Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, as the final day of the Gregorian year. Table of contents 1 Events: 2 Births: 3 Deaths: 4 Holidays and observances: 5 See Also: Events: 406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia 1600 - British East India Company is chartered 1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope. 1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax. 1775 - American Revolutionary War: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec. 1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two). 1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (Menlo Park, New Jersey). 1916 - The Hampton Terrace Hotel in North Augusta, South Carolina, one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the USA at the time, burns to the ground. 1929 - Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne for the first time 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany 1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims an end of hostilities in World War II. 1955 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year. 1960 - The farthing coin, used in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender. 1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe. 1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140. 1990 - Russian Gary Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov. 1995 - The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip. 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin 1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed. 1999 - The Panama Canal comes completely under Panama's jurisdiction. Births: 1514 - Andreas Vesal, physician († 1564) 1790 - Antoine Adamberger, actress († 1867) 1869 - Henri Matisse, painter and graphic artist († 1954) 1880 - George Marshall, recipient of Nobel Prize in Peace 1953 for the Marshall Plan († 1959) 1881 - Max Pechstein, painter and graphic artist († 1955) 1894 - Pola Negri, actress († 1987) 1905 - Jule Styne, composer († 1994) 1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, concentration camp survivor, activist 1920 - Rex Allen, actor, singer († 1999) 1930 - Odetta, singer 1932 - Mildred Scheel, physician, founder of Deutsche Krebsliga († 1985) 1932 - George Schlatter, television producer 1937 - Anthony Hopkins, actor 1941 - Alex Ferguson, football player and manager 1943 - John Denver, country/pop musician († 1997) 1943 - Ben Kingsley, actor 1945 - Taylor Hackford, producer, director 1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg, fashion designer 1947 - Burton Cummings, musician ("The Guess Who") 1948 - Donna Summer, singer 1951 - George Thorogood, musician 1959 - Val Kilmer, actor 1960 - John Allen Muhammad, convicted Beltway sniper 1980 - Fernando Courmanian, football player, economist and sport businessman Deaths: 192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor 1384 - John Wyclif, theologian 1972 - Roberto Clemente, Baseball Hall of Famer 1980 - Marshall McLuhan, one of the founders of media studies 1980 - Raoul Walsh, film director 1985 - Rick Nelson, singer 1990 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut 1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, scientist and writer, first President of the Republic of Georgia 1993 - Brandon Teena, murder victim 1997 - Floyd Cramer, musician 1997 - Michael Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, is killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado. 1999 - Sarah Knauss, dies at the age of 119 years - at death, the world's oldest person alive. (b. 1880). 1999 - Elliot Richardson, U.S politician 2000 - José Greco, dancer 2000 - Alan Cranston, U.S politician Holidays and observances: The seventh day of Christmas in Western Christianity. The evening is called New Year's Eve. In the Netherlands the traditional food is oil-dumpling. At 24:00 the beginning of the new year is celebrated, see January 1. The day and evening are called Hogmanay in Scotland. Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Sharaf (Honor) - First day of the 16th month of the Bahá'í Calendar See Also: December 30 - January 1 - November 30 - January 31 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.