Today in History - History - August 31st

1945The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.

1924Paavo Nurmi runs world record 10,000m (30:06.2)

1935FDR signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents

1976George Harrison found guilty of plagiarising "My Sweet Lord"

1999Dino Ciccarelli retires from the NHL

1535Pope Paul II excommunicates King Henry VIII of England

1959Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Waterloo Golf Open

200623rd MTV Awards: Panic! At the Disco, Kelly Clarkson & James Blunt wins

1897Thomas Edison patented his movie camera (Kinetograph)

1910Theodore Roosevelt makes a speech in Kansas advocating a 'square deal': property shall be 'the servant and not the master of the commonwealth'

161Commodus, Lanuvium, Roman Emperor (180-92)

1907Ramon Magsaysay, politician and 7th President of the Philippines (US Legion of Merit-1952) at Iba Philippines (d. 1957)

1870Maria Montessori, Italy, educator (spontaneous response), (d. 1952)

1949Richard Gere, Phila Pa, actor (Breathless, Cotton Club, Pretty Woman)

1931Jean Marc Beliveau, Trois-Rivieres Quebec, NHL center (Montreal Canadiens, 10 Stanley Cups)

12Caligula, [Gaius Caesar], 3rd Roman emperor (37-41 AD)

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

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

1997Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, dies in car crash in Paris at 36

1969Rocky Marciano, former heavyweight champ, dies in a plane crash at 45

1973John Ford, US director (Mary of Scotland, Stagecoach), dies at 78

1888Mary Ann Nichols, a 42-year-old prostitute, was found stabbed to death in London, 1st of at least five murders by Jack the Ripper