December 31

December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 0 days remaining.

Events:

• 406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia
• 1600 - British East India Company is chartered
• 1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
• 1695 - A window tax[?] is imposed in England causing many shopkeepers to bricked up their windows to avoid the tax.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec.
• 1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario as the capital of Canada
• 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two).
• 1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (Menlo Park, New Jersey[?].
• 1916 - The Hampton Terrace Hotel[?] in North Augusta, South Carolina, one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the nation at the time, burns to the ground.
• 1929 - Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne[?] for the first time
• 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany
• 1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims an end of hostilities in World War II.
• 1955 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over one billion dollars in a year.
• 1960 - The farthing coin[?], used in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender[?].
• 1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing greater than $12 billion in foreign aid[?] to rebuild Europe.
• 1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
• 1990 - Russian Gary Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.
• 1995 - The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.
• 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin
• 1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines[?] plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.

Births:

• 1514 - Andreas Vesal[?], physician (+ 1564)
• 1790 - Antoine Adamberger[?], actress (+ 1867)
• 1869 - Henri Matisse, painter and graphic artist (+ 1954)
• 1880 - George Marshall, recipient of Nobel Prize in Peace 1953 for the Marshall Plan (+ 1959)
• 1881 - Max Pechstein[?], painter and graphic artist (+ 1955)
• 1894 - Pola Negri[?], actress (+ 1987)
• 1905 - Jule Styne, composer (+ 1994)
• 1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, concentration camp survivor, activist
• 1920 - Rex Allen[?], actor, singer (+ 1999)
• 1930 - Odetta[?], singer
• 1932 - Mildred Scheel[?], physician, founder of Deutsche Krebsliga[?] (+ 1985)
• 1932 - George Schlatter[?], television producer
• 1937 - Anthony Hopkins, actor
• 1941 - Alex Ferguson, football player and manager
• 1943 - John Denver, country/pop musician (+ 1997)
• 1943 - Ben Kingsley, actor
• 1945 - Taylor Hackford[?], producer, director
• 1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg[?], fashion designer
• 1947 - Burton Cummings[?], musician ("The Guess Who[?]")
• 1948 - Donna Summer, singer
• 1951 - George Thorogood, musician
• 1959 - Val Kilmer, actor

Deaths:

• 192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor
• 1384 - John Wyclif, theologian
• 1972 - Roberto Clemente, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1980 - Marshall McLuhan, one of the founders of media studies
• 1980 - Raoul Walsh[?], film director
• 1985 - Rick Nelson, singer
• 1993 - Brandon Teena, murder victim
• 1997 - Floyd Cramer[?], musician
• 1997 - Michael Kennedy[?], son of Robert F. Kennedy, is killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain[?] in Colorado.
• 1999 - Sarah Knauss, dies at the age of 119 years. She had been the world's oldest person alive. (born September 24, 1880).
• 1999 - Elliot Richardson[?], United States politician
• 2000 - José Greco[?], dancer
• 2000 - Alan Cranston[?], United States politician

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Holidays and observances:

The evening is called New Year's Eve. In the Netherlands the traditional food is oil-dumbling[?]. At 24:00 the beginning of the new year is celebrated, see January 1.

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Sharaf (Honor) - First day of the 16th month of the Bahá'í Calendar

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See Also:

December 30 - January 1 - November 30 - January 31 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December