January 16


January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

   * 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
   * 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
     Corunna.
   * 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
   * 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899
     in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands
   * 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
   * 1919 - The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, goes into effect in
     the United States
   * 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall
   * 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called
     FŸhrerbunker
   * 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer
     Palestine
   * 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool
   * 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by
     signing a $75,000 contract
   * 1963 - Whiskey-A-Go-Go opens in Los Angeles, California
   * 1964 - Hello Dolly! opens in New York City's St. James Theatre.
   * 1966 - Metropolitan Opera House opens in Lincoln Center, New York City
   * 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 relocate to
     Egypt.
   * 1988 - Sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder is fired by CBS a
     day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to
     produce stronger offspring during slavery.
   * 1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins.
   * 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign a pact in Mexico
     City that ends a 12 year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
   * 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a
     gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California
   * 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space
     Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
   * 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated
     milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
   * 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law.
     Three of those shot die.
   * 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that American Taliban John Walker Lindh
     would be tried in the United States.
   * 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo
     and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the
     remaining 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.

Births

   * 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and phsycologist (+ 1917)
   * 1874 - Robert W. Service, poet (+ 1958)
   * 1881 - Sir Arthur Percy Morris Fleming, radio pioneer
   * 1898 - Margaret Booth, film editor (+ 2002)
   * 1909 - Ethel Merman, singer, actress (+ 1984)
   * 1910 - Dizzy Dean, Baseball Hall of Famer (+ 1974)
   * 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, writer, producer (+ 1996)
   * 1912 - Franz Tumler, Austrian narrator (+ 1998)
   * 1924 - Katy Jurado, actress (+ 2002)
   * 1928 - William Kennedy, author
   * 1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany
   * 1932 - Dian Fossey, zoologist (+ 1985)
   * 1933 - Susan Sontag, author
   * 1935 - Udo Lattek, football coach
   * 1935 - A.J. Foyt, automobile racer
   * 1944 - Jim Stafford, singer
   * 1946 - Kabir Bedi, actor
   * 1946 - Ronnie Milsap, singer
   * 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, opera singer
   * 1947 - Dr. Laura Schlessinger, psychiatrist, radio talk show host
   * 1948 - John Carpenter, director
   * 1950 - Debbie Allen, actress, dancer, choreographer
   * 1959 - Sade, singer
   * 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., boxer
   * 1974 - Kate Moss, supermodel
   * 1979 - Aaliyah, singer (+ 2001)

Deaths

   * 1806 - William Pitt the Elder, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
   * 1876 - Edmund H. Sears, composer
   * 1917 - George Dewey, Admiral
   * 1936 - Albert Fish, serial killer (electrocuted)
   * 1942 - Carole Lombard, actress
   * 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, conductor