On This Day for December 31 - Ottawa made capital of Canada, Anthony Hopkins is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. December 31 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Anthony Hopkins READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1857 Ottawa made capital of Canada READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2019: The World Health Organization first learned of "viral pneumonia" cases in Wuhan, China; the disease was later determined to be COVID-19, which became a global pandemic the following year. [Learn about COVID-19 with these 20 questions.] 2004: Taipei 101, then the tallest building in the world, reaching a height of 1,667 feet (508 metres), opened in Taipei, Taiwan. [Can you match the famous building to its city?] 1999: The United States officially handed over control of the Panama Canal to Panama. [ Take our quiz about canals and straits.] 1991: The Soviet Union legally ceased to exist, Russia and other former Soviet republics having declared themselves independent and having founded the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 21, 1991. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Russia.] 1972: Baseball great Roberto Clemente died in an airplane crash en route to Nicaragua with relief supplies collected for earthquake survivors. [See if Roberto Clemente made our list of the 10 greatest baseball players of all time.] 1880: George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army chief of staff during World War II (1939–45), U.S secretary of state (1947–49) and of defense (1950–51), architect of the Marshall Plan for European recovery, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1953, was born. [ Take our quiz about famous war personalities.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1977 PSY South Korean singer and rapper 1937 Anthony Hopkins Welsh actor 1943 Ben Kingsley British actor 1941 Alex Ferguson Scottish football player and manager 1935 Salman ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz king of Saudi Arabia 1965 Nicholas Sparks American author SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2020 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help