31 Mairch

The **31st o Mairch** is the 90t day o the year (91st in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 275 days ti come.

## Events

* 1492 - Isabella I o Castile issues the Alhambra Decree, orderin aw her Jewish an Muslim subjects tae either convert tae Christianity or leave her kinrick.
* 1547 - Henry II o Fraunce becomes King.
* 1807 - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke o Portland becomes Prime Meenister o the Unitit Kinrick.
* 1829 - Pape Pius VIII is electit.
* 1885 - The Unitit Kinrick establishes the Bechuanaland protectorate in what is nou Botswana.
* 1889 - The Eiffel Touer, in Paris, opens.
* 1917 - Denmark offeecially cedes the Dens Virgin Islands tae the Unitit States.
* 1922 - The as-yet unsolved murthers o five members o the semme faimily an thair maid are committit at Hinterkaifeck fairm in Bavarie.
* 1931 - A yirdquauk strikes Managua, Nicaragua, killin ower 2,000 fowk.
* 1949 - Newfoundland an Labrador becomes the 10t province o Canadae.
* 1958 - John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives score a record election win in Canadae.
* 1964 - Brazil's 21-year dictatorship stairts.
* 1966 - Harold Wilson's Labour Pairty wins the Unitit Kinrick's General Election.
* 1979 - The last Breetish troops leave Maltae.
* 1986 - A Boeing 727 o Mexicana de Aviacion crashes intae a muntain naur Mexico Ceety efter a fire on baird, killin 166 fowk.
* 1990 - Ower 200,000 fowk protest in Lunnon against the Poll Tax.
* 1991 - Voters in Georgie support unthirldom frae the Soviet Union.
* 1991 - The Warsaw Pact dissolves.
* 1995 - American sangster Selena is shot deed bi the manager o her fan club, at the age o 23.
* 1997 - At age 16, Martina Hingis becomes the youngest player at nummer ane in the weemen's tennis warld rankins.
* 2004 - Johannesburg's Sandton Square is renamit efter Nelson Mandela.
* 2012 - Belfast's Titanic Centre is inauguratit.
* 2014 - Manuel Valls becomes Prime meenister o Fraunce.
* 2014 - The Unitit Naitions Internaitional Coort o Juistics rules that Japan's whaulin programme is nae scienteefic, but commercial.
* 2017 - Umwhile Sooth Korean Preses Park Geun-hye is arresit on corruption chairges.
* 2018 - The funeral o Professor Stephen Hawking taks place in Cambridge.

## Births

* 250 - Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (d. 306)
* 1499 - Pape Pius IV (d. 1565)
* 1519 - Henry II o Fraunce (d. 1559)
* 1596 - René Descartes, French philosopher (d. 1650)
* 1675 - Pape Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
* 1718 - Mariana Victoria o Spain (d. 1781)
* 1723 - Frederick V o Denmark (d. 1766)
* 1732 - Joseph Haydn, Austrick componer (d. 1809)
* 1809 - Nikolai Gogol, Roushie writer (d. 1852)
* 1831 - Archibald Scott Couper, Scots chemist (d. 1892)
* 1844 - Andrew Lang, Scots writer an anthropologist (d. 1912)
* 1847 - Robert Gardner, Scots fitbawer (d. 1887)
* 1853 - Isaac Bayley Balfour, Scots botanist (d. 1922)
* 1871 - Arthur Griffith, Erse politeecian an writer (d. 1922)
* 1872 - Alexandra Kollontai, Roushie diplomat (d. 1952)
* 1890 - William Lawrence Bragg, Australie-Breetish pheesicist (d. 1971)
* 1906 - Sin'ichiro Tomonaga, Japanese pheesicist (d. 1979)
* 1914 - Octavio Paz, Mexican writer (d. 1998)
* 1927 - Cesar Chavez, American activist (d. 1993)
* 1927 - Jim Forrest, Scots fitbawer (d. 1992)
* 1934 - Richard Chamberlain, American actor
* 1934 - Carlo Rubbia, Italian pairticle pheesicist an inventor
* 1938 - Nicholas Winterton, Inglish politeecian
* 1938 - David Steel, Scots politeecian
* 1940 - Patrick Leahy, American politeecian
* 1940 - Jim Storrie, Scots fitbawer (d. 2014)
* 1943 - Christopher Walken, American actor
* 1944 - Angus King, American politeecian
* 1947 - Don Foster, Inglish politeecian
* 1948 - Al Gore, umwhile Vice Preses o the Unitit States
* 1955 - Angus Young, Scots-Australie guitarist (AC/DC)
* 1957 - Alan Duncan, Inglish politeecian
* 1964 - Christian Allard, French-Scots politeecian
* 1964 - Oleksandr Turchynov, umwhile Interim Preses o Ukraine
* 1971 - Ewan McGregor, Scots actor
* 1978 - Marcus Di Rollo, Scots rugby union player
* 1978 - Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 16t Duke o Hamilton, Scots nobleman
* 1979 - Euan Burton, Scots judoka
* 1988 - Tam Scobbie, Scots fitbawer

## Daiths
* 1547 - Francis I o Fraunce (b. 1494)
* 1621 - Philip III o Spain (b. 1578)
* 1727 - Isaac Newton, Inglis scientist (b. 1643)
* 1824 - Andrew Fyfe the Elder, Scots anatomist (b. 1752)
* 1837 - John Constable, Inglis penter (b. 1776)
* 1850 - John C. Calhoun, Vice Preses o the Unitit States (b. 1782)
* 1855 - Charlotte Bronte, Inglis novelist (b. 1816)
* 1894 - William Robertson Smith, Scots orientalist (b. 1846)
* 1917 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German pheesiologist an immunologist (b. 1854)
* 1945 - Hans Fischer, German chemist (b. 1881)
* 1980 - Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
* 1988 - William McMahon, 20t Prime Meenister o Australie (b. 1908)
* 1995 - Selena, American sangster (b. 1971)
* 2016 - Ronnie Corbett, Scots actor an comedian (b. 1930)
* 2016 - Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer (b. 1929)
* 2016 - Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-Breetish airchitect (b. 1950)
* 2016 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politeecian an diplomat (b. 1927)

## Halidays
* Cesar Chavez Day (Unitit States)
* Freedom Day (Maltae)
* King Nanklao Memorial Day (Thailand)