1931 Calendar

February 13, 1931 – New Delhi becomes the capital of India.

February 17, 1931 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Metal Sheep in Chinese astrology.

February 20, 1931 – The Congress of the United States approves the construction of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

March 11, 1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.

March 15, 1931 – SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 on board.

May 14, 1931 – Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.

September 18, 1931 – The Mukden Incident gives Japan the pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.

September 30, 1931 – Start of “Die Voortrekkers” youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

December 9, 1931 – The Constituent Cortes approves the constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.

December 11, 1931 – The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.

January 5, 1931 – Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist

February 4, 1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, President of Argentina (1974–1976), widow of Argentine President Juan Perón

March 18, 1931 – John Fraser, Scottish actor

May 17, 1931 – Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader of Heaven’s Gate (d. 1997)

May 19, 1931 – Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor

June 9, 1931 – Joe Santos, American actor

September 19, 1931 – Derek Gardner, British Formula 1 car designer (d. 2011)

September 29, 1931 – James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, Nobel laureate

November 15, 1931 – Pascal Lissouba, Congo politician

December 11, 1931 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress