August 31
(Redirected from 31 August)
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