The Birthday Gazette

Born on December 31

December 31 birthdays & history

If you were born on December 31, you share a birthday with Henri Matisse, Jacques Cartier and Sir Alex Ferguson. December 31 babies are Capricorn, with turquoise as their birthstone and the narcissus as their birth flower. December 31 is the 366th day of the year in leap years (365th in other years).

Famous people born on December 31

  • 1869Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor
  • 1491Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer
  • 1941Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1880George Marshall, American general and politician, 50th United States Secretary of State
  • 1959Val Kilmer, American actor
  • 1514Andreas Vesalius, Belgian anatomist, physician, and author
  • 1937Avram Hershko, Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and physician
  • 1987Seydou Doumbia, Ivorian footballer
  • 1830Isma'il Pasha, Egyptian ruler
  • 1720Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England

What happened on December 31

  • 1759Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum to the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin and began brewing Guinness.
  • 1831Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
  • 1853A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.
  • 1857Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa , then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.
  • 1878Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.
  • 1907New York City held its first annual ball drop event in Times Square as part of New Year's Eve celebrations.
  • 1909The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn and considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opened to traffic.
  • 1961RTÉ, Ireland's first television network, began broadcasting.
  • 1983Two Australian biologists published an article titled "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", initiating the Wells and Wellington affair.
  • 1998The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro.
  • 1999In accordance with the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, Panama assumed full control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States.
  • 2004Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan, opened to the public as the world's tallest building.

Also observed on December 31

  • International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan)
  • New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: First Night (United States)
  • New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Novy God Eve (Russia)
  • New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Ōmisoka (Japan)
  • The seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
  • The sixth and penultimate day of Kwanzaa (United States)

Questions, answered

What star sign is December 31?

People born on December 31 are Capricorn. Their birthstone is turquoise and their birth flower is the narcissus.

Which famous people were born on December 31?

Henri Matisse (1869), Jacques Cartier (1491), Sir Alex Ferguson (1941), George Marshall (1880), Val Kilmer (1959), Andreas Vesalius (1514) were all born on December 31.

What happened on December 31 in history?

Among other things: in 1998, The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro; in 1999, In accordance with the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, Panama assumed full control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States; in 2004, Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan, opened to the public as the world's tallest building.

Can I get a newspaper front page from December 31?

Yes. The Birthday Gazette makes a personalised vintage-style front page for any December 31 birth year, with their name in the headline, events, famous birthdays and typical US prices. The preview is free and the print files cost $9.

Events, birthdays and observances are adapted from Wikipedia contributors, “December 31”, English Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (shortened and filtered). Ranking uses Wikidata (CC0). Sources.