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October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 76 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 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 comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers.
- 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.
- 1905 - 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.
- 1939 - World War II: First attack on British territory by German Luftwaffe.
- 1940 - Benjamin O. Davis Sr. named first African American general in the United States Army.
- 1940 - Warsaw Ghetto established.
- 1944 - First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
- 1945 - The Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in Quebec City, Canada.
- 1946 - Ten war criminals of the Second World War, condemned in the Nuremberg trials are hanged.
- 1949 - Nikolaos Zachariadis, 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.
- 1958 - The first episode of Blue Peter, a popular, long-running children's television programme, was first broadcast on BBC, with Christopher Trace and Leila Williams as the original presenters.
- 1961 - Cork International Airport opened in Ireland.
- 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis between the United States and Cuba began.
- 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. Emmerdale, the UK soap opera 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 20 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.
- 1995 - The Million Man March occurs in Washington, DC.
- 1996 - Eighty-four people are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 football fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
- 2002 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
Births
- 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)
- 1752 - Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, German theologian (d. 1827)
- 1754 - Morgan Lewis, Governor of New York (1804-07) (d. 1844)
- 1758 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)
- 1762 - Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina (1804-06) and U.S. Secretary of Navy (1809-12) (d. 1816)
- 1789 - William Burton, Governor of Delaware (1859-63) (d. 1866)
- 1802 - Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
- 1806 - William Pitt Fessenden, U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1864-65) (d. 1869)
- 1815 - Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
- 1819 - Austin F. Pike, American politician from New Hampshire (d. 1886)
- 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)
- 1854 - Karl Kautsky, Marxist theoretician (d. 1938)
- 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
- 1917 - Alice Pearce, American actress (d. 1966)
- 1918 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (d. 1990)
- 1919 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1922 - Max Bygraves, English singer/songwriter
- 1922 - Leon Sullivan, African-American civil rights leader and pastor (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (d. 1980)
- 1923 - Linda Darnell, American film actress (d. 1965)
- 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
- 1931 - James Chace, American historian (d. 2004)
- 1936 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
- 1936 - Akira Machida, Japanese judge
- 1936 - Peter Bowles, English actor
- 1938 - Nico (born Christa Päffgen; singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress) (d. 1988)
- 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
- 1943 - Fred Turner, Canadian bass player (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
- 1946 - Suzanne Somers, American actress
- 1947 - Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player
- 1947 - Bob Weir, American musician (Grateful Dead)
- 1947 - David Zucker, American film director
- 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
- 1953 - Tony Carey, American-born rock keyboardist, producer (Rainbow, Planet P Project)
- 1954 - Stephen Mellor, American actor
- 1956 - Johnny Chavis, American football coach
- 1958 - Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and writer
- 1958 - Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Greek singer
- 1959 - Gary Kemp, British musician and actor
- 1959 - Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian composer
- 1959 - Brian Harper, baseball player
- 1961 - Randy Vasquez, American actor
- 1961 - Marc Levy, French novelist
- 1962 - Flea, Australian musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- 1962 - Manute Bol, Sudanese-born basketball player for the NBA
- 1962 - Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian baritone
- 1965 - Steve Lamacq, British journalist and disc jockey
- 1967 - Davina McCall, British television presenter
- 1967 - Tom Monaghan, founder of Dominos pizza
- 1968 - Randall Batinkoff, American actor
- 1968 - Ben Weinberger, American actor
- 1968 - Elsa Zylberstein, French actress
- 1969 - Wendy Wilson, American pop singer (Wilson Phillips)
- 1969 - Roy Hargrove, American jazz trumpeter.
- 1970 - Mehmet Scholl, German footballer
- 1970 - Kazuyuki Fujita, Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter
- 1972 - Tomas Lindberg, Swedish musician (At the Gates)
- 1972 - Darius Kasparaitis, National Hockey League player
- 1973 - Chad Gray, American singer (Mudvayne)
- 1973 - Peter Polaco, American professional wrestler
- 1973 - David Unsworth, English professional footballer
- 1974 - Paul Kariya, Canadian hockey player
- 1974 - Deo Grech, Maltese television presenter, songwriter
- 1975 - Kellie Martin, American actress
- 1975 - Brynjar Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer
- 1975 - Jacques Kallis, South African cricketer
- 1976 - Ryan Fitzgerald, Australian football (AFL) player and media personality
- 1977 - John Mayer, American musician
- 1979 - Erin Brown, B-movie actress, model, filmmaker, former softcore erotic actress, and musician
- 1980 - Sue Bird, American basketball player
- 1980 - Timana Tahu, Australian Rugby League player
- 1981 - Anthony Reyes, starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals
- 1982 - Vincy Chan, Hong Kong singer
- 1984 - Melissa Lauren, French pornographic actress
- 1984 - Shayne Ward, UK singer, winner of The X Factor,
- 1991 Andrew Williams Was Born (The Coolest Person On Earth)
Deaths
- 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)
- 1555 - Nicholas Ridley, 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)
- 1909 - Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer (b. 1856)
- 1937 - Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b. 1899)
- 1946 - Nuremberg trial executions
- 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)
- 1974 - Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, noted Carnatic musician (b. 1895)
- 1978 - Dan Dailey, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1979 - Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (b. 1903)
- 1981 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
- 1982 - Mario del Monaco, Italian tenor (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)
- 1996 - Eric Malpass, English novelist (b. 1910)
- 1996 - Jason Bernard, American actor (b. 1938)
- 1997 - James Michener, American writer (b. 1907)
- 1997 - Audra Lindley, American actress (b. 1918)
- 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 murder victim
- 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)
- 2006 - Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Ex President of Peru (b. 1936)
- 2006 - Ross Davidson, British actor (b. 1949)
- 2006 - Tommy Johnson, American tubist (b. 1935)
- 2006 - Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (b. 1921)