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What happened in history on this day: October 31?
On October 31 in ...
- 1284 - The Venetian Council of Forty approves the gold ducat, the origin of the ducat coin.
- 1517 - German priest and scholar Martin Luther nails a piece of paper to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The paper contains 95 revolutionary opinions that begins the Protestant Reformation.
- 1620 - Birth of John Evelyn British diarist (Life of Mrs Godolphin).
- 1632 - Birth of Jan Vermeer Holland, painter (Procuress, The Astronomer).
- 1659 - Death of John Bradshaw at Westminster, England; High Court justice, condemned King Charles I to death.
- 1759 - Earthquake in Safed Palestine kills hundred.
- 1793 - Execution of the Girondins at Paris, during the Reign of Terror.
- 1795 - Birth of John Keats in London, England; romantic poet (Ode to a Grecian Urn).
- 1815 - Birth of Karl Weierstrass in Germany; mathematician (theory of functions).
- 1815 - Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp.
- 1860 - Birth of Juliette Gordon Low; Girl Scout founder.
- 1861 - US General Winfield Scott, Commander of the US Army, resigns at age 94 citing failing health.
- 1864 - Nevada admitted as 36th US state.
- 1865 - William Parson, third Earl of Rosse and maker of large telescopes, dies.
- 1887 - Birth of Chiang Kai-shek in Chekiang Province, China; president of Nationalist China.
- 1887 - Birth of Edouard Lalonde in Canada; NHL player (Montreal Canadiens), lacrosse player.
- 1888 - Birth of George Hubert Wilkins in Australia; polar explorer (Flying the Arctic).
- 1892 - Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- 1893 - Birth of Sara Allgood in Dublin, Ireland; actress (Jane Eyre, Spiral Staircase).
- 1895 - In Charleston, Missouri, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs.
- 1896 - Birth of Ethel Waters in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA; actress (Beulah), singer ("Stormy Weather").
- 1897 - Birth of Wilbur (Pete) Henry; NFL tackle (New York Giants, Pottsville Maroons).
- 1902 - Birth of Eduard Franz in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; actor (Zorro).
- 1902 - Birth of Willie Shaw; race car driver (Indy 500-1937, 1939, 1940).
- 1906 - Birth of Louise Talma in Arcachon, France; composer (Summer Sounds).
- 1908 - Games of the IV Olympiad end in London.
- 1912 - Birth of Dale Evans in Uvalde, Texas, USA; cowgirl (Roy Rogers Show).
- 1913 - The Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across America, is dedicated.
- 1918 - Count Stephen Tisza, Hungarian Prime Minister, is assassinated by soldiers.
- 1918 - First manned torpedo is deployed to set detachable mines to Austro-Hungarian battleship Viribus Unitis, in Adriatic port of Pola.
- 1918 - Hungarian National Council takes power in popular revolt in Hungary.
- 1920 - Birth of Dick Francis in Wales; jockey/novelist (Whip Hand, High Stakes).
- 1922 - Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy.
- 1922 - Birth of Barbara Bel Geddes in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Vertigo, Miss Ellie - Dallas, Caught).
- 1923 - Birth of Hicks B Waldron in Amsterdam. New York, USA; CEO (Avon).
- 1926 - Birth of Shirley Dinsdale in San Francisco, California, USA; ventriloquist (Judy Splinters).
- 1926 - Erich Weiss, better known as magician Harry Houdini, dies in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
- 1927 - Birth of Lee Grant [Lyova Haskell Rosenthal] in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Shampoo, Landlord).
- 1928 - Birth of Andrew Sarris; movie critic (Village Voice).
- 1930 - Birth of Michael Collins in Rome, Italy; Major General US Air Force/astronaut (Gemini 10, Apollo 11).
- 1931 - Birth of Dan Rather in Wharton, Texas, USA; American television news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes).
- 1934 - The Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago closes. Over the two years, there were 38,867,000 visitors.
- 1937 - Birth of Michael Landon in Forest Hills, New York, USA; actor (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven).
- 1937 - Birth of Tom Paxton in Chicago, Illinois, USA; folk singer/songwriter ("Forest Lawn").
- 1940 - Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1941 - German submarine U-562 torpedoes American destroyer USS Reuben James while escorting a British convoy west of Ireland. 115 Americans die.
- 1941 - The Mount Rushmore monument is completed in the USA.
- 1942 - Birth of David Ogden Stiers in Peoria, Illinois, USA; actor (Charles Emerson Winchester - M*A*S*H, Doc).
- 1943 - The F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception.
- 1943 - Washington Redskins' Sammy Baugh passes for six touchdowns versus Brooklyn (48-10).
- 1944 - Birth of Kinky Friedman in Palestine, Texas, USA; country rocker ("Ride 'em Jewboy").
- 1944 - Birth of Sally Kirkland in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Anna, Sting, Private Benjamin, Big Bad Mama).
- 1947 - Birth of Deidre Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; actress (Days of Our Lives, Our House).
- 1947 - Birth of Frank Shorter; American marathon runner (Olympic-gold-1972).
- 1949 - Birth of Terrence W Wilcutt in Russellville, Kentucky, USA; Major US Marine Corp/astronaut.
- 1950 - Birth of Jane Pauley in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; newscaster (Today, NBC Weekend).
- 1950 - Birth of John Candy in Ontario, Canada; comedian (SCTV, Uncle Buck) (dies 1994).
- 1953 - Birth of John Lucas; NBA guard (Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks).
- 1954 - Algerian Revolution against French rule begins.
- 1955 - NBC premieres the Matinee Theatre 60-minute live dramatic anthology TV show.
- 1956 - Rear Admiral G. J. Dufek becomes the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole.
- 1956 - Britain and France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal.
- 1960 - Birth of Reza Pahlavi in Iran, son of Shah of Iran.
- 1961 - Birth of Larry Mullen Junior; drummer (U2 - "I Will Follow").
- 1963 - Birth of Johnny Marr; rocker (The Smiths - "Ask", "Girl Afraid").
- 1963 - Henry Daniell, actor (Camille, Body Snatchers), dies at age 69.
- 1963 - Leaking propane gas explodes, kills 64 at "Holiday on Ice" (Indiana).
- 1964 - Barbra Streisand's "People" album goes #1 for five weeks.
- 1964 - Birth of Amanda Sandrelli in Rome, Italy; actress (The Key).
- 1964 - Theodore C Freeman, astronaut, dies at age 34 in a T-38 jet air crash.
- 1965 - Rita Johnson, actress (All Mine to Give), dies at age 53.
- 1966 - Birth of Ad-Rock [Adam Horowitz]; rocker (Beastie Boys - "You Gotta Fight").
- 1967 - Nguyen Van Thieu takes oath of office as first president of South Vietnam's second Republic.
- 1968 - Birth of Vanilla Ice [Robert Van Winkle]; rapper ("Ice Ice Baby").
- 1968 - Milwaukee Bucks win their first game beating Detroit Pistons 138-118 (6th game).
- 1968 - US President Lyndon Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam.
- 1969 - Race riot in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1970 - In New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs.
- 1974 - Laura Aime disappears in Utah (possible Ted Bundy victim).
- 1974 - ABC airs the 100th episode of The Odd Couple TV show.
- 1975 - Joseph Calleia, actor (Jungle Book, Gilda), dies at age 78.
- 1976 - In Canada, the first draw of the Provincial lottery is held.
- 1979 - The expanded Lome Agreement is signed between the European Community (EG, Europäische Gemeinschaft, now called the Europäische Union) and 58 developing nations.
- 1980 - The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
- 1980 - Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
- 1980 - Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 metres).
- 1981 - Birth of Frank Iero; American guitarist (My Chemical Romance).
- 1981 - Birth of Selina Ren; member of Taiwanese girl-group S.H.E.
- 1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes first pontiff to visit Spain.
- 1983 - Death of George S. Halas, American football player and coach at age 88 (born 1895).
- 1983 - Ron Grant completes a 217-day, 8,316-mile run around Australia.
- 1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her two Sikh security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi, and some 2,700 Sikhs are killed.
- 1984 - Puerto Rican tanker San Francisco explodes spilling two million gallons of oil as the ship catches fire.
- 1986 - Death of Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (born 1896).
- 1987 - First jockey to win nine races in one day (Chris Antley at Belmont).
- 1987 - A pair in Coventry, England ties the world record for the longest singles tennis match at 80 hours 21 minutes.
- 1987 - Joseph Campbell, American mythologist/writer (Mythic Image), dies at age 83 (born 1904).
- 1988 - First Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis, Indianapolis Colts beat Denver Broncos 55-23.
- 1988 - Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia.
- 1991 - The ABC TV network airs the last episode of the Disney TV series Good and Evil.
- 1991 - Joseph Papp, Broadway producer (Chorus Line), dies of cancer at age 70.
- 1992 - Pope John Paul II issues an apology, and lifts the edict of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei.
- 1994 - An American Eagle ATR-72 plane crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 64 passengers.
- 1994 - The Duke of Edinburgh attends a ceremony in Israel, where his late mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is honoured as "Righteous among the Nations" for sheltering Jewish families from the Germans in Athens, Greece, during World War II.
- 1998 - Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
- 1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
- 1999 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
- 1999 - Death of Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (born 1975).
- 2000 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, killing 83.
- 2001 - Searchers recover $230 million in gold and silver from vaults of the Bank of Nova Scotia among rubble of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York City.
- 2003 - Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.
- 2004 - Leftist candidate Tabaré Vázquez is elected President of Uruguay.
- 2005 - U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Federal Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 2005 - Birth of Infanta Leonor of Spain, daughter of Felipe, Prince of Asturias and his wife Letizia.
- 2006 - Death of Pieter Willem Botha at age 90, former State President of South Africa (born 1916).
- 2006 - Square Enix releases the Final Fantasy XII video game for the PlayStation 2 in the USA.
- 2007 - World Economic Forum releases The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008, at 11:00 CET.
- 2007 - A bus bomb in the central Russian city of Tolyatti kills eight and injures over 50 people.
- 2007 - Spot price of gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange passes $800 per ounce, first time since January 1980.
- 2008 - Papua New Guinea is the second country to release a colored circulating coin, a 50-toea coin with red on white logo of the Central Bank of Papua New Guinea, marking the 35th anniversary of the bank.
- 2008 - Death of Pulitzer Prize-winning author (The Good War) Louis "Studs" Terkel in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at age 96.
- 2010 - In Iraq, insurgents occupy a church in Baghdad; the churchis stormed by seurity forces, resulting in over 52 dead.
- 2010 - Dilma Rousseff is elected President of Brazil, defeating José Serra of the Party of Brazillian Social Democracy, 56 to 44 percent.
- 2011 - Date selected by the UN as the symbolic date when global population reaches seven billion.
- 2011 - UNESCO admits Palestine as a member, following a vote in which 107 member states support and 14 oppose.
- 2014 - Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré resigns after widespread protests in response to the attempt in abolishing presidential term limits.
- 2015 - Kogalymavia Flight 9268, an Airbus A321 airliner en route to Saint Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, crashes near Al-Hasana in Sinai, killing all 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
- 2019 - Heavy rain and flooding leave 3 dead and 200,000 people homeless in Beledweyne, Somalia.
- 2019 - A fire destroys much of the 500-year-old Japanese Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- 2019 - A train catches fire near Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan. The blaze, sparked by gas used by passengers cooking on board, kills at least 74 people.
- 2020 - Typhoon Goni makes landfall in the Philippines, becoming the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone in history, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and killing dozens of people in the region.
- 2021 - The 2021 Japanese general election is held, with Fumio Kishida and the Liberal Democratic Party along with its coalition partner Komeito retaining a majority government.
- 2021 - (to November 13) The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held, after being postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. A deal is agreed by world leaders, which includes a "phasedown" of unabated coal power, a 30% cut in methane emissions by 2030, plans for a halt to deforestation by 2030, and increased financial support for developing countries.
- 2021 - Death of Dame Catherine Tizard, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1931).
- 2022 - All songs in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart are by Taylor Swift, a first for any artist.
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