HistoryFile is a resource for editors and artists involved in graphic planning, and also provides a source of additional data for the graphics series On This Day. Search for events by day or keyword using the search bar above.

HistoryFile is collated and monitored by Julie Mullins. Please contact Julie if you have any queries or comments about this service.
Date Event Anniversary
July 31, 2012 American writer Gore Vidal, known for his essays, plays, novels and screenplays, died at age 86. A noted wit, he was also known for his patrician manner and transatlantic accent. His best known social novel was Myra Breckinridge, while historical novels included Julian, Burr, and Lincoln 1 year ago
July 31, 2012 U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps notched up his 19th Olympic medal, surpassing Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record for most Olympic medals won. Phelps retired at the end of the London Games having amassed a total of 22 medals;18 gold, two silver and two bronze, during his stellar career 1 year ago
July 31, 2011 At least 136 were killed across Syria on the bloodiest day of the seven-month uprising to date as tanks, snipers, and troops stormed Deir ez-Zour, Hama, Harak, and Al-Bukamal. The crackdown was an apparent effort to crush the protest movement before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan 2 years ago
July 31, 2010 Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, married her long-time boyfriend, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, in a lavish ceremony in Rhinebeck, New York 3 years ago
July 31, 2010 Pakistani intelligence officials cancelled a planned visit to the UK after British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Pakistan to avoid links with groups that “promote the export of terror”. A visit by President Asif Ali Zardari was scheduled to go ahead as planned 3 years ago
July 31, 2009 Former England football manager Sir Bobby Robson died at the age of 76, following multiple battles with cancer. Best known on the international stage for leading England to the 1990 World Cup semi-final, he cut his managerial teeth at club level with Fulham before establishing his credentials at Ipswich where he won the FA Cup and Uefa Cup in a 13-year stay. Successful spells at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona followed before he took over at Newcastle United, the team he had watched from the terraces as a boy. Robson fought off bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995 and tumours in his right lung and brain in 2006, but in 2007 he was diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time 4 years ago
July 31, 2009 British Airways reported a loss of £148m in the preceding three months, the company’s first loss since it was privatised in 1987 4 years ago
July 31, 2009 Russian gas giant Gazprom began construction of a 1,118-mile gas pipeline to link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port of Vladivostok. The Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas transmission system was part of a government-backed project to create new gas centres in the Far East to produce 5.2 trillion cubic feet of gas by 2020 4 years ago
July 31, 2009 Patrizia D’Addario, the escort at the centre of a sex scandal engulfing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, claims he and his party, People of Freedom, offered her a seat in the European Parliament but abandoned the plan after his wife complained. Berlusconi’s personal life had been under scrutiny since his wife, Veronica Lario, filed for divorce in May 4 years ago
July 31, 2008 A Thai court sentenced Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra, to three years in jail for tax evasion 5 years ago
July 31, 2008 NASA announced it had discovered water on Mars. The Phoenix Lander spacecraft confirmed water on the planet after analysis of a soil sample from the surface of the Red Planet 5 years ago
July 31, 2007 Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega offered to give up 651 Soviet-made SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles in exchange for helicopters, surgical supplies and medicine from the United States 6 years ago

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