Skip to content

Home arrow Trivia arrow On this day in history

On this day in History Archives
 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
31 January, 2007
Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
31 January, 2003
The Waterfall train disaster occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
31 January, 2001
In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
31 January, 2000
Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.
31 January, 1996
An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
31 January, 1995
President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
31 January, 1990
The first McDonalds in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, USSR.
31 January, 1980
Thirty-nine people burn to death in the occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala.
31 January, 1971
Apollo program: Apollo 14 Mission - Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
31 January, 1971
The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
31 January, 1970
A Saskatchewan Court convicts 17-year-old hippie David Milgaard of murder; he is sentenced to life in prison. He spent 23 years in jail until April 14, 1992 when DNA evidence proves him innocent of all charges.
31 January, 1968
Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
31 January, 1968
Nauru declares independence from Australia.
31 January, 1961
Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
31 January, 1958
Explorer program: Explorer I - The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
31 January, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
31 January, 1957
Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
31 January, 1956
Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
31 January, 1953
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
31 January, 1950
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
31 January, 1946
Yugoslavias new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
31 January, 1945
US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
31 January, 1944
World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
31 January, 1944
World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darbys Rangers) was destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
31 January, 1941
Layforce set sail.
31 January, 1936
The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
31 January, 1930
3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
31 January, 1929
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
31 January, 1919
The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
31 January, 1918
A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
31 January, 1917
World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
31 January, 1915
World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia
31 January, 1910
The Portuguese republican revolution broke out in the northern city of Porto.
31 January, 1900
Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambuan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion
31 January, 1876
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
31 January, 1867
Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria
31 January, 1865
American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
31 January, 1849
Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
31 January, 1846
After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
31 January, 1814
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
31 January, 1747
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
31 January, 1606
Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
31 January, 1504
France cedes Naples to Aragon.

Choose another day in history

January

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

February

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

March

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

April

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

May

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

June

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

July

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

August

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

September

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

October

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

November

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

December

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

Free Questions in Your Inbox

Copyright © 2008 - Paul Abrook and Dave Small
RSS Feed RSS Feed | Free Quiz Questions | Pub Quiz Questions - at our Sister site