April 16
April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years ). There are 259 days remaining.
Events
1178 BC - A solar eclipse may mark 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 .
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 .
1799 - Napoleonic Wars : Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre .
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 - Harriett 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 - Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the British slaughter of Indian protestors in the Amritsar Massacre . By organizing this event, Gandhi indirectly opposes the British government by temporarily halting the economy: no Hindus go to work that day.
1922 - The Treaty of Rapallo , in which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations between Berlin and Moscow , is signed.
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 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 ).
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 to television from radio to host the musical-variety show Garroway at Large .
1953 - A fire at a Chicago metalworking plant kills 35 people.
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 .
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.
1997 - Doris McGowen Beck Angleton , a Houston socialite, is murdered in her River Oaks home. Robert Nicholas Angleton , Doris' husband, was found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury. His brother, Roger Nicholas Angleton would later admit to killing her in a suicide note .
1998 - One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998 ).
2001 - First 3G voice call on Vodafone UK's 3G network.
Births
1319 - King John II of France (d. 1364 )
1660 - Hans Sloane , British collector and physician (d. 1753 )
1728 - Joseph Black , discoverer of carbon dioxide and magnesium (d. 1799 )
1755 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun , painter (d. 1842 )
1844 - Anatole France , narrator and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1921 (d. 1924 )
1867 - Wilbur Wright , pioneer pilot (d. 1912 )
1871 - John Millington Synge , playwright (d. 1909 )
1878 - Reginald Foster , only man to captain England at both football and cricket (d. 1914 )
1886 - Ernst Thälmann , politician (d. 1944 )
1889 - Charlie Chaplin , actor, writer and film producer (d. 1977 )
1897 - Frederick William Winterbotham , code breaker (d. 1990 )
1904 - Fifi D'Orsay , actress (d. 1983 )
1918 - Spike Milligan , comedian (d. 2002 )
1919 - Merce Cunningham , dancer, choreographer
1921 - Peter Ustinov , writer, actor and film director (d. 2004 )
1922 - Kingsley Amis , author (d. 1995 )
1924 - Henry Mancini , film and TV composer, "Moon River", Peter Gunn (d. 1994 )
1927 - Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)
1930 - Herbie Mann , jazz flute player (d. 2003 )
1935 - Sarah Kirsch , lyricist
1939 - Dusty Springfield , singer (d. 1999 )
1940 - Queen Margaret II of Denmark
1946 - Bobby Vinton , singer
1947 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , basketball star
1953 - J. Neil Schulman , Science Fiction writer, Libertarian activist
1956 - Lise-Marie Morerod , slalom skier
1960 - Rafael Benitez , manager of Liverpool F.C.
1962 - Ian MacKaye , musician
1965 - Martin Lawrence , actor, comedian, producer
1971 - Selena , singer (d. 1995 )
Deaths
69 - Otho , Roman Emperor (b. 32 )
744 - al-Walid II ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph
1198 - Duke Frederick I of Austria
1689 - Aphra Behn , dramatist (b. ca. 1640 )
1788 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon , naturalist (b. 1707 )
1828 - Francisco de Goya , Spanish painter (b. 1746 )
1859 - Alexis de Tocqueville , French historian (b. 1805 )
1914 - George William Hill , astronomer (b. 1838 )
1915 - Nelson W. Aldrich , Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841 )
1938 - Steve Bloomer , English footballer (b. 1874 )
1946 - Arthur Chevrolet , pioneer automobile racer and designer
1968 - Edna Ferber , American author (b. 1885 )
1972 - Kawabata Yasunari , Japanese author (b. 1899 )
1991 - David Lean , American film director (b. 1908 )
1992 - Neville Brand , actor (b. 1920 )
1997 - Doris Angleton , Houston, Texas socialite (b. 1951 )
1998 - Fred Davis , English snooker player (b. 1913 )
2003 - Graham Stuart Thomas , horticultural artist, author, and garden designer
Holidays and observances
External links
April 15 - April 17 - March 16 - May 16 – listing of all days
