135 things happened on 31 January, from AD 314 to 2023. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1961 · 65 years ago
A chimpanzee named Ham was launched into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, inside a Mercury spacecraft. He was the first great ape in space. The flight, called Mercury-Redstone 2, was a test just before the first American crewed space mission. Ham and his c…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
The SS Great Eastern, an iron steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched at Millwall on the River Thames in London. It was by far the largest ship ever built at the time and could carry 4,000 passengers. An attempt to launch it in November 1857 had failed, and strong winds stopped another try the day before. In 1866 it laid the first lasting telegraph cable across the Atlantic.
UK story
The United Kingdom officially left the European Union (EU) at 11 pm, after 47 years as a member. The EU is a political and economic union of European countries. Leaving, known as Brexit, followed a referendum, or public vote, in 2016, when 51.9% of voters chose to leave. The UK is the only member country ever to have left the EU.
UK story
World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.
UK story
Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.
American astronomer and telescope-maker Alvan Graham Clark discovered Sirius B, a faint partner star of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. He spotted it through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope. Sirius B is a white dwarf, a very dense star about the size of Earth but with a mass similar to the Sun's. It is the nearest known white dwarf, 8.6 light years away.
The United States Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, and sent it to the states to approve. The vote came near the end of the American Civil War. The war was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, formed by states that had broken away to preserve slavery. The Union won, and the end of slavery freed four million African Americans.
Explorer 1, the first satellite launched by the United States, lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida late in the evening, local time. It followed the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, launched the year before during the Space Race. Explorer 1 was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, a zone of radiation around Earth. It sent back data for nearly four months.
A chimpanzee named Ham was launched into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, inside a Mercury spacecraft. He was the first great ape in space. The flight, called Mercury-Redstone 2, was a test just before the first American crewed space mission. Ham and his capsule landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean less than 17 minutes after launch.
The Soviet Union launched the robot spacecraft Luna 9. On 3 February it became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon and send back pictures from its surface. It was part of the Luna programme, which achieved many firsts. These included the first photos of the far side of the Moon.
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell lifted off on a Saturn V rocket on the Apollo 14 mission. It became the third mission to land people on the Moon. It was also the first to land in the Moon's highlands, at a place called Fra Mauro. The plan included a two-day stay on the surface with two moonwalks.
The Holy Crown of Hungary, also called the Crown of Saint Stephen, went on public display after being returned to Hungary. It had been kept in the United States since the Second World War. Hungarian kings were crowned with it from the 12th century, and more than 50 kings were crowned with it in all. The last was Charles IV, in 1916.
The very last Boeing 747 was delivered to the airline Atlas Air. The plane was named 'Empower'. The 747 was the world's first wide-body airliner, often called the jumbo jet, and Boeing had built it since 1968. Its first passenger flights were in 1970, on the route between New York and London.
Sylvester I (bust depicted), during whose pontificate many churches in Rome were constructed by Constantine the Great, began his reign as pope.
Sverker II was defeated at the Battle of Lena by Erik Knutsson, who succeeded him as King of Sweden.
The Mudéjar of Murcia, who had rebelled against the Crown of Castile during the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266, surrender the city to James I of Aragon after a siege lasting a month.
The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.
Eighty Years' War: Spanish forces won a crushing victory at the Battle of Gembloux, threatening the States General of the Netherlands and contributing to its move from Brussels to Antwerp.
Wisselbank of Amsterdam established
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).
Mexican soldiers and Texan militiamen marched into Nacogdoches, Texas, to end the Fredonian Rebellion.
After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.
American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies.
History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.
World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.
Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.
World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.
World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.
World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.
Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
Doug Williams became the first African-American quarterback to play in the Super Bowl, leading the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.
Final Fantasy VII, the first video game in the Final Fantasy franchise to use 3-D computer graphics, was released.
Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan.
Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identified LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as IEDs, causing a panic.
Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “The United Kingdom leaves the European Union”?
B: 2020. 2020 — that’s 6 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Brunel's giant steamship Great Eastern is finally launched”?
B: 1858. 1858 — that’s 168 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
A: Brunel's giant steamship Great Eastern is finally launched. 1858: Brunel's giant steamship Great Eastern is finally launched · 2020: The United Kingdom leaves the European Union · 1961: Ham the chimpanzee is launched into space Find it on the page
“Daniel Tammet” happened in 1979. How many years ago was that?
B: 47 years. 2026 − 1979 = 47. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 31 January.
UK story
Daniel Tammet is an English writer, born in Barking, London. His memoir Born on a Blue Day describes his early life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome. In 2004 he set a European record by reciting the number pi from memory to 22,514 digits, which took him over five hours. His books have been published in more than 20 languages.
Well-known people who died on 31 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 31 January somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 31” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.