What are the important events that happened on July 31? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

July 31: Facts & Myths About This Day

July 31 is the 212^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 153 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 18, 2025 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 29,232,000 minutes 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 ‘dihectadecadigon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Ruby is the modern birthstone for this month. Ruby is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 201 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 4,605 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

July 31 Historical Events

• 904 –
  Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.
• 1703 –
  Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
• 1938 –
  Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
• 1938 –
  Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).
• 1948 –
  At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
• 1956 –
  Jim Laker becomes the first man to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings as he returns figures of 10/53 in the Australian 2nd innings. This combined with his 9/37 in the first innings gave him match figures of 19/90 in the 4th Test at Old Trafford.
• 1970 –
  Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
• 1987 –
  A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
• 1992 –
  Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.
• 2007 –
  Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

Who were born on July 31?

• 1737 –
  Princess Augusta of Great Britain (d. 1813)
• 1847 –
  Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1905)
• 1886 –
  Fred Quimby, American film producer (d. 1965)
• 1916 –
  Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)
• 1922 –
  Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
• 1944 –
  Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
• 1953 –
  James Read, American actor
• 1953 –
  Ted Baillieu, Australian politician
• 1958 –
  Bill Berry, American musician (R.E.M.)
• 1973 –
  Fabulous Flournoy American basketball player and coach Newcastle Eagles

Who died on July 31?

• 1726 –
  Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
• 1875 –
  Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
• 1914 –
  Jean Jaurès, French politician (d. 1859)
• 1944 –
  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)
• 1963 –
  Sir Robert Chapman, British soldier and politician (b. 1880)
• 1972 –
  Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)
• 1986 –
  Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)
• 2001 –
  Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
• 2006 –
  Paul Eells, American sportscaster (b. 1935)
• 2009 –
  Harry Alan Towers, English film producer and screenwriter (b. 1920)