January 31

1606 On January 31, 1606 English conspirator Guy Fawkes committed suicide by jumping from the gallows moments before his execution for treason. He had been involved in a plot to blow up King James I together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

A 1606 etching by Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher, depicting Fawkes's execution

1714 A decree issued by Peter I of Russia on January 31, 1714 made education mandatory for the Russian nobility. The decree targeted children of noble families, as well as state employees aged 10 to 15, and ordered them to learn mathematics and geometry. After finishing their studies, they had to teach others in different parts of the country, with the state paying their wages. They could only get married if they proved their knowledge and got a certificate.

1788 Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), 2nd Jacobite pretender, died in Rome (his birthplace) on January 31, 1788 of a stroke. He was first buried in the Cathedral of Frascati, where his brother Henry Benedict Stuart was bishop. At Henry's death in 1807, Charles's remains were moved to the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican where they were laid to rest next to those of his brother and father.

1797 Franz Schubert was born in Himmelpfortgrund (now a part of Alsergrund), Vienna, Archduchy of Austria on January 31, 1797. He was born in a one room apartment of a house called The Red Crayfish, now a museum at Nussdorf Erstrasse 54 Vienna. Young Franz showed an extraordinary childhood aptitude for music and learnt to play the piano, violin and viola, the latter he played in the family string quartet.

1862 Sirius (sometimes called the Dog Star) is a binary star system in Canis Major, near Orion. American astronomer Alvan Graham Clark first observed the faint white dwarf companion of Sirius on January 31, 1862.  Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It has an apparent magnitude of −1.46. Sirius is about twice as massive as the Sun and has an absolute magnitude of 1.42. It is 25 times more luminous than the Sun. The white dwarf can be seen to the lower left in the picture below.

Hubble Space Telescope image of Sirius. By By NASA, ESA, H. Bond , and M. Barstow

1863 Five Weeks in a Balloon, Jules Verne's first adventure novel, was published by Hetzel on January 31, 1863. It was inspired by Nadar, a pioneer photographer who took aerial pictures from the new-fangled hot air balloons. It was the work that made Verne famous.

1892 After 31 years as minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Charles Spurgeon passed away on January 31, 1892. By the time of his death in 1892, Spurgeon had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions.
Spurgeon's sermons still remain one of the all-time best selling series of writings published in history.
Spurgeon's son Tom became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle after his father died.

1930 Scotch® Cellulose Tape, later renamed Cellophane Tape, was invented by a college dropout named Richard Drew from St  Paul, Minnesota. Drew worked for a small sandpaper company founded in 1902 called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, later known as 3M. It was first sold by 3M on January 31, 1930 and marketed as an attractive, moisture-proof way for grocers and bakers to seal packages.

Antique Scotch brand package By Improbcat 

1945 Private Eddie Slovik was killed by firing squad at 10:04 a.m. on January 31 1945 after he walked out from his infantry unit. Twelve picked soldiers were detailed for the firing squad from the 109th Regiment. The weapons used were standard issue M1 rifles with just one bullet for each rifle. Slovik was hit by eleven bullets, at least four of them being fatal. He was the first American soldier to be executed for desertion, since the Civil War.

1952 The stress of World War II took its toll on King George VI of the UK's health exacerbated by his heavy smoking and subsequent development of lung cancer among other ailments. On January 31, 1952, despite advice from those close to him, the King went to London Airport to see off Princess Elizabeth, who was going on her tour of Australia via Kenya. He passed away a week later aged 56.

1958 Explorer I, the first American satellite, was launched on January 31, 1958, four months after Russia's Sputnik I, beginning the so-called space race. Although it carried a number of instruments, Explorer I was relatively small, weighing just 30 lbs (13 kg).

1959 The teenage Bob Dylan (known then as Robert Zimmerman) grew up in the mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota. A big fan of rock and roll, he formed a rock and roll band, the Golden Chords, as a freshman in high school – he was the piano player. Zimmerman saw Buddy Holly perform at the Duluth Armory in Minnesota on January 31, 1959. Three days later, Holly died in a plane crash.

1961 Ham the Chimp was launched into outer space aboard NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2 on January 31, 1961. Not the first animal, or even the first primate in space, it was his 1961 mission - in which he was not merely an unresponsive passenger - that led directly to manned space flight. Ham died in 1983, aged 26.

1972 Mahalia Jackson's funeral was held at Chicago's Great Salem Baptist Church on January 31, 1972. Over 40,000 mourners attended the open-casket service, which featured a closing version of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" by Aretha Franklin. The mourners included Coretta Scott King, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Sammy Davis, Jr.

1990 McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Moscow on January 31, 1990. The massive eatery remains one of the largest McDonald's in the world with 900 seats and more than 20 cash registers. As at January 2022 it had over 800 stores across Russia. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, McDonald's closed all its restaurants in Russia,

1997 Morse Code, a method of encoding text characters using sequences of dots and dashes, was widely used in naval communication for many years. Throughout the late 20th century. VHF radio and other digital communication methods became increasingly prevalent. When the French Navy officially ceased using Morse Code on January 31, 1997, the final message they transmitted was "Calling all. This is our last cry before our eternal silence."

2017 On January 31, 2017, doctors at a hospital in Chennai, India, successfully removed a live, full-grown cockroach from a woman's nose. The woman had felt discomfort and a strange sensation in her nose, and when the doctors investigated, they discovered the live cockroach lodged in her nasal cavity. The medical team was able to extract the cockroach, and the woman recovered without significant complications. 

2019 On January 31, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II became the world’s longest reigning female ruler ever, overtaking Eleanor of Aquitaine, who died in 1204. Eleanor, who was also queen consort of France and England, was Duchess of Aquitaine for 66 years and 358 days.

2020 A referendum in 2016 on the UK's membership of the European Union resulted in 51.9% of UK voters voting for leaving the organization. After three-and-a-half years of negotiation, the United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, 2020, after 47 years of being a member state.

2024 The current record for the oldest wombat ever in captivity belongs to Wain, a common wombat who resided at Satsukiyama Zoo in Japan. Wain was rescued as a joey in 1989 and was estimated to be 33 years and 86 days old on January 31, 2024.