Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years). There are 214 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England, destined to mine fool's gold at Frobisher Bay, which is used to pave streets in London. 1759 - The colony of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions 1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Seven Pines 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Cold Harbor begins 1866 - John O'Neill leads 800 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English 1884 - John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes 1889 - The Johnstown Flood: Over 2200 people die in the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1902 - Second Boer War: The last Afrikaner resistance forces sign a peace treaty with the British at Pretoria, ending the war, and ensuring British control of South Africa. 1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa 1913 - The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing direct election of United States Senators, is declared ratified 1916 - World War I: The Battle of Jutland 1924 - The U.S.S.R signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China," whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect 1942 - The Luftwaffe bombs Coventry, England 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service 1961 - Creation of the Republic of South Africa 1962 The West Indies Federation dissolves 1974 - Syria and Israel sign a disengagement agreement to resolve the Yom Kippur War 1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed 1997 - The Confederation Bridge opens 2002 - May 31 through June 30 - 17th Football World Cup in Japan and South Korea 2003 - The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place. Births 1443 - Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (+ 1509) 1469 - King Manuel I of Portugal (+ 1521) 1750 - Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (+ 1822) 1753 - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, revolutionist (+ 1793) 1773 - Ludwig Tieck, poet and writer (+ 1853) 1801 - Johann Georg Baiter, philologist (+ 1887) 1819 - Walt Whitman, poet (+ 1892) 1838 - Henry Sidgwick, philosopher (+ 1900) 1857 - Pope Pius XI (+ 1939) 1860 - Walter Sickert, painter (+ 1942) 1872 - Heath Robinson, cartoonist (+ 1944) 1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish president (+ 1942) 1894 - Fred Allen, comedian (+ 1956) 1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, clergyman (+ 1993) 1908 - Don Ameche, actor (+ 1993) 1912 - Alfred Deller, singer, early modern countertenor (+ 1979) 1922 - Denholm Elliott, actor (+ 1992) 1923 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco 1926 - James Krüss, author (+ 1997) 1929 - Menahem Golan, producer 1930 - Clint Eastwood, actor, director, producer 1932 - Jay Miner, microchip designer (+ 1994) 1938 - Peter Yarrow, singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary") 1938 - John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1939 - Terry Waite, humanitarian 1941 - Johnny Paycheck, singer (+ 2003) 1943 - Sharon Gless, actress 1943 - Joe Namath, American football star 1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, director (+ 1982) 1948 - John Bonham, drummer ("Led Zeppelin") (+ 1980) 1949 - Tom Berenger, actor 1950 - Gregory Harrison, actor 1960 - Chris Elliott, comedian 1961 - Mark Vinall, Lighting Cameraman - DOP 1961 - Lea Thompson, actress 1962 - Corey Hart, singer/songwriter 1965 - Brooke Shields, model and actress 1976 - Colin Farrell, actor Deaths 455 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor 455 - Petronius Maximus, Roman Emperor (killed by a mob) 1246 - Queen consort Isabella of Angouleme 1680 - Joachim Neander, clergyman 1740 - King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia 1799 - Pierre Lemonnier, astronomer 1809 - Joseph Haydn, composer 1831 - Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer 1846 - Philip Marheineke, German Protestant divine 1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, writer 1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States 1960 - Walther Funk, Nazi leader 1962 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official 1977 - William Castle, director 1983 - Jack Dempsey, boxer 1996 - Paul Peter Piech, artist 1996 - Timothy Leary, LSD advocate 2000 - Tito Puente, musician 2000 - Johnnie Taylor, vocalist 2003 - Cai Li, Chinese athlete and weightlifter Holidays and observances Feast day of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces The Godiva procession See Also: May 30 - June 1 - April 30 - June 30 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.