At A Glance

31 December 2017 at a glance

Day of the week
31 December 2017 was a Sunday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran.
Top Film of 2017
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2017 was Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Star sign
The star sign for 31 December is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 31 December 2017 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 31 December 2017 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 31 December

  • 2009 Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
  • 2011 NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
  • 2015 A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.
  • 2019 The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 2020 The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Famous people born on 31 December

  • Val Kilmer, American actor (1959–2025)
  • Sophia Laforteza, Filipino-American singer (born 2002)
  • Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1941)
  • Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England (1720–1788)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 2017 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '2017 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 6 February – The Queen commemorates her Sapphire Jubilee.
  • 2 March – New elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are held. The Democratic Unionist Party loses ten seats, while Sinn Féin loses one seat.
  • 29 March – The United Kingdom invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, beginning the formal EU withdrawal process.

Life in 2017

Prime Minister

Theresa May

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

£3.55

Loaf of Bread

£1.48

Average House

£226,441

Weekly Wage

£810.00

Or

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