Events 1 - 200 of 251
Edison's Last Patent
Jan 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application for an electroplating component - just two days before his death
- Jan 7 Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
Bradman's One Day Test Record
Jan 16 Australian cricket batting prodigy Don Bradman scores 223 v West Indies in 3rd Test in Brisbane; most runs scored by a player in a Test match in Australia in one day
- Jan 22 French government of Steeg falls
- Jan 22 Jazz trumpeter Clyde McCoy records "Sugar Blues" for Columbia Records; sells over 14 million copies internationally
- Jan 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia
- Jan 22 VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs Amsterdam
Cimarron
Jan 26 "Cimarron" directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne premieres in New York. 1st western to win Best Outstanding Production/Picture (1931)
- Jan 26 Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty
- Jan 26 Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs" premieres in NYC
"City Lights"
Jan 30 "City Lights", American silent romantic comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring himself and Virginia Cherrill, premieres at Los Angeles Theater
"Apex of Moronia"
Feb 3 Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of journalist H. L. Mencken, after he calls the state the "apex of moronia"
Hawke's Bay Earthquake
Feb 3 New Zealand's worst natural disaster, the Hawke's Bay earthquake, kills 256 and injures thousands, devastating Napier and the Hawke's Bay region
- Feb 4 National League adopts a deader baseball
Campbell's Blue Bird Record
Feb 5 Malcolm Campbell sets world land speed record speed of 246.08 mph driving his famous Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach, Florida
America's Sweetheart
Feb 10 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical "America's Sweetheart" premieres on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre, NYC
Dracula
Feb 14 The original "Dracula" film starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released
- Feb 15 Spring training site of NY Yankees in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late manager
- Feb 16 Extreme right wing politician Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland
- Feb 17 Hockey's Hershey Bears (now with AHL) 1st game
- Feb 20 Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge
- Feb 21 Alka Seltzer introduced
- Feb 21 Chicago White Sox & NY Giants play 1st exhibition night game
Event of Interest
Feb 28 British politician Oswald Mosley founds the New Party
- Feb 28 Canadian Rugby Union adopts the forward pass
- Mar 3 "The Star-Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem by congressional resolution; lyrics by Francis Scott Key in 1814, set to John Stafford Smith's 18th century tune "The Anacreontic Song"
Minnie the Moocher
Mar 3 Cab Calloway records "Minnie the Moocher" (Jazz's 1st million seller)
- Mar 4 Don Bradman is bowled for a rare first ball duck by Herman Griffith (4-50) on the last day of 5th cricket Test vs West Indies in Sydney; Windies win by 31 runs but lose series to Australia, 4-1
- Mar 4 West Indies beat Australia for the 1st time, by 30 runs at SCG
- Mar 10 Oswald Mosley leaves British Labour party and founds the "New Party"
- Mar 11 Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union
- Mar 14 1st theater built for rear movie projection (NYC)
- Mar 16 Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Netherlands)
- Mar 18 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)
- Mar 18 Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain
- Mar 19 Nevada legalizes gambling
- Mar 20 Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin
- Mar 21 KRO-broadcast studio initiated in Hilversum Holland
Freedom Fighters Hanged
Mar 23 Indian independence fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged after conducting an assassination and a bombing. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
- Mar 25 Hal Kemp & his Orchestra record "Whistles", with Skinnay Ennis as vocalist, in NYC
- Mar 25 Scottsboro Boys arrested in Alabama, accused of raping a white woman
- Mar 26 Iraq & Trans-Jordan sign peace treaty
- Mar 26 Leo Bentley bowls 3 consecutive perfect games in Lorain, Ohio
- Mar 26 New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies
- Mar 27 Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor
- Mar 27 John McGraw says night baseball will not catch on
- Mar 31 Brilliant Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne (43) is killed with 7 others when light plane crashes on trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles; record 105-12-5 @ .881 remains best ever
- Apr 1 Earthquake devastate Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000
- Apr 1 Jackie Mitchell becomes the second female (after Lizzie Arlington 1898) in organised baseball when she signs with the Chattanooga Lookouts Baseball Club
Girl Strikes Out Ruth, Gehrig
Apr 2 17-year old girl Jackie Mitchell strikes out New York Yankees stars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition baseball game at Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee
A Connecticut Yankee
Apr 6 "A Connecticut Yankee" film based on novel by Mark Twain, directed by David Butler, starring Will Rogers is released
- Apr 6 1st broadcast of "Little Orphan Annie" on NBC-radio
- Apr 6 1st Scottsboro (Alabama) trial begins - 9 blacks accused of rape
The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Apr 6 Linus Pauling's seminal chemistry work "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" is published establishing valence bond theory
The Arrow
Apr 8 Dmitri Shostakovich's ballet "The Arrow" premieres
Chicago Wins Game Three
Apr 9 Stanley Cup Final Game Three: Chicago Black Hawks defeat Montreal Canadiens 3-2 (Canadians eventually win in best of five series)
McCarthy Yankees Debut
Apr 12 Joe McCarthy debuts as New York Yankees manager
- Apr 12 Spanish voters reject the monarchy
Second Spanish Republic
Apr 14 Spain becomes a republic with the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII
- Apr 14 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0 for a 3-2 series win; Canadiens' back-to-back Championships
- Apr 15 1st backwards walk across American begins
- Apr 20 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday
- Apr 22 Egypt & Iraq sign peace treaty
The Public Enemy
Apr 23 US gangster film "The Public Enemy" starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow premieres
Lou Gehrig's Big Mistake
Apr 26 Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season
Ferrell No-Hits Browns
Apr 29 Cleveland Indians pitcher Wes Ferrell no-hits St Louis Browns, 9-0 at League Park II, Cleveland
- May 1 Empire State Building opens in New York City
- May 1 Norway claims Peter I Island
- May 1 Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running association with CBS radio, various programs continue until 1945
- May 4 Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish president
- May 8 Operette "Land of Smiles" premieres in London
- May 10 Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington, New Jersey
- May 11 "M" Fritz Lang's first sound film starring Peter Lorre premieres in Berlin
- May 11 Credit-Anstalt, Austria's largest bank, fails, beginning financial collapse of Central Europe
- May 13 Paul Doumer elected President of France
- May 14 Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration
- May 19 Cruiser Deutschland launched in Kiel
- May 22 1931 George End introduces “Genuine Diamondback Rattlesnake with Supreme Sauce” in a can, by his Florida Products Corporation; the popular item ceases production in 1944 after when the owner dies, a victim of one snake's revenge [1]
- May 23 Whipsnade Zoo opens in Bedfordshire, England
- May 24 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad
- May 27 1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplane at Langley Field, Virginia
- May 27 Swiss Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon from Augsburg, Germany
- May 30 Phillies Chuck Klein homers off Ben Cantwell (Braves) in both ends DH
- Jun 5 Jules Renkin becomes premier of Belgium
- Jun 6 "There Ought To Be A Moonlight Saving Time" by Guy Lombardo hits #1
- Jun 6 Belgian government of Henri Jaspar falls
- Jun 6 NY Yankees turn triple-play but lose 7-5 to Cleveland Indians
- Jun 8 Suriname Work Committee under Louis Doedel forms in Paramaribo
1st Rocket-Powered Aircraft Patent
Jun 9 First rocket-powered aircraft design patented by Robert Goddard
- Jun 10 Norway occupies East Greenland
- Jun 14 French steamer "St Philbert" overturns off St Nazaire, France, drowning 450 people
Heydrich Meets Himmler
Jun 14 Future Head of the Nazi Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich first meets with Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Holocaust
Collins and Heilmann Retire
Jun 15 Eddie Collins & Harry Heilmann retire from baseball
Post and Catty Take Off
Jun 23 Pilot Wiley Post and navigator Harold Catty take off from Roosevelt Field, NY, to attempt to set a new record circumnavigating the Earth - successfully complete in 8 days, 15 hrs, 51 mins
- Jul 1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium (MLB: Indians, NFL: Browns, 78,189 capacity) opens; demolished 1996
- Jul 1 Ice vending machines introduced in Los Angeles 25 lbs, 15 cents
- Jul 1 Trans African Railway in use (Benguela, Angola-Jadotville, Congo)
Moratorium on War Debts
Jul 1 US President Herbert Hoover places a one year moratorium on war debt payments
Boxing Title Fight
Jul 3 German boxer Max Schmeling beats American Young Stribling by TKO in 15 in Cleveland in his first heavyweight title defense; first major fight broadcast live on national radio
- Jul 4 1st fireworks are held at Cleveland Stadium
- Jul 4 1st trailside museum opens in Cleveland Metroparks
- Jul 11 NY Giants beat Phillies 23-8
- Jul 12 45,715 fans in 35,000 seat Sportsman Park St Louis, help cause many ground ruled doubles, 11 in 1st game & 21 in 2nd game for 32
- Jul 18 1st air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched
- Jul 21 Reno race track, becomes 1st in US to use daily double wagering
- Jul 23 Ashmore & Cartier Islands in Indian Ocean transferred to Australia
- Jul 23 France announces it can't afford to send a team to 1932 LA Olympics
- Jul 24 A fire at a home for the elderly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
- Jul 24 George Gunn gets 183 and son of a gunn George Vernon 100* same innings
World Record
Jul 24 Paavo Nurmi runs world record 2 mile (8:59.6)
Event of Interest
Jul 28 Mob hitman Mad Dog Coll allegedly participates in a kidnapping attempt that results in the shooting death of a child, which earns him the nickname "Mad Dog"
- Jul 28 White Sox score 11 in 8th to beat Yankees 14-12
- Aug 2 Spanish Catalonia agrees (99+%) for autonomous status
- Aug 8 Washington Senators pitcher Bobby Burke no-hits Boston Red Sox, 5-0 at Griffith Stadium, Washington D. C.
- Aug 12 Yangtzee River floods after heavy rain crumbles dikes in China
- Aug 13 Cincinnati Reds second baseman Tony Cuccinello goes 6 for 6 in 17-3 rout of Boston at Braves Field
- Aug 15 Dutch Spakenburg football team forms
- Aug 15 Ernest Lassy completes longest canoe journey without port (6,102 mi)
- Aug 15 Roy Wilkins joins NAACP as Assistant Secretary
- Aug 18 Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game
- Aug 19 Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game
- Aug 21 Yankees slugger Babe Ruth becomes the first MLB player to hit 600 career home runs as NY defeats St. Louis Browns, 11-7 at Sportsman's Park
- Aug 23 Count Gyula Károlyi becomes premier of Hungary
- Aug 23 Philadelphia A's Lefty Grove, loses 1-0 (Browns) after winning 16 straight
- Aug 24 France & USSR sign neutrality/no attack treaty
- Sep 1 Future Baseball Hall of Fame 1st baseman Lou Gehrig hits his 3rd grand slam in 4 days & 6th homer in consecutive games in NY Yankees' 5-1 win v Boston Red Sox
Debut of Bing Crosby
Sep 2 American crooner Bing Crosby makes his solo radio debut on his "15 Minutes with Bing Crosby" program broadcast on the CBS network
- Sep 10 Lord Cecil of British government says War was never so improbable
- Sep 13 British RAF pilot George Stainworth flies world speed record (655 kph)
- Sep 13 Right-radical coup of Dr Pfrimer fails in Austria
- Sep 15 British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts
- Sep 15 Philadelphia A's clinch pennant, beating Cleveland
- Sep 16 Blimp is moored to Empire State Building (NYC)
- Sep 16 St Louis Cards repeat as NL champions with a 6-3 win over Phillies
- Sep 17 1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
- Sep 17 Boston Red Sox outfielder Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67 MLB doubles
- Sep 17 Operetta "Viktoria & Her Hussar" by Paul Abraham (adapted for English by Harry Graham) premieres in London at Palace Theatre
- Sep 18 To create a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria, China, a railway explosion is faked by the Japanese
- Sep 19 Japanese troops conquer Mukden, South Manchuria
- Sep 19 Lefty Grove wins his 30th game of season over White Sox, 2-1
- Sep 20 MLB's Lou Gehrig's 4 RBIs break his old RBI mark of 175 en route to 184
- Sep 21 Britain abandons gold standard; pound devalues 20%
- Sep 22 Coalition Government forms in New Zealand to combat the Depression (their lack of success will lead to the election of the First Labour Government in 1935)
- Sep 24 Round-robin playoff among NYC's 3 major league teams, to raise money for unemployed, concludes with Brooklyn losing to both Giants & Yanks
Baseball History
Sep 27 Closest NL batting race ends; St. Louis Cardinals Chick Hafey's .34889 beats NY Giants Bill Terry .34861 [1]
- Sep 27 MLB's Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
- Sep 28 200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of war on Japan in Peking
- Sep 30 Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
- Oct 1 Spanish Cortes accept general female suffrage
- Oct 1 The second (and current) Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is opened in New York.
- Oct 2 Pope Pius XI encyclical On economic crisis
- Oct 4 Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould debuts
- Oct 4 Juan Esteban Montero becomes President of Chile
- Oct 5 1st nonstop transpacific flight, Japan to Wash (Herndon & Pangborn)
- Oct 5 Paul Green's play "House of Connelly" premieres in NYC
- Oct 6 Joris van Severen forms Verdinaso (Union of Flemish National Solidarists)
- Oct 7 1st infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY
- Oct 10 A J Bennett hits H Garbarino for 1st scoring pass in Canada's Big 4
- Oct 10 William Waltons "Belshazzar's Feast" premieres in Leeds
- Oct 11 100,000 extreme-right Germans form "Harzburger Front"
- Oct 12 1st International Conference on Calendar Reform
Christ the Redeemer
Oct 12 Christ the Redeemer statue opens standing 30 meters high (98 ft) on top of Mount Corcovado overlooking Rio de Janeiro, built by engineer Heitor da Silva Costa
- Oct 13 Musical "Everybody's Welcome" with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey premieres in NYC
Cavalcade
Oct 13 Noël Coward's play "Cavalcade" premieres in London
- Oct 14 1st broadcast of Dutch Radio Peoples University
- Oct 14 Spanish Cortes agrees to separation of Church & State
- Oct 16 US trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd murders two friends then dismembers one of them in Phoenix
- Oct 18 Gangster Al Capone is convicted on five of the 23 counts of tax evasion against him, later fined $50,000 and sentenced to 11 years in jail
MVP Frankie Frisch
Oct 20 Frankie Frisch of the Cards named MVP
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