✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 212th day of the year

July 31

A look at July 31 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Louis de Funès and Stephanie Kwolek, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstoneRuby ❀Birth flowerLarkspur
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Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2006

    Fidel Castro

    Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.

    Leader of Cuba from
  2. 1992

    Georgia (country)

    The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.

    Country in Eastern Europe
  3. 1972

    The Troubles

    The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.

    1960s–1998 conflict in Northern
  4. 1966

    Loss of MV Darlwyne

    The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappeared off the Cornwall coast with the loss of all 31 aboard.

    Pleasure cruiser sinking off
  5. 1941

    The Holocaust

    The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring 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."

    Genocide of European Jews
  6. 1938

    Bulgaria

    Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).

    Country in Southeast Europe
  7. 1917

    World War I

    World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.

    1914–1918 global conflict
  8. 1874

    Patrick Francis Healy

    Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.

    American Jesuit educator (1834–1910)
  9. 1777

    Second Continental Congress

    The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."

    1775–1781 convention of the
  10. 1009

    Pope Sergius IV

    Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.

    Head of the Catholic
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Famous birthday twins

Born on July 31

Louis de Funès

b. 1914

French actor and screenwriter

Stephanie Kwolek

b. 1923

American chemist and engineer, invented Kevlar

Victoria Azarenka

b. 1989

Belarusian tennis player

Deval Patrick

b. 1956

American lawyer and politician, 71st Governor of Massachusetts

Jonathan Ogden

b. 1974

American football player

Antonio Conte

b. 1969

Italian footballer and manager

Fred Keenor

b. 1894

Welsh footballer

J. K. Rowling

b. 1965

English author and film producer

Deaths

  • 1993Baudouin of Belgium, King of Belgium
  • 1944Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and poet
  • 1914Jean Jaurès, French journalist and politician
  • 1875Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States
  • 1784Denis Diderot, French philosopher and critic
  • 1693Willem Kalf, Dutch still life painter

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Abanoub
  • —Christian feast day: Germanus of Auxerre
  • —Christian feast day: Ignatius of Loyola
  • —Christian feast day: Neot
  • —Christian feast day: July 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Earliest day on which the Feast of Kamál (Perfection) can fall, while August 1 is the latest; observed on the first day of the eighth month of the Baháʼí calendar. (Baháʼí Faith)
  • —End of the Trinity term (sitting of the High Court of Justice of England)
  • —Lā Hae Hawaiʻi Day (Hawaii, United States), and its related observance: Sovereignty Restoration Day (Hawaiian sovereignty movement)

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