On this day in History - Aug 31

0012 - Caius Cæsar Caligula was born (d. 0041). 3rd Roman Emperor (0037-0041)
0161 - Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus was born (d. 0192). Roman Emperor (0180-0192).
0651 - Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne dies. Irish bishop and missionary
1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora dies (b. 0981)
1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora dies suddenly without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty
1057 - Leofric dies. Count of Mercia and husband of Lady Godiva.
1158 - Sancho III dies. King of Castilia.
1218 - Al-Malik ab-Adil, Saphadin, Saif al-Din, brother of Saladin, died.
1290 - Edward I, King of England, expels the Jews from England.
1346 - Edward III, King of England, lays siege to Calais.
1422 - King Henry V of England dies (b. 1387)in Vincennes, near Paris
1522 -Adrian VI (Netherlands) is crowned last non-Italian Pope until 1978.
1535 - Pope Paul II deposes and excommunicates England's King Henry VIII.
1615 - Etienne Pasquier dies. French jurist and historian
1654 - Ole Worm dies (b. 1588). Danish physician
1663 - Guillaume Amontons was born (d. 1705). French physicist and instrument maker.
1688 - John Bunyan dies (b. 1628). English writer (Pilgrim's Progress)
1741 - Johann Gottlieb Heineccius dies (b. 1681). German jurist.
1772 - William Borlase dies (b. 1695). English naturalist and antiquary
1786 : Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889), chimiste français
1795 - Philidor (François-André Danican) dies (b. 1726). French chess player.
1797 - Ramón Castilla, presidente peruano.
1805 - Dr. James Currie dies. Biographer of Burns, 1805, Sidmouth;
1817 - Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1817, Devonport.
1809 - Oswald Heer, géologue et naturaliste suisse († 27 Sep 1883)
1811 - Theophile Gautier was born (d. 1872). French poet and novelist. “Art for Art's Sake,”
1811 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville dies (b. 1729). French explorer.
1814 - Arthur Phillip dies (b. 1738). British admiral, first Governor of New South Wales.
1824 - Muere en Chile Juan Crisóstomo Lafinur, poeta y periodista nacido en San Luis, Argentina. Combatió junto al General Belgrano en la campaña al Alto Perú.
1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli was born (d. 1886). Italian composer.
1834 - Karl Ludwig Harding dies (b. 1765). German astronomer.
1864 - American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1864 - Muere el político socialista y filósofo Ferdinand Lasalle.
1867 - Charles Baudelaire dies (b. 1821). French poet.
1870 - Maria Montessori was born (d. 1952). Italian educator.
1875 - Jesse James Jr. was born in Tennessee (d. 26 Mar 1951). American outlaw.
1876 - Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
1878 - Frank Jarvis was born (d. 1933). American athlete.
1879 - Alma Mahler was born (d. 1964). Wife of Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel.
1879 - Nasce a pedagoga italiana María Montessori (d. 1952). Foi a primeira mulher em Itália en a formar-se em Medicina. Escreveu uma série de ensaios sobre educação que tiveram grande influencia na educação de varias geracões.
1880 - Queen Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands was born (d. 28 Nov 1962). She reigned from 1890-1947.
1885 - DuBose Heyward was born (d. 1940). American playwright.
1886 - Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina
1888 - Mary Ann Nicholls is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims
1890. Começo da construção do Santuário do Sameiro, nos arredores de Braga.
1895 - John Brallier is paid US$10 plus expenses to play football for the Latrobe, Pennsylvania YMCA, making him the first professional football player.
1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie camera.
1897 - Fredric March was born (d. 1975). American actor.
1899 - Lynn Riggs, writer, was born. Her book “Green Grow the Lilacs” was adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein to become “Oklahoma.”
1901 - Começam a circular os primeiros carros eléctricos em Lisboa.
1903 - Arthur Godfrey was born (d. 1983). American television host.
1903 - Vladimir Jankélévitch was born († 10 Apr 1985) . French philosopher
1907 - William Shawn was born (d. 1992). American editor.
1907 - Ramon Magsaysay was born (d. 1957). President of the Philippines.
1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente alliance.
1908 - William Saroyan was born in Fresco, California (d. 1981). American novelist and playwright. (The Human Comedy; The Time of Your Life 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1913 - Ambrós was born (d. 1992). Graphic creator (El Capitán Trueno).
1914 - Richard Basehart was born (d. 1984). American actor.
1914 - Ecuador becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1915 - Brazil becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1916 - Daniel Schorr was born. American journalist
1918 - Alan Jay Lerner was born (d. 1986). American composer.
1920 - First news radio program broadcast in Detroit, Michigan.
1920 - Polish-Bolshevik War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
1920 - Wilhelm Wundt dies (b. 1832). German philosopher and psycologist.
1921 - Emilinha Borba was born. Brazilian actress.
1924 - Buddy Hackett was born (d. 2003). American actor and comedian.
1928 - Turquía acuerda adoptar el alfabeto latino y abandonar el árabe.
1928 - James Coburn was born ( († 18 novembre 2002). American actor.
1931 - Noble Willingham was born (d. 2004). American actor.
1931 - Production of Ford Motor Company's Model A ends, with 4.3 million produced.
1935 - Frank Robinson was born. Baseball player and manager.
1935 - Eldridge Cleaver was born (d. 1998). American political activist.
1938 - Martin Bell was born. British journalist and politician.
1938 - Nasce Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho. Militar e político português.
1937 - Albert Heim was born. Swiss geologist.
1939 - Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on Gleiwitz radio station, giving them an excuse to attack Poland the following day, starting World War II.
1941 - Marina Tsvetaeva dies (b. 1892). Russian poet.
1943 - The USS Harmon the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for a black person, is commissioned.
1945 - Sérgio Godinho was born in Oporto. Portuguese singer, composer and actor
1945 - Van Morrison was born. Irish musician
1945 - Itzhak Perlman was born. Israeli violinist
1947 - Carlos Gregório was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actor
1948 - Lowell Ganz was born. American screenwriter
1948 - Rudolf Schenker was born. German guitarist (Scorpions)
1949 - Richard Gere was born. American actor (Breathless, Cotton Club),
1949 - H. David Politzer was born. American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1955 - Edwin Moses was born. American athlet. ganador de la medalla de oro de los 400 metros con vallas en Montreal 76 y Los Ángeles 84.
1956 - Masashi Tashiro was born. Japanese television performer
1956 - Percy MacKaye dies in Cornish, New Hampshire. American writer: The Scarecrow (1908), a historical play; Caliban (1916), This Fine Pretty World (1923), The Mystery of Hamlet: King of Denmark (1945).
1957 - The Federation of Malaya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1958 - Edwin Moses was born. American athlete
1962 - Trinidad and Tobago become independent.
1963 - Georges Braque dies (b. 1882). French painter.
1968 - Todd Carty was born. British actor.
1969 - Rocky Marciano dies (b. 1923). American boxer.
1970 - Deborah Gibson was born. American singer
1972 - Chris Tucker was born. American actor.
1972 - Bobby Fischer se corona campeón mundial de Ajedrez ante el sovietico Boris Spassky.
1972 - At the Munich Summer Olympics American swimmer Mark Spitz won his fourth and fifth gold medals, in the 100-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay.
1972 - Olga Korbut, USSR, won Olympic gold medal in floor exercises and the balance beam.
1973 - John Ford dies (b. 1894). American film director.
1977 - Morre o cardeal-patriarca de Lisboa, Gonçalves Cerejeira
1977 - Craig Nicholls was born. Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Vines)
1977 - Jeff Hardy was born. American professional wrestler.
1978 -William and Emily Harris, founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, plead guilty to the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
1978 - Regiane (Kelly Lima) Alves was born in Santo André, São Paulo. Brazilian actress.
1979 - Sally Rand dies (b. 1904). American dancer and actress.
1979 - Vanessa Gleason was born in San Diego, California, USA. Playboy Playmate of the Month September 1998
1980 - The Solidarity trade union is formed in Poland.
1985 - A atleta portuguesa Aurora Cunha ganha a meia maratona internacional de Oslo.
1985 - Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker" serial killer, is arrested in Los Angeles, California.
1985 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet dies (b. 1899). Australian biologist.
1986 - Henry Moore dies (b. 1898). English sculptor.
1986 - Urho Kekkonen dies (b. 1900). President of Finland.
1986 - An Aeroméxico Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 398.
1989 - Buckingham Palace officials confirm that Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips are to be separated.
1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 - Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo after a multiparty presidential election, ending a long history of one-party oppressive rule under the Congolese Workers Party.
1992 - Dr. Florencio Escardó morre em Buenos Aires. Decano da Faculdade de Medicina e Vice-reitor da Universidade de Buenos Aires.
1993 - Venezuela president Carlos Perez fled.
1994 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris.
1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales dies (car accident) (b. 1961)
1997 - Dodi Fayed dies (car accident) (b. 1955). Egyptian-born film producer.
1997 - Morre o locutor e animador argentino de radio e televisão Guillermo Brizuela Méndez.
1998 - North Korea reportedly launchs Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.
1999 - The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others.
2002 - Lionel Hampton dies (b. 1908). American vibraphone player.
2004 - Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is released on DVD and VHS in stores across the United States, selling approximately 4.1 million copies by the end of the day.
2004 - Carl Wayne dies (b. 1943). English singer.
Malaysia: Hari Merdeka, a National Day
Independence Day for Trinidad and Tobago (1962)
Moldova: Day of Our Language (Limba Noastra)
BlogDay: International Day of Blogs and Bloggers