1556: St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church, died in Rome.
1703: English novelist Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory as punishment for offending the government and church with his satire ‘The Shortest Way with Dissenters’. Bystanders pelted him with flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and drank to his health.
1715: Hurricane sinks Spanish treasure ships. A hurricane strikes the east coast of Florida, sinking 10 Spanish treasure ships and killing nearly 1,000 people, on July 31, 1715. All of the gold and silver onboard at the time would not be recovered until 250 years later.
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1917: Third Battle of Ypres begins. Also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, the battle was part of World War I and took place between July 31 and November 6 for control of the Belgian city of Ypres.
1961: Israel welcomes its one millionth immigrant.
1964: James Travis Reeves was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as “Gentleman Jim”, his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash on this day at the age of 40.
1970: The Royal Navy stopped its issue of daily rum to its sailors.
1975: On the morning of July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most influential American labour leaders of the 20th century, is officially reported missing after he failed to return home the previous night. Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found and Hoffa’s fate remains a mystery.
1981: First female president of the US National Bar Association is appointed
Arnette R. Hubbard became the first woman to preside over the US National Bar Association, the country’s largest association of African-American lawyers and judges.
1991: US and USSR sign Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
The treaty, also known as START I, limited the number of nuclear weapons and missiles the signatories could deploy. It came into force in December 1994 and expired 15 years later in 2009.
1992: Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes while approaching Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. All 113 people on board were killed in the crash.
1998: The British government bans landmines
The move came after the public pressured the parliament to pass the Landmines Act.
2006: Because of health problems, longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro handed over provisional power to his brother Raúl; the latter served as the country’s acting president until officially assuming the post in 2008.
2012: Michael Phelps broke the world record for the most medals won at the Olympics.
With six medals (four gold and two silver), he broke the previous record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 31
Muhammadu Sanusi II, 63 years
MuhammaduSanusi II, CON was born Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on 31 July 1961 in Kano City, northern part of Nigeria. He is known by the religious title Khalifa Sanusi II. He is also the spiritual leader of the Tijanniyah Sufi order in Nigeria and the Emir of the ancient city-state of Kano. A member of the Dabo dynasty, and the grandson of Muhammadu Sanusi I. The Banker magazine recognised him as the 2010 Central Bank Governor of the Year, for his reforms and leading a radical anti-corruption campaign in the sector when he was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
J. K. Rowling, 59 years
J.K. Rowling, the pen name of Joanne Rowling, was born on this day in history on July 31, 1965.
The British author is the creator of the wildly popular and critically acclaimed Harry Potter book series, about a young sorcerer-in-training, as Britannica.com and other sources note.
The “K” stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name, according to Rowling’s official website.
