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Information about January 31


January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are


334 days remaining, (335 in leap years).


Events


   * 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon


   * 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against


     Parliament and James I of England.


   * 1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock


     Hospital.


   * 1849 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom


   * 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes


     general-in-chief.


   * 1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into


     reservations.


   * 1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of


     Argentina


   * 1915 - World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians


   * 1917 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in


     unrestricted submarine warfare.


   * 1928 - 3M begins marketing Scotch tape


   * 1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.


   * 1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.


   * 1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other


     islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.


   * 1945 - Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the


     Civil War to be executed for desertion


   * 1946 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union,


     establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,


     Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).


   * 1950 - President Harry S Truman announces a program to develop the


     hydrogen bomb.


   * 1958 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched


     into orbit.


   * 1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt


   * 1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon


   * 1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia


   * 1971 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a


     mission to the moon.


   * 1990 - The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.


   * 1995 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico


     to stabilize its economy.


   * 1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central


     Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.


   * 2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and


     acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103


     which crash into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.


   * 2003- Man in Miami steals US Mail truck, taking hostages with him.


     Later, he releases the hostages and surrenders to police.


Births


   * 1797 - Franz Schubert, composer (+ 1828)


   * 1872 - Zane Grey, writer (+ 1939)


   * 1884 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (+ 1963)


   * 1892 - Eddie Cantor, actor, singer


   * 1901 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz, writer (+ 1974)


   * 1902 - Alva Mydral, politician (+ 1986)


   * 1902 - Tallulah Bankhead, actress (+ 1968)


   * 1905 - John O'Hara, writer (+ 1970)


   * 1914 - Jersey Joe Walcott, boxer (+ 1994)


   * 1919 - Jackie Robinson, baseball player (+ 1972)


   * 1920 - Paul Warnke, diplomat (+ 2001)


   * 1921 - Carol Channing, actress


   * 1921 - Mario Lanza, singer, actor (+ 1959)


   * 1923 - Norman Mailer, writer and journalist


   * 1925 - Benjamin Hooks, head of the National Association for the


     Advancement of Colored People


   * 1929 - Jean Simmons, actress


   * 1931 - Ernie Banks, Baseball Hall of Famer


   * 1937 - Suzanne Pleshette, actress


   * 1937 - Philip Glass, composer


   * 1938 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands


   * 1941 - Richard Gephardt, American politician


   * 1942 - Derek Jarman, director, writer (+ 1994)


   * 1946 - Terry Kath, musician (+ 1978)


   * 1947 - Nolan Ryan, baseball player


   * 1949 - Ken Wilber, philosopher


   * 1956 - Johnny Rotten, musician (The "Sex Pistols")


   * 1970 - Minnie Driver, actress


   * 1981 - Justin Timberlake, musician


Deaths


   * 1606 - Guy Fawkes, executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot


   * 1907 - Timothy Eaton, department store founder


   * 1933 - John Galsworthy, writer


   * 1945 - Eddie Slovik, American soldier


   * 1956 - A. A. Milne, author (Winnie the Pooh)


   * 1970 - Slim Harpo, blues singer


   * 1974 - Samuel Goldwyn, film studio executive


   * 1992 - Willie Dixon, blues musician


   * 1995 - George Abbott, director and producer on Broadway, dies at 107


   * 2000 - Gil Kane, comic book writer


   * 2001 - Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction writer


Holidays and observances


   * Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Bosco.

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