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
• 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)
• 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
• 1997 - Princess Diana of Wales
• 1997 - Dodi Fayed, film producer
• 2002 - Lionel Hampton, vibraphone virtuoso

Holidays and observances

August 30 - September 1 - July 31 - September 30 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December