Historical Events on January 31.

1.   1561, 31st Jan: Bairam Khan, patron of Mughal Emperor Akbar, killed in Patan, Gujarat.

2.  1893, 31st Jan: The Coca-Cola trademark was patented for the first time in the US.

3.  1911, 31st Jan: Vinayak Savarkar was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was the only one to be sentenced to life imprisonment twice in the then British Empire.

4.  1915, 31st Jan: During World War I, Germany used poisonous gas against Russia.

5.  1929, 31st Jan: Leon Trotsky was deported by Soviet Russia.

6.  1946, 31st Jan: Dissolution of Yugoslavia into six countries based on the model of the then Soviet Union (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia).

7.  1950, 31st Jan: Dr. Rajendra Prasad addressed Parliament for the first time as the President of India.

8.  1950, 31st Jan: US President Harry S. Truman approved plans to build a hydrogen bomb.

9.  1985, 31st Jan: Rajya Sabha approved 52nd Constitutional Amendment Bill on anti-defection.

10.  2004, 31st Jan: Father of the Pakistani nuclear program Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan was arrested for the transfer of nuclear technology to other countries.

11.  2007, 31st Jan: Indian steel company Tata Anglo became the fifth-largest company in the world after the acquisition of Dutch steel company Corus.

12.  2010, 31st Jan: The Hollywood film Avatar became the highest-grossing film worldwide, earning two billion dollars.

Famous Birthdays & Birth Anniversaries on January 31.

1.   1543: Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.

2.  1896: D. R. Bendre, an Indian-Kannada poet of the Navodaya Period.

3.  1909: Bishnu Prasad Rabha, an Indian cultural figure from Assam, known for his contributions in the fields of music, dance, painting, literature as well as political activism.

4.  1932: Vijay Kumar Chopra, the chief executive officer and editor in chief of the Punjab Kesari print news organization. 

5.  1956: Guido van Rossum, a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python programming language.

6.  1974: Rajashree Warrier, a Bharata Natyam dancer, educator, and media person.

7.  1975: Preity Zinta, an Indian film actress, and entrepreneur. 

8.  1992: Amy Jackson, a British actress, and model, best known for her work in Indian films.

Death Anniversaries of famous people on January 31.

1.   192 AD: Commodus, the Roman emperor.

2.  1972: Mahendra, the King of Nepal.

3.  2000: K. N. Singh, an Indian actor. 

4.  2001: Harshad Mehta, an Indian stockbroker.

5.  2004: Suraiya Jamal Sheikh, a popular actress and playback singer in India’s Hindi language films.