May 31: Day of the year

May 31 is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 214 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 1279 BC – Rameses II (the Great) becomes Pharaoh of Egypt.
• 455 - Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
• 526 – Antioch, Turkey is hit by an earthquake kills 250,000 people.
• 1578 – Henry II of France lays the first stone of the Point Neuf (New Bridge) in Paris.
• 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada to mine fool's gold, used to pave the streets in London.
• 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys makes the last entry in his diary.
• 1740 - Frederick II of Prussia becomes King.
• 1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the strait of Juan de Fuca.
• 1795 - French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
• 1813 - In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route crossing the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.
• 1854 - The civil death procedure is banned in France.
• 1859 – Big Ben in London, UK starts keeping time.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor.
• 1884 - John Harvey Kellogg receives a patent for Cornflakes.
• 1889 – Johnstown flood: A dam break causes a flash flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,000 people.
• 1890 - In Ulm, southern Germany, Ulm Minster, the city's cathedral, is completed.

1901 – 2000

• 1902 - The Second Boer War ends, through the Treaty of Vereeniging, ensuring British control over South Africa.
• 1906 – An attack on the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain kills more than 20 people.
• 1910 – The Union of South Africa is formed.
• 1911 – The hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic is launched.
• 1911 – President Porfirio Díaz flees Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.
• 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Jutland is fought.
• 1921 – Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot: At least 39 people are killed.
• 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line.
• 1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse is released.
• 1935 – An earthquake in Quetta, Pakistan, kills around 40,000 people.
• 1941 – World War II: 38 people are killed in an air raid in Dublin.
• 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy Submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
• 1946 - A magnitude 6 earthquake in Turkey kills around 1,200 people.
• 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower ends his service with the United States Military.
• 1961 – The Republic of South Africa is founded.
• 1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.
• 1962 – Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is executed.
• 1970 – Ancash Earthquake: Southern Peru is hit by a major earthquake. Along with resulting avalanches, it kills 47,000 people. 20,000 people alone are killed in a single avalanche that hit the town of Yungay.
• 1970 – Brasilia Cathedral, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, is completed.
• 1970 - The 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico begins.
• 1971 - Memorial Day in the United States is held on the last Monday in May for the first time, instead of the traditional May 30 date.
• 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets in Cambodia.
• 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline is completed.
• 1981 - Burning of the Jaffna Library in Sri Lanka.
• 1985 – 76 people are killed in a tornado outbreak in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario.
• 1991 – Civil War political parties in Angola agree on a ceasefire and fire elections.

From 2001

• 2002 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan begins, where the Senegal national football team beats the France national football team 1-0.
• 2003 – Aung San Suu Kyi is arrested in Burma.
• 2005 – Mark Felt is revealed to have been 'Deep Throat', a key figure in the Watergate scandal.
• 2009 – The last-living survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking, Millvina Dean, dies aged 97.
• 2010 – Germany's President Horst Koehler resigns from office. Christian Wulff succeeds him over a month later.
• 2010 – Israeli forces storm the Gaza-bound international flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 9 Turkish activists.
• 2013 - A series of anti-government protests in Turkey begins in Istanbul.
• 2013 - Asteroid (285263) 1998 GE-2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
• 2013 - A tornado measuring 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) wide hits El Reno, Oklahoma.
• 2017 - A massive bomb attack in central Kabul kills at least 150 people.
• 2018 - The discovery of dunes of methane on the dwarf planet Pluto is announced.
• 2018 - US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on products from the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
• 2019 - Virginia Beach shooting: 12 government employees are shot dead by their colleague DeWayne Craddock in Virginia Beach, before he is killed in a shoot-out with police.

Up to 1800

• 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher (d. 1131)
• 1162 – Genghis Khan, Mongol ruler (d. 1227)
• 1243 - King James II of Majorca (d. 1311)
• 1443 – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
• 1469 – King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
• 1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish Jesuit (d. 1556)
• 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
• 1557 – Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)
• 1577 - Nur Jahan, Mughal Empress (d. 1645)
• 1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
• 1640 – Michael of Poland (d. 1673)
• 1641 – Dositheus, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
• 1656 – Marin Marais, French composer and violin player (d. 1728)
• 1683 - Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1755)
• 1744 - Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Irish writer and engineer (d. 1817)
• 1750 – Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (d. 1822)
• 1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French revolutionary (d. 1793)
• 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
• 1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet and writer (d. 1853)
• 1791 - John Brown Francis, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1864)

1801 – 1900

• 1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
• 1809 - Federico de Roncali, 1st Count of Alcoy, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1857)
• 1816 - Dimitrie Ghica, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1897)
• 1817 - Georg Herwegh, German poet (d. 1875)
• 1817 - Edouard Deldevez, French violinist and conductor (d. 1897)
• 1818 - John Albion Andrew, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
• 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
• 1825 - Domenico Agostini, Italian cardinal (d. 1891)
• 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
• 1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)
• 1852 - Julius Richard Petri, German bacteriologist (d. 1921)
• 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
• 1858 - Graham Wallas, English socialist, psychologist and educator (d. 1932)
• 1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
• 1862 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942)
• 1863 - Francis Younghusband, English army officer, explorer and writer (d. 1942)
• 1866 - Vladimir Rebikov, Russian composer (d. 1920)
• 1872 – Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
• 1872 – Charles Greeley Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973)
• 1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)
• 1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
• 1885 – Alois Hudal, Austrian Roman Catholic bishop, helped Nazi war criminals escape (d. 1963)
• 1887 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (d. 1975)
• 1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarussian painter (d. 1968)
• 1892 - Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)
• 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German politician (d. 1934)
• 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
• 1898 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
• 1899 - Madge Blake, American actress (d. 1969)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 - Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
• 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1908 - Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2000)
• 1909 - Aurore Gagnon, Canadian child abuse victim (d. 1920)
• 1909 - Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist (d. 2010)
• 1912 - Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist (d. 1997)
• 1912 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
• 1914 - Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (d. 2006)
• 1915 - Carmen Herrera, Cuban-American artist
• 1916 - Bert Haanstra, Dutch movie and documentary director (d. 1997)
• 1916 - Bernard Lewis, British-American historian (d. 2018)
• 1917 - Jean Rouch, French filmmaker and anthropologist (d. 2004)
• 1921 - Alida Valli, Italian actress (d. 2006)
• 1921 - Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
• 1923 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005)
• 1923 - Ellsworth Kelly, American painter, sculptor and printmaker (d. 2015)
• 1925 - Frei Otto, German architect (d. 2015)
• 1926 - Domenico De Simone, Italian politician (d. 2019)
• 1926 – James Krüss, writer (d. 1997)
• 1927 – Red Holloway, American musician (d. 2012)
• 1927 - Joe Robinson, British actor (d. 2017)
• 1928 - Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director, screenwriter and producer (d. 2014)
• 1929 - Andreas Meyer-Landrut, German diplomat
• 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer
• 1930 – Elaine Stewart, American actress (d. 2011)
• 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano (d. 2010)
• 1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist
• 1932 – Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
• 1933 - Sadashiv Vasantrao Gorakshkar, Indian writer and curator (d. 2019)
• 1935 – Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American country music singer (d. 2003)
• 1938 – John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary")
• 1939 – Terry Waite, British humanitarian
• 1939 – Haraldur Sigurdsson, Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist
• 1940 - Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
• 1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist
• 1942 - Minos Kyriakou, Greek businessman (d. 2017)
• 1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
• 1943 – Joe Namath, American football star
• 1945 - Pepe Eliaschev, Argentine journalist and writer (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor and director (d. 1982)
• 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Ivory Coast
• 1947 - Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter
• 1948 - Svetlana Alexievich, Belarussian journalist and writer
• 1948 – John Bonham, English musician, drummer with Led Zeppelin (d. September 25, 1980)
• 1948 – Lynda Bellingham, English actress and broadcaster (d. 2014)
• 1948 - Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer and politician
• 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor
• 1950 – Gregory Harrison, actor

1951 – 1975

• 1952 – Karl Bartos, German musician (Kraftwerk)
• 1955 - Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist and singer
• 1955 - Lynne Truss, English writer
• 1956 - Gerd Weber, East German footballer
• 1959 - Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver (d. 2014)
• 1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
• 1960 – Chris Elliott, American comedian
• 1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress
• 1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1963 – Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary
• 1963 – Wesley Willis, American musician
• 1964 - Yukio Edano, Japanese politician
• 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model and actress
• 1966 - Roshan Mahamana, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1966 - Nick Scotti, American model, actor and singer
• 1967 - Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress
• 1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer
• 1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier
• 1972 - Sarah Murdoch, English-Australian model and actress
• 1973 - Kate Howey, British judoka
• 1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
• 1974 - Kenan Dogulu, Turkish singer
• 1974 - Tristram Hunt, English politician
• 1975 – Toni Nieminen, Finnish ski jumper
• 1975 - Antonín Kinsky, Czech footballer

From 1976

• 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
• 1976 - Matt Harping, American basketball player
• 1976 - Tonka Tomicic, Chilean model and television host
• 1977 – June Sarpong, British television presenter
• 1977 - Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
• 1977 - Katrín Jónsdóttir, Icelandic footballer
• 1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
• 1978 - Eric Moussambani, Equatoguinean swimmer
• 1978 - Robert Rinder, English barrister and television personality
• 1979 - Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
• 1980 – Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
• 1981 - Yoon Mi-rae, American-Korean singer and songwriter
• 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
• 1981 - Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
• 1981 - Marlies Schild, Austrian skier
• 1983 – Reggie Yates, British television presenter
• 1984 – Jason Smith, Australian actor
• 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
• 1984 - Daniela Samulski, German swimmer (d. 2018)
• 1986 – Sopho Khalvashi, Georgian singer
• 1988 – Lisa Bund, German singer
• 1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
• 1989 - Pablo Alboran, Spanish singer
• 1989 - Bas Dost, Dutch footballer
• 1990 - Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1991 - Azealia Banks, American rapper, singer and songwriter.

Up to 1900

• 455 – Petronius Maximus, West Roman Emperor
• 1076 - Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria (b. 1050)
• 1162 – Geza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
• 1246 – Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John of England (b. 1188)
• 1349 – Thomas Wake
• 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1358)
• 1495 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415)
• 1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)
• 1680 – Joachim Neander, German Calvinist clergyman (b. 1650)
• 1740 – King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
• 1747 – Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
• 1799 – Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
• 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
• 1809 – Jean Lannes, French Marshal of Empire (b. 1769)
• 1831 – Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
• 1832 – Evariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
• 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779)
• 1846 – Philip Marheineke, German Protestant divine (b. 1780)
• 1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, writer, and scientist (b. 1780)
• 1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, writer (b. 1805)
• 1881 - Hugh J. Anderson, Governor of Maine (b. 1801)
• 1887 - Moritz Wagner, German geographer and naturalist (b. 1813)
• 1899 - Elisha Baxter, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1827)

1901 – 2000

• 1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian writer, poet and politician (b. 1839)
• 1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States (b. 1821)
• 1918 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (b. 1836)
• 1920 – Nasrullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan
• 1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi officer (b. 1904)
• 1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek Resistance activist (b. 1890)
• 1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
• 1960 – Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
• 1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
• 1961 - Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
• 1962 – Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (b. 1906)
• 1963 – Edith Hamilton, German-American writer and teacher (b. 1867)
• 1967 - Billy Strawhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger (b. 1915)
• 1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
• 1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist (b. 1910)
• 1977 – William Castle, American director (b. 1914)
• 1978 – Jozsef Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
• 1981 – Gyula Lorant, Hungarian footballer (b. 1928)
• 1981 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician (b. 1902)
• 1982 - Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer (b. 1930)
• 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
• 1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• 1986 - Gaston Rebuffat, French mountaineer (b. 1921)
• 1994 - Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (b. 1909)
• 1996 – Paul Peter Piech, artist (b. 1920)
• 1996 – Timothy Leary, American LSD advocate (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
• 2000 – Tito Puente, musician (b. 1923)
• 2000 – Johnnie Taylor, vocalist (b. 1938)

From 2001

• 2001 - Arlene Francis, American actress (b. 1907)
• 2002 - Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (b. 1929)
• 2003 - Francesco Colasuonno, Italian cardinal (b. 1925)
• 2004 – Robert Quine, guitarist (b. 1942)
• 2006 – Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist (b. 1914)
• 2009 – Millvina Dean, last-living RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1912)
• 2009 – George Tiller, American abortion doctor (b. 1941)
• 2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-born sculptor (b. 1911)
• 2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)
• 2011 - Andy Robustelli, American football player (b. 1925)
• 2011 – Ezzatollah Sahabi, Iranian politician (b. 1930)
• 2013 - Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923)
• 2013 - Tim Samaras, American storm chaser (b. 1957)
• 2013 - Paul Samaras, American storm chaser (b. 1988)
• 2014 - Marilyn Beck, American entertainment journalist (b. 1928)
• 2014 - Hoss Ellington, American NASCAR driver (b. 1935)
• 2014 - Martha Hyer, American actress (b. 1924)
• 2014 - Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet (b. 1936)
• 2014 - Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, daughter of Winston Churchill (b. 1922)
• 2014 - Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer (b. 1952)
• 2015 - Karl Wlaschek, Austrian executive (b. 1917)
• 2015 - Mario Saliwa, South African cricketer (b. 1984)
• 2015 - Slim Richey, American guitarist (b. 1938)
• 2016 - Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (b. 1947)
• 2016 - Jan Crouch, American televangelist and broadcasting executive (b. 1938)
• 2016 - Antonio Imbert Barrera, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1920)
• 2016 - Carla Lane, English television writer (b. 1928)
• 2016 - Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (b. 1939)
• 2016 - David Tod Roy, Chinese translator (b. 1933)
• 2016 - Corry Brokken, Dutch singer (b. 1932)
• 2017 - Lubomyr Husar, Ukrainian religious figure (b. 1933)
• 2017 - Tino Insana, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2017 - Fred Kummerow, American science professor (b. 1914)
• 2017 - Bern Nix, American jazz guitarist (b. 1947)
• 2017 - Jiri Belohlavek, Czech conductor (b. 1946)
• 2018 - Michael D. Ford, English art director and set decorator (b. 1928)
• 2018 - Aníbal Quijano, Peruvian sociologist (b. 1928)
• 2019 - Roky Erickson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1947)

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