What are the important events that happened on December 31? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
December 31: Facts & Myths About This Day
December 31 is the 366th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 18, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 482,112 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectahexacontahexagon’ day.
Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 29 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,393 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 31: This Day In History
It is widely known as New Year’s Eve since the following day is New Year’s Day. It is the last day of the year.
December 31 Historical Events
- 535 –Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
- 1759 –Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
- 1831 –Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
- 1857 –Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.
- 1862 –American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- 1923 –The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
- 1991 –All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
- 1992 –Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- 1994 –This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC-10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
- 1999 –Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
Who were born on December 31?
- 1904 –Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)
- 1917 –Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer (d. 1962)
- 1928 –Siné, French cartoonist
- 1930 –Jaime Escalante, American teacher (d. 2010)
- 1938 –Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1941 –Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager
- 1953 –Jane Badler, American actress
- 1973 –Shandon Anderson, American basketball player
- 1982 –Bryce Avary, The Rocket Summer, American musician
- 1985 –Jan Smit, Dutch singer
Who died on December 31?
- 1460 –Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)
- 1655 –Janusz Radziwiłł, Polish–Lithuanian noble and magnate (b. 1612)
- 1909 –Spencer Trask, American financier (b. 1844)
- 1953 –Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)
- 1971 –Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
- 1994 –Woody Strode, American actor and decathlete (b. 1914)
- 1997 –Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1999 –Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)
- 2005 –Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)
- 2007 –Markku Peltola, Finnish actor and musician (b. 1956)
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