January 16
January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in
leap years).
*
27 BC -
Octavian Caesar given the title
Augustus by the
Roman Senate.
*
929 - Emir
Abd-ar-rahman III of
Cordoba declares himself
caliph, thereby establishing the
Caliphate of Cordoba.
*
1362 - A great
storm tide in the
North Sea destroys the
German island of Strand and the city of
Rungholt.
*
1412 - The
Medici family are made official bankers of the
Papacy.
*
1456 - Painter
Filippo Lippi elopes with
Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of
Saint Margherita.
*
1492 - The first
grammar of a modern language, in
Spanish, is presented to Queen
Isabella.
*
1547 -
Ivan the Terrible becomes
Tsar of
Russia.
*
1556 -
Philip II becomes King of
Spain.
*
1572 - The
Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the
Ridolfi plot to restore
Catholicism in
England.
*
1581 -
English Parliament outlaws
Roman Catholicism.
*
1605 - The first edition of
El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of
Don Quixote) by
Miguel de Cervantes was published in
Madrid.
*
1761 -
British capture
Pondicherry,
India from the
French.
*
1777 -
Vermont declares its independence from
New York.
*
1780 -
American Revolution:
Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
*
1795 -
French occupy
Utrecht,
Netherlands.
*
1809 -
Peninsular War: The
British defeat the
French at the
Battle of La Coruña.
*
1847 -
John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new
California Territory.
*
1883 - The
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the
United States Civil service, is passed.
*
1896 - Defeat of
Cymru Fydd at
South Wales Liberal Federation AGM,
Newport, Monmouthshire.
*
1900 - The
United States Senate accepts the
Anglo-
German treaty of
1899 in which the
United Kingdom renounces its claims to the
Samoan islands.
*
1909 -
Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic
South Pole.
*
1917 -
German Foreign Secretary
Arthur Zimmermann sends the
Zimmermann Telegram to
Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the
United States.
*
1919 -
Temperance movement: The
18th Amendment, authorizing
Prohibition, is passed by the
Congress of the United States, going into effect one year later.
*
1945 -
Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called
Führerbunker.
*
1956 - President
Gamal Abdal Nasser of
Egypt vows to reconquer
Palestine.
*
1968 - Youth International Party (
Yippies) is founded.
*
1969 -
Czech student
Jan Palach commits suicide by
self-immolation in
Prague, in protest against the
Soviets' crushing of the
Prague Spring the year before.
*
1970 -
Buckminster Fuller receives the
Gold Medal award from the
American Institute of Architects.
*
1979 - The
Shah of Iran flees
Iran with his family and relocates to
Egypt.
*
1986 - First meeting of the
Internet Engineering Task Force.
*
1991 -
Gulf War: United States begins
bombing Iraq in
Operation Desert Storm, which began following
Operation Desert Shield .
*
1992 -
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the
Chapultepec Peace Accords in
Mexico City that ends a 12-year
civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
*
2001 -
Congolese President
Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
*
2002 - The
UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of
Osama bin Laden,
Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the
Taliban.
*
2003 -
Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission
STS-107 which will be its final one.
Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
*
2005 -
Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
*
2006 -
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as
Liberia's new
president. She becomes
Africa's first female elected head of state.
* 2006 -
Liu Xinjuan is committed by the
Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.
*
1245 -
Edmund Crouchback, son of
Henry III of England (d.
1296)
*
1409 - King
René I of Naples (d.
1480)
*
1477 -
Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d.
1547)
*
1501 -
Anthony Denny, confidant of King
Henry VIII of England (d.
1559)
*
1616 -
François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d.
1669)
*
1626 -
Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d.
1699)
*
1634 -
Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d.
1716)
*
1675 -
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d.
1755)
*
1728 -
Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d.
1800)
*
1821 -
John C. Breckenridge, U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Confederate general (d.
1875)
*
1838 -
Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d.
1917)
*
1853 -
Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d.
1931)
*
1874 -
Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d.
1958)
*
1885 -
Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d.
1967)
*
1886 -
John Hamilton, American actor (d.
1958)
*
1888 -
Osip Brik, Russian writer (d.
1945)
*
1897 -
Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d.
1977)
*
1898 -
Margaret Booth, American film editor (d.
2002)
*
1901 -
Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d.
1973)
* 1901 -
Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d.
1988)
*
1902 -
Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d.
1945)
*
1906 -
Diana Wynyard, British actress (d.
1964.
*
1907 -
Paul Nitze, American government official (d.
2004)
*
1908 -
Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (d.
1984)
*
1910 -
Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d.
1974)
*
1911 -
Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d.
1996)
*
1918 -
Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d.
2005)
* 1918 -
Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d.
1996)
*
1921 -
Francesco Scavullo, American fashion photographer (d.
2004)
*
1922 -
Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
*
1923 -
Anthony Hecht, American poet (d.
2004)
*
1924 -
Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d.
2002)
*
1928 -
William Kennedy, American author
*
1930 -
Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d.
2006)
*
1931 -
Johannes Rau,
President of Germany (d.
2006)
*
1932 -
Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d.
1985)
*
1933 -
Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (d.
2004)
*
1934 -
Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
*
1935 -
A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
*
1943 -
Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
* 1943 -
Ronnie Milsap, American singer/songwriter, musician
*
1946 -
Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
* 1946 -
Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
*
1947 -
Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host
*
1948 -
John Carpenter, American film director
* 1948 -
Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d.
2002)
* 1948 -
Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
* 1948 -
Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of
Gourmet*
1950 -
Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
*
1952 - King
Fuad II of Egypt*
1956 -
Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
*
1958 -
Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d.
1997)
*
1959 -
Sade, Nigerian-born singer
*
1962 -
Paul Webb, British musician (
Talk Talk)
*
1963 -
James May, Top Gear presenter and journalist (
Top Gear)
*
1966 -
Maxine Jones, American singer (
En Vogue)
*
1969 -
Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
*
1970 -
Ron Villone, Major League Baseball Player
*
1970 -
Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author
*
1973 -
Josie Davis, American actress
*
1974 -
Kate Moss, English model
* 1974 -
Marlon Anderson, Baseball player
*
1977 -
Jeff Foster, American basketball player
*
1979 -
Aaliyah, American singer (d.
2001)
* 1979 -
Brenden Morrow, Canadian hockey player
*
1980 -
Albert Pujols, baseball player
* 1980 -
Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
*
1981 -
Nick Valensi, American guitarist (
The Strokes)
*
1982 -
Samuel Preston, British singer (
The Ordinary Boys)
*
1983 -
Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
*
1400 -
John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
*
1545 -
George Spalatin, German reformer (b.
1484)
*
1547 -
Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b.
1477)
*
1554 -
Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
*
1585 -
Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b.
1512)
*
1659 -
Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b.
1580)
*
1710 -
Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b.
1675)
*
1711 -
Joseph Vaz, Catholic Apostle of Ceylon (b.
1651)
*
1747 -
Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b.
1680)
*
1748 -
Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b.
1684)
*
1750 -
Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b.
1667)
*
1752 -
Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b.
1705)
*
1794 -
Edward Gibbon, English historian (b.
1737)
*
1806 -
William Pitt the Younger,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1759)
*
1809 -
John Moore, British general (killed in battle) (b.
1761)
*
1815 -
Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of
Horatio Nelson (b.
1765)
*
1817 -
Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (b.
1759)
*
1856 -
Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b.
1795)
*
1865 -
Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b.
1828)
*
1891 -
Léo Delibes, French composer (b.
1836)
*
1917 -
George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b.
1837)
*
1919 -
Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves,
President of Brazil (b.
1848)
*
1924 -
Winifred Bamford-Hesketh, Countess of Dundonald, Peeress, landowner and philanthropist
*
1936 -
Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b.
1870)
*
1942 -
Carole Lombard, American actress (b.
1908)
*
1957 -
Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b.
1867)
*
1962 -
Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b.
1883)
*
1967 -
Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b.
1901)
*
1969 -
Jan Palach, Czech Freedom Fighter (b.
1948)
*
1971 -
Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b.
1890)
*
1972 -
Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and songwriter (b.
1919)
*
1979 -
Ted Cassidy, American actor (b.
1932)
*1979 -
August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b.
1897)
*
1981 -
Bernard Lee, English actor (b.
1908)
*
1982 -
Red Smith, American sports columnist (b.
1905)
*
1986 -
Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b.
1892)
*
1988 -
Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b.
1904)
*1988 -
Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b.
1899)
*
1995 -
Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b.
1924)
*
1997 -
Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer
Bill Cosby (murdered)
*
2000 -
John Rankin, musical entertainer (b.
1959)
*
2001 -
Laurent-Désiré Kabila,
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b.
1939)
*
2002 -
Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b.
1923)
* 2002 -
Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b.
1948)
* 2002 -
Bobo Olson, American boxer (b.
1928)
* 2002 -
Ron Taylor, American actor (b.
1952)
*
2004 -
Kalevi Sorsa,
Prime Minister of Finland (b.
1930)
*
2005 -
Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b.
1958)
*
Teacher's Day in
Thailand*
National Religious Freedom Day in the
United States, to commemorate the adoption of
Thomas Jefferson's landmark
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in
1786*
BBC: On This Day*
NY Times: On this day*
On this day in CanadaJanuary 15 -
January 17 -
December 16 -
February 16 â€"
listing of all days
