December 31st, 1943

Born on December 31st, 1943

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 29,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 664 days, exactly on February 18th, 2026, people who were born on December 31st, 1943 will be 30,000 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, 1943

80

Ben Kingsley

English actor

*December 31st, 1943, Snainton

53

John Denver

American musician (1943–1997)

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

80

Wolfgang Gerhardt

German politician

*December 31st, 1943, Ulrichstein

80

Lynzee Klingman

American film editor (1943-)

*December 31st, 1943, Chicago

80

Horst Heese

German footballer

*December 31st, 1943, Düsseldorf

55

Roland Blanche

French actor

*December 31st, 1943, Choisy-le-Roi †September 13th, 1999, Thiais

76

Yawovi Agboyibo

Prime Minister of Togo (1943-2020)

*December 31st, 1943, Yoto †May 30th, 2020, Paris

66

Pete Quaife

English musician, artist and author

*December 31st, 1943, Tavistock †June 23rd, 2010, Copenhagen

80

Victor Raider-Wexler

American actor

*December 31st, 1943, Toledo

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

31

Manu Attri

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1992, Meerut

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

79

Dieter Weirich

German journalist and politician

*December 31st, 1944, Sülzbach

88

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

King of Saudi Arabia since 2015

*December 31st, 1935, Riyadh

67

Vaughan Jones

New Zealand mathematician and Fields Medalist

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

57

Rudy Gunawan

Badminton player

*December 31st, 1966, Surakarta City

70

James Remar

American actor

*December 31st, 1953, Boston

84

Henri Matisse

French artist (1869–1954)

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

82

Sarah Miles

British actress

*December 31st, 1941, Ingatestone

49

Bas Böttcher

German writer and poetry slam performer

*December 31st, 1974, Bremen

63

Donna Summer

American singer

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

65

Bebe Neuwirth

American actress

*December 31st, 1958, Newark

93

Francesco Alberoni

Italian journalist and professor of sociology (1929–2023)

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

69

Christine Scheiblich

East German rower

*December 31st, 1954, Wilsdruff

81

Andy Summers

British guitarist

*December 31st, 1942, Poulton-le-Fylde

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 1943

80

John Nettles

British actor and writer

*October 11th, 1943, St Austell

80

Rolf Edling

Swedish fencer

*November 30th, 1943, Mumbai

81

Torstein Hagen

Norwegian businessman

*January 1st, 1943, Norway

80

Robert De Niro

American actor (born 1943)

*August 17th, 1943, Greenwich Village

80

Lech Wałęsa

Statesman, pro-democracy activist, and former president of Poland

*September 29th, 1943, Popowo

81

Katsuto Momii

Japanese businessman

*March 4th, 1943, Kama

80

Odd Einar Dørum

Norwegian politician

*October 12th, 1943, Oslo

80

John Kerry

Unites States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate since 2021

*December 11th, 1943, Aurora

73

Laura Biagiotti

Italian fashion designer

*August 4th, 1943, Rome †May 26th, 2017, Rome

80

Malcolm McDowell

British actor (born 1943)

*June 13th, 1943, Horsforth

64

Bruce Rollick

Badminton player

*April 11th, 1943, Vancouver †March 23rd, 2008

58

George Harrison

British musician and lead guitarist of the Beatles (1943–2001)

*February 25th, 1943, Liverpool †November 29th, 2001, Los Angeles

81

John Major

Former prime minister of the United Kingdom (born 1943)

*March 29th, 1943, London

81

Christopher Walken

American actor

*March 31st, 1943, Astoria

73

Eni Faleomavaega

American Samoan politician (1943–2017)

*August 15th, 1943, American Samoa †February 22nd, 2017, Provo

73

Piet Keizer

Dutch footballer (1943–2017)

*June 14th, 1943, Amsterdam †February 10th, 2017, Amsterdam

74

Bernd Fischerauer

Austrian director, screenwriter and author

*March 11th, 1943, Graz †May 14th, 2017, Munich

80

Roger Waters

English musician, co-founder of Pink Floyd (born 1943)

*September 6th, 1943, Great Bookham

73

Tommy Gemmell

Scottish footballer and manager (1943-2017)

*October 16th, 1943, Motherwell †March 2nd, 2017

81

Horst Köhler

German politician (CDU); president of Germany, 2004–2010

*February 22nd, 1943, Skierbieszów

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, 1943
Future birthdays

Leap year

No: With 365 days 1943 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
December 1943