August 31

2024 Calendar

August 31 is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 122 days remaining until the end of the year.

It is the last day of the second third of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

577 – John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople
651 – Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish bishop and missionary
683 – Pacal II, Mayan ruler (b. 603)
1056 – Byzantine Empress Theodora (b. 981)
1158 – Sancho I of Castile (b. 1134)
1234 – Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (b. 1212)
1422 – King Henry V of England (b. 1387)
1654 – Ole Worm, Danish physician (b. 1588)
1688 – John Bunyan, English writer (b. 1628)
1724 – Louis I of Spain (b. 1707)
1741 – Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist (b. 1681)
1762 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (b. 1741)
1772 – William Borlase, English naturalist (b. 1695)
1799 – Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (b. 1720)
1811 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (b. 1729)
1814 – Arthur Phillip, British admiral, first Governor of New South Wales (b. 1738)
1864 – Ferdinand Lassalle, German writer and politician (b. 1825)
1867 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet (b. 1821)
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols, victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1845)

1901 – 2000

1920 – Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (b. 1832)
1920 – Jens Oliver Lisberg, Faroese law student (b. 1896)
1924 – Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1881)
1927 – William Frank Carver, American target shooter and showman (b. 1851)
1941 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (b. 1892)
1948 – Billy Laughlin, American actor (b. 1932)
1948 – Andrei Zhdanov, Soviet politician (b. 1896)
1963 – Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882)
1967 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Soviet writer, journalist and translator (b. 1891)
1969 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (b. 1923)
1973 – John Ford, American movie director (b. 1894)
1974 – Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1923)
1978 – John Wrathall, Rhodesian politician (b. 1913)
1979 – Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (b. 1904)
1985 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist (b. 1899)
1986 – Henry Moore, English sculptor (b. 1898)
1986 – Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
1986 – Jorge Alessandri, President of Chile (b. 1896)
1990 – Nathaniel Clifton, American basketball player (b. 1922)
1991 – Cliff Lumsden, Canadian marathon swimmer (b. 1931)
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales (car accident) (b. 1961)
1997 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian-born movie producer (car accident) (b. 1955)
1997 – Henri Paul, French security guard (car accident) (b. 1956)

From 2001

2002 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player (b. 1908)
2002 – George Porter, English chemist (b. 1920)
2004 – Carl Wayne, English singer (b. 1943)
2005 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish-British physicist (b. 1908)
2006 – Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (b. 1983)
2010 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (b. 1960)
2011 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1976)
2011 – Valery Rozhdestvensky, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1939)
2012 – Sergey Leonidovich Sokolov, Soviet-Russian military commander (b. 1911)
2012 – Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (b. 1927)
2012 – Max Bygraves, British entertainer (b. 1922)
2013 – David Frost, British broadcaster (b. 1939)
2014 – Stefan Andrei, Romanian Communist politician (b. 1931)
2014 – Stan Goldberg, American comic author (b. 1932)
2014 – Jimi Jamison, American rock music singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2014 – Carol Vadnais, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)
2014 – Bapu, Indian movie director (b. 1933)
2014 – Yves Carcelle, French businessman (b. 1948)
2015 – Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, English politician (b. 1926)
2017 – Richard Anderson, American actor (b. 1926)
2017 – Janne Carlsson, Swedish actor and musician (b. 1937)
2017 – Mike Cockerill, Australian soccer journalist (b. 1960)
2017 – Egon Günther, German film director and screenwriter (b. 1927)
2017 – Tamara Tchinarova, Romanian ballet dancer and writer (b. 1919)
2018 – Susan Brown, American actress (b. 1932)
2018 – Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Italian geneticist (b. 1922)
2018 – Alexander Zakharenko, Ukrainian separatist leader (b. 1976)

Births

1901 – 1950

1903 – Vladimir Jankelevitch, French philosopher and musicologist (d. 1985)
1903 – Arthur Godfrey, American television host (d. 1983)
1907 – William Shawn, American editor (d. 1992)
1907 – Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (d. 1957)
1907 – Altiero Spinelli, Italian politician (d. 1986)
1908 – William Saroyan, American novelist and playwright (d. 1981)
1909 – Ferenc Fejto, Hungarian-French journalist and political scientist (d. 2008)
1913 – Bernard Lovell, English radio astronomer and physicist (d. 2012)
1913 – Helen Levitt, American photographer (d. 2009)
1914 – Richard Basehart, American actor (d. 1984)
1916 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2002)
1916 – Daniel Schorr, American journalist (d. 2010)
1918 – Alan Jay Lerner, American composer (d. 1986)
1924 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (d. 2003)
1925 – Katyna Ranieri, Italian actress and singer (d. 2018)
1928 – James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)
1928 – Jaime Sin, Filipino cardinal (d. 2005)
1931 – Jean Beliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1931 – Brita Koivunen, Finnish singer (d. 2014)
1931 – Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Roy Castle, English actor, singer and dancer (d. 1994)
1935 – Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager
1935 – Eldridge Cleaver, American political activist (d. 1998)
1936 – Vladimir Orlov, Russian author (d. 2014)
1937 – Gilles Latulippe, Canadian comedian, author and theatre manager (d. 2014)
1937 – Warren Berlinger, American actor
1937 – Bobby Parker, American guitarist
1938 – Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
1940 – Wilton Felder, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2015)
1940 – Alain Calmat, French figure skater
1942 – Isao Aoki, Japanese golfer
1944 – Roger Denn, English artist, designer, architect and publisher
1945 – Bob Welch, American musician (d. 2012)
1945 – Van Morrison, Northern Irish musician
1945 – Itzhak Perlman, Israeli violinist
1945 – Leonid Popov, Soviet-Ukrainian cosmonaut
1946 – Ann Coffey, Scottish politician
1947 – Somchai Wongsawat, former Prime Minister of Thailand
1947 – Mona Marshall, American voice actress
1948 – Holger Osieck, German football coach
1948 – Harald Ertl, Austrian racing driver (d. 1982)
1948 – Lowell Ganz, screenwriter
1948 – Rudolf Schenker, German musician (Scorpions)
1949 – Richard Gere, American actor
1949 – Hugh David Politzer, American physicist

1951 – 1975

1952 – Kim Kashkashian, Armenian-American violist
1953 – Pavel Vingradov, Russian cosmonaut
1954 – Robert Kocharian, former President of Armenia
1955 – Edwin Moses, American athlete
1956 – Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China
1956 – Mark Mangini, American sound editor
1956 – Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer
1959 – Ralph Krueger, Canadian ice hockey coach
1960 – Chris Whitley, American musician
1960 – Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper
1960 – Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese leader of Hezbollah
1962 – Dee Bradley Baker, American actor
1963 – Todd Carty, Irish actor
1965 – Zsolt Borkai, Hungarian gymnast
1966 – Jan Einar Thorsen, Norwegian alpine skier
1967 – Anna Moen, Norwegian skier
1968 – Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician
1968 – Derek Whyte, Scottish footballer
1969 – Jonathan LaPaglia, Australian actor
1969 – Andrew Cunanan, American serial killer (d. 1997)
1970 – Debbie Gibson, American singer
1970 – Queen Rania of Jordan, Jordanian Queen
1970 – Nikola Gruevski, Macedonian politician
1970 – Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer
1971 – Padraig Harrington, Irish golfer
1971 – Junior Jack, Italian music producer and DJ
1972 – Chris Tucker, American actor

From 1976

1976 – Roque Junior, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Radek Martinek, Czech ice hockey player
1976 – Lucy Speed, British actress
1977 – Craig Nicholls, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Vines)
1977 – Jeff Hardy, American professional wrestler
1979 – Simon Neil, Scottish singer and guitarist (Biffy Clyro)
1980 – Joe Budden, American rapper
1981 – Dwayne Peel, Welsh rugby player
1982 – Christopher Katongo, Zambian footballer
1982 – José Manuel Reina, Spanish footballer
1982 – Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1982 – Chris Duhon, American basketball player
1984 – Ted Ligety, American skier
1984 – Ryan Kesler, American ice hockey player
1985 – Rolando, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Ashley Hartman, American actress and model
1985 – Mohammad bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
1986 – Ryan Kelley, American actor
1987 – Ondrej Pavelec, Czech ice hockey player
1988 – David Ospina, Colombian footballer
1990 – Gary Mackay-Steven, Scottish footballer
1991 – Shi Tingmao, Chinese diver
1998 – Saya Kawamoto, Japanese idol and singer
2017 – Prince Gabriel, Duke of Dalarna, Swedish royal

Deaths

Observances

Independence Day (Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kyrgyzstan)
Day of Solidarity and Freedom (Poland)
National Language Day (Moldova)
Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne