April 16
is the 106th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (107th in
leap years). There are 259 days remaining.
*
1178 BC - A
solar eclipse may have marked the return of
Odysseus, legendary
King of
Ithaca, to his kingdom after the
Trojan War.
*
73 -
Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.
*
1071 -
Bari falls to
Robert Guiscard, ending
Byzantine rule in
Italy.
*
1521 -
Martin Luther's first appearance before the
Diet of Worms to be examined by the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the rest of the estates of the
empire.
*
1582 -
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of
Salta,
Argentina.
*
1746 -
Second Jacobite Rebellion: The
Battle of Culloden, the last battle of the
Jacobite Uprising is fought, ultimately leading to the destruction of the
Highland clans.
*
1780 - The
University of Münster in
Münster,
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany is founded.
*
1799 -
Napoleonic Wars:
Battle of Mount Tabor –
Napoleon drives
Ottoman Turks across the
River Jordan near
Acre.
*
1853 - The first passenger rail opens in
India, from
Bori Bunder,
Bombay to
Thane.
*
1862 -
American Civil War:
Battle at Lee's Mills in
Virginia.
* 1862 -
American Civil War: A bill ending
slavery in the
District of Columbia became law.
*
1863 -
American Civil War:
Siege of Vicksburg – 12 ships led by
Union Admiral David Dixon Porter move through heavy
Confederate artillery fire on approach to
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Only one ship is lost.
*
1881 - In
Dodge City, Kansas,
Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
*
1912 -
Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an
airplane across the
English Channel.
*
1917 -
Vladimir Lenin returns to
Petrograd (present-day
Saint Petersburg) from exile in
Finland.
*
1919 -
Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the
British slaughter of
Indian protestors in the
Amritsar Massacre.
*
1922 - The
Treaty of Rapallo, in which
Germany and the
Soviet Union re-establish
diplomatic relations between
Berlin and
Moscow, is signed.
*
1925 - the
Communist St Nedelya Church assault in
Sofia claims the lives of 150 and injures another 500.
*
1926 -
Lolly Willows by
Sylvia Townsend Warner is distributed as the first
Book-of-the-Month Club selection.
*
1935 -
Radio program
Fibber McGee and Molly debuts.
*
1943 - Dr.
Albert Hofmann discovers the
psychedelic effects of
LSD.
*
1945 -
WWII: The
Red Army begins the final assault on
German forces around
Berlin.
* 1945 - The
United States Army liberates
Nazi Sonderlager (high security)
Prisoner of War camp Oflag IVc (
Colditz Castle).
* 1945 -
German ship
Goya, overfilled with refugees, sinks after being torpedoed by a
Soviet submarine, killing more than 7,000 people.
* 1946 -
Syria became independent.
*
1947 -
Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of
Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
* 1947 -
Bernard Baruch coins the term "
Cold War" to describe the relationship between the
United States and the
Soviet Union.
*
1949 -
Dave Garroway moves from
radio to
television to host the musical-variety show
Garroway at Large.
*
1953 -
Queen Elizabeth II launches the
Royal Yacht Britannia.
*
1963 -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his famous
Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in
Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
*
1964 - Sentences totalling 307 years were passed on 12 men who stole £2.6m in used bank notes after holding up the night mail train travelling from
Glasgow to
London in
August of
1963 - a heist that became known as the
Great Train Robbery.
*
1972 -
Apollo program:
Apollo 16 launches toward the
Moon from
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
* 1972 -
Vietnam War:
Nguyen Hue Offensive – Prompted by the
North Vietnamese offensive, the
United States resumes bombing of
Hanoi and
Haiphong.
*
1987 -
British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appears at
Bow Street Magistrates' Court in central
London charged with gross indecency.
*
1988 - In
Forlì (
Italy),
Red Brigades kill
Italian senator Roberto Ruffilli, an
advisor of
Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
*
1992 - The
Katina P. runs aground off of
Maputo,
Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
*
1996 -
France Télécom introduces its
Wanadoo Internet service.
*
1998 - The
Nashville Tornado of 1998, one of the most serious urban
tornadoes in history, kills one and significantly damages downtown
Nashville, Tennessee.
*
2000 - Protests against the
World Bank and
IMF in
Washington, DC.
*
2003 - The
Treaty of Accession is signed in
Athens admitting 10 new member states to the
European Union.
*
778 - King
Louis the Pious (d.
840)
*
1319 - King
John II of France (d.
1364)
*
1495 -
Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d.
1557)
*
1646 -
Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (d.
1708)
*
1660 -
Hans Sloane, British collector and physician (d.
1753)
*
1661 -
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, British poet and statesman (d.
1715)
*
1682 -
John Hadley, British inventor (d.
1744)
*
1728 -
Joseph Black, Scottish chemist (d.
1799)
*
1730 -
Henry Clinton, British general (d.
1795)
*
1755 -
Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter (d.
1842)
*
1800 -
George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, British soldier (d.
1888)
*
1823 -
Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (d.
1852)
*
1844 -
Anatole France, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1924)
*
1859 -
Winifred Bamford-Hesketh, Countess of Dundonald,Peeress, landowner and philanthropist
*
1865 -
Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (d.
1945)
*
1867 -
Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (d.
1912)
*
1871 -
John Millington Synge, Irish writer (d.
1909)
*
1878 -
Tip Foster, English
cricketer (d.
1914)
*
1886 -
Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d.
1944)
*
1889 -
Charles Chaplin, English actor, writer, and film producer (d.
1977)
*
1904 -
Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d.
1983)
*
1905 -
Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d.
2005)
*
1907 -
August Eigruber, Austrian war criminal (d.
1947)
*
1912 -
Garth Williams, American illustrator (d.
1996)
* 1912 -
Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (d.
1997)
*
1915 -
Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (d.
1997)
*
1918 -
Spike Milligan, British comedian (d.
2002)
*
1919 -
Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
* 1919 -
Tom Willmore, English geometer (d.
2005)
*
1921 -
Peter Ustinov, English writer, actor, and film director (d.
2004)
*
1922 -
Kingsley Amis, English author (d.
1995)
*
1924 -
Henry Mancini, American composer (d.
1994)
*
1927 -
Edie Adams, American actress
* 1927 -
Pope Benedict XVI* 1927 -
Peter Mark Richman, American actor
*
1928 -
Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (d.
2002)
*
1930 -
Herbie Mann, American jazz flute player (d.
2003)
*
1933 -
Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
*
1935 -
Sarah Kirsch, German poet
* 1935 -
Bobby Vinton, American singer
*
1937 -
Joseph Whipp, American actor
*
1939 -
Dusty Springfield, English singer (d.
1999)
*
1940 -
Margrethe II of Denmark,
queen regnant*
1942 -
Frank Williams Formula 1 constructor
*
1943 -
Ruth Madoc, British actress
*
1944 -
Omar Chkhaidze, Russian painter
*
1946 -
Margot Adler, American journalist
*
1947 -
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
* 1947 -
Gerry Rafferty, British musician and songwriter
*
1951 -
Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer, painter, sculptor
* 1951 -
Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer and photographer
* 1951 -
Björgvin Halldórsson, Icelandic singer
*
1952 -
Bill Belichick, American football coach
* 1952 -
Billy West, American voice actor
*
1953 -
Peter Garrett, Australian musician (
Midnight Oil), and politician
* 1953 -
J. Neil Schulman, American writer and activist
*
1954 -
Ellen Barkin, American actress
*
1955 -
Bruce Bochy, baseball player and manager
*
1956 -
Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
*
1959 -
Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
*
1960 -
Rafael Benítez, Spanish football manager
*
1961 -
Doris Dragović, Croatian singer
*
1962 -
Ian MacKaye, American musician, (
Fugazi and
Minor Threat)
*
1963 -
Jimmy Osmond, American pop singer (
The Osmonds)
*
1964 -
Dave Pirner, American rock singer (
Soul Asylum)
*
1965 -
Jon Cryer, American actor
* 1965 -
Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
*
1971 -
Selena, American singer (d.
1995)
*
1973 -
Bonnie Pink, Japanese singer
*
1975 -
Sean Maher, American actor
*
1976 -
Lukas Haas, American actor
*
1977 -
Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
*
1978 -
Matthew Lloyd, Australian football player
*
1979 -
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, Swedish musician (
The Hives)
* 1979 -
Christijan Albers, Formula 1 driver
*
1980 -
Paul London, American professional wrestler
*
1982 -
Boris Diaw, French basketball player
*
1983 -
Cat Osterman, University of Texas softball pitcher
*
1985 -
Tawanda Mupariwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
*
1985 -
Mark Baker, Author and historian
*
1987 -
Aaron Lennon, British footballer
*
1994 -
Liliana Mumy, American child actress
*
69 -
Otho,
Roman Emperor (b.
32)
*
744 -
al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph
*
924 -
Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy
*
1113 -
Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b.
1050)
*
1118 -
Adelaide del Vasto, wife of
Roger II of Sicily*
1198 -
Duke Frederick I of Austria*
1645 -
Tobias Hume, English composer
*
1687 -
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b.
1628)
*
1689 -
Aphra Behn, English dramatist
*
1783 -
Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b.
1719)
*
1788 -
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b.
1707)
*
1828 -
Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter (b.
1746)
*
1846 -
Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer (b.
1763)
*
1859 -
Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b.
1805)
*
1888 -
Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (b.
1845)
*
1904 -
Maximilian Kronberger, German poet (b.
1888)
* 1904 -
Samuel Smiles, Scottish writer and reformer (b.
1812)
*
1914 -
George William Hill, American astronomer (b.
1838)
*
1915 -
Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (b.
1841)
*
1938 -
Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b.
1874)
*
1946 -
Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b.
1884)
*
1947 -
Rudolf Hoess, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp (b.
1900)
*
1958 -
Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b.
1920)
*
1968 -
Edna Ferber, American author (b.
1885)
*
1972 -
Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1899)
*
1978 -
Lucius Clay, American general (b.
1897)
*
1985 -
Scott Brady, American actor (b.
1924)
*
1991 -
David Lean, British film director (b.
1908)
*
1992 -
Neville Brand, American actor (b.
1920)
*
1994 -
Ralph Ellison, American writer (b.
1914)
*
1997 -
Doris Angleton, American socialite (b.
1951)
* 1997 -
Roland Topor, French illustrator (b.
1938)
*
1998 -
Fred Davis, English snooker player (b.
1913)
*
2001 -
Michael Ritchie, American film director (b.
1920)
* 2001 -
Alec Stock, English football manager (b.
1917)
*
2002 -
Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b.
1927)
* 2002 -
Robert Urich, American actor (b.
1946)
*
2003 -
Graham Stuart Thomas, English author and garden designer (b.
1909)
*
2005 -
Kay Walsh, British actress (b.
1911)
* 2005 -
Marla Ruzicka, American humanitarian worker and peace activist (b.
1976)
*Birthday of the Danish sovereign,
Queen Margrethe, celebrated in
Greenland.
*
Mawlid in
Shi'a Islam (
2006).
in the
Roman Catholic Church:
*
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre *
Saint Drogo.
*
Saint Fructuosus*
Saint Paternus*
Saint Turibius*Saints
Martial,
Urban,
Eventius,
Caecilian,
Julia, and their companions,
martyrs of
304*
Blessed Hervé of Tours*
Saint Bernadette*
BBC: On This DayApril 15 -
April 17 -
March 16 -
May 16 –
listing of all days
