today.nukz.net: Almanac March 31

John Arthur ("Jack") Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” American Boxer.

Events

307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
1492 – Queen Isabella of Castille issues the Alhambra decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
1717 – A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.
1774 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
1822 – The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
1854 – Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
1866 – The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile.
1877 – The family with samurai antecedents that responded to the Saigo army in Oita Nakatsu, rebels.
1885 – The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
1903 – Richard Pearse allegedly makes a powered flight in an early aircraft.
1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.
1909 – Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1909 – Construction of the ill fated RMS Titanic begins.
1910 – Six North Staffordshire Pottery towns federate to form modern Stoke-on-Trent.
1917 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.
1918 – Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.
1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
1921 – The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.
1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty eight years.
1931 – An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas killing 8 including Knute Rockne, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
1933 – The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
1945 – World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
1949 – The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
1957 – Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
1958 – In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.
1959 – The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
1964 – A coup d'état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castello Branco.
1965 – An Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier, killing 47 of 51 occupants.
1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
1970 – Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
1970 – Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
1979 – The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
1980 – The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
1985 – The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.
1986 – A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166.
1986 – Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
1990 – 200,000 protestors take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.
1991 – Georgian independence referendum, 1991: nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
1994 – Human evolution: The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
1995 – Selena, an American singer, was murdered by her friend and employee of her boutiques Yolanda Saldívar who was embezzling money from the establishments. The event was named "Black Friday" by Hispanics.
2004 – Iraq War in Anbar Province - In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.

Births

250 – Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (d. 306)
1360 – Philippa of Lancaster, queen of Portugal (d. 1415)
1425 – Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (d. 1468)
1499 – Pope Pius IV (d. 1565)
1504 – Guru Angad Dev, second Sikh guru (d. 1552)
1519 – King Henry II of France (d. 1559)
1536 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (d. 1565)
1576 – Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (d. 1644)
1596 – René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician (d. 1650)
1621 – Andrew Marvell, English poet (d. 1678)
1651 – Karl II, Elector Palatine (d. 1685)
1675 – Pope Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
1718 – Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain (d. 1781)
1723 – King Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1766)
1730 – Étienne Bézout, French mathematician (d. 1783)
1732 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
1747 – Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, German musician and composer (d. 1800)
1777 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist (d. 1859)
1778 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (d. 1858)
1794 – Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American politician and cabinet member (d. 1852)
1809 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet (d. 1883)
1809 – Otto Lindblad, Swedish composer (d. 1864)
1809 – Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Ukrainian-born Russian writer (d. 1852)
1819 – Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, German statesman (d. 1901)
1823 – Mary Boykin Chesnut, American author (d. 1886)
1847 – Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (d. 1878)
1855 – Alfred E. Hunt, American entrepreneur (d. 1899)
1871 – Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (d. 1922)
1872 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian statesman (d. 1952)
1872 – Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (d. 1929)
1876 – Borisav Stankovic, Serbian writer (d. 1927)
1878 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
1884 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-born American astronomer (d. 1946)
1885 – Pascin, Bulgarian painter (d. 1930)
1890 – William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1971)
1891 – Victor Varconi, Hungarian film actor (d. 1976)
1893 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (d. 1954)
1895 – Vardis Fisher, American author (d. 1968)
1906 – Shin'ichiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
1907 – Eddie Quillan, American actor (d. 1990)
1908 – Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (d. 1999)
1911 – Elisabeth Grümmer, German soprano (d. 1986)
1912 – William Lederer, American writer (d. 2009)
1913 – Etta Baker, American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer (d. 2006)
1914 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
1915 – Albert Hourani, English historian (d. 1993)
1915 – Shoichi Yokoi, Japanese military man (d. 1997)
1916 – Lucille Bliss, American voice actress
1916 – John H. Wood, Jr., American jurist (d. 1979)
1919 – Frank Akins, American football player (d. 1993)
1920 – Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English noble
1922 – Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (d. 1999)
1924 – Leo Buscaglia, American author (d. 1998)
1924 – Charles Guggenheim, American film director and producer (d. 2002)
1925 – Jean Coutu, French Canadian actor (d. 1999)
1926 – John Fowles, English author (d. 2005)
1927 – César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
1927 – William Daniels, American actor
1927 – Bud MacPherson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1988)
1928 – Lefty Frizzell, American singer and songwriter (d. 1975)
1928 – Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey player
1929 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-born American fashion designer (d. 2007)
1929 – Bertram Fields, American lawyer
1931 – Miller Barber, American golfer
1932 – John Jakes, American writer
1932 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese film director
1933 – Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (d. 1983)
1934 – Richard Chamberlain, American actor
1934 – Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
1934 – John D. Loudermilk, American singer and songwriter
1934 – Carlo Rubbia, Italian physicist, Nobel Laureate
1935 – Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and band leader
1935 – Judith Rossner, American author
1936 – Marge Piercy, American writer
1936 – Bob Pulford, Canadian ice hockey player
1936 – Dokumamushi Sandayu, Japanese actor
1938 – Sheila Dikshit, Indian statesman
1938 – Bill Hicke, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1938 – Michiko Nomura, Japanese voice actor
1938 – Arthur B. Rubinstein, American composer
1938 – David Steel, Scottish politician
1939 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian politician (d. 1993)
1939 – Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
1939 – Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, German footballer
1940 – Barney Frank, American politician
1940 – Patrick Leahy, American politician
1941 – Franco Bonvicini, also known as Bonvi, Italian comic book artist (Sturmtruppen, Nick Carter) (d. 1995)
1942 – Ulla Hoffmann, Swedish politician
1942 – Michael Savage, American radio host and political commentator
1943 – Christopher Walken, American actor
1944 – Pascal Danel, French singer and songwriter
1944 – Mick Ralphs, English guitarist (Mott the Hoople, Bad Company)
1945 – Valerie Curtin, American actress, writer, and producer
1945 – Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian
1945 – Myfanwy Talog, Welsh actress (d. 1995)
1946 – Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1984)
1947 – Kristian Blak, Danish musician and recording executive
1947 – César Gaviria Trujillo, Colombian politician
1948 – Gary Doer, Canadian politician and diplomat
1948 – Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel laureate
1948 – Rhea Perlman, American actress
1948 – Gustaaf Van Cauter, Belgian cyclist
1949 – Gilles Gilbert, Canadian ice hockey player
1950 – András Adorján, Hungarian chess player
1950 – Ed Marinaro, American football player and actor
1951 – Frankie Sabath, Puerto Rican performer/singer
1952 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
1955 – Robert Vance, New Zealand cricketer
1955 – Angus Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (AC/DC)
1957 – Alan Duncan, British politician
1957 – Marc McClure, American actor
1957 – Kyle Secor, American actor
1958 – Tony Cox, American actor
1959 – Markus Hediger, Swiss poet and translator
1959 – Ali McMordie, Irish bassist (Stiff Little Fingers)
1960 – Michelle Nicastro, American actress and singer (d. 2010)
1962 – John Taylor, American football player
1963 – Paul Mercurio, Australian actor/dancer
1964 – Fez Marie Whatley, American radio host and comedian
1964 – Paul Wong Koon-Chung, Hong Kong musician (Beyond)
1965 – Tom Barrasso, American ice hockey player
1965 – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (d. 2006)
1965 – Steven T. Seagle, American comic-book writer
1966 – Roger Black, English athlete
1966 – Nick Firestone, American race car driver
1968 – Naoya Ogawa, Japanese professional wrestler
1968 – J.R. Reid, American basketball player
1969 – Samantha Brown, American television host
1969 – Nyamko Sabuni, Swedish politician
1969 – Steve Smith, American basketball player
1970 – Patrick Lachman, American heavy metal singer/guitarist
1971 – Demetris Assiotis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
1971 – Pavel Bure, Russian ice hockey player
1971 – Craig McCracken, American Animator
1971 – Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
1972 – Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish film director
1972 – Andrew Bowen, American actor
1972 – Ze Frank, American internet personality
1972 – Luca Gentili, Italian footballer
1972 – Hristos Polihroniou, Greek hammer thrower
1974 – Benjamin Eicher, Swiss film director
1974 – Stefan Olsdal, Swedish bassist (Placebo)
1975 – Emma Atkins, English actress
1975 – Prodromos Dreliozis, Greek basketball player
1975 – Adam Green, American film director
1976 – Ashton Moore, American porn actress
1976 – Josh Saviano, American actor
1977 – Garth Tander, Australian racing driver
1977 – Toshiya, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
1978 – Stephen Clemence, English footballer
1978 – Jérôme Rothen, French footballer
1978 – Tony Yayo, American rapper
1979 – Josh Kinney, American baseball player
1980 – Dean Clark, English footballer
1980 – Michael Ryder, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Maaya Sakamoto, Japanese voice actor/Singer
1980 – Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese baseball player
1981 – Ryan Bingham, American singer/songwriter
1981 – Gerard McCarthy, British actor
1981 – Pa Dembo Tourray, Gambian footballer
1981 – Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch swimmer
1982 – Audrey Kawasaki, American painter
1982 – Ryland Blackinton, American guitarist (Cobra Starship)
1982 – Tal Ben Haim, Israeli footballer
1982 – Lennon Murphy, American rock singer/songwriter
1983 – Vlasios Maras, Greek gymnast
1983 – Paddy McCarthy, Irish footballer
1984 – Dario Bova, Italian footballer
1984 – Alberto Junior Rodríguez, Peruvian footballer
1984 – David Clarkson, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Eddie Johnson, American soccer player
1984 – James Jones, American football player
1984 – Yanin Vismistananda, Thai actress
1985 – Jessica Szohr, American actress
1987 – Nordin Amrabat, Dutch footballer
1987 – Humpy Koneru, Indian chess grandmaster
1987 – Eros Pisano, Italian footballer
1988 – Hogan Ephraim, English footballer
1988 – Louis van der Westhuizen, Namibian cricketer
1989 – Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer
1991 – Rodney Sneijder, Dutch footballer

Deaths

1074 – Regency Yorimichi Fujiwara of Japan (b. 992)
1340 – Ivan I of Russia, Prince of Moscow (b. 1288)
1547 – Francis I of France (b. 1494)
1567 – Philipp I of Hesse (b. 1504)
1621 – King Philip III of Spain (b. 1578)
1631 – John Donne, English writer and prelate (b. 1572)
1671 – Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (b. 1637)
1703 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)
1723 – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British-born U.S. state governor (b. 1661)
1727 – Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (b. 1643)
1741 – Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1668)
1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (b. 1718)
1797 – Olaudah Equiano, Nigerian slave (b.1745)
1837 – John Constable, English painter (b. 1776)
1850 – John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)
1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English author (b. 1816)
1877 – Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician (b. 1801)
1880 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835)
1885 – Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (b. 1819)
1913 – J. P. Morgan, American financier (b. 1837)
1917 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
1915 – Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish athlete (b. 1882)
1924 – George Charles Haité, English designer, painter and illustrator (b.1855)
1930 – Ludwig Schüler, German politician (b. 1836)
1931 – Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
1935 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Russian-born perfumer (b. 1885)
1935 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress (b. 1861)
1944 – Mineichi Koga, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)
1945 – Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
1945 – Anne Frank, German-born diarist (b. 1929)
1945 – Frank Findlay, New Zealand politician (b. 1884)
1952 – Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (b. 1877)
1956 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
1968 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (b. 1885)
1972 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (b. 1932)
1975 – Percy Alliss, English Golfer (b. 1897)
1976 – Paul Strand, American photographer and filmmaker (b. 1890)
1978 – Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (b. 1899)
1980 – Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
1980 – Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
1981 – Enid Bagnold, British playwright (b. 1889)
1983 – Christina Stead, Australian writer (b. 1902)
1984 – Ronald Clark O'Bryan, American murderer (b. 1944)
1986 – O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (b. 1937)
1986 – Jerry Paris, American actor (b. 1925)
1988 – William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
1993 – Chichay, Filipino actress (b. 1918)
1993 – Brandon Lee, American actor (b. 1965)
1993 – Mitchell Parish, American lyricist (b. 1900)
1995 – Selena, American singer (b. 1971)
1996 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American musician (The Gun Club) (b. 1958)
1998 – Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)
1998 – Tim Flock, American race car driver (b. 1924)
1999 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist (b. 1922)
2001 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)
2001 – David Rocastle, English footballer (b. 1967)
2002 – Barry Took, British comedian (b. 1928)
2002 – Moturu Udayam, Indian women's activist (b. 1924)
2003 – H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
2003 – Anne Gwynne, American film actress (b. 1918)
2003 – Tommy Seebach, Danish singer (b. 1949)
2004 – Scott Helvenston, American Navy SEAL and Blackwater Contractor (b. 1965)
2005 – Stanley J. Korsmeyer, American oncologist (b. 1951)
2005 – Justiniano Montano, Filipino politician (b. 1905)
2005 – Frank Perdue, American poultry farmer (b. 1920)
2005 – Terri Schiavo, American figure in right-to-die case (b. 1963)
2006 – Angela Devi, American adult model (b. 1975)
2006 – Jackie McLean, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1931)
2007 – Paul Watzlawick, Austrian-born theoreticist (b. 1921)
2008 – Jules Dassin, American film director (b. 1911)
2008 – Bill Keightley (Mr. Wildcat), American basketball equipment manager (b. 1926)
2009 – Jarl Alfredius, Swedish news anchor (b. 1943)
2009 – Raúl Alfonsín, former President of Argentina (b. 1927)
2009 – Choor Singh, Singaporean judge (b. 1911)
2010 – Shirley Mills, American actress (b. 1926)