It happened today – this day in history – October 31

1396: 31-year old Richard II weds Isabella of Valois, aged six – yes 6 – in a dynastic marriage.

1517: Martin Luther sends his 95 Theses to Albrecht von Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Mainz, precipitating the Protestant Reformation.

1541: Michelangelo finishes painting “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel.

1632: Birth of artist Jan Vermeer in Delft, The Netherlands.

1724: George Frideric Handel’s opera “Tamerlano” premieres at the King’s Theatre, London.

1756: Giacomo Casanova escapes from prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof.

1795: Poet John Keats is born in London.

1815: Sir Humphry Davy patents the miner’s safety lamp.

1863: The Maori Wars resume as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron begin their Invasion of the Waikato.

1887: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol” premieres in St Petersburg.

1906: George Bernard Shaw’s “Caesar & Cleopatra” premieres in New York.

1914: Britain and France declare war on Turkey.

1917: Eugene O’Neill’s “In the Zone” premieres in New York.

1918: Spanish flu kills 21,000 people in the US in a single week.

1925: Cossack officer Reza Chan replaces sultan Ahmad as Shah of Persia.

1926: Failed assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini by 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni, who is lynched on the spot. On the same day, escapologist Harry Houdini (Erich Weisz) dies in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis that developed from a ruptured appendix.

1937: The Spanish government moves from Valencia to Barcelona.

1940: The Battle of Britain ends.

1941: The Mount Rushmore monument is completed in South Dakota.

1952: Pianist Johnnie Johnson hired 26 year old Charles Berry as a guitarist in his band.

1955: Princess Margaret calls off her plans to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.

1959: The Quarry Men decided to change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs.

1963: FBI chief J Edgar Hoover has his final meeting with President John F Kennedy.

1964: Ray Charles was arrested at Logan Airport in Boston and charged with possession of heroin. On the same day, the Windmill Theatre closes in London.

1968: US President Lyndon B Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam.

1971: An IRA bomb explodes in the Post Office tower causing extensive damage but no injuries.

1972: Two Catholic children aged six and four playing on the street are killed in a Ulster Freedom Fighters car bomb attack on a bar in Ship Street, Belfast.

1973: Three Provisional IRA volunteers escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin using a hijacked helicopter.

1976: Singles chart:

1. Mississippi – Pussycat
2. If You Leave Me Now – Chicago
3. When Forever Has Gone – Demis Roussos
4. Hurt – The Manhattans
5. Don’t Take Away The Music – Tavares
6. Howzat – Sherbet
7. Summer Of My Life – Simon May
8. Dancing With The Captain – Paul Nicholas
9. Sailing – Rod Stewart
10. Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry

Album chart:

1. Soul Motion – Various Artists
2. Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder
3. The Story Of The Who – The Who
4. Greatest Hits – ABBA
5. The Song Remains The Same – Led Zeppelin
6. His 20 Greatest Hits – Gene Pitney
7. 22 Golden Guitar Greats – Bert Weedon
8. Best Of The Stylistics Vol 2 – The Stylistics
9. Frampton Comes Alive – Peter Frampton
10. L – Steve Hillage

1980: Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806m).

1981: TV on this day (Saturday)

1982: Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Spain.

1984: Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated by two of her bodyguards. She is succeeded by her son Rajiv.

1986: Roger Waters went to the high court to try and stop former bandmates David Gilmour and Nick Mason from using the name Pink Floyd.

1990: UK DJ Roger Scott died of cancer aged 46.

1993: Film director Federico Fellini dies from a stroke aged 73. On the same day, actor River Phoenix dies of a drug overdose after collapsing outside Johnny Depp’s club The Viper room in LA.

1996: Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N’ Roses.

1997: A Boston jury finds British au pair Louise Woodward, 19, guilty of the second degree murder of eight-month old Matthew Eappen.

1999: McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen wins the season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to clinch his second straight Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

2003: Asia’s longest-serving leader, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, steps down after 22 years.

2005: The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 (£66,385) at an auction in Las Vegas.

2006: P W Botha, former president of South Africa, dies aged 90.

2011: Kim Kardashian divorces basketball player Kris Humphries due to irreconcilable differences only 72 days after getting married.

2015: New Zealand defeats Australia, 34-17 at Twickenham to win the Rugby World Cup.

2017: Takahiro Shiraishi is arrested in Zama, Japan, a day after nine dismembered bodies are found in his apartment.

2019: US House of Representatives votes to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. On the same day, Islamic State names Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi as its new leader.

BIRTHDAYS: Lee Grant (Lyova Haskell Rosenthal), actress, 95; Michael Collins, astronaut, 90; Dan Rather, journalist, 89; Tom Paxton, singer-songwriter, 83; Sally Kirkland, actress, 79; Stephen Rea, actor, 74; Russ Ballard, singer-songwriter (Argent) 73; Bob Siebenberg, drummer (Supertramp) 71; Larry Mullen Jr, drummer (U2) 59; Peter Jackson, director, 59; Johnny Marr, guitarist (The Smiths) 57; Mikkey Dee (Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou) drummer (Motorhead) 57; Dermot Mulroney, actor, 57; Rob Schneider, comedy actor, 57; Marco van Basten, Dutch soccer star, 56; Annabella Lwin, vocals, (Bow Wow Wow), 54; Adam Horovitz, rapper (The Beastie Boys) 54; Vanilla Ice (Robert van Winkle), rapper, 53; Alistair McErlaine, guitarist, (Texas) 52; Matt Dawson, rugby union star, 48; Monica and Gabriela Irimia, (Cheeky Girls), 38; Marcus Rashford MBE, footballer, 23.