December 31st, 1940

Born on December 31st, 1940

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 30,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 575 days, exactly on November 15th, 2025, people who were born on December 31st, 1940 will be 31,000 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

Born on December 31st, 1940

83

Eberhard Schuster

German association football player

*December 31st, 1940, Chemnitz

39

José de Anchieta Fontana

Brazilian footballer (1940-1980)

*December 31st, 1940, Santa Teresa †September 9th, 1980, Santa Teresa

82

Luis Giampietri

Peruvian politician

*December 31st, 1940, Callao †October 4th, 2023, Lima

81

Tim Considine

American sportswriter and actor

*December 31st, 1940, Los Angeles †March 3rd, 2022, Los Angeles

83

Mani Neumeier

German rock musician, free jazz-drummer artist, and frontman

*December 31st, 1940, Munich

83

Harald Spehl

German economist

*December 31st, 1940, Hohen Neuendorf

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

78

Vernon Wells

Australian actor

*December 31st, 1945, Rushworth

86

Anthony Hopkins

Welsh actor and director (born 1937)

*December 31st, 1937, Port Talbot

82

Alex Ferguson

Scottish association football manager and player (born 1941)

*December 31st, 1941, Govan

80

Ben Kingsley

English actor

*December 31st, 1943, Snainton

88

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

King of Saudi Arabia since 2015

*December 31st, 1935, Riyadh

82

Sarah Miles

British actress

*December 31st, 1941, Ingatestone

31

Manu Attri

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1992, Meerut

57

Rudy Gunawan

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1966, Surakarta City

84

Henri Matisse

French artist (1869–1954)

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

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

49

Bas Böttcher

German writer and poetry slam performer

*December 31st, 1974, Bremen

93

Francesco Alberoni

Italian journalist and professor of sociology (1929–2023)

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

53

John Denver

American musician (1943–1997)

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

65

Bebe Neuwirth

American actress

*December 31st, 1958, Newark

80

Wolfgang Gerhardt

German politician

*December 31st, 1943, Ulrichstein

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

63

Donna Summer

American singer

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

96

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter

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

65

Ferdinand Noack

German classical archaeologist and classical philologist (1865-1931)

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

Same year
Born in 1940

83

Onur Öymen

Turkish politician and diplomat

*October 18th, 1940, Kadıköy

84

Lorns Skjemstad

Norwegian cross-country skier

*March 10th, 1940, Inderøy Municipality

40

John Lennon

British musician (1940–1980)

*October 9th, 1940, Liverpool †December 8th, 1980, New York City

83

Jeannie Seely

American singer

*July 6th, 1940, Titusville

76

Al Jarreau

American singer (1940–2017)

*March 12th, 1940, Milwaukee †February 12th, 2017, Los Angeles

82

Pelé

Brazilian footballer (1940–2022)

*October 23rd, 1940, Três Corações †December 29th, 2022, Morumbi District

83

Al Pacino

American actor (born 1940)

*April 25th, 1940, Manhattan

77

Michael Parks

American actor (1940–2017)

*April 24th, 1940, Corona †May 9th, 2017, Los Angeles

83

Annie Ernaux

French writer (born 1940)

*September 1st, 1940, Lillebonne

82

James Caan

American actor (1940–2022)

*March 26th, 1940, The Bronx †July 6th, 2022, Los Angeles

80

Wolfgang Clement

German politician

*July 7th, 1940, Bochum †September 27th, 2020, Bonn

84

Nancy Pelosi

American politician (born 1940)

*March 26th, 1940, Baltimore

32

Bruce Lee

Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor (1940–1973)

*November 27th, 1940, San Francisco Chinese Hospital †July 20th, 1973, Kowloon Tong

84

Jana Brejchová

Czech actress

*January 20th, 1940, Prague

55

Joseph Brodsky

Russian-American poet (1940-1996)

*May 24th, 1940, Saint Petersburg †January 28th, 1996, Brooklyn

76

Manfred Jung

German singer and operatic tenor

*July 9th, 1940, Oberhausen †April 14th, 2017, Essen

79

Tilo Prückner

German actor and author

*October 26th, 1940, Augsburg †July 2nd, 2020, Berlin

83

Ringo Starr

British musician, drummer for the Beatles

*July 7th, 1940, Liverpool

83

Patrick Stewart

British actor (born 1940)

*July 13th, 1940, Mirfield

77

John Hurt

British actor (1940–2017)

*January 22nd, 1940, Chesterfield †January 25th, 2017, Norfolk

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

Born on December 31st, 1940
Future birthdays

Leap year

Yes: 1940 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
December 1940