March 31

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MMXI

March 31 in recent years

2011 (Thursday)

2010 (Wednesday)

2009 (Tuesday)

2008 (Monday)

2007 (Saturday)

2006 (Friday)

2005 (Thursday)

2004 (Wednesday)

2003 (Monday)

2002 (Sunday)

March 31 is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 275 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
• 1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
• 1492 – Queen Isabella of Castille issues the Alhambra decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
• 1717 – A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.
• 1774 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
• 1822 – The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
• 1854 – Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
• 1866 – The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile.
• 1877 – The family with samurai antecedents that responded to the Saigō army in Ōita Nakatsu, rebels.
• 1885 – The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
• 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
• 1903 – Richard Pearse allegedly makes a powered flight in an early aircraft.
• 1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.
• 1909 – Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1910 – Six North Staffordshire Pottery towns federate to form modern Stoke-on-Trent.
• 1917 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.
• 1918 – Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.
• 1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
• 1921 – The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.
• 1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty eight years.
• 1931 – An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
• 1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas killing 8 including Knute Rockne, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
• 1933 – The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment.
• 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
• 1945 – World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
• 1949 – The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
• 1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
• 1957 – Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
• 1958 – In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.
• 1959 – The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
• 1964 – A coup d'état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castello Branco.
• 1965 – An Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier, killing 47 of 51 occupants.
• 1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
• 1970 – Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
• 1970 – Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
• 1979 – The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
• 1980 – The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
• 1985 – The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.
• 1986 – A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166.
• 1986 – Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
• 1990 – 200,000 protestors take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.
• 1991 – The Islamic Constitutional Movement, or Hadas, is established in Kuwait.
• 1991 – Georgian independence referendum, 1991: nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
• 1994 – Human evolution: The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
• 1995 – Selena, an American singer, was murdered by her friend and employee of her boutiques Yolanda Saldívar who was embezzling money from the establishments. The event was named "Black Friday" by Hispanics.
• 2004 – In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.

Births

• 250 – Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (d. 306)
• 1360 – Philippa of Lancaster, queen of Portugal (d. 1415)
• 1425 – Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (d. 1468)
• 1499 – Pope Pius IV (d. 1565)
• 1504 – Guru Angad Dev, second Sikh guru (d. 1552)
• 1519 – King Henry II of France (d. 1559)
• 1536 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (d. 1565)
• 1576 – Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (d. 1644)
• 1596 – René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician (d. 1650)
• 1621 – Andrew Marvell, English poet (d. 1678)
• 1651 – Karl II, Elector Palatine (d. 1685)
• 1675 – Pope Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
• 1718 – Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain (d. 1781)
• 1723 – King Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1766)
• 1730 – Étienne Bézout, French mathematician (d. 1783)
• 1732 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
• 1777 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist (d. 1859)
• 1778 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (d. 1858)
• 1794 – Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American politician and cabinet member (d. 1852)
• 1809 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet (d. 1883)
• 1809 – Otto Lindblad, Swedish composer (d. 1864)
• 1809 – Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Ukrainian-born Russian writer (d. 1852)
• 1819 – Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, German statesman (d. 1901)
• 1823 – Mary Boykin Chesnut, American author (d. 1886)
• 1847 – Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (d. 1878)
• 1855 – Alfred E. Hunt, American entrepreneur (d. 1899)
• 1871 – Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (d. 1922)
• 1872 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian statesman (d. 1952)
• 1872 – Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (d. 1929)
• 1876 – Borisav Stanković, Serbian writer (d. 1927)
• 1878 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
• 1884 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-born American astronomer (d. 1946)
• 1885 – Pascin, Bulgarian painter (d. 1930)
• 1890 – William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1971)
• 1891 – Victor Varconi, Hungarian film actor (d. 1976)
• 1893 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (d. 1954)
• 1895 – Vardis Fisher, American author (d. 1968)
• 1906 – Shin'ichiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
• 1907 – Eddie Quillan, American actor (d. 1990)
• 1908 – Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Elisabeth Grümmer, German soprano (d. 1986)
• 1912 – William Lederer, American writer (d. 2009)
• 1914 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1915 – Albert Hourani, English historian (d. 1993)
• 1915 – Shoichi Yokoi, Japanese military man (d. 1997)
• 1916 – Lucille Bliss, American voice actress
• 1916 – John H. Wood, Jr., American jurist (d. 1979)
• 1919 – Frank Akins, American football player (d. 1993)
• 1920 – Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English noble
• 1922 – Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (d. 1999)
• 1924 – Leo Buscaglia, American author (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Charles Guggenheim, American film director and producer (d. 2002)
• 1925 – Jean Coutu, French Canadian actor (d. 1999)
• 1926 – John Fowles, English author (d. 2005)
• 1927 – César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
• 1927 – William Daniels, American actor
• 1928 – Lefty Frizzell, American singer and songwriter (d. 1975)
• 1928 – Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1929 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-born American fashion designer (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Bertram Fields, American lawyer
• 1931 – Miller Barber, American golfer
• 1932 – John Jakes, American writer
• 1932 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese film director
• 1933 – Nichita Stănescu, Romanian poet (d. 1983)
• 1934 – Richard Chamberlain, American actor
• 1934 – Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
• 1934 – John D. Loudermilk, American singer and songwriter
• 1934 – Carlo Rubbia, Italian physicist, Nobel Laureate
• 1935 – Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and band leader
• 1935 – Judith Rossner, American author
• 1936 – Marge Piercy, American writer
• 1936 – Bob Pulford, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1936 – Dokumamushi Sandayu, Japanese actor
• 1938 – Sheila Dikshit, Indian statesman
• 1938 – Bill Hicke, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Michiko Nomura, Japanese voice actor
• 1938 – Arthur B. Rubinstein, American composer
• 1938 – David Steel, Scottish politician
• 1939 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian politician (d. 1993)
• 1939 – Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
• 1940 – Barney Frank, American politician
• 1940 – Patrick Leahy, American politician
• 1941 – Franco Bonvicini, also known as Bonvi, Italian comic book artist (Sturmtruppen, Nick Carter) (d. 1995)
• 1942 – Ulla Hoffmann, Swedish politician
• 1942 – Michael Savage, American radio host and political commentator
• 1943 – Christopher Walken, American actor
• 1944 – Pascal Danel, French singer and songwriter
• 1944 – Mick Ralphs, English guitarist (Mott the Hoople, Bad Company)
• 1945 – Valerie Curtin, American actress, writer, and producer
• 1945 – Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian
• 1945 – Myfanwy Talog, Welsh actress (d. 1995)
• 1946 – Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1984)
• 1947 – Kristian Blak, Danish musician and recording executive
• 1947 – César Gaviria Trujillo, Colombian politician
• 1948 – Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel laureate
• 1948 – Rhea Perlman, American actress
• 1948 – Gustaaf Van Cauter, Belgian cyclist
• 1950 – András Adorján, Hungarian chess player
• 1950 – Ed Marinaro, American football player and actor
• 1951 – Frankie Sabath, Puerto Rican performer/singer
• 1952 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
• 1955 – Robert Vance, New Zealand cricketer
• 1955 – Angus Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (AC/DC)
• 1957 – Alan Duncan, British politician
• 1957 – Marc McClure, American actor
• 1957 – Kyle Secor, American actor
• 1958 – Tony Cox, American actor
• 1959 – Markus Hediger, Swiss poet and translator
• 1959 – Ali McMordie, Irish bassist (Stiff Little Fingers)
• 1960 – Michelle Nicastro, American actress and singer (d. 2010)
• 1962 – John Taylor, American football player
• 1963 – Paul Mercurio, Australian actor/dancer
• 1964 – Fez Marie Whatley, American radio host and comedian
• 1964 – Paul Wong Koon-Chung, Hong Kong musician (Beyond)
• 1965 – Tom Barrasso, American ice hockey player
• 1965 – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (d. 2006)
• 1965 – Steven T. Seagle, American comic-book writer
• 1966 – Roger Black, English athlete
• 1966 – Nick Firestone, American race car driver
• 1968 – Naoya Ogawa, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 – J.R. Reid, American basketball player
• 1969 – Samantha Brown, American television host
• 1969 – Nyamko Sabuni, Swedish politician
• 1969 – Steve Smith, American basketball player
• 1971 – Demetris Assiotis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
• 1971 – Pavel Bure, Russian ice hockey player
• 1971 – Craig McCracken, American Animator
• 1971 – Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
• 1972 – Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish film director
• 1972 – Andrew Bowen, American actor
• 1972 – Ze Frank, American internet personality
• 1972 – Luca Gentili, Italian footballer
• 1972 – Hristos Polihroniou, Greek hammer thrower
• 1974 – Benjamin Eicher, Swiss film director
• 1974 – Stefan Olsdal, Swedish bassist (Placebo)
• 1975 – Emma Atkins, English actress
• 1975 – Prodromos Dreliozis, Greek basketball player
• 1975 – Adam Green, American film director
• 1976 – Ashton Moore, American porn actress
• 1976 – Josh Saviano, American actor
• 1977 – Garth Tander, Australian racing driver
• 1977 – Toshiya, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
• 1978 – Stephen Clemence, English footballer
• 1978 – Jérôme Rothen, French footballer
• 1978 – Tony Yayo, American rapper
• 1979 – Josh Kinney, American baseball player
• 1980 – Dean Clark, English footballer
• 1980 – Michael Ryder, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Maaya Sakamoto, Japanese voice actor/Singer
• 1980 – Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese baseball player
• 1981 – Ryan Bingham, American singer/songwriter
• 1981 – Gerard McCarthy, British actor
• 1981 – Pa Dembo Tourray, Gambian footballer
• 1981 – Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch swimmer
• 1982 – Audrey Kawasaki, American painter
• 1982 – Ryland Blackinton, American guitarist (Cobra Starship)
• 1982 – Tal Ben Haim, Israeli footballer
• 1982 – Lennon Murphy, American rock singer/songwriter
• 1983 – Vlasios Maras, Greek gymnast
• 1983 – Paddy McCarthy, Irish footballer
• 1984 – Dario Bova, Italian footballer
• 1984 – Alberto Junior Rodríguez, Peruvian footballer
• 1984 – David Clarkson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Eddie Johnson, American soccer player
• 1984 – James Jones, American football player
• 1984 – Yanin Vismistananda, Thai actress
• 1985 – Jessica Szohr, American actress
• 1987 – Nordin Amrabat, Dutch footballer
• 1987 – Humpy Koneru, Indian chess grandmaster
• 1987 – Eros Pisano, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Hogan Ephraim, English footballer
• 1988 – Louis van der Westhuizen, Namibian cricketer
• 1989 – Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer

Deaths

• 1074 – Regency Yorimichi Fujiwara of Japan (b. 992)
• 1340 – Ivan I of Russia, Prince of Moscow (b. 1288)
• 1547 – Francis I of France (b. 1494)
• 1567 – Philipp I of Hesse (b. 1504)
• 1621 – King Philip III of Spain (b. 1578)
• 1631 – John Donne, English writer and prelate (b. 1572)
• 1671 – Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (b. 1637)
• 1703 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)
• 1723 – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British-born U.S. state governor (b. 1661)
• 1727 – Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (b. 1643)
• 1741 – Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1668)
• 1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (b. 1718)
• 1797 – Olaudah Equiano, Nigerian slave (b.1745)
• 1837 – John Constable, English painter (b. 1776)
• 1850 – John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)
• 1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English author (b. 1816)
• 1877 – Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician (b. 1801)
• 1880 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835)
• 1885 – Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (b. 1819)
• 1913 – J. P. Morgan, American financier (b. 1837)
• 1917 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
• 1915 – Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish athlete (b. 1882)
• 1924 – George Charles Haité, English designer, painter and illustrator (b.1855)
• 1930 – Ludwig Schüler, German politician (b. 1836)
• 1931 – Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
• 1935 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Russian-born perfumer (b. 1885)
• 1935 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress (b. 1861)
• 1944 – Mineichi Koga, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)
• 1945 – Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
• 1945 – Anne Frank, German-born diarist (b. 1929)
• 1945 – Frank Findlay, New Zealand politician (b. 1884)
• 1952 – Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
• 1968 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (b. 1885)
• 1972 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (b. 1932)
• 1975 – Percy Alliss, English Golfer (b. 1897)
• 1976 – Paul Strand, American photographer and filmmaker (b. 1890)
• 1978 – Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (b. 1899)
• 1980 – Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
• 1980 – Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
• 1981 – Enid Bagnold, British playwright (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Christina Stead, Australian writer (b. 1902)
• 1984 – Ronald Clark O'Bryan, American murderer (b. 1944)
• 1986 – O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (b. 1937)
• 1986 – Jerry Paris, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1988 – William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Chichay, Filipino actress (b. 1918)
• 1993 – Brandon Lee, American actor (b. 1965)
• 1993 – Mitchell Parish, American lyricist (b. 1900)
• 1995 – Selena, an American singer (b. 1971)
• 1996 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American musician (The Gun Club) (b. 1958)
• 1998 – Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Tim Flock, American race car driver (b. 1924)
• 1999 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)
• 2001 – David Rocastle, English footballer (b. 1967)
• 2002 – Barry Took, British comedian (b. 1928)
• 2002 – Moturu Udayam, Indian women's activist (b. 1924)
• 2003 – H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
• 2003 – Anne Gwynne, American film actress (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Tommy Seebach, Danish singer (b. 1949)
• 2004 – Scott Helvenston, American Navy SEAL and Blackwater Contractor (b. 1965)
• 2005 – Stanley J. Korsmeyer, American oncologist (b. 1951)
• 2005 – Justiniano Montano, Filipino politician (b. 1905)
• 2005 – Frank Perdue, American poultry farmer (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Terri Schiavo, American figure in right-to-die case (b. 1963)
• 2006 – Angela Devi, American adult model (b. 1975)
• 2006 – Jackie McLean, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Paul Watzlawick, Austrian-born theoreticist (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Jules Dassin, American film director (b. 1911)
• 2008 – Bill Keightley (Mr. Wildcat), American basketball equipment manager (b. 1926)
• 2009 – Jarl Alfredius, Swedish news anchor (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Raúl Alfonsín, former President of Argentina (b. 1927)
• 2009 – Choor Singh, Singaporean judge (b. 1911)
• 2010 – Shirley Mills, American actress (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Abdas of Susa
  • Acathius of Melitene (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Anesius and companions
  • Benjamin
  • Balbina
  • March 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Freedom Day (Malta)
• King Nangklao Memorial Day (Thailand)
• Thomas Mundy Peterson Day (New Jersey)
• Transfer Day (US Virgin Islands)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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