Sunday, 31st May 2026 in Rome

31st May in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini

Today, the zodiac sign Gemini celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on May 31st embody vibrant curiosity and restless energy. Their thinking is unconventional, shaped by Uranus influence that makes them visionaries among Geminis. They constantly seek fresh ideas and alternative perspectives.

Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths include flexibility, intellectual brilliance, and innovative creativity. Weaknesses manifest as unreliability and superficiality when interest wanes. Nervousness can complicate their decision-making processes.

Love These individuals need partners who understand and share their mental restlessness. Surface-level relationships won't suffice; they seek deep conversations and mutual stimulation. Bonds form through intellectual connection and shared adventurousness.

Caree & Finance Careers in technology, communication, research, or entrepreneurship suit them best. Their ability to recognize patterns and devise innovative solutions makes them invaluable. Financial security requires discipline—their impulsiveness creates challenges.

Health Physical restlessness demands regular movement and mental engagement. Stress manifests quickly in nervousness and sleep disruption. Mindfulness practices and structured routines substantially support their wellbeing.

That night, the moon was in its waning crescent phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 31st May

Name Days in Your Language: Camila, Camilla, Camille, Petra, Petronella, Pier

Someone born on this day would be just 0 days old today — roughly 1 hours, 66 minutes, or 3,968 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 151. day of the year. In 2026, 31st May falls on a Sunday.

There are 214 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 22 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 31st May

On this day, 179 notable people were born on 31st May — spanning from 1462 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

31/05/2001

Breece Hall, American football player

Breece Maelik Hall is an American professional football running back for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa State Cyclones, where he was a two-time All-American and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Hall was selected by the Jets in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft.

Iga Świątek, Polish tennis player

Iga Natalia Świątek is a Polish professional tennis player. Currently ranked world No. 3 in women's singles by the WTA, she has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 125 weeks, seventh-most of all-time. Świątek has won 25 WTA Tour–level singles titles, including six major titles: four at the French Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open. She has also won the 2023 WTA Finals and eleven WTA 1000 titles. Świątek is the first Pole to win a major singles title.

31/05/2000

Gable Steveson, American wrestler

Gable Dan Steveson is an American freestyle wrestler, professional mixed martial artist, former professional wrestler, and football defensive tackle. He is currently signed to the Heavyweight divisions of both Real American Freestyle and Ultimate Fighting Championship.

31/05/1998

Santino Ferrucci, American race car driver

Santino Michael Ferrucci is an American professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 14 Chevrolet for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. He has also previously raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

31/05/1997

Woo Jin-young, South Korean singer and rapper

Woo Jin-young is a South Korean singer and rapper. During his tenure as a trainee with Happy Face Entertainment, he was a contestant on the reality survival series Produce 101 and Mix Nine, where he competed to debut in an idol group. He found success in the latter and ranked number one in the competition, but the group never materialized due to failed contract negotiations between the show creator YG Entertainment and the artists' respective agencies.

Jeong Se-woon, South Korean singer-songwriter

Jeong Se-woon is a South Korean singer-songwriter. He debuted as solo artist with released the first part of his debut EP Ever on August 31, 2017. Jeong is known for being a contestant on the survival show Produce 101 Season 2 in 2017.

31/05/1996

Normani Kordei Hamilton, American singer

Normani Kordei Hamilton, known mononymously as Normani, is an American singer, dancer, and former member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in the group, she competed in Dancing with the Stars (2017). She embarked on a solo career with her 2018 debut single "Love Lies", which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and received quintuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Brandon Smith, New Zealand rugby league player

Brandon Smith is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker and lock for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL), and for New Zealand and the New Zealand Māori at international level.

31/05/1995

Shane Bieber, American baseball player

Shane Robert Bieber is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians / Guardians. As a walk-on, Bieber played college baseball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut with them in 2018. Bieber was named an All-Star in 2019 and 2021, and received the American League's 2020 Cy Young Award.

Matthew Lodge, Australian rugby league player

Matthew Lodge is a rugby league footballer who most recently played as a prop for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL).

31/05/1992

Michaël Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player

Joseph Alain Michaël Bournival is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was selected in the third round, 71st overall, by the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2010 NHL entry draft and played for the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete

Laura Ikauniece is a Latvian athlete competing in heptathlon. She participated in two Olympic Games, finishing fourth in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She won a silver medal at the 2012 European Athletics Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2015 World Athletics Championships. She set a Latvian record in the heptathlon and a Latvian record in the indoor pentathlon.

Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Icelandic politician

Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson is an Icelandic politician, government minister and member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, he has represented Reykjavík South since November 2024. He previously represented Reykjavík North from September 2021 to November 2024. He has been Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate since December 2024.

31/05/1991

Azealia Banks, American singer-songwriter and rapper

Azealia Amanda Banks is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Her debut single "212" became a defining song of the 2010s and appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2021. Banks is also known for her controversial social media presence and outspoken views, which have received significant publicity.

31/05/1990

Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Erik Sven Gunnar Karlsson is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Karlsson was drafted in the first round, 15th overall, by the Ottawa Senators at the 2008 NHL entry draft, with whom he spent his first nine NHL seasons; he has also played for the San Jose Sharks. Karlsson is a three-time winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, winning the award in 2012, 2015, and 2023.

31/05/1989

Marco Reus, German footballer

Marco Reus is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy.

31/05/1986

Waka Flocka Flame, American rapper

Juaquin James Malphurs, known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. He first became known for his 2009 single "O Let's Do It", which entered the Billboard Hot 100 and led him to sign with Gucci Mane's 1017 Records, an imprint of Warner Records that same year. His 2010 follow-up single, "No Hands", reached number 13 on the chart and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Both songs, along with "Hard in da Paint" and "Grove St. Party", preceded the release of his debut studio album Flockaveli (2010), which peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. His second studio album, Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family (2012) peaked at number ten on the chart and was supported by the singles "Round of Applause", "I Don't Really Care" and "Get Low".

Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist

Robert Gesink is a Dutch former cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2007 to 2024. His major victories include the 2012 Tour of California, the 2011 Tour of Oman and the 2010 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Gesink also won the Giro dell'Emilia twice and offered some good performances on Grand Tours and one-week stage races, thanks in part to his climbing and time trialing abilities.

31/05/1985

Jordy Nelson, American football player

Jordy Ray Nelson is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Nelson was raised in Riley County, Kansas and played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats, receiving consensus All-American honors in 2007. He was selected by the Packers in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft. In the 2010 season, he won Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers, catching a touchdown pass in the game. Following his departure from the Packers in 2018, he played one year with the Oakland Raiders before announcing his retirement. In 2023, he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. As of September 2025, Nelson holds the Packers franchise record for the most Lambeau Leaps performed by a player (27).

31/05/1984

Andrew Bailey, American baseball player

Andrew Scott Bailey is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). As a player, he played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies. He played college baseball for Wagner College and was selected by the Athletics in the sixth round of the 2006 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2009 and won that season's American League Rookie of the Year Award. He was an All-Star in 2009 and 2010 while he was the closer for the Athletics. He has also been a pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants.

Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer

Milorad "Milo" Čavić is a Serbian former professional swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in a historic race with American swimmer Michael Phelps. Čavić also was World and European champion, as well as world record holder. He is one of seven swimmers to break 50 seconds in the 100m butterfly.

Nate Robinson, American basketball player

Nathaniel Cornelius Robinson is an American former professional basketball player. Robinson played college basketball for the Washington Huskies and was the 21st overall pick of the 2005 NBA draft. The 5-foot-9-inch (1.75 m) point guard played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, and New Orleans Pelicans. Robinson became the NBA's first three-time slam dunk champion in 2010.

31/05/1982

Brett Firman, Australian rugby league player

Brett Firman is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played in the National Rugby League, primarily in the halves, for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters, North Queensland Cowboys, Penrith Panthers, and the Helensburgh Tigers of the Illawarra Rugby League.

31/05/1981

Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer

Mikael Antonsson is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. He currently works for the Danish Superliga side F.C. Copenhagen as assistant manager. As a player, he played professionally in Sweden, Austria, Greece, Italy, and Denmark during a career that spanned between 1996 and 2018. A full international between 2004 and 2015, he won 28 caps for the Sweden national team and was a part of their UEFA Euro 2012 squad.

Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer

Daniele Bonera is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a centre back.

Jake Peavy, American baseball player

Jacob Edward Peavy is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He is currently an on-air analyst for MLB Network. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants. He batted and threw right-handed.

Marlies Schild, Austrian skier

Marlies Raich is a retired Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. She specializes in the technical disciplines of slalom and giant slalom. Schild won four Olympic medals, with silvers in the combined (2006) and slalom and a bronze in slalom (2006). She has seven World Championship medals and has won five World Cup season titles.

31/05/1980

Andy Hurley, American musician

Andrew John Hurley is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Prior to Fall Out Boy, Hurley played in several hardcore punk bands. He joined Fall Out Boy as the full-time drummer in 2003 and was in the band's lineup until its hiatus in 2009. Following that, he formed the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things with Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman; the group went on hiatus after its debut album, Ironiclast (2010), due to band members focusing on their original bands' new album cycles. Hurley moved on to hardcore punk band Enabler which released a debut album and toured in 2012.

31/05/1979

Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer

Jean-François Gillet is a Belgian professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He works as a goalkeeping coach at Standard Liège. At international level, he was a member of the Belgian squad that took part at UEFA Euro 2016.

31/05/1977

Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer

Domenico Fioravanti is a retired Italian competitive swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer

Moses Sichone is a Zambian football manager and former professional footballer who is the current manager of the Zambia national team. As a player, he spent most of his career with German clubs.

31/05/1976

Colin Farrell, Irish actor

Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor. A leading man in blockbusters and independent films since the 2000s, he has received various accolades, including three Golden Globe Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and one Volpi Cup in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. The Irish Times named him Ireland's fifth-greatest film actor in 2020, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.

Matt Harpring, American basketball player and sportscaster

Matthew Joseph Harpring is an American former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was formerly paired with play-by-play broadcaster Craig Bolerjack as the color analyst in broadcasting games for the Utah Jazz.

31/05/1975

Mac Suzuki, Japanese baseball player

Mac Suzuki is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. Over his career, Suzuki played 18 seasons in professional baseball, including six in Major League Baseball and two in the Japan Pacific League. In his major league career, he has played for the Seattle Mariners, the Kansas City Royals, the Colorado Rockies (2001), and the Milwaukee Brewers (2001). With those teams, he has had a combined record of 16–31 with a 5.72 earned run average (ERA), one complete game, one shutout, 67 starts and 327 strikeouts in 117 games pitched.

31/05/1974

Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Japanese comedian and singer

Hiroiki Ariyoshi is a Japanese comedian and singer who is represented by Ohta Production.

31/05/1972

Frode Estil, Norwegian skier

Frode Estil is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He lives in Meråker Municipality with his wife Grete whom he married in the summer of 2001. They have two sons, Bernhard, born in August 2002, and Konrad. Estil was classical specialist and also a specialist at succeeding in World Championships and Olympics. While Estil only won four World Cup races, he won one individual Olympic Gold and one individual World Championship gold. In addition, he won three team events in the World Championships and another team gold in the Olympics.

Christian McBride, American bassist and record producer

Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist, bandleader, composer. He has appeared on more than 400 recordings as a sideman, and is an eleven-time Grammy Award winner.

Antti Niemi, Finnish international footballer and coach

Antti Mikko Niemi is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently an assistant coach of Volos of the Super League Greece. Since 2010, he has also worked as the goalkeeping coach of Finland national team. He also worked as a goalkeeping coach at Brighton & Hove Albion during the 2014–15 season. Niemi spent time as a player in the Scottish Premier League and the Premier League, and in 2008 announced his retirement due to injury. However, in 2009 he returned to sign for Premier League club Portsmouth, although he did not make any appearances before leaving in 2010.

Archie Panjabi, British actress

Archana Panjabi is an English actress. On television, she is known for her roles as Maya Roy in the BBC One series Life on Mars (2006–2007), Kalinda Sharma in the CBS series The Good Wife (2009–2015), Nas Kamal in the NBC series Blindspot, Kendra Malley in the Global series Departure (2019–2023), and The Rani in Doctor Who (2025). Her work in The Good Wife earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010 and an NAACP Image Award in 2012, as well as two further Emmy nominations, one Golden Globe nomination, and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations shared with the cast. Panjabi is the first Asian actor to win a Primetime Emmy for acting. Her films include East Is East (1999), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Yasmin (2004), and A Mighty Heart (2007).

Dave Roberts, American baseball player and coach

David Ray Roberts, nicknamed "Doc", is an American professional baseball manager and former outfielder who is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for five MLB teams over a ten-year career and then coached for the San Diego Padres before being named Dodgers manager in 2016. Although he played for the Boston Red Sox for only part of one season, his most notable achievement as a player was a key stolen base in the 2004 American League Championship Series that extended the Red Sox's postseason, which culminated in a championship in the 2004 World Series.

31/05/1971

Arun Luthra, Indo-Anglo-American saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and arranger

Aruṇ Lūthrā is a saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and bandleader based in New York City.

31/05/1967

Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer

Philip John Keoghan is a New Zealand television presenter, best known for hosting the American version of The Amazing Race on CBS, since its 2001 debut. He is the creator and host of No Opportunity Wasted, which has been produced in the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Keoghan also co-created and hosts the American reality competition programme Tough as Nails, which debuted on CBS on 8 July 2020. As of 2021, he has been involved with winning 10 Primetime Emmy Awards related to his work on The Amazing Race, where the show consecutively won the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program seven times.

Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster

Kenneth Lofton is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. Lofton was a six-time All-Star (1994–1999) and four-time Gold Glove Award winner (1993–1996), and is currently ranked 15th among all-time stolen-base leaders with 622. During his career, he played for the Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Texas Rangers.

31/05/1966

Diesel, American-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Mark Denis Lizotte is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and musician, who has released material under the name Diesel, Johnny Diesel, as leader of band Johnny Diesel & the Injectors, and as a solo performer, as well as under his birth name. Two of his albums reached No. 1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Charts, Hepfidelity in 1992 and The Lobbyist in 1993.

Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee

Deshabandu Roshan Siriwardene Mahanama is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former ICC match referee. He was a key member in the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka. He is the first man to have stood as a match referee in a day-night test match in Test history.

31/05/1965

Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer

Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and current president of the Actors' Equity Association. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).

31/05/1964

Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman

Leonard Asper is a Canadian businessperson, entrepreneur and lawyer. He was president and CEO of Canwest from 1999 through its bankruptcy in 2010. He would later establish Anthem Sports & Entertainment which owns television specialty channels and has interests in combat sports and film distribution.

Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach

Stéphane Caristan is a retired hurdler from France, who set the world's best year performance in 1986. He did so by winning the men's 110 metres hurdles final at the European Championships in Stuttgart, clocking 13.20, which was also his personal best. He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1984. Caristan later became the coach of French sprinter Christine Arron.

Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs

Yukio Edano is a Japanese politician who served as the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan from its formation in 2017 until 2021.

Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, American rapper and producer

Darryl Matthews McDaniels, also commonly known by his stage name DMC, is an American rapper and record producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Run-DMC, and is considered one of the pioneers of hip hop culture.

31/05/1963

David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester

David Alan Leigh FRS FRSE FRSC is a British chemist, Royal Society Research Professor and, since 2014, the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He was previously the Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh (2001–2012) and Professor of Synthetic Chemistry at the University of Warwick (1998–2001).

Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary

Viktor Mihály Orbán is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who served as the prime minister of Hungary from 1998 to 2002, and 2010 to 2026. He has also been the president of Fidesz, which has been variously characterised as a Christian nationalist, illiberal, and far-right political party. He has served as its president since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000.

Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (died 2003)

Wesley Lawrence Willis was an American musician and visual artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1989, Willis began a career as an underground singer-songwriter in the outsider music tradition. Willis' songs are typically partially spoken in an MC style, and partially sung in a nasal and out-of-tune manner reminiscent of punk rock vocals. They feature bizarre, humorous and sometimes obscene or absurd lyrics sung over backing created by using the auto accompaniment feature on his Technics KN keyboard. His songs cover a wide variety of topics, with mental illness and consumerism being the most prominent themes. Dubbed "The Daddy of Rock 'n' Roll", he is best known for songs such as "Rock N Roll McDonald's" as well as a series of songs where he would directly insult his demons.

31/05/1962

Dina Boluarte, Peruvian politician, 64th President of Peru

Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra is a Peruvian politician, civil servant, and lawyer who served as the president of Peru from 7 December 2022 until she was removed from office on 10 October 2025. She had previously served as the first vice president and minister at the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion under President Pedro Castillo. She served as an officer at the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC) from 2007 until 2022.

Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

Corey Mitchell Hart is a Canadian singer, musician and songwriter known for his hit singles "Sunglasses at Night", "Never Surrender" and "It Ain't Enough". He has sold over 16 million records worldwide and recorded nine US Billboard Top 40 hits. In Canada, 30 of Hart's recordings have been Top 40 hits, including 11 in the Top 10, over the course of over 35 years in the music industry. Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1984, Hart is an inductee of both Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame, and is also a multiple Juno award nominee and winner, including the Diamond Award for his best-selling album Boy in the Box. He has also been honoured by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).

31/05/1961

Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player

Ray Cote is a former professional ice hockey forward. He spent his junior career with the Calgary Wranglers of the WHL and signed a free agent contract with the Edmonton Oilers in 1981 after going undrafted. Cote spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues and European leagues but saw three separate stints with the Oilers. His only career NHL points were recorded in the 1982–83 playoffs. In the 1983 playoffs, he and George McPhee of the New York Rangers became the first players to score three goals in a single postseason before playing a regular season NHL game. He also played for the Canadian National Team on four occasions.

Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician

Justin Mark Madden is a former Australian rules footballer and state politician. He played for both the Essendon Football Club and the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer

Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress, singer, dancer and director.

31/05/1960

Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman

Gregory Charles Adams is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980–81 to 1989–90.

Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter

Christopher Nash Elliott is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his surreal sense of humor. He was a regular performer on Late Night with David Letterman while working as a writer there (1983–1988), created and starred in the comedy series Get a Life (1990–1992) on Fox, and wrote and starred in the film Cabin Boy (1994). His writing for Letterman won four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards.

Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player

Peter James Winterbottom, is an English former rugby union player who played as an openside flanker. He was England's most-capped openside until being overtaken by Neil Back in 2003. He made his England debut on 2 January 1982 against Australia, and his final appearance on 20 March 1993 against Ireland.

31/05/1959

Andrea de Cesaris, Italian race car driver (died 2014)

Andrea de Cesaris was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1994.

Phil Wilson, English politician

Philip Wilson, Baron Wilson of Sedgefield, is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from a 2007 by-election until 2019. A member of the Labour Party, he was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2024.

31/05/1957

Jim Craig, American ice hockey player

James Downey Craig is an American former ice hockey goaltender who is best known for being part of the U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Craig had a standout Olympic tournament, including stopping 36 of 39 shots on goal by the heavily favored Soviet Union in the 'Miracle on Ice', as the U.S. won 4–3, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Two days later, the U.S. defeated Finland, 4–2, to clinch Olympic gold. Craig went on to play professionally in the National Hockey League for the Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins, and Minnesota North Stars from 1980 to 1983. He was inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999.

31/05/1956

Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer

Friedrich "Fritz" Hilpert is a German musician who is best known for his work as a member of the electropop group Kraftwerk.

John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player

John Young is a British rock musician hailing from Liverpool. He is currently the keyboardist and singer for the progressive rock band Lifesigns.

31/05/1955

Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

William Thomas Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM); in 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Country Music Roll of Renown. In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as the best acoustic guitarist in the world.

Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter

Susan Essman is an American comedian, actress, producer, and writer. She is best known for her role as Susie Greene on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024), as the voice of Mittens in Bolt (2008), and as Bobbi Wexler on Broad City (2015-2019).

31/05/1954

Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer

Thomas Mavros is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (died 2000)

Vicki Sue Robinson was an American singer closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around".

31/05/1953

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius is a Finnish actor, director, producer, screenwriter and politician. He has also released six records as a singer. He is a member of the Green League and was elected to the Finnish parliament in the 2019 election with 6,331 personal votes, but is not a member of the parliament any more.

31/05/1952

Carole Achache, French writer, photographer and actress (died 2016)

Carole Hélène Marthe Andrée Achache was a French writer, photographer and actress. She was the daughter of French writer Monique Lange and the mother of French-Moroccan film director Mona Achache. She appeared in films such as The Gypsy (1975), Special Section (1975), Lumière (1976), Mr. Klein (1976), Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977), and Death of a Corrupt Man (1977) under the name Carole Lange. She later worked as a still photographer in the films Other People's Money (1978), A Week's Vacation (1980), The Trout (1982), and Un soir au club (2009). As an author, Achache published five books.

Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player

Karlheinz Bartos is a German musician and composer, known for his contributions to the electronic band Kraftwerk.

31/05/1951

Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower

Karl-Hans Riehm is a former West German hammer thrower.

31/05/1950

Jean Chalopin, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded DIC Entertainment

Jean Chalopin is a French businessman, banker and former television animation producer. In 1971, he founded the production company DIC Entertainment, which specialized in children-oriented animated television and film productions. Through DIC he produced numerous successful television series, including Inspector Gadget, which he also co-created, The Real Ghostbusters, The Littles and Dennis the Menace. Chalopin also co-wrote DIC's first two major productions, Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold. After selling off his ownership in DIC, he founded a second company, C&D, in 1987, through which he continued to produce cartoons until its closure in 1996. Chalopin remained active as a writer, producer and creative consultant in the years to follow. More recently, however, he has shifted his focus onto a career in banking.

Gregory Harrison, American actor

Gregory Neale Harrison is an American actor. He is known primarily for his roles as Dr. George Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates, the young surgeon assistant of Dr. Trapper John McIntyre on the CBS series Trapper John, M.D. (1979–86), and as ruthless business tycoon Michael Sharpe in the CBS series Falcon Crest (1989–1990). Since 2015, Harrison has played Joe O'Toole, father of Oliver, in the Hallmark Channel expansion films of Signed, Sealed and Delivered. From 2020 to 2024, he assumed the role of Gregory Chase on General Hospital.

Christine Kurzhals, German politician (died 1998)

Christine Kurzhals was a German engineer and politician who served in the Bundestag from 1994 until her death in 1998. A member of the Social Democratic Party from Saxony, she was prominent for her role in the inner reunification process.

Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior (died 2022)

Edgar Savisaar was an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the Centre Party. He served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, and twice mayor of Tallinn.

31/05/1949

Tom Berenger, American actor, film producer and television writer

Thomas Michael Moore, known professionally as Tom Berenger, is an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of the Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes in Platoon (1986). He is also known for playing Jake Taylor in the Major League films and Thomas Beckett in the Sniper films.

31/05/1948

Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate

Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time". She is the first writer from Belarus to receive the award.

John Bonham, English musician, songwriter and drummer (died 1980)

John Henry Bonham was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential drummers in history.

Martin Hannett, English bass player, guitarist, and record producer (died 1991)

James Martin Hannett, was an English record producer, musician, and an original partner and director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. He was also a co-founder of the musicians' collective Music Force, and the record label Rabid in the late 1970s.

Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician

Duncan Lee Hunter is a retired American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009.

31/05/1947

Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Junior Campbell is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, pianist, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of their biggest successes, including "Reflections of My Life", "I See the Rain" and "Rainbow".

Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower

Gabriele Hinzmann is a German former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the discus throw, such as at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where she competed for East Germany and won the bronze medal.

31/05/1946

Ted Baehr, American publisher and critic

Millard Robert E. Theodore Baehr is an American media critic and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc. He is publisher and editor-in-chief of Movieguide, a website and biweekly journal that evaluates motion pictures and other entertainment products from a Christian perspective on suitability for family consumption. He also hosts nationally and internationally syndicated Movieguide radio and television programs.

Steve Bucknor, Jamaican cricketer and umpire

Stephen Anthony Bucknor, OJ is a Jamaican former international cricket umpire.

Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat (died 2009)

Krista Kilvet was an Estonian radio journalist, politician and diplomat.

Debbie Moore, English model and businesswoman

Debbie Moore OBE is an English retired model and businesswoman who founded the Pineapple Dance Studios and its associated clothing brand. She was the first woman to float a company on the London Stock Exchange and in 1984 was an early winner of the prestigious Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of The Year Award.

31/05/1945

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1982)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker, dramatist and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. He directed over 40 films that span a variety of genres; frequently his work blends elements of Hollywood melodrama with social criticism and avant-garde techniques. His films, according to him, explored "the exploitability of feelings". His work was deeply rooted in post-war German culture: the aftermath of Nazism, the German economic miracle and the Red Army Faction. Early on, Fassbinder focused on marginalized figures in the city—migrant workers, prisoners, and gay people. He worked with a company of actors and technicians who frequently appeared in his projects.

Laurent Gbagbo, Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d'Ivoire

Koudou Laurent Gbagbo is an Ivorian politician who was the president of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. He was the first president in the history of the country that was a centre-left politician. A historian, Gbagbo was imprisoned in the early 1970s and again in the early 1990s, and he lived in exile in France during much of the 1980s as a result of his union activism. Gbagbo founded the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in 1982 and ran unsuccessfully for president against Félix Houphouët-Boigny at the start of multi-party politics in 1990. He won a seat in the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire in 1990.

Bernard Goldberg, American journalist and author

Bernard Richard Goldberg is an American author, journalist, and political pundit. Goldberg has won fourteen Emmy Awards and was a producer, reporter and correspondent for CBS News for twenty-eight years (1972–2000) and a paid contributor for Fox News for ten years (2009–2018). He is best-known for his on-going critiques of journalism practices in the United States—as described in his first book published in 2001, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. He was a correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO for 22 years until January 2021.

31/05/1943

Sharon Gless, American actress

Sharon Marguerite Gless is an American actress known for her television roles. She portrayed Maggie Philbin on Switch (1975–1978), Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988), and the title role in The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990–1992). She also played Debbie Novotny in the Showtime cable television series Queer as Folk (2000–2005) and Madeline Westen on Burn Notice (2007–2013).

Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor

Joseph William Namath is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. Nicknamed "Broadway Joe", he played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, receiving first-team All-SEC honors and winning the national championship in 1964. Namath was selected by the Jets first overall in the 1965 AFL draft.

31/05/1941

June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator

Dame Margaret June Clark, FAAN FLSW was a British nurse and academic who was Professor Emeritus of Community Nursing, at Swansea University in Wales.

Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Louis Joseph Ignarro is an American pharmacologist. For demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide, he was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad.

William Nordhaus, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

William Dawbney Nordhaus is an American economist. He was a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, best known for his work in economic modeling and climate change, and a co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Nordhaus received the prize "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis".

31/05/1940

Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach (died 2025)

Anatoliy Pavlovych Bondarchuk was a Ukrainian hammer thrower who competed for the Soviet Union. An Olympic gold medallist, he is regarded as one of the most accomplished hammer throw coaches of all time. He was the author of a two-volume book, Transfer of Training, which was translated from Russian to English by Michael Yessis.

Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter

August Edmond George Meyer Jr., known professionally as Augie Meyers, was an American musician, songwriter, studio musician, record producer and record label owner. He is perhaps best known as a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados.

Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator

Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, and Wonder Wart-Hog.

31/05/1939

Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author

Sir Terence Hardy Waite is a British human rights activist and author.

31/05/1938

Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003)

Johnny Paycheck was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is a notable figure in the outlaw movement in country music.

John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2024)

John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007.

Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2025)

Peter Yarrow was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers.

31/05/1935

Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 2025)

James Brendan Bolger was a New Zealand politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997.

31/05/1934

Jim Hutton, American actor (died 1979)

Dana Scott James Hutton was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, starting with Where the Boys Are. He was the father of actor Timothy Hutton.

31/05/1933

Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author

Henry Bennion Eyring is an American religious leader and former educational administrator serving as the first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the church's second most senior apostle, he is also the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with Dieter F. Uchtdorf serving as the quorum's acting president.

31/05/1932

Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (died 2012)

Ed Lincoln was a Brazilian musician, composer and arranger known for a wide variety of styles. As a bassist, he was present at the earliest moments of bossa nova and as a Hammond organ player, he was foundational in establishing the sound of Brazilian jazz and space age pop.

Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (died 1994)

Jay Glenn Miner was an American integrated circuit designer, known primarily for developing graphics and audio chips for the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit computers and as the "father of the Amiga".

31/05/1931

John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019)

John Robert Schrieffer was an American theoretical physicist who, with John Bardeen and Leon Cooper, was a recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing the BCS theory, the first successful quantum description of superconductivity.

Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (died 2010)

Shirley Verrett was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles making her a Soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s; she was particularly known for performing works by Giuseppe Verdi and Gaetano Donizetti.

31/05/1930

Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer

Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Elaine Stewart, American actress and model (died 2011)

Elaine Stewart was an American actress and model.

31/05/1929

Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (died 2014)

Menahem Golan was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s after Golan and Globus had achieved significant filmmaking success in Israel during the 1970s.

31/05/1928

Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (died 2001)

Pankaj Roy was an Indian cricketer who played in 43 Test matches, including once as captain. He was a right-handed opening batsman, perhaps best known for establishing the world record opening partnership in Test cricket of 413 runs, together with Vinoo Mankad, against New Zealand at Chennai. The record stood for 52 years until 2008. Roy played for Bengal in domestic matches. In 2000, he was appointed as the Sheriff of Kolkata. He has been honoured with the Padma Shri. His nephew Ambar Roy and son Pranab Roy also played Test cricket for India. He was a student of Vidyasagar College. In 2016, he was posthumously awarded the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour conferred by BCCI on a former player.

31/05/1927

James Eberle, English admiral (died 2018)

Admiral Sir James Henry Fuller Eberle, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1979 until 1981.

Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker (died 2017)

Michael Graham Ruddock Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, CBE was executive chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1977 to 1986.

31/05/1925

Julian Beck, American actor and director (died 1986)

Julian Beck was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing the Living Theatre, as well as his posthumous role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher in the supernatural horror film Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

31/05/1923

Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (died 2015)

Ellsworth Kelly was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, color and form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. He lived and worked in Spencertown, New York.

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (died 2005)

Rainier III was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years.

Claudio Matteini, Italian football player (died 2003)

Claudio Matteini was an Italian professional football player.

31/05/1922

Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (died 1992)

Denholm Mitchell Elliott was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Trading Places (1983), A Private Function (1984) and Defence of the Realm (1986), and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mr. Emerson in A Room with a View (1985). He is also known for his performances in Alfie (1966), A Doll's House (1973), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Maurice (1987), September (1987), and Noises Off (1992). He portrayed Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). On television, Elliott won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1981 and was nominated for a second for Hotel du Lac (1986).

31/05/1921

Edna Doré, English actress (died 2014)

Edna Lillian Doré was a British actress. She was known for her bit-part roles in sitcoms and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in EastEnders from 1988 to 1990.

Andrew Grima, Anglo-Italian jewellery designer (died 2007)

Andrew Grima was an Anglo-Italian jewellery designer.

Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (died 2008)

Howard Reig was an American radio and television announcer. His last name was pronounced "reeg."

Alida Valli, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (died 2006)

Baroness Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg, better known by her stage name Alida Valli, or simply Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, spanning from the 1930s to the early 2000s. She was one of the biggest stars of Italian film during the Fascist era, once being called "the most beautiful woman in the world" by Benito Mussolini, and was internationally successful post-World War II.

31/05/1919

Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (died 1995)

Robie Mayhew Macauley was an American editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned more than 50 years.

31/05/1918

Robert Osterloh, American actor (died 2001)[better source needed]

Robert Osterloh was an American actor. In a career spanning 20 years, he appeared in films such as The Dark Past (1948), The Wild One (1953), I Bury the Living (1958), and Young Dillinger (1965).

Lloyd Quarterman, African American chemist (died 1982)

Lloyd Albert Quarterman was an American chemist working mainly with fluorine. During the Second World War, he was one of the first six African American scientists and technicians on the Manhattan Project.

31/05/1916

Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1997)

Albert Haanstra was a Dutch director of films and documentaries. His documentary Glass (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film Fanfare (1958) was the most visited Dutch film at the time, and has since only been surpassed by Turkish Delight (1973).

31/05/1914

Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (died 2006)

Akira Ifukube was a Japanese composer. He is best known for composing several entries in the Godzilla franchise as well as developing the titular monster's roar.

31/05/1912

Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (died 1997)

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu herself was awarded the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics evoked comparisons to Marie Curie. Her nicknames include the "First Lady of Physics", the "Chinese Marie Curie" and the "Queen of Nuclear Research".

31/05/1911

Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2010)

Maurice Félix Charles Allais was a French physicist and economist, the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources", along with John Hicks and Paul Samuelson, to neoclassical synthesis. They formalize the self-regulation of markets, which Keynes refuted but reiterated some of Allais's ideas.

31/05/1909

Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (died 2000)

Arthur Edmund Coulter was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League.

31/05/1908

Don Ameche, American actor (died 1993)

Don Ameche was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, repertory theatre, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer of a movie contract from 20th Century Fox in 1935.

31/05/1901

Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (died 1983)

Alfredo Antonini was a leading Italian-American symphony conductor and composer who was active on the international concert stage as well as on the CBS radio and television networks from the 1930s through the early 1970s. In 1972 he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Religious Programming on television for his conducting of the premiere of Ezra Laderman's opera And David Wept for CBS television during 1971. In addition, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1980.

31/05/1900

Lucile Godbold, American athlete (died 1981)

Lucile Ellerbe Godbold was an American track and field athlete. She competed in the long jump and several running and throwing events at the 1922 Women's World Games, also known as the First International Games for Women, and won a gold medal in the shot put and a bronze in the javelin throw; she finished fourth in the 300 m and 1000 m races. She won a total of six medals, which was more than any other competitor.

31/05/1898

Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (died 1993)

Norman Vincent Peale was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking (1952). He served as the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York, from 1932, leading this Reformed Church in America congregation for more than a half century until his retirement in 1984. Alongside his pulpit ministry, he had an extensive career of writing and editing, and radio and television presentations. Despite arguing at times against involvement of clergy in politics, he nevertheless had some controversial affiliations with politically active organizations in the late 1930s, and engaged with national political candidates and their campaigns, having influence on some, including personal friendships with Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.

31/05/1894

Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (died 1956)

John Florence Sullivan, known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program The Fred Allen Show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.

31/05/1892

Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (died 1968)

Michel Kikoïne was a Lithuanian Jewish-French painter who belonged to the Ecole de Paris art movement.

Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (died 1951)

Erich Neumann was a German lawyer and civil servant, a member of the Nazi party and an SS-Oberführer. Neumann was a participant in the Wannsee Conference that determined the implementation of the Final Solution. He was interned at the end of the Second World War but was released in 1948 due to ill health and was never prosecuted.

Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (died 1968)

Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was a Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968.

Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (died 1934)

Gregor Strasser was a German politician and early leader of the Nazi Party. Along with his younger brother Otto, he was a leading member of the party's northern group, which brought them into conflict with the dominant faction led by Adolf Hitler. Gregor's willingness to engage in political negotiations with Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher in 1932 ultimately led to his resignation and murder in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. The brothers' strand of the Nazi ideology is later known as Strasserism, a political concept largely popularized by Otto after he left the party in 1930.

31/05/1887

Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975)

Alexis Leger, better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse, was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time".

31/05/1885

Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (died 1967)

Robert Stanley Richards was an Australian politician. He served as premier of South Australia for two months in 1933, leading the Parliamentary Labor faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the aftermath of a major party split. His government was defeated in a landslide at the 1933 state election. He returned as leader of the reunited ALP from 1938 to 1949, leading the party to three consecutive electoral defeats as leader of the opposition in the face of severe electoral malapportionment. He later served as administrator of Nauru, a UN trust territory administered by Australia, from 1949 to 1951.

31/05/1883

Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (died 1942)

Lauri Kristian Relander was the president of Finland (1925–1931). A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his election as president.

31/05/1882

Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (died 1956)

Count Sándor Ágost Dénes Festetics de Tolna was a Hungarian nobleman and cabinet minister who later became an advocate of Nazism in Hungary.

31/05/1879

Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (died 1952)

Frances Davis Alda was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic lyric soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality, as well as her frequent onstage partnerships at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, with Enrico Caruso.

31/05/1875

Rosa May Billinghurst, British suffragette and women's rights activist (died 1953)

Rosa May Billinghurst was a British suffragette and women's rights activist. She was known popularly as the "cripple suffragette" as she campaigned in a tricycle.

31/05/1866

John Ringling, American entrepreneur; one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (died 1936)

John Nicholas Ringling was an American entrepreneur who is the best known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the modern circus. In addition to owning and managing many of the largest circuses in the United States, he was also a rancher, a real estate developer and art collector. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987.

31/05/1863

Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (died 1942)

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband was a British Army officer, explorer and spiritual writer. He is remembered for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet, led by him, and for his writings on Asia and foreign policy. Younghusband held positions including British commissioner to Tibet and president of the Royal Geographical Society.

31/05/1860

Walter Sickert, English painter (died 1942)

Walter Richard Sickert was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the mid and late 20th century.

31/05/1858

Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (died 1932)

Graham Wallas was an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, a leader of the Fabian Society and a co-founder of the London School of Economics.

31/05/1857

Pope Pius XI (died 1939)

Pope Pius XI was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of Vatican City upon its creation on 11 February 1929.

31/05/1852

Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (died 1919)

Francisco Pascasio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno. Perito Moreno has been credited as one of the most influential figures in the Argentine incorporation of large parts of Patagonia and its subsequent development.

Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (died 1921)

Julius Richard Petri was a German microbiologist who is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish, which is named after him, while working as assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch.

31/05/1847

William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (died 1924)

William James Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie was a leading British shipbuilder and businessman. He was chairman of Harland & Wolff, shipbuilders, between 1895 and 1924, and also served as Lord Mayor of Belfast between 1896 and 1898. He was ennobled as Baron Pirrie in 1906, appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1908 and made Viscount Pirrie in 1921. Lord Pirrie was involved in the building of the Olympic-class ocean liners, along with his nephew Thomas Andrews. In Belfast, he was already a controversial figure: a Protestant employer associated as a leading Liberal with a policy of Home Rule for Ireland.

31/05/1842

John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (died 1894)

Sir John Cox Bray was a prominent South Australian politician and the first native-born Premier of South Australia (1881–1884).

31/05/1838

Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (died 1900)

Henry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist and is best known in philosophy for his utilitarian treatise The Methods of Ethics. His work in economics has also had a lasting influence.

31/05/1835

Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (died 1869)

Hijikata Toshizō was a Japanese swordsman of the Bakumatsu period and Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi. As Vice-Commander, he served the Tokugawa Shogunate and co-led his group in its resistance against the imperial rule brought about by the Meiji Restoration. He fought against the Imperial Army during the Boshin War until his death at the Battle of Hakodate, which ended the war.

31/05/1827

Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (died 1903)

Kusumoto Ine was a Japanese physician. She was the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan.

31/05/1819

Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (died 1892)

Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.

31/05/1818

John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1867)

John Albion Andrew was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was elected in 1860 as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts, serving between 1861 and 1866, and led the state's contributions to the Union cause during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first African-American units in the United States Army, including the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. He belonged to the Whig, Free Soil, and Republican parties during his career.

31/05/1815

Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (died 1906)

Sir Adye Douglas was an Australian lawyer and politician, and first class cricket player, who played one match for Tasmania. He was Premier of Tasmania from 15 August 1884 to 8 March 1886.

31/05/1812

Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (died 1884)

Sir Robert Richard Torrens,, also known as Robert Richard Chute Torrens, was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and land reformer. After a move to London in 1836, he became prominent in the early years of the Colony of South Australia, emigrating after being appointed to a civil service position there in 1840. He was Colonial Treasurer and Registrar-General from 1852 to 1857 and then the third Premier of South Australia for a single month in September 1857.

31/05/1801

Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (died 1887)

Johann Georg Baiter was a Swiss philologist and textual critic.

31/05/1773

Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (died 1853)

Johann Ludwig Tieck was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

31/05/1754

Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (died 1817)

Andrea Appiani was an Italian neoclassical painter. He is known as "the elder", to distinguish him from his great-nephew Andrea Appiani, a historical painter in Rome.

31/05/1753

Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (died 1793)

Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud was a French lawyer and statesman, a figure of the French Revolution. A deputy to the Assembly from Bordeaux, Vergniaud was an eloquent orator. He was a supporter of Jacques Pierre Brissot and the Girondist faction.

31/05/1732

Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (died 1812)

Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 to 1772 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1772 until 1803, when the prince-archbishopric was secularized. After secularization, Colloredo fled to Vienna and remained the non-resident archbishop of Salzburg, bereft of temporal power, until his death in 1812. He is most famously known as a patron and employer for Mozart.

31/05/1725

Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of the Malwa Kingdom under the Maratha Empire (died 1795)

Ahilyabai Holkar, also spelled Ahalya Bai, was the Rajamata and later the ruling queen of Indore within the Maratha Empire. She established Maheshwar as the seat of the Holkar Dynasty.

31/05/1641

Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (died 1707)

Dositheus II Notaras of Jerusalem was the Patriarch of Jerusalem between 1669 and 1707 and a theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was known for standing against influences of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. He convened the Synod of Jerusalem in 1672 to counter the Calvinist confessions alleged to be from Cyril Lucaris.

31/05/1640

Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (died 1673)

Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, also known as Michał Tomasz Wiśniowiecki, and under a regal name Michael, was the ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 29 September 1669 until his death in 1673.

31/05/1613

John George II, Elector of Saxony (died 1680)

Johann George II was the Elector of Saxony from 1656 to 1680. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin.

31/05/1577

Nur Jahan, Empress consort of the Mughal Empire (died 1645)

Nur Jahan, born Mehr-un-Nissa, was the twentieth wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

31/05/1556

Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (died 1600)

Prince Jerzy Radziwiłł was a Polish–Lithuanian magnate and Imperial Reichsfürst from the Radziwiłł family. He was ordained a Catholic priest and later rose through the ranks as Bishop of Vilnius eventually becoming a cardinal. He was a close friend and adviser of King Sigismund III and represented his interests in front of the Pope.

31/05/1535

Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (died 1607)

Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school.

31/05/1469

Manuel I of Portugal (died 1521)

Manuel I, known as the Fortunate, was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manuel ruled over a period of intensive expansion of the Portuguese Empire owing to the numerous Portuguese discoveries made during his reign. His sponsorship of Vasco da Gama led to the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India in 1498, resulting in the creation of the Portuguese India Armadas, which guaranteed Portugal's monopoly on the spice trade. Manuel began the Portuguese colonization of the Americas and Portuguese India, and oversaw the establishment of a vast trade empire across Africa and Asia.

31/05/1462

Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1504)

Philipp II of Hanau-Lichtenberg ruled the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg from 1480 until his death.

Lives Remembered on 31st May

On 31st May, 115 remarkable people passed away — from 455 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

31/05/2025

Stanley Fischer, Israeli-American economist (born 1943)

Stanley Fischer was an American and Israeli economist who served as the 20th vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017. Fischer previously served as the 8th governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 to 2013. Born in Northern Rhodesia, he held dual citizenship in Israel and the United States. He previously served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and as Chief Economist of the World Bank. On January 10, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Fischer to the position of Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve. On September 6, 2017, Fischer announced that he was resigning as vice-chair for personal reasons effective October 13, 2017. He was a senior advisor at BlackRock.

31/05/2024

Robert Pickton, Canadian serial killer (born 1949)

Robert William Pickton, also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, was a Canadian pig farmer and serial killer. He is believed to have murdered at least 26 women, many of them sex workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He confessed to forty-nine murders to an undercover RCMP officer. In 2007, he was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years—the longest possible sentence for second-degree murder under Canadian law at the time.

Marian Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama (born 1937)

Marian Lois Robinson was the mother of Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States, and Craig Robinson, a basketball executive. She was the mother-in-law of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. She worked as a secretary and executive assistant before and after raising her children with her husband, Fraser Robinson, in Chicago. In retirement, she moved to the White House during her son-in-law's presidency, where she helped raise her grandchildren.

31/05/2022

Colin Cantwell, American concept artist and director (born 1932)

Colin James Cantwell was an American concept artist and director known for his work on films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and WarGames, as well as the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, but primarily for doing creating concept designs and models for a number of Star Wars vehicles, most notably the X-wing fighter, the TIE fighter, the Star Destroyer, the Y-Wing Fighter.

Krishnakumar Kunnath, Indian singer (born 1968)

Krishnakumar Kunnath , popularly known as KK, was an Indian playback singer. KK is regarded as one of the most prolific playback singers in India. Noted for his versatility in a variety of music genres, he recorded songs primarily in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada language. KK was a recipient of several accolades including two Screen Awards, along with six Filmfare Awards nominations.

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Colombian drug lord (born 1939)

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was a Colombian drug lord and one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Orejuela formed the cartel with his brother, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Hélmer Herrera. The cartel emerged to prominence in the early 1990s, and was estimated to control about 80% of the American and 90% of the European cocaine markets in the mid-1990s. Rodríguez Orejuela was captured after a 1995 police campaign by Colombian authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He obtained early release in 2002, and was re-arrested in 2003, after which he was extradited to the United States. There, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where he died in 2022.

Jim Parks, English cricketer (born 1931)

James Michael Parks was an English cricketer. He played in forty-six Tests for England, between 1954 and 1968. In those Tests, Parks scored 1,962 runs with a personal best of 108 not out, and took 103 catches and made 11 stumpings.

31/05/2016

Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) (born 1947)

Mohamed Abdelaziz ben Khalili ben Mohamed al-Bachir Er-Rguibi was the 3rd Secretary General of the Polisario Front, from 1976, and the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from 1982, until his death in 2016.

Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (born 1938)

Janice Wendell Crouch was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973.

Carla Lane, English television writer (born 1928)

Romana Barrack, known by the pseudonym Carla Lane, was an English screenwriter and animal rights campaigner. Lane was known for creating or co-creating successful British sitcoms such as The Liver Birds (1969–1979), Butterflies (1978–1983), and Bread (1986–1991).

Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (born 1939)

Rupert Neudeck was a German theologian, journalist and aid worker, especially with refugees.

31/05/2015

Gladys Taylor, Canadian author and publisher (born 1917)

Gladys Taylor was a Canadian writer and publisher.

31/05/2014

Marilyn Beck, American journalist (born 1928)

Marilyn Beck was a syndicated Hollywood columnist and author.

Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (born 1952)

Francisco das Chagas Marinho, generally known as Marinho Chagas or Francisco Marinho, was a Brazilian professional footballer. One of the best left-backs of his era, he is best known for his flowing curly blond hair and his performance at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in which Brazil finished fourth. At club level he is mostly associated with Botafogo FR of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo FC, but he played for numerous other teams, as well as in the North American Soccer League, in a career which spanned from 1969 to 1987.

Hoss Ellington, American race car driver (born 1935)

Charles Everett "Hoss" Ellington was an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He married Betty Frances Hunt on April 17, 1959, at the Mount Pleasant Methodist Parsonage. They had three daughters: Monica Dale Ellington, Trellace Hunt Ellington, and Charla Frances Ellington. He made 31 starts as a driver between 1968 and 1970 in the Grand National Series, finishing in the top 10 four times, all in 1969. He later became a successful team owner, with five wins, four of them by Donnie Allison and the other one by David Pearson. His team also collected 52 top-fives and 92 top-ten finishes. He fielded cars for drivers such as Pearson, Fred Lorenzen, Cale Yarborough, A. J. Foyt, Donnie Allison, Kyle Petty, and Dale Jarrett, among others.

Martha Hyer, American actress (born 1924)

Martha Hyer was an American actress who played Gwen French in Some Came Running (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir, was published in 1990.

Lewis Katz, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1942)

Lewis Katz was an American businessman, philanthropist, and newspaper publisher, who was a co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, English author (born 1922)

Mary Soames, Baroness Soames was an English author. The youngest of the five children of Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, she worked for public organisations including the Red Cross and the Women's Voluntary Service from 1939 to 1941, and joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1941. She was the wife of Conservative politician Christopher Soames.

31/05/2013

Gerald E. Brown, American physicist and academic (born 1926)

Gerald Edward Brown was an American theoretical physicist who worked on nuclear physics and astrophysics. Since 1968 he had been a professor at the Stony Brook University. He was a distinguished professor emeritus of the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stony Brook University.

Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author and educator (born 1933)

Frederic Lindsay was a Scottish crime writer, who was born in Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh. He was a full-time writer from 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant. He was active in a number of literary organisations including the Society of Authors, International PEN and the Scottish Arts Council. In addition to novels he also wrote for TV, radio and the theatre. Two of his novels have been made into films.

Miguel Méndez, American author and poet (born 1930)

Miguel Méndez was the pen name for Miguel Méndez Morales, a Mexican American author best known for his novel Peregrinos de Aztlán. He was a leading figure in the field of Chicano literature.

Tim Samaras, American engineer and storm chaser (born 1957)

Timothy Michael Samaras, was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers. He died in the 2013 El Reno tornado that occurred on May 31, 2013.

Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (born 1987)

Jairo Mora Sandoval was a Costa Rican environmentalist who was murdered while attempting to protect leatherback turtle nests. Just before midnight on May 30, 2013, Mora and four female volunteers were abducted by a group of masked men. The women eventually escaped and informed the police. Mora's bound and beaten body was found on the beach the next morning. An autopsy determined he died by asphyxiation after suffering a blow to the head.

Jean Stapleton, American actress (born 1923)

Jean Stapleton was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton is best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Archie Bunker, on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family. The role earned her three Emmys and two Golden Globes for Best Actress in a comedy series.

31/05/2012

Christopher Challis, English cinematographer (born 1919)

Christopher George Joseph Challis BSC, FRPS was an English cinematographer. He was well-known for his collaborations with the directing duo of Powell and Pressburger, and worked on more than 70 feature films from the 1940s onwards. He won a BAFTA Award for his work on Arabesque (1966), among four total nominations.

Randall B. Kester, American lawyer and judge (born 1916)

Randall Blair Kester was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 69th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1957 to 1958. He later taught at what became the Lewis & Clark Law School and was in private practice in Portland, Oregon, decades after leaving the bench.

Paul Pietsch, German race car driver and publisher (born 1911)

Paul Pietsch was a racing driver, journalist and publisher from Germany, who founded the magazine Das Auto and published many other as his Motor Presse Stuttgart became the largest publisher in the European market for technology and special interest magazines.

Orlando Woolridge, American basketball player and coach (born 1959)

Orlando Vernada Woolridge was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1994. He was known for his scoring ability, especially on slam dunks. He played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

31/05/2011

Pauline Betz, American tennis player (born 1919)

Pauline May Betz Addie was an American professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions. Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he ever saw, behind Helen Wills Moody.

Jonas Bevacqua, American fashion designer, co-founded the Lifted Research Group (born 1977)

Jonas Bevacqua was an American clothing designer and entrepreneur.

Derek Hodge, Virgin Islander lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (born 1941)

Derek Michael Hodge was an American Virgin Islander politician and lawyer who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of the United States Virgin Islands for two terms from 1987 to 1995 under Governor Alexander Farrelly. The Virgin Islands Daily News called him a "towering figure in local politics," referring to his political career, which spanned several decades.

Hans Keilson, German-Dutch psychoanalyst and author (born 1909)

Hans Alex Keilson was a German-Dutch novelist, poet, psychoanalyst and child psychologist. He was best known for his novels set during the Second World War, during which he was an active member of the Dutch resistance.

John Martin, English admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (born 1918)

Vice-Admiral Sir John Edward Ludgate Martin, was a Royal Navy officer and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.

Andy Robustelli, American football player and manager (born 1925)

Andrew Richard Robustelli was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants. He played college football at Arnold College and was selected in the nineteenth round of the 1951 NFL draft. Robustelli was a six-time first-team All-Pro selection and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

31/05/2010

Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (born 1911)

Louise Joséphine Bourgeois was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of themes over the course of her long career including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the unconscious. These themes connect to events from her childhood which she considered to be a therapeutic process. Although Bourgeois exhibited with the abstract expressionists and her work has a lot in common with Surrealism and feminist art, she was not formally affiliated with a particular artistic movement.

Brian Duffy, English photographer and producer (born 1933)

Brian Duffy was an English photographer and film producer, best remembered for his fashion and portrait photography of the 1960s and 1970s.

William A. Fraker, American director, producer, and cinematographer (born 1923)

William Ashman Fraker, ASC, BSC was an American cinematographer and director.

Rubén Juárez, Argentinian singer-songwriter and bandoneón player (born 1947)

Rubén Juárez was an Argentine bandoneonist and singer-songwriter of tango.

Merata Mita, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1942)

Merata Mita was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, and writer, and a key figure in the growth of the Māori screen industry. Mita was the first indigenous woman and the first woman in New Zealand to solely write and direct a dramatic feature film Mauri (1988).

31/05/2009

Danny La Rue, Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (born 1927)

Danny La Rue was an entertainer best known for on-stage theatrical productions, television shows and films where he customarily performed as a female impersonator.

George Tiller, American physician (born 1941)

George Richard Tiller was an American physician and abortion provider from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which, at the time, was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide that provided late-term abortions.

31/05/2006

Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (born 1933)

Miguel Ortiz Berrocal was a Spanish figurative and abstract sculptor. He is best known for his puzzle sculptures, which can be disassembled into many abstract pieces. These works are also known for the miniature artworks and jewelry incorporated into or concealed within them, and the fact that some of the sculptures can be reassembled or reconfigured into different arrangements. Berrocal's sculptures span a wide range of physical sizes from monumental outdoor public works, to intricate puzzle sculptures small enough to be worn as pendants, bracelets, or other body ornamentation.

Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)

Raymond Davis Jr. was an American chemist and physicist. He is best known as the leader of the Homestake experiment in the 1960s-1980s, which was the first experiment to detect neutrinos emitted from the Sun; for this he shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics.

31/05/2004

Aiyathurai Nadesan, Sri Lankan journalist (born 1954)

Aiyathurai Nadesan, a prominent and veteran minority Sri Lankan Tamil journalist was shot dead on 31 May 2004 on his way to work in eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa by gunmen belonging to an armed paramilitary group widely believed to be so called Karuna Group.

Robert Quine, American guitarist (born 1941)

Robert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclectic style embraced influences from jazz, rock, and blues players of all stripes, and his thoughtful technique and uncompromising approach led to rewarding collaborations with a number of visionary musicians."

Étienne Roda-Gil, French screenwriter and composer (born 1941)

Étienne Roda-Gil was a songwriter and screenwriter. He was an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist.

31/05/2002

Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (born 1929)

Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and Jim Laker pronounced him the best leg spinner they had seen.

31/05/2001

Arlene Francis, American actress, talk show host, game show panelist, and television personality (born 1907)

Arlene Francis was an American game show panelist, actress, and radio and television talk show host. She was a pioneer for women in television, and is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game show What's My Line?, on which she appeared regularly from 1950 to 1975.

31/05/2000

Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat, 1st President of Bulgaria (born 1936)

Petar Toshev Mladenov was a Bulgarian communist diplomat and politician. He was the last leader of the Bulgarian People's Republic from 1989 to 1990, and briefly the first President of the Bulgarian Republic in 1990.

A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (born 1928)

Alfred Jeyaratnam Wilson was a Sri Lankan Tamil academic, historian and author. He began his academic career as a lecturer in economics and political science at the University of Ceylon and was the founding professor of political science at the University of Ceylon (1969-72). Later he moved to Canada and was professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick. University of New Brunswick.

31/05/1998

Charles Van Acker, Belgian-American race car driver (born 1912)

Charles Edward "Poncho" Van Acker Sr was a Belgian-American racing driver. He first attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1946, but was too slow. In 1947, he made the race and finished in 29th after a crash on lap 24. He also competed in seven more races of the national trail that season and finished fourth in points. In 1948, he finished 11th in the Indy 500 and tenth in the National Championship. 1949 saw him crash ten laps into the Indy 500 and struggle to qualify much of the rest of the season. He attempted the 1950 Indianapolis 500 but failed to qualify in what would be his last Championship Car appearance. He owned and operated the South Bend Motor Speedway in South Bend, Indiana and once after a dirt track crash in Dayton, Ohio was declared dead. However, Van Acker claims that the reports were exaggerated and that he was not that seriously injured.

31/05/1996

Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (born 1920)

Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". According to poet Allen Ginsberg, he was "a hero of American consciousness", while writer Tom Robbins called him a "brave neuronaut". President Richard Nixon disagreed, calling Leary "the most dangerous man in America". During the 1960s and 1970s, at the height of the counterculture movement, Leary was arrested 36 times.

31/05/1995

Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (born 1930)

Stanley Lawrence Elkin was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male-female relationships.

31/05/1994

Uzay Heparı, Turkish actor, producer, and composer (born 1969)

Rony Uzay Heparı was a Turkish musician, composer, producer, arranger, and actor. Heparı received classical music training as a child. In the mid-1980s, during his high school years, he joined the Istanbul Gelişim Orchestra, conducted by Garo Mafyan, and developed his skills on the electric keyboard. Heparı, a fan of MFÖ in the 1980s, developed an interest in pop music. Having studied classical music throughout his childhood, he began to shift his style in his early teens. At 19, he began his career playing piano on Zuhal Olcay's album Küçük Bir Öykü (1988). At the same time, he was studying at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory.

Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (born 1909)

Herva Nelli was an Italian and American operatic soprano.

31/05/1993

Honey Tree Evil Eye, or, Spuds MacKenzie, Bud Light Bull Terrier mascot (born 1983)

Spuds MacKenzie is a bull terrier dog character used for an extensive advertising campaign marketing Bud Light beer in the late 1980s. The Spuds MacKenzie mascot and campaign was the idea of a 23-year-old art director, Jon Moore. At the time, he was working at Needham, Harper, and Steers, a Chicago advertising agency. The dog first showed up in a Bud Light Super Bowl XXI advertisement in 1987.

31/05/1989

C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and historian (born 1901)

Cyril Lionel Robert James, who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist, Trotskyist activist, and Marxist writer. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of Marxism, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. A tireless political activist, James is the author of the 1937 work World Revolution outlining the history of the Communist International, which stirred debate in Trotskyist circles, and in 1938 he wrote on the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.

Owen Lattimore, American author and academic (born 1900)

Owen Lattimore was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of Pacific Affairs, a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1938 to 1963. He was director of the Walter Hines Page School of International Relations from 1939 to 1953. During World War II, he was an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek and the American government and contributed extensively to the public debate on U.S. policy toward Asia. From 1963 to 1970, Lattimore was the first Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds in England.

31/05/1987

John Abraham, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1937)

John Abraham was an Indian filmmaker, short story writer and screenwriter who worked mainly in Malayalam cinema. His film Amma Ariyan (1986) was the only South Indian feature film to make the list of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time by British Film Institute. Agraharathil Kazhuthai was listed among the "100 Greatest Indian Films" of all time by IBN Live's 2013 poll.

31/05/1986

Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (born 1918)

Jane Schenthal Frank was an American multidisciplinary artist, known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, illustrator, and textile artist. Her landscape-like, mixed-media abstract paintings are included in public collections, including those of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She studied with artists, Hans Hofmann and Norman Carlberg.

James Rainwater, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Leo James Rainwater was an American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei.

31/05/1985

Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (born 1921)

Gaston Rébuffat was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the great north faces of the Alps. In 1984, he was made an officer in the French Legion of Honour for his service as a mountaineering instructor for the French military. At the age of 64, Gaston Rébuffat died of cancer in Paris, France. The rock-climbing technique, the "Gaston", was named after him. A photo of Rébuffat atop the Aiguille du Roc in the French Alps is on the Voyager Golden Records.

31/05/1983

Jack Dempsey, American boxer and lieutenant (born 1895)

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. He is ranked sixth on The Ring magazine's list of all-time heavyweights and fourth among its Top 100 Greatest Punchers, while in 1950 the Associated Press voted him as the greatest fighter of the past 50 years.

31/05/1982

Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (born 1930)

Carlo Mauri was an Italian mountaineer and explorer. Mauri was born in Lecco. Among his early climbs in the Alps two stand out: the first winter ascent of the via Comici route on the northern face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo; and the first solitary ascent of the Poire of Mont Blanc. Numerous expeditions abroad followed. In 1956 he reached the summit of Monte Sarmiento in Tierra del Fuego and in 1958, as a member of Riccardo Cassin’s expedition in Karakorum, he and Walter Bonatti made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV.

31/05/1981

Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (born 1914)

Barbara Mary Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of the world and in the 1960s turned her attention to environmental questions as well. She was an early advocate of sustainable development before this term became familiar and was well known as a journalist, lecturer and broadcaster. Ward was adviser to policymakers in the UK, United States and elsewhere. She was the founder of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

31/05/1978

József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1925)

József Bozsik was a Hungarian footballer who played as a central midfielder. He spent his entire club career at his hometown club, Budapest Honvéd. Bozsik was a key member of the legendary Golden Team as he represented Hungary in various international tournaments. Honvéd named their stadium, Bozsik József Stadion, after him.

31/05/1977

William Castle, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1914)

William Castle was an American filmmaker and actor. He was best known as a director of horror and thriller B-movies in the 1950s and '60s, for which he devised innovative and distinctive promotional gimmicks.

31/05/1976

Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)

Jacques Lucien Monod was a French biochemist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis"

31/05/1970

Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1929)

Terrance Gordon Sawchuk was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings, and New York Rangers between 1950 and 1970. He won the Calder Trophy, earned the Vezina Trophy four times, was a four-time Stanley Cup champion, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame the year after his final season, one of 10 players for whom the three-year waiting period was waived.

Clare Sheridan, English sculptor and author (born 1885)

Clare Consuelo Sheridan was an English sculptor, journalist and writer, known primarily for creating busts for famous sitters and keeping travel diaries. She was a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, with whom she had enjoyed an amicable relationship, though her support for the October Revolution in 1917 caused them to break ranks politically. She enjoyed travelling around the world; and among her circle of friends were Princess Margaret of Sweden, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Lady Diana Cooper, Vita Sackville-West and Vivien Leigh.

31/05/1967

Billy Strayhorn, American pianist and composer (born 1915)

William Thomas Strayhorn was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A' Train", "Chelsea Bridge", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing", and "Lush Life".

31/05/1962

Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (born 1874)

Henry Fountain Ashurst was an American Democratic politician and one of the first two senators from Arizona. Largely self-educated, he served as a district attorney and member of the Arizona Territorial legislature before fulfilling his childhood ambition of joining the United States Senate. During his time in the Senate, Ashurst was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Judiciary Committee.

31/05/1960

Willem Elsschot, Flemish author and poet (born 1882)

Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder was a Belgian writer and poet who wrote under the pseudonym Willem Elsschot. One of the most prominent Flemish authors, his most famous work, Cheese (1933) is the most translated Dutch-language novel from Flanders of all time.

Walther Funk, German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (born 1890)

Walther Immanuel Funk was a German economist, Nazi official and convicted war criminal who served as Reichsminister for the Economy from 1938 to 1945 and president of the Reichsbank from 1939 to 1945. Funk oversaw the mobilization of the economy for Germany's rearmament and World War II, and the expropriation of assets of victims from Nazi concentration camps. He was convicted for crimes against humanity by the Nuremberg Tribunal.

31/05/1957

Stefanos Sarafis, Greek general and politician (born 1890)

Stefanos Sarafis was an officer of the Hellenic Army and Major General in EAM-ELAS, who played an important role during the Greek Resistance.

Leopold Staff, Polish poet and academic (born 1878)

Leopold Henryk Staff was a Polish poet; an artist of European modernism twice granted the Degree of Doctor honoris causa by universities in Warsaw and in Kraków. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Polish PEN Club. Representative of classicism and symbolism in the poetry of Young Poland, he was an author of many philosophical poems influenced by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, the ideas of Franciscan order as well as paradoxes of Christianity.

31/05/1954

Antonis Benakis, Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (born 1873)

Antonis Benakis (1873–1954) was a Greek art collector and the founder of the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, the son of politician and magnate Emmanuel Benakis and the brother of author Penelope Delta. He is the hero of Delta's book "Trellantonis", a literary account of the sundry, mischievous adventures of children growing up in Alexandria, Egypt, in the early 20th century.

31/05/1945

Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (born 1904)

Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globočnik was a Nazi Party official and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. A high-ranking member of the SS, Globočnik was the leader of Operation Reinhard, the organized murder of around one and a half million Jews, mostly of Polish origin, during the Holocaust in the Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibór and Bełżec extermination camps. Historian Michael Allen described him as "the vilest individual in the vilest organization ever known". Globočnik killed himself shortly after his capture and detention by British soldiers.

31/05/1931

Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (born 1866)

Félix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927.

Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (born 1864)

Willy Stöwer was a German artist, illustrator, and author during the Imperial Period. He is best known for nautical paintings and lithographs. Many of his works depict historical maritime events such as the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

31/05/1910

Elizabeth Blackwell, English-American physician and educator (born 1821)

Elizabeth Blackwell was an English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Kingdom. Blackwell played an important role in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a social reformer, and was a pioneer in promoting education for women in medicine. Her contributions remain celebrated with the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, awarded annually to a woman who has made a significant contribution to the promotion of women in medicine.

31/05/1909

Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (born 1852)

Thomas Price served as the South Australian United Labor Party's first Premier of South Australia. He formed a minority government at the 1905 election and was re-elected with increased representation at the 1906 election, serving in the premiership until his death in 1909. It was the world's first stable Labor government. Shortly afterwards, John Verran led Labor to form the state's first of many majority governments at the 1910 election.

31/05/1908

Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian author, poet, and politician (born 1839)

Louis-Honoré Fréchette was a Canadian poet, politician, playwright and short story writer. For his prose, he would be the first Quebecois to receive the Prix Montyon from the Académie française, and the first Canadian to receive any honor from a European nation.

31/05/1899

Stefanos Koumanoudis, Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer (born 1818)

Stefanos Koumanoudis was a Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer of the 19th century.

31/05/1848

Eugénie de Guérin, French author (born 1805)

Eugénie de Guérin was a French writer and the sister of the poet Maurice de Guérin.

31/05/1847

Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and economist (born 1780)

Thomas Chalmers, was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nineteenth-century churchman".

31/05/1846

Philip Marheineke, German pastor and philosopher (born 1780)

Philip Konrad Marheineke was a German Protestant theologian and church leader within the Evangelical Church in Prussia.

31/05/1837

Joseph Grimaldi, English actor, comedian and dancer (born 1779)

Joseph Grimaldi was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. In the early 19th century, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres. He became so dominant on the London comic stage that the harlequinade role of Clown became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface make-up design were, and still are, used by other types of clowns. Grimaldi originated catchphrases such as "Here we are again!", which continue to feature in modern pantomimes.

31/05/1832

Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (born 1811)

Évariste Galois was a French mathematician and political activist. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a problem that had been open for 350 years. His work laid the foundations for Galois theory and group theory, two major branches of abstract algebra.

31/05/1831

Samuel Bentham, English architect and engineer (born 1757)

Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Bentham was an English mechanical engineer and naval architect credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons. He was the only surviving sibling of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, with whom he had a close bond.

31/05/1809

Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (born 1732)

Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was pivotal in the evolution of chamber music forms like the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be called "Father of the Symphony", "Father of the String quartet" and "Father of Sonata form".

Jean Lannes, French general (born 1769)

Jean Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, Prince of Siewierz, was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

31/05/1747

Andrey Osterman, German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1686)

Count Andrey Ivanovich Ostermann was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia and served until the accession of the Tsesarevna Elizabeth in 1741. He based his foreign policy on the Austrian alliance. General Admiral.

31/05/1740

Frederick William I of Prussia (born 1688)

Frederick William I, known as the Soldier King, was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel.

31/05/1680

Joachim Neander, German theologian and educator (born 1650)

Joachim Neander was a German Reformed (Calvinist) Church teacher, theologian and hymnwriter whose most famous hymn is Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.

31/05/1665

Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Dutch painter (born 1597)

Pieter Janszoon Saenredam was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem (1636) and Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk in Assendelft.

31/05/1640

Zeynab Begum, Safavid princess (date of birth unknown)

Zeynab Begum was the fourth daughter of Safavid king (shah) Tahmasp I, is considered to be one of the most influential and powerful princesses of the Safavid era. She lived during the reigns of five successive Safavid monarchs, and apart from holding diverse functions, including at the top of the empire's bureaucratic system, she was also the leading matriarch in the royal harem for many years, and acted on occasion as kingmaker. She reached the apex of her influence during the reign of King Safi. In numerous contemporaneous sources, she was praised as a "mainstay of political moderation and wisdom in Safavid court politics". She was eventually removed from power by Safi in 1632.

31/05/1601

Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (born 1547)

Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg was the archbishop-elector of Cologne from 1577 to 1588. After pursuing an ecclesiastical career, he won a close election in the cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst of Bavaria. After his election, he fell in love with and later married Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben, a Protestant canoness at the Abbey of Gerresheim. His conversion to Calvinism and announcement of religious parity in the electorate triggered the Cologne War.

31/05/1594

Tintoretto, Italian painter and educator (born 1518)

Jacopo Robusti, best known as Tintoretto, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticised the speed with which he painted and the unprecedented boldness of his brushwork. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed il Furioso. His work is characterised by muscular figures, dramatic gestures and bold use of perspective, in the Mannerist style.

31/05/1567

Guido de Bres, Belgian pastor and theologian (born 1522)

Guido de Bres was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and theologian, a student of John Calvin and Theodore Beza in Geneva. He was born in Mons, County of Hainaut, Southern Netherlands, and was executed at Valenciennes. De Bres compiled and published the Walloon Confession of Faith known as the Belgic Confession (1561) still in use today in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is also used by many Reformed Churches all over the world.

31/05/1558

Philip Hoby, English general and diplomat (born 1505)

Sir Philip Hoby PC was a 16th-century English Ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and Flanders.

31/05/1504

Engelbert II of Nassau (born 1451)

Engelbert II of Nassau, Engelbrecht in Dutch, was count of Nassau and Vianden and lord of Breda, Lek, Diest, Roosendaal, Nispen and Wouw. He was a soldier and courtier, for some time leader of the Privy council of the Duchy of Burgundy and a significant patron of the arts.

31/05/1410

Martin of Aragon, Spanish king (born 1356)

Martin the Humane, also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409. He failed to secure the accession of his illegitimate grandson, Frederic, Count of Luna, and with him the rule of the House of Barcelona came to an end.

31/05/1408

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shōgun (born 1358)

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the third shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his childhood name being Haruō (春王). Yoshimitsu was appointed shōgun, a hereditary title as head of the military estate, in 1368 at the age of ten; at twenty he was admitted to the imperial court as Acting Grand Counselor.

31/05/1370

Vitalis of Assisi, Italian hermit and monk (born 1295)

Vitalis of Assisi was an Italian hermit and monk.

31/05/1349

Thomas Wake, English politician (born 1297)

Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell, English baron, belonged to a Lincolnshire family which had lands also in Cumberland, being the son of John Wake, 1st Baron Wake of Liddell, and the grandson of Baldwin Wake, both warriors of repute.

31/05/1329

Albertino Mussato, Italian statesman and writer (born 1261)

Albertino Mussato (1261–1329) was a statesman, poet, historian and playwright from Padua. He is credited with providing an impetus to the revival of literary Latin, and is characterized as an early humanist. He was influenced by his teacher, the Paduan poet and proto-humanist Lovato Lovati. Mussato influenced many humanists such as Petrarch.

31/05/1326

Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (born 1271)

Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, The Magnanimous, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer. He rebelled against King Edward II and the Despencers. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley, steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of Lives of the Berkeleys.

31/05/1321

Birger, king of Sweden (born 1280)

Birger Magnusson was King of Sweden from 1290 until his deposition in 1318. The son of King Magnus Ladulås and Queen Helvig of Holstein, Birger was crowned at a young age and ruled with the support of his father’s allies and his Danish consort, Märta Eriksdotter, daughter of King Erik V Klipping. His reign was dominated by conflict with his brothers, Dukes Erik and Valdemar Magnusson, who sought greater power within the realm. In 1306, they rebelled and imprisoned him during the Håtuna game, but Birger later regained authority. In 1317, he struck back by capturing his brothers at the so-called Nyköping Banquet, where they died in captivity. The event provoked a widespread uprising that forced Birger to flee Sweden in 1318. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Denmark, and his rule effectively ended with his departure. His eldest son, Magnus, was executed two years later following his capture by his father’s opponents.

31/05/1162

Géza II, king of Hungary (born 1130)

Géza II was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1141 to 1162. He was the oldest son of King Béla the Blind and his wife, Helena of Serbia. When his father died, Géza was still a child and he started ruling under the guardianship of his mother and her brother, Beloš. A pretender to the throne, Boris Kalamanos, who had already claimed Hungary during Béla the Blind's reign, temporarily captured Pressburg with the assistance of German mercenaries in early 1146. In retaliation, Géza who came of age in the same year, invaded Austria and routed Henry Jasomirgott, Margrave of Austria, in the Battle of the Fischa.

31/05/1089

Sigwin von Are, archbishop of Cologne

Sigwin von Are, called the Pious, was Archbishop of Cologne from 1078 to his death.

31/05/1076

Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, English politician (born 1050)

Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls and the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of William I.

31/05/0960

Fujiwara no Morosuke, Japanese statesman (born 909)

Fujiwara no Morosuke , also known as Kujō-dono or Bōjō-udaijin, was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the middle Heian period. Considered a learned scholar and well-versed in the customs of the court, he supported the court's government as udaijin during the reign of Emperor Murakami. Morosuke's eldest daughter Fujiwara no Anshi, empress consort to Emperor Murakami, gave birth to two princes who later became Emperor Reizei and Emperor En'yū, putting Morosuke's lineage in an advantageous position as the maternal relatives of the Emperor.

31/05/0930

Liu Hua, princess of Southern Han (born 896)

Liu Hua, courtesy name Dexiu (德秀), formally Lady Minghui of Yan (燕國明惠夫人), known in Southern Han as Princess Qingyuan (清遠公主), was the first (known) wife of Wang Yanjun, who carried the title of Prince of Min during her lifetime and claimed the title of emperor. Her father was Liu Yin, the older brother of Southern Han's founding emperor Liu Yan.

31/05/0455

Petronius Maximus, Roman emperor (born 396)

Petronius Maximus was Roman emperor of the West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius, and the Western Roman emperor, Valentinian III.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 31st May

Anniversary of Royal Brunei Malay Regiment (Brunei)

The Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF), natively known as Tentera Darat Diraja Brunei (TDDB) is the land component of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) or Angkatan Bersenjata Diraja Brunei (ABDB). The RBLF has responsibility for maintaining the territorial defence of Brunei Darussalam, both from attack from outsiders, and by assisting the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) in maintaining law and order. The anniversary ceremony of RBLF's inception was place on 4 November every year.

Christian feast day: Blessed Camilla Battista da Varano

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Cantius, Cantianus, and Cantianilla

Cantius, Cantianus, and Cantianilla were Roman Christians who are venerated as saints and martyrs by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. Their feast day is commemorated on 31 May.

Christian feast day: Hermias

Hermias of Comana is an early martyr commemorated in the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. He lived in the 2nd century and was a soldier in the Roman army until he confessed Christ and was tortured. His feast day is 31 May.

Christian feast day: Blessed Mariano da Roccacasale

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Petronella

Saint Petronilla is an early Christian saint. She is venerated as a Virgin in the Catholic Church. Petronilla died in Rome at the end of the 1st century, or possibly in the 3rd century.

Christian feast day: Blessed Robert Thorpe

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Visitation of Mary (Western Christianity)

In Christianity, the Visitation, also known as the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, refers to the visit of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, to Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 1:39–56. The episode is one of the standard scenes shown in cycles of the Life of the Virgin in art, and sometimes in larger cycles of the Life of Christ in art.

Christian feast day: May 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

May 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - June 1

Kaamatan, harvest festival in the state of Sabah and the federal territory of Labuan (Malaysia)

Kaamatan is a form of harvest festival celebrated on 30 and 31 May annually in the state of Sabah in Malaysia.

World No Tobacco Day (International)

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. The annual observance informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices of tobacco companies, what the World Health Organization (WHO) is doing to fight against the use of tobacco, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.

Borobi Day (Australia)

Borobi was the official mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Borobi is a male koala with blue fur and markings on his paws designed by Aboriginal artist Chern'ee Sutton. The name Borobi is derived from the language of the Yugambeh people, an indigenous Australian group from the Gold Coast region. The mascot, along with its fictional back story, was revealed in April 2016. Borobi is based on a character submitted by Merrilyn Krohn, the winner of the GC2018 Mascot Design Competition.

What Happened on 31st May?

56 significant events took place on Wednesday, 31st May — stretching from 455 to 2019. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

31/05/2019

A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.

On May 31, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at a municipal building in the Princess Anne area of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The gunman, 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, a disgruntled city employee, fatally shot 12 people and wounded four others before he was killed by responding police officers during an exchange of gunfire. It is the second-deadliest workplace shooting in U.S. history after the 1986 Edmond post office shooting and the deadliest mass shooting in Virginia since the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.

31/05/2017

A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.

On 31 May 2017, a truck bomb exploded at a crowded intersection in Kabul, Afghanistan, near the German embassy at about 08:25 local time during rush hour, killing over 150 and injuring 413, mostly civilians, and damaging several buildings in the embassy. The attack was the deadliest terror attack to take place in Kabul. The diplomatic quarter—in which the attack took place—is one of the most heavily fortified areas in the city, with three-meter-high (10 ft) blast walls, and access requiring passing through several checkpoints. The explosion created a crater about 4.5 meters (15 ft) wide and 3 meters deep. Afghanistan's intelligence agency NDS claimed that the blast was planned by the Haqqani Network. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the Afghan Taliban were also a suspect but they denied involvement and condemned the attack. It was the single largest attack on the city up till that point.

31/05/2016

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launch the Manbij offensive, in order to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war even though clashes have continued into 2026.

31/05/2013

The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.

An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter. Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no atmosphere, and are broadly classified into C-type (carbonaceous), M-type (metallic), or S-type (silicaceous). The size and shape of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from small rubble piles under a kilometer across to Ceres, a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter. A body is classified as a comet, not an asteroid, if it shows a coma (tail) when warmed by solar radiation, although recent observations suggest a continuum between these types of bodies.

A record breaking 2.6 mile wide tornado strikes near El Reno, Oklahoma, United States, causing eight fatalities (including three storm chasers) and over 150 injuries.

The 2013 El Reno tornado was an extremely large, intense, and erratic tornado that occurred and hit a rural part of Central Oklahoma during the early evening of May 31, 2013. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded, peaking at 2.6 miles across. It was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially formed at 6:03 p.m. CDT (23:03 UTC) about 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme instantaneous winds in excess of 313 mph (504 km/h) within sub-vortices. These are among the highest observed wind speeds on Earth, just slightly lower than the wind speeds of the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado. As it crossed U.S. 81, it had grown to a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km), beating the previous width record set in 2004. Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (23:43 UTC), after tracking for 16.2 miles (26.1 km). It avoided affecting more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

31/05/2010

Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.

Shayetet 13 is a naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary reconnaissance units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and boarding. The unit is trained for sea, air and land actions. The unit has taken part in almost all of Israel's major wars, as well as other actions.

31/05/2008

Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds.

Usain St. Leo Bolt is a Jamaican retired sprinter. Widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time, he is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-124 carrying the second portion of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft as of December 2024. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.

31/05/2005

Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was "Deep Throat".

Vanity Fair is an American monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.

31/05/2003

Air France retires its fleet of Concorde aircraft.

Air France, stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and is one of the founding members of the SkyTeam airline alliance. As of 2013, Air France served 29 destinations in France and operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 201 destinations in 78 countries and also carried 46,803,000 passengers in 2019. The airline maintains its global and domestic hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Air France's corporate headquarters, previously in Montparnasse, Paris, are located at the Roissypôle complex on the grounds of Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of Paris.

31/05/1997

The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.

The Confederation Bridge is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the mainland province of New Brunswick. Opened on May 31, 1997, the 12.9-kilometre bridge is Canada's longest bridge and the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water.

31/05/1991

Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II peacekeeping mission.

The Bicesse Accords, also known as the Estoril Accords, laid out a transition to multi-party democracy in Angola under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission. President José Eduardo dos Santos of the MPLA and Jonas Savimbi of UNITA signed the accord in Lisbon, Portugal on May 31, 1991. UNITA rejected the official results of the 1992 presidential election and renewed their guerrilla war.

31/05/1985

United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.

The 1985 United States–Canada tornado outbreak, referred to as the Barrie tornado outbreak in Canada, was a major tornado outbreak that occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, on May 31, 1985. In all, 44 tornadoes were counted including 14 in Ontario, Canada. Ninety people were killed, with 14 deaths occurring in Canada, and 76 occurring in the United States. It remains the largest and most intense tornado outbreak ever to hit this region, and the worst tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania history in terms of deaths and destruction.

31/05/1977

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. The core pipeline itself, which is commonly called the Alaska pipeline, trans-Alaska pipeline, or Alyeska pipeline,, is an 800-mile (1,287 km) long, 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter pipeline that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay, on Alaska's North Slope, south to Valdez, on the shores of Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

31/05/1973

The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, and the U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the Constitution to make and pass or defeat federal legislation.

Indian Airlines Flight 440 crashes near Palam Airport in Delhi, killing 48.

Indian Airlines Flight 440 was a flight on 31 May 1973 that crashed while on approach to Palam Airport killing 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board.

31/05/1971

In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act is an Act of Congress that permanently moved two federal holidays in the United States to a Monday, being Washington's Birthday and Memorial Day, and further made Columbus Day a federal holiday, also permanently on a Monday. This created long weekends with three days off ending with the holidays, such as Memorial Day Weekend.

31/05/1970

The 7.9 Mw  Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.

The 1970 Ancash earthquake occurred on 31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at 15:23:29 local time. Combined with a resultant landslide, it is the most catastrophic natural disaster in the history of Peru. Due to the large amounts of snow and ice included in the landslide that caused an estimated 66,794–70,000 fatalities, it is also considered to be the world's deadliest avalanche.

31/05/1962

The West Indies Federation dissolves.

The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state – possibly similar to Australia, Canada, or Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed or function viably. The formation of a West Indian Federation was encouraged by the United Kingdom, but also requested by pan-Caribbean nationalists.

31/05/1961

The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.

The Constitution of 1961 was the fundamental law of South Africa for two decades. Under the terms of the constitution South Africa ceased to be a Commonwealth realm and became a republic, albeit, temporarily, outside the Commonwealth of Nations from 1961 to 1994.

In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.

The Moscow City Court is the highest judicial body of the city of Moscow on civil, criminal, administrative and other cases.

31/05/1955

The U.S. Supreme Court expands on its Brown v. Board of Education decision by ordering district courts and school districts to enforce educational desegregation "at all deliberate speed."

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party". In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

31/05/1951

The Uniform Code of Military Justice takes effect as the legal system of the United States Armed Forces.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is the foundation of the system of military justice of the armed forces of the United States. The UCMJ was established by the United States Congress in accordance with their constitutional authority, per Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that "The Congress shall have Power. .. to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces" of the United States.

31/05/1947

Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.

Ferenc Nagy was a Hungarian politician of the Smallholders Party who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until his forced resignation in 1947. He was also a Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary and a member of the High National Council from 1945 to 1946. Nagy was the second democratically elected prime minister of Hungary, and would be the last until 1990 not to be a Communist or fellow traveler. The subsequent Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy was unrelated to him.

31/05/1942

World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

31/05/1941

Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.

The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état with assistance from Germany and Italy. The campaign resulted in the downfall of Gaylani's government, the re-occupation of Iraq by the British, and the return to power of the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, a British ally.

31/05/1935

A 7.7 Mw  earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.

An earthquake occurred on 31 May 1935 between 2:30 am and 3:40 am at Quetta, Baluchistan Agency, close to the border with southern Afghanistan. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 Mw  and anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people died from the impact. It was recorded as the deadliest earthquake to strike South Asia until 2005. The quake was centred 4 km south-west of Ali Jaan, Balochistan, British India.

31/05/1924

Hope Development School fire kills 24 people, mostly disabled children.

The Hope Development School fire started about 9 p.m. on the evening of May 31, 1924 in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California. The fire at the Hope Development School for Deficient Girls killed 24 people, primarily the mentally disabled or behaviorally challenged girls who were residents of the home, as well as the matron and her eight-year-old son.

31/05/1921

The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.

The Tulsa race massacre was a two-day-long terrorist massacre perpetrated by white supremacists that took place in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, between May 31 and June 1, 1921. Mobs of white residents, some of whom had been armed and appointed as deputies by city government officials, attacked black residents and their homes and businesses. The attackers burned and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the neighborhood—at the time, one of the wealthiest black communities in the United States, colloquially known as "Black Wall Street." The event is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.

31/05/1916

World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

31/05/1911

The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the 2,208 passengers and crew aboard, approximately 1,500 died, making the incident one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a single ship. Titanic, operated by White Star Line, carried some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from the British Isles, Scandinavia, and elsewhere in Europe who were seeking a new life in the United States and Canada. The disaster drew public attention, spurred major changes in maritime safety regulations, and inspired a lasting legacy in popular culture. It was the second time White Star Line had lost a ship on her maiden voyage, the first being RMS Tayleur in 1854.

The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.

The president of Mexico, officially the president of the United Mexican States, is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander in chief of the Mexican Armed Forces. The office, which was first established by the federal Constitution of 1824, is currently held by Claudia Sheinbaum, who was sworn in on October 1, 2024. The office of the president is considered to be revolutionary, in the sense that the powers of office are derived from the Revolutionary Constitution of 1917. Another legacy of the Mexican Revolution is the Constitution's ban on re-election. Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term, called a sexenio. No one who has held the post, even on a caretaker basis, is allowed to run or serve again. The constitution and the office of the president closely follow the presidential system of government.

31/05/1910

The South Africa Act comes into force, establishing the Union of South Africa.

The South Africa Act 1909 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape, Natal, Orange River, and Transvaal colonies, and served as the constitution of the Union from 1910 until 1961. The act also allowed for potential admission of Rhodesia into the Union, a proposal rejected by Rhodesian colonists in a 1922 referendum. The draft proposal was supported by the four colonial parliaments, but was opposed by Cape Colony premier W. P. Schreiner, who raised concerns that it would strip rights from non-white South Africans.

31/05/1909

The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.

The National Negro Committee was created in response to the Springfield race riot of 1908 against the black community in Springfield, Illinois. Prominent black activists and white progressives called for a national conference to discuss African-American civil rights. They met to address the social, economic, and political rights of African Americans. This gathering served as the predecessor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was formally named during the second meeting in May 1910.

31/05/1906

The attempted regicide of Spanish King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie on their wedding day instead kills 24

The Morral affair was the attempted regicide of Spanish King Alfonso XIII and his bride, Queen Victoria Eugenie, on their wedding day, 31 May 1906, and its subsequent effects. The attacker, Mateu Morral, acting on a desire to spur revolution, threw a bomb concealed in a floral bouquet from a Madrid hotel window as the King's procession passed, killing 24 bystanders and soldiers and wounding over 100 others, while leaving the royals unscathed. Morral sought refuge from republican journalist José Nakens but fled in the night to Torrejón de Ardoz, whose villagers reported the interloper. Two days after the attack, militiamen accosted Morral, who killed one before killing himself. Morral was likely involved in a similar attack on the king a year earlier.

31/05/1902

Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.

The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the Boer republics over Britain's influence in Southern Africa.

31/05/1889

Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The Johnstown Flood, sometimes referred to locally as the Great Flood of 1889, occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. The dam ruptured after several days of extremely heavy rainfall, releasing 14.55 million cubic meters of water. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equaled the average flow rate of the Mississippi River, the flood killed 2,208 people and accounted for US$17 million in damage.

31/05/1884

The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria.

Plymouth is a port city and unitary authority in Devon, England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers Plym and Tamar, about 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Exeter and 193 miles (311 km) southwest of London. It is the most populous city in Devon.

31/05/1879

Gilmore's Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.

Madison Square Garden (1879–1890) was an arena in New York City at the northeast corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The first venue to use that name, it seated 10,000 spectators. It was replaced with a new building on the same site.

31/05/1864

American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia engages the Army of the Potomac.

The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign, the Virginia Campaign, and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, towards the end of the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and other forces against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Although Grant suffered severe losses during the campaign, it was a strategic Union victory. It inflicted proportionately higher losses on Lee's army and maneuvered it into a siege at Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, in just over eight weeks.

31/05/1862

American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

31/05/1859

The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace. The Elizabeth Tower of the palace houses the bell nicknamed Big Ben and is a landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general. The palace has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

31/05/1847

Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire determine their international boundary in the second treaty of Erzurum.

The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly known as Qajar Iran, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which lasted from 1789 to 1925. It was founded by Agha Mohammad Khan, a chieftain of the Qajar tribe, a Turkic tribe based in northern Iran. In the power struggle following the death of Karim Khan Zand in 1779, Agha Mohammad defeated all competitors from the preceding Zand and Afsharid dynasties, unifying Iran. He re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus and was formally crowned as Shah in 1796. Although he was murdered the next year, he was succeeded by his nephew Fath-Ali Shah, and the Qajars maintained control over the country until their deposal in 1925.

31/05/1813

In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.

William Lawson, MLC was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician. In 1800, he migrated to Sydney, New South Wales, and from 1819, he served as the commandant of the Bathurst, New South Wales region, and from 1843, he served as a member of the New South Wales Parliament.

31/05/1805

French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock, Martinique.

The Battle of Diamond Rock took place between 31 May and 2 June 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, when a Franco-Spanish force dispatched under Captain Julien Cosmao was able to retake Diamond Rock, on the approach to Fort-de-France, from the British forces that had occupied it over a year before.

31/05/1795

French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.

The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.

31/05/1790

Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino was a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated in charting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Hawaiian Islands in the late 18th century. He was later appointed a colonial governor in his native Peru at the beginning of the fight for independence there. He retired to Spain, but was able to return to Peru where he served as a naval officer in the new republic and pursued a literary career, publishing over 20 books about his experiences before his death there in Lima.

The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.

In the United States of America, copyright grants monopoly protection for "original works of authorship". With the stated purpose to promote art and culture, copyright law assigns a set of exclusive rights to authors: to make and sell copies of their works, to create derivative works, and to perform or display their works publicly. These exclusive rights are subject to a time and generally expire 70 years after the author's death or 95 years after publication. In the United States, works published before January 1, 1931, are in the public domain.

31/05/1775

American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.

The American Revolution (1765–1789) was a political movement in the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain. The movement began as a rebellion and evolved into a revolution resulting in the sovereign United States. These changes were the outcome of the associated American Revolutionary War. The Second Continental Congress, as the provisional government, established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in 1775. The following year, the Congress passed the Lee Resolution on July 2nd, then unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. Throughout most of the war, the outcome appeared uncertain. However, in 1781, a decisive victory by Washington and the Continental Army in the Siege of Yorktown led King George III and the Fox–North coalition in government to negotiate the cessation of colonial rule and the acknowledgment of American sovereignty, formalized in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Constitution took effect in 1789 and the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

31/05/1669

Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.

Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is now most renowned for the diary he kept for almost a decade, first published in the 19th century and one of the most important primary sources of the Stuart Restoration.

31/05/1610

The pageant London's Love to Prince Henry on the River Thames celebrates the creation of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales.

London's Love to Prince Henry, was a pageant on the River Thames organised by the city of London for the investiture of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales.

31/05/1578

King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.

Henry III of France was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589 and, as Henry of Valois, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. Before he came to these thrones, he was known as the Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans from 1560, then as Duke of Anjou from 1566.

31/05/1293

Mongols depart Java after the failed Mongol invasion against King Kertanegara of Singhasari.

The Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia and China, as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of Mongolic peoples. The Oirats and the Buryats are classified either as distinct ethno-linguistic groups or as subgroups of Mongols.

31/05/1223

Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus' and Cumans.

The Battle of the Kalka River was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalities, including Kiev and Galicia-Volhynia, and the Cumans under Köten. They were under the joint command of Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav III of Kiev. The battle was fought on May 31, 1223 on the banks of the Kalka River in present-day Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, and ended in a decisive Mongol victory.

31/05/1215

Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.

Zhongdu, also called Daxing City, was a capital city of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) of China, located in modern-day Beijing, in the southwestern part of Xicheng District. It served as the Jin capital from 1153 to 1214.

31/05/0455

Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.

Petronius Maximus was Roman emperor of the West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius, and the Western Roman emperor, Valentinian III.

On this day

World No Tobacco Day

What the Weather Had in Store for Rom on 31st May 2026

31st May in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini

Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 31st May

Famous Birthdays on 31st May

Breece Hall, American football player

Iga Świątek, Polish tennis player

Gable Steveson, American wrestler

Santino Ferrucci, American race car driver

Woo Jin-young, South Korean singer and rapper

Jeong Se-woon, South Korean singer-songwriter

Normani Kordei Hamilton, American singer

Brandon Smith, New Zealand rugby league player

Shane Bieber, American baseball player

Matthew Lodge, Australian rugby league player

Michaël Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player

Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete

Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Icelandic politician

Azealia Banks, American singer-songwriter and rapper

Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Marco Reus, German footballer

Waka Flocka Flame, American rapper

Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist

Jordy Nelson, American football player

Andrew Bailey, American baseball player

Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer

Nate Robinson, American basketball player

Brett Firman, Australian rugby league player

Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer

Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer

Jake Peavy, American baseball player

Marlies Schild, Austrian skier

Andy Hurley, American musician

Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer

Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer

Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer

Colin Farrell, Irish actor

Matt Harpring, American basketball player and sportscaster

Mac Suzuki, Japanese baseball player

Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Japanese comedian and singer

Frode Estil, Norwegian skier

Christian McBride, American bassist and record producer

Antti Niemi, Finnish international footballer and coach

Archie Panjabi, British actress

Dave Roberts, American baseball player and coach

Arun Luthra, Indo-Anglo-American saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and arranger

Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer

Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster

Diesel, American-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee

Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer

Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman

Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach

Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs

Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, American rapper and producer

David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester

Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary

Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (died 2003)

Dina Boluarte, Peruvian politician, 64th President of Peru

Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player

Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician

Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer

Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman

Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter

Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player

Andrea de Cesaris, Italian race car driver (died 2014)

Phil Wilson, English politician

Jim Craig, American ice hockey player

Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer

John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player

Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter

Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer

Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (died 2000)

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter

Carole Achache, French writer, photographer and actress (died 2016)

Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player