Historical events on October 31

OCTOBER 31, 1959

UTV, the first indigenous television broadcaster in Ireland, between broadcasting.

UTV is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1963

A gas explosion at the

On October 31, 1963, a gas explosion occurred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis, United States, killing 81 people and Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1973

Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison's exercise yard.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army, officially known as the Irish Republican Army and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1984

Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (pictured) was assassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Sikhs.

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1999

Australian sailor Jesse Martin arrived in Melbourne, becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop, and unassisted.

Jesse Martin, OAM, is a German-Australian sailor who in 1999, at age 18, became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1999

All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 perished when the aircraft suddenly crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

EgyptAir Flight 990 (MSR990) was a scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cairo International Airport, with a stop at John Read More

OCTOBER 31, 2003

After 22 years in power, Tun Mahathir Mohamad retired as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics which are used extensively in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore. (Image Credits)

OCTOBER 31, 1517

According to one account, Martin Luther(depicted) posted his Ninety-five Theses onto the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, present-day Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Read More

OCTOBER 31, 2005

The discovery of the Plutonian moons Nix and Hydra, based on photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope nearly five months prior, was announced.

The dwarf planet Pluto has five natural satellites. In order of distance from Pluto, they are Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Read More

OCTOBER 31, 475

Romulus Augustulus took the throne as the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Romulus Augustus, nicknamed Augustulus, was Roman emperor of the West from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476. Romulus was placed on Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1941

100 crew members of the USS Reuben James (pictured) perished when their vessel became the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552.

USS Reuben James (DD-245) was a four-funnel Clemson-class destroyer that was constructed after World War I. She was the first United States Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1917

World War I: Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba, with the battle involving one of the last successful cavalry charges.

World War I or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1941

Approximately 400 workers completed the 60-foot (18 m) busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human body, depicting a person's head and neck, Read More

OCTOBER 31, 1913

Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike (pictured), shutting down mass transit in the city.

Indianapolis, colloquially known as Indy, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat Read More

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Historical events on October 31

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