December 31st in History
A British farthing coin
Today in History
- The British East India Company receives its royal charter (1600)
- England imposes a window tax, resulting in many householders bricking up windows (1695)
- Baltimore, Maryland, is incorporated as a city (1796)
- American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted to the Union as a separate state (1862)
- Karl Benz files for a patent on his two-stroke gas engine (1878)
- Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting publicly for the first time (1879)
- The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in New York City’s Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) (1907)
- BBC broadcasts the chimes of Big Ben on the radio for the first time (1923)
- US President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II (1946)
- The Marshall Plan expires, having distributed more than US$13 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe (1951)
- General Motors becomes the first US corporation to make over US$1 billion in a single year (1955)
- The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the UK (1960)
- The Youth International Party (“Yippies”) is founded (1967)
- The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the US government (1983)
- All Soviet official institutions have ceased operations by this date, and the Soviet Union’s dissolution becomes official and final (1991)
- The Velvet Divorce is finalized, dissolving Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (1992)
- This date does not exist in Kiribati because of a switch in time zones (1994)
- Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigns, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President (1999)
- The US Government transfers the Panama Canal and surrounding land to Panama (1999)
- A blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur (2009)
Birthdays
- Jacques Cartier, explorer (1491)
- Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender), Jacobite claimant to the British throne (1720)
- George Meade, US general (1815)
- King Kelly, baseball player, manager, and vaudeville performer (1857)
- Henri Matisse, painter (1869)
- Elizabeth Arden, cosmetics and fragrance entrepreneur (1879)
- George Marshall, US general, Secretary of State, and Nobel laureate (1880)
- Simon Wiesenthal, Holocaust survivor and advocate (1908)
- Diane von Fürstenberg, fashion designer (1945)
- Connie Willis, science fiction writer (1945)
- Tim Matheson, actor (1947)
- Donna Summer, singer-songwriter (1948)
- Ellen Datlow, science fiction editor and anthologist (1949)
- Jane Badler, actress (1953)
- Bebe Neuwirth, actress (1958)
- Val Kilmer, actor (1959)
- John Allen Muhammad, Beltway sniper (1960)
- Nicholas Sparks, author (1965)
- PSY (싸이) (Park Jae-Sang, 박재상), singer-songwriter (1977)
Deaths
- Commodus, Roman emperor (192)
- Robert Boyle, chemist (1691)
- John Flamsteed, astronomer (1719)
- Roberto Clemente, baseball player (1972)
- Basil Wolverton, illustrator (1978)
- Marshall McLuhan, media theorist and philosopher (1980)
- Ricky Nelson, singer-songwriter (1985)
- George Allen, football coach (1990)
- Elliot Richardson, US Attorney-General and Watergate figure (1999)
- José Greco, dancer (2000)
- Eileen Heckart, actress (2001)
- Donald E. Westlake, author (2008)
Holidays and Celebrations
- Bisperas ng Bagong Taon (Philippines)
- Hogmanay (Scotland)
- International Solidarity Day (Azerbaijan)
- Leap Second Time Adjustment Day (as needed)
- New Year’s Eve (international)
- Universal Hour of Peace (beginning at 11:30pm local time)
Informal and made-up holidays include Make Up Your Mind Day, National Champagne Day, No Interruptions Day, and Unlucky Day.
• • •
December 31 is the last day of the year (365th in ordinary years, 366th in leap years). Tomorrow begins a new year.