October 16
is the 289th day of the year (290th in
Leap years). There are 76 days remaining.
*
456 -
Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor
Avitus at
Piacenza and becomes master of the western
Roman Empire*
1775 -
Portland, Maine burned by the
British*
1780 -
Royalton, Vermont and
Tunbridge, Vermont last major raid of the
American Revolutionary War*
1781 -
George Washington captures
Yorktown, Virginia*
1793 -
Marie Antoinette, wife of
Louis XVI is
guillotined at the height of the
French Revolution.
* 1793 -
Battle of Wattignies*
1813 - The
Sixth Coalition attacks
Napoleon Bonaparte in the
Battle of Leipzig.
*
1834 - Much of the ancient structures of the
Palace of Westminster in
London is burnt down
*
1841 -
Queen's University is founded in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
*
1843 -
Sir William Rowan Hamilton invents the concept of
quaternions.
*
1859 -
John Brown leads raid on
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia*
1869 -
Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, discovered.
* 1869 -
England's first residential college for women,
Girton College, Cambridge, is founded.
*
1882 - The
Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.
*
1906 - The Partition of Bengal (India) occurred.
* 1906 - The
Captain of Köpenick fools the
city hall of
Köpenick and several soldiers by impersonating a
Prussian officer.
*
1916 -
Margaret Sanger founds
Planned Parenthood by opening the first U.S. birth control clinic.
*
1923 -
The Walt Disney Company is founded by
Walt Disney and his brother,
Roy Disney.
*
1934 -
Chinese Communists begin the
Long March; it ended a year and four days later, by which time
Mao Zedong had regained his title as party chairman.
*
1940 -
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. named first
African American general in the
United States Army* 1940 -
Warsaw Ghetto established
*
1946 - Ten war criminals of the
Second World War, condemned in the
Nuremberg trials hanged.
*
1949 -
Nikos Zakhiariadis, leader of the
Communist Party of Greece, announces a "temporary cease-fire", effectively ending the
Greek Civil War.
*
1951 - The first
Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Liaquat Ali Khan, is
assassinated in
Rawalpindi*
1961 -
Cork International Airport opened in Ireland.
*
1964 -
People's Republic of China detonates its first
nuclear weapon*
1968 -
United States athletes
Tommie Smith and
John Carlos are kicked out of the USA's team for performing a
Black Power salute during a medal ceremony.
* 1968 -
Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the
Rodney Riots, inspired by the barring of
Walter Rodney from the country.
*
1969 -
United States - The "miracle"
New York Mets win the
World Series.
*
1970 -
Canada - In response to the
October Crisis terrorist kidnapping,
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the
War Measures Act.
*
1972 -
Rainbow, a
British television programme for children, debuts.
*
1973 -
Henry Kissinger and
Le Duc Tho are awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize*
1975 - The
Balibo Five, a group of
Australian
television journalists based in the town of
Balibo in the then
Portuguese Timor (now
East Timor), are killed by
Indonesian troops.
*
1978 - Karol Józef Wojtyła becomes
Pope John Paul II*
1984 -
Desmond Tutu is awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize*
1987 -
Great Storm of 1987:
hurricane force winds to hit much of the
South of England killing 23 people.
*
1991 -
Luby's massacre:
George Hennard runs amok in
Killeen,
Texas, killing 23 and wounding 19 in Luby's Cafeteria.
* 1991 -
Jharkhand Chhatra Yuva Morcha is founded at a conference in
Ranchi,
India.
*
1992 -
Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson files a 1.4 million
USD lawsuit against
French tabloids for running topless photos taken of her on the
French Riviera, including some of
Texas millionaire
John Bryan suckling on her toes.
*
1995 - The
Million Man March occurs in
Washington, DC.
*
1996 - 84 are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000
soccer fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat
Mateo Flores Stadium in
Guatemala City.
*
2001 -
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan:
U.S. warplanes mistakenly bomb
International Red Cross warehouse in
Kabul,
Afghanistan.
*
2002 -
Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the
Egyptian city of
Alexandria, a commemoration of the
Library of Alexandria that was lost in
antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
*
2003 - The Red Sox and Yankees face off in a historical ALCS game 7 at
Yankee Stadium. The game ends in dramatic fashion with an
Aaron Boone walk off home run.
*
1396 -
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English soldier (d.
1450)
*
1430 - King
James II of Scotland (d.
1460)
*
1483 -
Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (d.
1542)
*
1535 -
Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (d.
1585)
*
1663 -
Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (d.
1736)
*
1710 -
Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (d.
1790)
*
1714 -
Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (d.
1795)
*
1726 -
Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (d.
1801)
*
1758 -
Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d.
1843)
*
1815 -
Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d.
1905)
*
1840 -
Kuroda Kiyotaka,
Prime Minister of Japan (d.
1900)
*
1841 - Prince
Hirobumi Ito, Japanese governor of Korea (d.
1909)
*
1854 -
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d.
1900)
*
1855 -
Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (d.
1931)
*
1861 -
J. B. Bury, Irish historian (d.
1927)
*
1863 -
Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1937)
*
1878 -
Maxey Long, American athlete (d.
1959)
*
1886 -
David Ben-Gurion, first
Prime Minister of Israel (d.
1973)
*
1888 -
Eugene O'Neill, American writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1953)
* 1888 -
Paul Popenoe, American activist (d.
1979)
*
1890 -
Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d.
1922)
* 1890 -
Paul Strand, American photographer (d.
1975)
*
1898 -
William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d.
1980)
*
1900 -
Edward Ardizzone - Artist and illustrator (d.
1979)
* 1900 -
Primo Conti, Italian painter (d.
1988)
*
1903 -
Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (d.
2003)
*
1908 -
Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d.
1985)
*
1914 -
Zahir Shah,
King of Afghanistan*
1918 -
Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (d.
1990)
*
1919 -
Kathleen Winsor, American writer (d.
2003)
*
1922 -
Max Bygraves, English singer songwriter
*
1923 -
Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (d.
1980)
*
1925 -
Angela Lansbury, English-born actress
*
1927 -
Günter Grass, German writer,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1928 -
Mary Daly, American feminist
*
1928 -
Fernanda Montenegro, Brazilian actress
*
1931 -
Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator
*
1936 -
Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer
* 1936 -
Akira Machida Japanese judge
* 1936 -
Peter Bowles, English actor
*
1938 -
Carl Gunter Jr, Louisiana State Representative (d.
1999)
*
1940 -
Barry Corbin, American actor
* 1940 -
Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player (d.
2003)
*
1941 -
Tim McCarver, baseball player and commentator
*
1946 -
Suzanne Somers, American actress
*
1947 -
Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player
* 1947 -
Bob Weir, American musician (
Grateful Dead)
*
1948 -
Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
*
1952 -
Boogie Mosson, American musician (
P Funk)
* 1952 -
Ron Taylor, American actor (d.
2002)
*
1953 -
Paulo Roberto Falcão, Brazilian footballer
*
1956 -
Johnny Chavis, Native American Football Coach
*
1958 -
Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and writer
*
1959 -
Gary Kemp, British musician and actor
* 1959 -
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian composer
* 1959 -
Brian Harper, baseball player
*
1962 -
Flea, Australian musician (
Red Hot Chili Peppers)
* 1962 -
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian baritone
*
1965 -
Steve Lamacq, British journalist and disc jockey
*
1967 -
Davina McCall, British television presenter
*
1969 -
Wendy Wilson, American pop singer (
Wilson Phillips)
*
1970 -
Mehmet Scholl, German footballer
*
1972 -
Tomas Lindberg, Swedish musician (
At The Gates)
*
1973 -
Peter Polaco, American professional wrestler
*
1974 -
Paul Kariya, Canadian hockey player
*
1974 -
Deo Grech, Maltese television presenter, songwriter
*
1977 -
John Mayer, American musician
*
1979 -
Misty Mundae,
B-movie actress
*
1980 -
Sue Bird, American basketball player
* 1980 -
Timana Tahu, Australian Rugby League Player
*
1982 -
Vincy Chan, Hong Kong singer
*
1984 -
Melissa Lauren, pornographic actress
*
1355 -
Louis,
King of Sicily, felled by the
Black Death*
1553 -
Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (b.
1472)
*
1555 -
Hugh Latimer, English protestant (martyred)
*
1591 -
Pope Gregory XIV (b.
1535)
*
1594 -
William Cardinal Allen, English Catholic cardinal (b.
1532)
*
1621 -
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (b.
1562)
*
1628 -
François de Malherbe, French poet and critic (b.
1555)
*
1649 -
Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (b.
1621)
*
1655 -
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (b.
1591)
*
1680 -
Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian-Austrian general (b.
1608 or
1609)
*
1750 -
Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German composer and lutenist (b.
1687)
*
1755 -
Saint Gerard Majella,
Catholic saint (b.
1725)
*
1781 -
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b.
1705)
*
1793 -
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (executed) (b.
1755)
*
1796 -
Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b.
1726)
*
1810 -
Nachman of Breslov, founder of
Breslov Hasidut (b.
1772)
*
1865 -
Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, philosopher, and sociologist (b.
1781)
*
1877 -
Theodore Barrière, French dramatist (b.
1823)
*
1888 -
John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b.
1815)
*
1893 -
Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, President of France (b.
1808)
*
1937 -
Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b.
1899)
*
1946:
**
Hans Frank, German war criminal (b.
1900)
**
Wilhelm Frick, German war criminal (b.
1877)
**
Alfred Jodl, German military officer (b.
1890)
**
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer (b.
1903)
**
Wilhelm Keitel, German military officer (b.
1882)
**
Joachim von Ribbentrop, German politician (b.
1893)
**
Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi ideologist (b.
1893)
**
Fritz Sauckel, German war criminal (b.
1894)
**
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi leader (b.
1892)
**
Julius Streicher, German propagandist (b.
1887)
*
1959 -
George Marshall,
United States Secretary of State,
Nobel laureate (b.
1880)
*
1962 -
Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (b.
1884)
*
1966 -
George O'Hara, American actor (b.
1899)
*
1968 -
Ellis Kinder, baseball player (b.
1914)
*
1972 -
Hale Boggs, U.S. Congressman from Louisiana (b.
1914)
* 1972 -
Leo G. Carroll, English actor (b.
1892)
*
1973 -
Gene Krupa, American musician (b.
1909)
*
1978 -
Dan Dailey, American actor (b.
1913)
*
1979 -
Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (b.
1903)
*
1981 -
Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b.
1915)
*
1983 -
Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (b.
1895)
* 1983 -
Kelso, American racehorse (b.
1957)
*
1986 -
Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b.
1921)
*
1989 -
Cornel Wilde, American actor (b.
1915)
*
1990 -
Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (b.
1919)
*
1992 -
Shirley Booth, American actress (b.
1898)
*
1994 -
Raul Julia, American actor (b.
1940)
*
1996 -
Eric Malpass, English novelist (b.
1910)
* 1996 -
Jason Bernard, American actor (b.
1938)
*
1997 -
James Michener, American writer
*
1998 -
Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b.
1943)
*
1999 -
Jean Shepherd, American writer and actor (b.
1921)
*
2000 -
Mel Carnahan, American politician (b.
1934)
*
2002 -
Angela Dawson, American activist
*
2003 -
Avni Arbas, Turkish artist (b.
1919)
* 2003 -
Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b.
1915)
* 2003 -
László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b.
1926)
*
2004 -
Pierre Salinger,
John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (b.
1925)
*
2005 -
"Len" Dresslar, American singer and voice actor (b.
1925)
* 2005 -
David Reilly, American singer (
God Lives Underwater), (b.
1971)
*
BBC: On This DayOctober 15 -
October 17 -
September 16 -
November 16 - more
historical anniversaries
