miller, American entertainer (b. 1911)
2011 - Eliseo Alberto, Cuban-Mexican writer (b. 1951)
2012 - Alfredo Ramos de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (b. 1924)
2012 - Gore Vidal, American writer (b. 1925)
2013 - John Graves, American writer (b. 1920)
2013 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (b. 1922)
2014 - Jorge Jacobson, Argentine journalist (b. 1936)
2014 - Kenny Ireland, Scottish actor (b. 1945)
2014 - Warren Bennis, American scholar and academic (b. 1925)
2014 - Mukku Raju, Indian actor (b. 1931)
2014 - Nabarun Bhattacharya, Indian author (b. 1948)
2015 - Billy Pierce, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2015 - Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (b. 1940)
2015 - Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1954)
2015 - Howard W. Jones, American physician (b. 1910)
2015 - Richard Schweiker, American politician (b. 1926)
2016 - Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1955)
2016 - Fazil Iskander, Abkhazian writer (b. 1929)
2016 - Seymour Papert, South African-American mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1928)
2016 - Destin Onka Malonga, Congolese footballer (b. 1988)
2017 - Liu Wen-hsiung, Taiwanese politician (b. 1954)
2017 - Jeanne Moreau, French actress (b. 1928)
2017 - Les Murray, Hungarian-Australian broadcaster (b. 1945)
2017 - Francesco La Macchia, Italian sprint canoeist (b. 1938)
2018 - Helio Bicudo, Brazilian politician (b. 1922)
2018 - Alex Fergusson, Scottish politician (b. 1949)
2018 - Bassano Staffieri, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1931)
2019 - Harold Prince, American theatre director and producer (b. 1928)
Observances
Ka Hae Hawaii Day
Ignatius of Loyola (Roman Catholicism)
Days of the year