1931 in France
Events from the year 1931 in France.
Events
- 27 January - Pierre Laval forms a government in France.
- 27 March - British writer Arnold Bennett dies in Paris when he drinks local water to prove it is safe to drink - but is poisoned.
- 6 May - Paris Colonial Exposition opens.
- 13 May - Paul Doumer elected president of France.
- 14 June - Overloaded pleasure craft Saint-Philibert, carrying trippers home to Nantes from ĂŽle de Noirmoutier, sinks at the mouth of the river Loire and over 450 drown.
- 8 November- French police launch a large scale raid against Corsican bandits.
Arts and literature
- The Persistence of Memory is put on display for the first time in Paris at the Galerie Pierre Colle.
Sport
- 30 June - Tour de France begins.
- 26 July - Tour de France ends, won by Antonin Magne.
Births
January to June
- 26 February - Jacques Rouxel, animator (died 2004).
- 6 March - Nicolas Barone, cyclist (died 2003).
- 3 June - Jean Bouise, actor (died 1989).
- 5 June - Jacques Demy, film director (died 1990).
July to December
- 1 July - Leslie Caron, actress.
- 4 July - Sébastien Japrisot, author, screenwriter and film director (died 2003).
- 24 July - Éric Tabarly, sailor (died 1998).
- 23 August - Coccinelle, transsexual actress and entertainer (died 2006).
- 25 October - Annie Girardot, actress (died 2011)
- 6 November - André Trochut, cyclist (died 1996).
- 12 December - Christian Metz, film theorist (died 1993).
- 28 December - Guy Debord, Marxist theorist, writer and filmmaker (died 1994).
Full date unknown
- Serge Danot, animator (died 1991).
Deaths
- 1 February - Emmanuel d'Orléans, noble from the House of Orléans (born 1872).
- 31 March - Henri Béraldi, bibliophile and publisher (born 1849)
- 22 June - Armand Fallières, politician and President of France (born 1841).
- 11 July - Jean-Louis Forain, Impressionist artist (born 1852)
- 7 November - Étienne Bazeries, military cryptanalyst (born 1846).
- 2 December - Vincent d'Indy, composer (born 1851).
Full date unknown
- Alexandre Darracq, automobile manufacturer (born 1855).