December 31st, 1242

Born on December 31st, 1242

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 285,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 611 days, exactly on January 15th, 2026, people who were born on December 31st, 1242 will be 286,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on December 31st?

December 31st, 1950

Korean War: North Korean troops attacked United Nations forces in the first of two battles at Wonju.

December 31st, 2010

28 tornadoes (one depicted) touched down in midwestern and southern United States, part of an outbreak that led to the deaths of nine people and large property damage.

December 31st, 1999

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin became acting president upon President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation.

December 31st, 1998

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro.

December 31st, 1993

Brandon Teena, an American trans man, was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska; his death led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.

December 31st, 1986

Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others, making it the second-deadliest hotel fire in United States history.

December 31st, 1972

Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to victims of that year's Nicaragua earthquake.

December 31st, 1965

Central African military officers led by Jean-Bédel Bokassa began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.

December 31st, 1961

RTÉ, Ireland's first television network, began broadcasting.

December 31st, 1909

The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn and considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opened to traffic.

December 31st, 1907

New York City held its first annual ball drop event in Times Square as part of New Year's Eve celebrations.

December 31st, 1862

The Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, began with an engagement in which both sides would suffer their highest casualty rates in the American Civil War.

December 31st, 1857

Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa (pictured), then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.

December 31st, 1775

American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulsed an attack by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and enlist French Canadian support.

December 31st, 1759

Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum to the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin and began brewing Guinness.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on December 31st

Same Day
Who's birthday is on December 31st?

78

Vernon Wells

Australian actor

*December 31st, 1945, Rushworth

65

Jacques Cartier

Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)

*December 31st, 1491, Saint-Malo †September 1st, 1557, Saint-Malo

84

Henri Matisse

French artist (1869–1954)

*December 31st, 1869, Le Cateau-Cambrésis †November 3rd, 1954, Nice

31

Manu Attri

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1992, Meerut

86

Anthony Hopkins

Welsh actor and director (born 1937)

*December 31st, 1937, Port Talbot

65

Ferdinand Noack

German classical archaeologist and classical philologist (1865-1931)

*December 31st, 1865, Burgholzhausen vor der Höhe †September 21st, 1931, Berlin

57

Rudy Gunawan

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1966, Surakarta City

49

Bas Böttcher

German writer and poetry slam performer

*December 31st, 1974, Bremen

96

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter

*December 31st, 1908, Buchach †September 20th, 2005, Vienna

67

Vaughan Jones

New Zealand mathematician and Fields Medalist

*December 31st, 1952, Gisborne †September 6th, 2020, Nashville

70

James Remar

American actor

*December 31st, 1953, Boston

88

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

King of Saudi Arabia since 2015

*December 31st, 1935, Riyadh

49

Andreas Vesalius

Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)

*December 31st, 1514, Mont aux Potences - Galgenberg †October 16th, 1564, Zakynthos

65

Bebe Neuwirth

American actress

*December 31st, 1958, Newark

51

Grégory Coupet

French association football player

*December 31st, 1972, Le Puy-en-Velay

78

George Marshall

American army officer and statesman (1880–1959)

*December 31st, 1880, Uniontown †October 16th, 1959, Washington, D.C.

38

Jan Smit

Dutch singer and TV presenter

*December 31st, 1985, Volendam

82

Alex Ferguson

Scottish association football manager and player (born 1941)

*December 31st, 1941, Govan

80

Ben Kingsley

English actor

*December 31st, 1943, Snainton

93

Francesco Alberoni

Italian journalist and professor of sociology (1929–2023)

*December 31st, 1929, Borgonovo Val Tidone †August 14th, 2023, Milan

87

Elizabeth Arden

Canadian American businesswoman

*December 31st, 1878, Woodbridge †October 18th, 1966, New York City

69

Guy Mollet

French politician (1905-1975)

*December 31st, 1905, Flers †October 3rd, 1975, 7th arrondissement of Paris

44

Steve Byers

Canadian actor

*December 31st, 1979, Scarborough

76

Umm Kulthum

Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress

*December 31st, 1898, Tamay Ez-Zahayra †February 3rd, 1975, Cairo

45

Johnny Sins

American pornographic actor

*December 31st, 1978, Pittsburgh

69

Christine Scheiblich

East German rower

*December 31st, 1954, Wilsdruff

88

Giovanni Boldini

Italian painter (1842-1931)

*December 31st, 1842, Ferrara †January 12th, 1931, Paris

49

Mario Aerts

Belgian cyclist

*December 31st, 1974, Herentals

63

Donna Summer

American singer

*December 31st, 1948, Boston †May 17th, 2012, Naples

64

Val Kilmer

American actor (born 1959)

*December 31st, 1959, Los Angeles

58

Gong Li

Chinese-Singaporean actress

*December 31st, 1965, Shenyang

88

Mies Bouwman

Dutch television presenter

*December 31st, 1929, Amsterdam †February 26th, 2018, Elst

69

Alex Salmond

First minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014

*December 31st, 1954, Linlithgow

46

Psy

South Korean singer (born 1977)

*December 31st, 1977, Gangnam District

46

Donald Trump Jr.

American businessman and reality television personality

*December 31st, 1977, Manhattan

78

Leonard Adleman

American theoretical computer scientist and professor of computer science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California

*December 31st, 1945, California

88

Jule Styne

British-born American songwriter (1905-1994)

*December 31st, 1905, London †September 20th, 1994, New York City

53

John Denver

American musician (1943–1997)

*December 31st, 1943, Roswell †October 12th, 1997, Monterey

82

Sarah Miles

British actress

*December 31st, 1941, Ingatestone

90

Émile Loubet

8th president of France (1838–1929)

*December 31st, 1838, Marsanne †December 20th, 1929, Montélimar

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on December 31st

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day, New Year's Eve) which are celebrated on December 31st.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

No: With 365 days 1242 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
December 1242