Frae Wikipedia, the free beuk o knawledge
31st December is the 365t (366t in lowp years) an last day o the year in the Gregorian calendar.
Events
1600 - The Breetish East Indie Company gets a ryal chairter.
1703 - A yirdquauk an tsunami hit Tokyo , killin 10,000 fowk.
1844 - This date is skipped in the Philippines , when the Internaitional Date Line is shifted east.
1857 - Queen Victoria decides that Ottawa would be the caipital ceety o Canadae .
1862 - Abraham Lincoln signs the act creatin Wast Virginie .
1907 - The tradeetional Ne'er's E'en Baw Drop in Times Square , New York Ceety , occurs for the first time.
1909 - The Manhattan Brig opens.
1917 - Breetish troop transporter "Osmanieh" hits a mine laid bi a German U-boat aff Alexandria , Egyp , killin 99 fowk.
1929 - The Glen Picturs mishanter in Paisley , Scotland kills 71 fowk.
1946 - Harry S. Truman offeecially declares the end o hostilities in Warld War II .
1981 - Jerry Rawlings comes tae pouer bi coup in Ghana .
1983 - Muhammadu Buhari carries oot a coup in Nigerie .
1986 - The Dupont Plaza Hottle fire in Puerto Rico kills ower 90 fowk.
1987 - Robert Mugabe becomes Preses o Zimbabwe , efter seeven year as Prime meenister .
1991 - End o the Soviet Union .
1992 - Czechoslovakie is offeecially dissolved; the kintra splits intae the Czech Republic an Slovakie when 1993 stairts at midnicht.
1994 - This date is skipped in Kiribati , when the Internaitional Date Line is shifted east.
1999 - The Unitit States gies control o the Panama Canal tae Panama .
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as Preses o Roushie .
2004 - The Taipei 101 touer in Taipei , Taiwan , opens in time for the stairt o 2005 .
2006 - Edinburgh 's tradeetional Hogmanay celebrations are cancelled acause o hivy rain an wind.
2014 - The first same-sex mairiages in Scotland tak place.
2014 - Beji Caid Essebsi becomes Preses o Tunisie .
2014 - A stampede at a Ne'er event in Shanghai kills 36 fowk.
2015 - A major fire breaks oot at the Downton Address Hottle in Dubai .
2016 - Scots tennis player Andy Murray gains a knichthuid in the Ne'er's Honours Leet, alang wi Olympic athlete Mo Farah .
2016 - Bomb attacks in Baghdad kill at least 28 fowk.
2017 - A bus crash in Migaa, Kenyae , kills at least 36 fowk.
2018 - A ten-storey biggin collapses in Magnitogorsk , Chelyabinsk Oblast , Roushie , killin 39 fowk.
2019 - Iraqi militiamen an protesters breach the entrance o the Unitit States Embassy in Baghdad , efter a US militar operation tairgetin Iraqi militia twa days earlier.
2019 - COVID-19 pandemic : The Fowkrepublic o Cheenae reports the ootbrak o a mysterious virus circulatin in Wuhan tae the Warld Heal Organization ; it is nou kent as COVID-19 .
2020 - Brexit : The Unitit Kinrick 's transition period ends an it exits European Union rules.
Births
1378 - Pape Callixtus III (d. 1458 )
1491 - Jacques Cartier , French splorer (d. 1557 )
1720 - Chairles Edwart Stuart , Jacobite pretender (d. 1788 )
1804 - John Scouler , Scots naituralist (d. 1871 )
1869 - Henri Matisse , French penter (d. 1954 )
1880 - George Marshall , 50t Unitit States Secretar o State (d. 1959 )
1908 - Simon Wiesenthal , Austrick Holocaust survivor (d. 2005 )
1935 - King Salman o Saudi Arabie
1937 - Sir Anthony Hopkins , Welsh actor
1941 - Sir Alex Ferguson , Scots fitbaa manager
1943 - Sir Ben Kingsley , Inglis actor
1943 - John Denver , American sangster (d. 1997 )
1948 - Sandy Jardine , Scots fitbawer (d. 2014 )
1948 - Donna Summer , American sangster (d. 2012 )
1954 - Alex Salmond , Scots politeecian, 4t First Meenister o Scotland
1959 - Val Kilmer , American actor
1965 - Gong Li , Cheenese actress
1977 - PSY , Sooth Korean sangster an rapper
1977 - Donald Trump Jr. , American businessman
1980 - Richie McCaw , New Zealand rugby player
1982 - Craig Gordon , Scots fitbaa goalkeeper
1995 - Gabby Douglas , American airtistic gymnast
Daiths
192 - Commodus , Roman Emperor (b. 161 )
335 - Pape Sylvester
1868 - James David Forbes , Scots pheesicist an glaciologist (b. 1809 )
1877 - Gustave Courbet , French penter (b. 1819 )
1880 - John Stenhouse , Scots chemist (b. 1809 )
1936 - Miguel de Unamuno , Spaingie writer an philosopher (b. 1864 )
1950 - Karl Renner , Preses o Austrick (b. 1870 )
1980 - Marshall McLuhan , Canadian professor an philosopher (b. 1911 )
1985 - Ricky Nelson , American sangster (b. 1940 )
1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia , Preses o Georgie (b. 1939 )
2013 - James Avery , American actor (b. 1945 )
2015 - Natalie Cole , American sangster (b. 1950 )
Halidays