31st December, on this day

0335 St Silvester I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0406 80,000 Vandals attack the Rhine at Mainz
0765 Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China
0870 Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1492 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1494 French forces of King Charles VIII enter Rome
1502 Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino
1564 Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
1600 British East India Company chartered
1604 Admiral Steven van der Haghen's fleet reaches Bantam
1621 Hungarian King Bethlen Gábor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov
1669 France and Brandenburg sign secret treaty
1670 France and England sign Boyne-treaty
1687 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
1688 Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1695 A Window Tax is introduced into Britain - which leads to many of them being bricked up!
1700 Frisia/Groningen adopt Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is 1/12/1701
1708 Great Alliance captures Bridge
1711 Duke of Marlborough fired as English army commander
1744 James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's motion of nutation (wobble)
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk
1756 Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles
1758 British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar), Senegal
1762 Mozart family moves from Vienna to Salzburg
1775 Battle of Québec; Americans unable to take British stronghold
1779 English fleet beat Dutch Merchant vessels
1781 Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1783 Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern states
1805 End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
1841 Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
1852 Future President and Mrs Rutherford B Hayes marry
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
1861 22,990 mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in 1861, world record
1862 President Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
1862 Battle of Stones River. TN (Stone River, Murfreesboro)
1862 Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads TN
1862 Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sinks off Cape Hatteras, NC
1865 The capital of New Zealand is moved from Auckland to Wellington
1870 J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
1879 Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1896 25th auto built in US
1900 For the first time since 1797, a large upright stone and lintel suddenly falls over at the Stonehenge prehistoric monument site in England
1901 Tomas Estrada Palma is elected President of Cuba
1902 Boers and British army sign peace treaty
1906 French/British/Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
1907 For the 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year
1907 G Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera
1909 Manhattan Bridge opens.
1910 US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
1911 Scientist Marie Curie receives a second Nobel Prize - an unprecedented event in the history of the award. Born in Poland, Marie won her first Nobel Prize along with her husband, French scientist Pierre Curie, in 1903
1921 Last San Francisco firehorses retired
1923 1st transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
1923 BBC begins using Big Ben chime ID
1924 Edwin Hubble announces existence of distant galactic systems
1927 End of the use of the lance by the British army
1930 Pontifical encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages
1930 US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930
1934 Helen Richey becomes 1st woman to pilot an airmail transport
1935 Charles Darrow patents Monopoly
1938 Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer", 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana
1939 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton)
1940 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton)
1942 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton)
1942 Battle in Barents Sea
1943 NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater
1944 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden UT
1944 Japanese army evacuates harbor city Akyab
1944 Hungary, now led by a Russian-controlled government, declares war on Germany
1945
The British Home Guard is disbanded.
1945 Ratification of UN Charter completed
1946 French troops leave Lebanon
1946 President Truman officially proclaims end of WWII
1949 18 countries recognize Republic Indonesia
1951 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
1953 Willie Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
1958 International Geophyscial Year ends
1958 Cuban dictator Batista flees
1960 British coin, the farthing, in use in Britain since the 13th Century, ceases to be legal tender
1961 1st performance of the Beach Boys
1961 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
1961 Failed coup by Syrian group in Lebanon
1962 Katanga becomes part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1964 Donald Campbell (UK) sets world water speed record (276.33 mph)
1966 Monkees' "I'm a Believer" hits number 1 and stays for 7 weeks
1966 Pirate Radio 390 (Radio Invicata) off England, resumes transmitting
1968 1st supersonic airliner flown (Russian Tupolev TU-144)
1969 Congo-Brazzaville becomes People's republic, under Major Ngouabi
1970 Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve the Beatles
1970 President Allende nationalizes Chilean coal mines
1972 Leap second day; also in 1973-79, 1987, 1998
1973 Johan Cruyff chosen European soccer Player of year
1974 Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panamá's Gold 100 balboa coin
1974 Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac
1974 Arias Navarro succeeds Carrero Blanco as premier of Spain
1974 Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer
1976 The Cars play their 1st gig
1977 Donald Woods, a banned white editor flees South Africa
1977 Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado
1977 Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait
1977 Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam
1978 Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with the US
1978 Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier
1979 Winterland Rock Concert Hall in San Francisco closes after 556 concerts
1980 A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
1980 Senegal President Leopold Senghor resigns
1981 CNN Headline News debuts
1981 Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings stages coup in Ghana, suspends constitution
1981 Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000
1983 Brunei gains complete independence from Britain
1983 José Happart installed as mayor of Voeren Belgium
1983 Nigeria's National Assembly dissolves after military coup
1984 NYC subway gunman Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in New Hampshire
1984 Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India's 6th PM succeeds his mom, Indira
1984 Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash
1985 King Hussein of Jordan and President Assad hold talks
1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
1989 Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year
1990 World chess champion Gary Kasparov wins the world chess championship beating fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov
1990 Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
1990 United Somali Congress seizes Presidential Palace
1991 USSR, last day of existence
1992 Target date for Europe's single market
1993 "Loveboat" actress Jill Whelan (27) weds Brad St John (33)
1993 Barbra Streisand does her 1st live public concert in 20 years
1994 1st snowless December in Baltimore, MD
1995 Cartoonist Bill Watterson ends his "Calvin & Hobbes" comic strip
1997 Quaker Oats settles a lawsuit involving the immoral use of child subjects in radioactivity experiments circa 1945-1956
1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail E-mail service
1997 More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809
1997 South Africa and US surgeons separate Zambian Siamese twins joined at the head
1998 Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.
1999 Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
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.
1999 The United States Government handed Panama Canal control over to Panama as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties
2004 The official opening of Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet).
2005 The Greek BBC radio service ends.
2006 The United Kingdom pays final installment of Second World War debt to the United States.

31st December 2005

Indonesia bomb leaves eight dead

Russia offers delay on gas hike

Sydney kicks off New Year revels

31st December 2006

Saddam not hanged 'for revenge'

Bangkok bombs leave two dead

Police probed in India child case

31st December 2007

Scores dead in Kenya poll clashes

Afghan police 'killed by Taleban'

Three dead in Australia bushfires

31st December 2008

Dozens die in Bangkok nightclub

Israel rejects Gaza truce calls

Global new year festivities begin

31st December 2009

Finland shootings leave six dead

Brazil storms and landslides kill 18

2010 celebrations take place around the world

Birthdates which occurred on 31st December :

1378 Callistus III [Alfonso the Borja] Pope (1455-58)
1514 Andreas Vesalius Brussels Belgium, anatomist (Fabrica)
1540 Silvio Antoniano Italian cardinal/theologist (Tre libri)
1550 Henri Guise [le Balafré] French duke/leader (Catholic League)
1668 Hermannus Boerhaave Dutch medical/botanist
1720 [Bonnie Prince] Charles Edward Stuart English pretender to throne
1724 Franz Joseph Oehlschlagel composer
1738 Charles Lord Cornwallis solider/statesman "fire when ready Gridley"
1799 Thomas Taglichsbeck composer
1805 Marie-C-S de Flavigny Agoult [Daniel Stern] French author (Knife)
1815 George Gordon Meade Major General (Union Army), died in 1872
1818 Maria J Small-Gartmann actress
1825 Francis Trowbridge Sherman Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1826 Henry Hiles composer
1830 Ismail Pasha kedive of Egypt (1863-79)
1838 Emile Loubet premier/President of France (1892, 1899-1906)
1846 Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis vicar/Dutch anarchist (Right for all)
1846 Richard Kleinmichel composer
1855 Giovanni Pascoli Italian classicist/poet
1856 Charles A van Ophuysen orientalist (Maleisisch Volksrecht)
1859 Max Fiedler composer
1863 Alfredo Panzini Italian author (Dizionario Moderno)
1864 Robert G Aitken US astronomer (Binary Stars)
1869 Henri Matisse France, impressionist painter (Odalisque)
1870 Thomas Connolly baseball's major league umpire for 50 years
1874 Ernest Austin composer
1878 Horacio Quiroga Uruguayan author/poet (El Crimen del Otro)
1880 George C Marshall Uniontown PA, authored Marshall Plan (Nobel 1953)
1881 Colin G Fink US chemist (electro chemistry)
1881 Jacob Israel de Haan Dutch poet/writer (Pipelines, Jewish Song)
1881 Max Pechstein German "entartet" painter/graphic artist (The Bridge)
1882 Ben Jones Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway)
1882 David Cohen Dutch historian/chairman (Jewish Council)
1892 Jason Robards Sr Hillsdale MI, actor (Acapulco)
1893 J M Blankenberg cricketer (60 wickets in 18 Tests for South Africa)
1893 Max Lamberty Flemish sociologist/author (Flemish Resurrection)
1894 Ernest John Moeran British composer
1894 Pola Negri [Barbara A Chalupiec] Polish/US actress (Madame Dubarry)
1896 Ronald Adam Herefordshire England, actor (Phantom Shot)
1897 Rhys Williams Wales, actor (Nightmare, Okinawa, Cross My Heart)
1899 Gaston Glass Paris France, film executive
1899 Silvestre Revueltas Santiago Papasquiaro México, composer (Sensemaya)
19-- Buzz Adlam Chelmsford England, composer (Stage Two Revue)
19-- Sally Gracie actress (One Life to Live)
1904 Chuck Gardiner UK, NHL goalie (Vezina winner)
1904 Nathan Milstein Odessa Russia, concert violinist (Philadelphia Orchestra 1942)
1905 Guy Mollet (Socialist) French premier (1956-57)
1905 Jule Styne England, songwriter/composer (1954 Academy Award, 1968 Tony)
1905 Tadeusz Breza writer
1906 Erna Bogen Hungary, foils (Olympics-bronze-1932)
1908 Marko Rothmuller composer
1908 Simon Wiesenthal Polish/Austrian nazi hunter (Wiesenthal Center)
1910 Dick Kollmar Rigewood NJ, actor (Broadway Spotlight, Guess What)
1910 Roy Rowland film director
1914 Pat Brady Toledo OH, actor (Roy Rogers Show)
1916 Suzy Delair Paris France, actress (Utopia, White Paws)
1921 Rocky Graziano New York NY, boxer (Middleweight champion)/actor (Miami Undercover)
1922 Joan McCracken Philadelphia PA, actress (Claudie-The Story of a Marriage)
1922 Rex Allen Wilcox AZ, cowboy singer (Dr Baxter-Frontier Doctor)
1924 Victoria Draves US, platform/springboard diver (Olympics-gold-1948)
1927 Dieter Noll writer
1928 Hugh McElhenny NFL halfback (San Francisco, Minnesota, New York Giants, Detroit)
1928 Ross Barbour Columbus IN, singer (4 Freshmen)
1928 Veijo Meri writer
1929 Mies Bouman Dutch TV hostess (Open the Village)
1929 Peter Barker Howard cricketer
1929 Peter May cricketer (dashing English batsman of 50's)
1929 Sidney Greenbaum grammarian
1930 Odetta [Holmes] Birmingham AL, folk singer/actress (Sanctuary)
1931 Bob Shaw UK, sci-fi author (Orbitsville, Ragged Astronauts, Vertigo)
1932 George Schlatter TV producer (Laugh-in)
1935 Peter Allan cricketer (1 Test Australia vs England 1965, 2-58 & 0-25)
1935 Rolf Haufs writer
1937 [Philip] Anthony Hopkins Port Talbot West Glamorgan Wales, actor (Elephant Man, QB VII, Magic, Bounty)
1937 Nicolas Born writer
1938 Rosalind Cash Atlantic City NJ, actress (Omega Man, Wrong is Right)
1938 Atje Keulen-Deelstra Holland, speed skater (world champion)
1938 Henricus G Wijmans Dutch graphic artist
1939 Afaq Hussain cricketer (Pakistani off-spinner in 2 Tests 1961-64)
1939 Willye White US long jumper (Olympics-silver-56, appeared in 5 Olympics)
1940 Oleg Anatolyevich Yakovlev Russian cosmonaut
1941 Milkha Singh cricketer (brother of Kripal Singh India batsman in 4 Tests)
1941 Sarah Miles Essex England, actress (Ryan's Hope, Big Sleep, Venom)
1942 Andy Summers Blackpool England, rock guitarist (Police-Roxanne)
1943 Ben Kingsley Scarborough England, actor (Gandhi, Betrayal, Maurice)
1943 John Denver [Henry John Deutschendorf Jr] Roswell NM, singer/songwriter/actor (Rocky Mountain High, Thank God I'm a Country Boy, Oh God!)
1943 Pete Qualfe rocker
1945 Taylor Hackford director (Devil's Advocate)
1945 Taylor Hackford Santa Barbara CA, director (Idolmaker, Officer & a Gentleman)
1946 Barbara Carrera Managua Nicaragua, actress (Angelica-Dallas)
1946 Diane von Furstenberg Brussels Belgiums, fashion designer
1946 Patti Smith Chicago IL, singer (Radio Ethiopia)
1947 Burton Cummings rock guitarist (Guess Who-These Eyes)
1947 Tim Matheson California, actor (Animal House, Fletch, Up the Creek)
1948 Donna Summer Boston MA, singer (Love to Love You Baby, On the Radio)
1948 Joe Dallesandro Pensicola FL, actor (Heat, Trash, AW Frankenstein)
1948 Tony Hamilton rocker (Aerosmith)
1948 Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasieyv Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-11, TM-18)
1949 Claude Daniel Marks Buenos Aires Argentina, FALN member (FBI most wanted)
1950 Inge Helten German Federal Republic, sprinter (Olympics-bronze-1976)
1950 Robert Bryan Gilder Corvallis OR, PGA golfer (1980 Canadian Open)
1951 Fermin Goytisolo rocker (KC & Sunshine Band-Give It)
1951 Michael Allen Bantom Philadelphia PA, basketball player (Olympics-silver-1972)
1951 Tom Hamilton Colorado Springs CO, rock bassist (Aerosmith-Dream On)
1953 James Remar Boston MA, actor (48 Hours, Rent-a-Cop, Cotton Club)
1953 Jane Badler Brooklyn NY, actress (Fine Gold, Easy Kill, V)
1956 Martin Joseph Fettman Brooklyn NY, PhD/astronaut (STS 58)
1957 David Allen Ogrin Waukegan IL, PGA golfer (1994 Byron Nelson-2nd)
1958 Geoff Marsh cricketer (Australia opening batsman 1985-92)
1959 Val [Edward] Kilmer actor (The Saint, Top Gun, The Doors)
1959 Bebe Neuwirth Princeton NJ, actress (Lilith-Cheers, Damn Yankees)
1959 Paul Westerberg singer (The Replacements)
1960 Broderick Dyke Australia, tennis star
1961 Joanna Johnson actress (Caroline-Bold & Beautiful)
1961 Rick Aguilera San Gabriel CA, pitcher (Minnesota Twins)
1962 Don Diamont New York NY, actor (Brad-Young & Restless)
1962 Tyrone Corbin NBA forward (Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks)
1963 Ed Simmons NFL tackle (Washington Redskins)
1963 Scott Ian US heavy metal guitarist (Anthrax-I'm the Man)
1964 Denis Hickey cricketer (fast bowler for Victoria, South Africa & Glamorgan)
1964 Klari MacAskill Budapest Hungary, kayaker (Olympics-5th-92, 96)
1964 Liz Masakayan Quezon City Philippines, WPVA volley (Best of Beach-3rd-1994)
1964 Winston Benjamin cricketer (West Indies righty quick 1987-95)
1965 Michelle Dobek Holyoke MA, golfer (1995 GHP Heartland Classic-45th)
1966 Paula Barbieri model/girlfriend of OJ Simpson/actress (Dangerous)
1967 Brad Daluiso NFL place kicker (New York Giants)
1969 Martha Byrne actress (Lily-As the World Turns)
1970 Bryon Russell NBA forward (Utah Jazz)
1970 Dan Howe Kingston Ontario, canoeist (Olympics-96)
1970 Dunstan Anderson NFL defensive end (Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Rhein Fire)
1970 Edwin Huizinga Dutch soccer player (SC Heerenveen, Emmen)
1970 Michel Brunet Gatineau Québec, ice dancer (1996 Canadians-2nd)
1971 Brent Barry NBA guard (Seattle Sonics, Los Angeles Clippers)
1971 Erin Warren Winchester MA, luger (Olympics-1994)
1971 Heath Shuler NFL quarterback (Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints)
1972 Joe [Joseph Mulrey] McIntyre rocker (New Kids on the Block-Lovin You Forever)
1972 Chris Parker running back (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1972 Cole Ford NFL kicker (Oakland Raiders)
1972 Kelvin Kinney defensive end (Washington Redskins)
1973 Curtis Myden Calgary Alberta, 200 meter/400 meter swimmer (Olympics-2 bronze-96)
1973 George Jones running back (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1973 Hiroyuki Miura hockey defenseman (Team Japan 1998)
1975 Cole Ford kicker (Oakland Raiders)
1977 Ildiko Kecan Miss Hungary Universe (1997)

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Deaths which occurred on 31st December:
0192 Lucius Aurelius Commodus Emperor of Rome (180-192), murdered at 31
0406 Godagisel king of the Vandals, dies in battle
0439 Melania the Younger Roman monastery founder/saint, dies at about 56
1382 Daigaku Zen teacher/46th head of Engakuji, dies in Kamakura Japan
1384 John Wycliffe English religious reformer/bible translator, dies
1583 Thomas Erastus Switzerland, theologist, dies
1616 Jacques Le Maire pirate/explorer (Lemaire Strait), dies at 31
1647 Giovanni Maria Trabaci composer, dies
1652 Frances Cecil 2nd wife of English earl of Shaftesbury, dies
1659 János Apáczai Csere Hung theologist (Magyar Logikácska), dies at 34
1719 John Flamsteed 1st Astronomer Royal, dies at 73
1733 Hubert K Poot Dutch poet (Akkerleven), dies at 44
1775 General Richard Montgomery dies fighting the British
1802 Francis Lewis Welsh/US merchant/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 89
1802 Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen composer, dies at 53
1809 Franz Ignaz Beck composer, dies at 75
1818 Jean-Pierre Duport composer, dies at 77
1848 Oliver Shaw composer, dies at 69
1859 Luigi Ricci composer, dies at 54
1862 James Edward Rains lawyer/Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 29
1862 Joshua Woodrow Sill US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 31
1872 Aleksis Kivi [Stenvall] Finnish writer/poet (Kanervala), dies at 38
1877 Alberto Mazzucato composer, dies at 64
1877 JD Gustave Courbet French painter (Baigneuses), dies at 58
1882 Léon Michel Gambetta French attorney/premier (1881-82), dies at 44
1889 Ion Creanga Romanian (fairy tales) author, dies at 52
1893 Jacob G de Scheffer Dutch vicar/theologist, dies at 74
1894 Thomas J Stieltjes mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at 38
1896 Leland Hone cricketer (scored 7 & 6 in only England Test 1879), dies
1899 Karl Millöcker Austrian conductor/composer (Try-out Kiss), dies at 57
1907 Jules de Trooz Belgium PM, dies at 63
1916 Ernst Rudorff composer, dies at 76
1920 Albert Roelofs Dutch painter/etcher, dies at 43
1921 József Kiss Hungarian literary (A hét), dies at 78
1936 Miguel de Unamuno Jugo Spanish philosopher/poet (Cancionero), dies at 72
1936 William F Ellison Irish clergyman/astronomer, dies at 72
1938 Richard N Roland Holst Dutch artist/painter, dies at 70
1941 Sigwart Aspestrand composer, dies at 85
1945 Donald Douglas II dies at 40
1946 Frits [Frederik H] Tartaud Dutch actor, dies at 89
1947 Franz X Ritter von Epp German general (SW Africa), dies at 79
1948 Malcolm Campbell English race driver, dies at 63
1950 Charles Koechlin French composer (Jungle Book), dies at 83
1950 Karl Renner Austrian Chancellor/President (1918-20, 45-50), dies at 80
1951 Maxim M Litvinov [Meyer H Wallach] Russian diplomat, dies at 75
1951 Philipp A Kohnstamm Dutch philosopher/physicist, dies at 76
1953 Albert Plesman Dutch aviation pioneer/founder (KLM), dies at 64
1954 Peter Van Anrooy conductor/composer (Piet Hein Rhapsodie), dies at 75
1958 Gustav Hermann Unger composer, dies at 72
1960 Germaine Loosveldt Flemish actress (Trees die Upright), dies at 69
1960 Semyon Semyonovich Bogatiryov composer, dies at 70
1963 Albert Plesman aviation pioneer, dies
1966 Chief Nipo Strongheart Native American actor (Pony Soldier), dies at 75
1966 Pieter C A Geyl historian (History of Dutch Race), dies
1967 Arthur Mailey cricketer (10-66 & Australia vs Gloucestershire 1921), dies
1968 Carl Oscar Ahues German International Chess Master (1950), dies at 85
1968 George Louis Francis Lewis composer, dies at 16
1968 Sabin V Dragoi composer, dies at 74
1969 Salvatore Baccaloni opera singer/actor (Full of Life), dies at 69
1970 Cyril M Scott English composer/author (Alchemist), dies at 91
1971 Peter Deuel actor (Gidget, Love on a Rooftop), commits suicide at 31
1972 Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirate slugger, dies in a plane crash at 38
1975 Donal Michalsky composer, dies at 47
1977 Nora Marlowe actress (Sara-Governor & JJ), dies at 62
1980 Arthur Wellard cricketer (2 Tests for England, legendary 6-hitter), dies
1980 Marshall McLuhan Canadian cultural philosopher, dies at 69
1980 Raoul Walsh US director (High Sierra), dies at about 88
1981 Frantisek Chaun composer, dies at 60
1983 Frank Link actor (Burns & Schreiber Comedy Show), dies at 46
1983 Bill Hunt cricketer (Test for Australia, out 0, took 0-25 & 0-14), dies
1985 Rick Nelson singer/actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet), dies at 45
1985 Alexander Matheson cricketer (2 wickets/2 Tests for New Zealand 1930-31), dies
1985 Sam Spiegel Academy Award winning producer (Betrayal), dies at 84
1986 Lloyd Haynes actor (Pete Dixon-Room 222), dies at 54
1986 Lester Albert Trimble composer, dies at 63
1987 [Gordon] Randall [P D] Garrett author (Lord Darcy), dies at 60
1990 Dalton Cathey dies of AIDS at 44
1990 George Allen US football coach (Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins), dies
1990 Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A), dies at 62
1993 Arthur Dreifuss director/producer (Murder in Amsterdam), dies at 85
1993 Lambert Fokkema founder Dutch Export Combination, dies at 80
1993 Thomas J Watson Jr president of IBM (1956-71)/diplomat, dies at 79
1993 Zviad Gamsachurdia President of Georgia SSR (1991-1993), suicide at 54
1994 BAM "Bob" Schreiner airline owner (S Aviation Group), dies at 79
1994 Harri Webb poet, dies at 74
1994 Leigh Bowery designer, dies at 33
1994 Leo Fuchs Polish/US Yiddish actor (Story of Ruth), dies at 83
1994 Thomas J Watson Jr CEO (IBM), dies of a stroke at 79
1994 Woodrow "Woody" Strode US rugby player/black cowboy actor (Posse, Cotton Club, Vigilante, Oil), dies
1995 Calvin/Hobbes (comic strip), dies
1995 John Powell campaigner, dies at 75
1996 61 law enforcement officers killed by felons in US this year
1996 Ann Susan Hills freelance journalist, dies at 55
1996 David Sinclair actor (Love & Hate), dies at 62
1996 Frederico Davia opera singer, dies at 63
1996 Michael Roberts historian, dies at 88
1996 Phillip Edmund Clinton Manson-Bahr tropical mediciner, dies at 85
1997 76 law enforcement officers killed by felons in US this year
1997 Dominique de Menil arts patron/human rights advocate, dies at 89
1997 Floyd Cramer pianist (Nashville Sound), dies of cancer at 64
1997 Lillian Billie Dove Bohney actress, dies at 96
1997 Michael Kennedy son of Robert Kennedy, dies in ski accident at 39


Link 1/ On this day 31st December

Link 2/ On this day 31st December

Link 3/ On this day 31st December