31 AUGUST

1056 Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later, without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty

1142 Possible date for establishment of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) League - with the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah

1945 The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies

1957 Federation of Malaya gains independence from Great Britain

1994 The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire

1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris

Famous Birthday's

Caligula
(12 - 41)

Commodus
(161 - 192)

Ramon Magsaysay
(1907 - 1957)

Famous Deaths

Mary Ann Nichols
(1845 - 1888)

Rocky Marciano
(1923 - 1969)

Diana Spencer
(1961 - 1997)

Famous Weddings

1940 "Wuthering Heights" actor Laurence Olivier (33) weds "Gone With The Wind" actress Vivien Leigh (26)

1940 Football player and coach Vince Lombardi (27) weds Marie Planitz at Our Lady of Refuge Church in Bronx, New York

1952 Soprano singer Leontyne Mary Violet Price (25) weds concert bass-baritone singer William Warfield (32)

1991 Musician Jan Berry (Jan & Dean) weds Gertie Filip

2010 Actress Leelee Sobieski (27) weds fashion designer Adam Kimmel in Italy