April 16 Events

1178 BC - A solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.
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, which is, nowadays, one of Argentina's most beautiful cities.
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.
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 sinks, killing more than 7,000 people.
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.
1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
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.
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 - One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998).
2000 - Protests against the World Bank and IMF in Washington, DC.
2003 - Makobo Modjadji is crowned the new Rain Queen of Balobedu.
2003 - The Accession Treaty is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
2006 - A referendum is to be held on merging Ust-Orda Buryatia, Russia into Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. If the result is in favour, the merger will take effect on 1 January 2008.

April 16 Births

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)
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)
1912 - Garth Williams, American illustrator (d. 1996)
1915 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (d. 1997)
1918 - Spike Milligan, British comedian (d. 2002)
1919 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
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 - Queen Margaret II of Denmark
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 - 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 Benitez, Spanish football manager
1961 - Doris Dragovic´, Croatian singer
1962 - Ian MacKaye, American musician (fugazi and Minor Threat)
1965 - Jon Cryer, American actor
1965 - Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
1971 - Selena, American singer (d. 1995)
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)
1983 - Cat Osterman, University of Texas softball pitcher
1987 - Aaron Lennon, British footballer
1994 - Liliana Mumy, American child actress

April 16 Deaths

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 - 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)
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)

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