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 Czar 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 Führerbunker
• 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

Holidays and observances

January 15 - January 17 - December 16 - February 16    - Historical anniversaries