1931 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. Events January January 4 - Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 - Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia January 25 - Mohandas Gandhi released again January 27 - Pierre Laval forms a government in France February February 10 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India February 16 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud elected president of Finland February 20 - California gets the go-ahead by the United States Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. March March 1 - Henry Pu Yi, former Emperor of China, is proclaimed King of the puppet state of Manchukuo by Japan. March 1 - USS Arizona (BB-39) placed back in full commission after a refit March 3 - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem. March 4 - British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi negotiate March 7 - New House of Representatives opened in Helsinki, Finland March 17 - Nevada legalizes gambling March 25 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape. March 31 - An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua killing 2,000. April April 1 - Earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua - over 2000 dead April 6 - Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores because of an attempted military takeover in Funchal April 9 - Execution of Argentinean anarchist Severino Digiovanni April 14 - 2nd Spanish Republic proclaimed in Spain April 22 - Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and USA recognize Spanish republic May May 1 - Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City May 4 - Kemal Ataturk re-elected president of Turkey May 13 - Paul Doumer elected president of France June June 14 - Yacht St Philiebert sinks in river Loire in France - over 500 drown June 23 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Wiley_Post/EX27.htm July July 1 - Official opening of Milan Central Station August August 24 - Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain - replaced by National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald. August 31 - Yangtze river floods - 23 million made homeless September September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes in Royal Navy due to decreased salaries September 18 - Mukden Incident. After that, Japan occupied Manchuria. September 18 - Geli Raubal is found shot dead in Hitler's apartment November November 8 - French gendarmes launch a large scale raid against Corsican bandits November 8 - Panama Canal closed for couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes December December 10 - Alcala Zamora elected president of Spanish republic Undated Elijah Muhammad meets W.D. Fard, in Detroit Deuterium discovered by Harold Clayton Urey. The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti capi, "boss of all bosses" and undisputed ruler of the American mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families Ust-Abakanskoye becomes Abakan. Births January January 4 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fijian chieftainess and former First Lady; widow of long-time former Prime Minister and President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (d. 2004). January 5 - Alvin Ailey, choreographer January 5 - Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist January 5 - Robert Duvall, actor and director January 6 - E. L. Doctorow, author January 8 - Bill Graham, rock music entrepreneur (d. 1991) January 10 - Viktor Liebermann, violinist (d. 1999) January 10 - Peter Barnes, playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004) January 13 - Charles Nelson Reilly, actor January 14 - Caterina Valente, singer, actress January 16 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany January 17 - James Earl Jones, actor January 19 - Tippi Hedren, actress January 19 - Robert MacNeil, journalist January 22 - Sam Cooke, singer (d. 1964) January 27 - Mordecai Richler, author (d. 2001) January 30 - Allan W. Eckert, historian, naturalist and author January 31 - Ernie Banks, Baseball Hall of Famer February February 1 - Boris Yeltsin, Russian president 1991-1999 February 2 - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician February 6 - Rip Torn, actor, director February 8 - James Dean, actor (d. 1955) February 10 - Thomas Bernhard, author (d. 1989) February 11 - Larry Merchant, author/boxing commentator. February 18 - Toni Morrison, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1993 February 18 - Bob St. Clair, American football star February 18 - Johnny Hart, cartoonist February 28 - Dean Smith, NCAA basketball coach March March 2 - Mikhail Gorbachev March 2 - Tom Wolfe, author March 11 - Rupert Murdoch, publisher, entrepreneur March 22 - William Shatner, (actor) March 26 - Leonard Nimoy, actor, director March 29 - Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut April April 1 - Rolf Hochhuth, writer April 27 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist April 29 - Frank Auerbach, painter April 29 - Lonnie Donegan, musician (d. 2002) May May 6 - Willie Mays, Baseball Hall of Famer May 7 - Teresa Brewer, singer May 13 - Jim Jones, cult leader (d. 1978) May 14 - Alvin Lucier, composer May 15 - Ken Venturi, golfer May 16 - Natwar Singh, politician May 18 - Robert Morse, actor May 19 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor May 20 - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1981) May 25 - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut May 31 - Shirley Verrett, American soprano June June 3 - Lindy Remigino, American athlete June 7 - Malcolm Morley, painter July July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress July 10 - Alice Munro, Canadian writer July 26 - Fred Foster, founder of Monument Records August August 12 - William Goldman, author August 19 - Bill Shoemaker, jockey (d. 2003) August 28 - John Shirley-Quirk, English bass-baritone August 31 - Jean Béliveau, Canadian ice hockey player September September 22 - Fay Weldon, British feminist author September 22 - George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (d. 2003) September 23 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, educator, statesman October October 7 - Cotton Fitzsimmons, NBA basketball coach (d. 2004) October 7 - Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican Archbishop anti-apartheid activist October 13 - Eddie Mathews, Major League Baseball player (d. 2001) October 20 - Mickey Mantle, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1995) October 23 - Jim Bunning, Baseball Hall of Famer, U.S. Senator November November 21 - Malcolm Williamson, composer (d. 2003) November 23 - Dervla Murphy, traveler, author November 28 - Hope Lange, American actress December December 24 - Mauricio Kagel, composer Deaths January January 23 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina February February 11 - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor of the steam turbine February 16 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, photographer March March 7 - Akseli Gallén-Kallela, Finnish painter March 11 - F.W. Murnau, director March 31 - Knute Rockne, American football coach April April 10 - Khalil Gibran Lebanese poet and painter May May 14 - David Belasco, writer July July 4 - Buddie Petit, jazz musician (b. ca. 1890) August August 6 - Bix Beiderbecke, jazz trumpeter (b. 1903) August 27 - Frank Harris, author and editor October October 13 - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer October 18 - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor December December 2 - Vincent d'Indy, composer and teacher Undated Joseph Tabrar, one of the most famous songwriters of British Music Hall. Nobel Prizes Physics - not awarded Chemistry - Carl Bosch, Friedrich Bergius Medicine - Otto Heinrich Warburg Literature - Erik Axel Karlfeldt Peace - Jane Addams Nicholas Murray Butler ast:1931 nds:1931 FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931