October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in Leap years). There are 76 days remaining.

Events

400-1899

• 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Roman Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Roman Empire
• 1775 - Portland, Maine burned by the British
• 1781 - George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia
• 1793 - Marie Antoinette, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and wife of Louis XVI and hence Queen Consort of France, was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.
• 1793 - Battle of Wattignies
• 1813 - The Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig, on their way to an invasion of France to restore the House of Bourbon to the French throne.
• 1834 - Much of the ancient structures of the Palace of Westminster in London is burnt down
• 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, is founded in Cambridge.
• 1882 - The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.

1900-1999

• 1906 - The Captain of Köpenick fools the city hall of Köpenick and several soldiers by impersonating a Prussian officer.
• 1912 - Bulgarian pilots Radul Minkov and Prodan Toprakchiev perform the first bombing with an airplane in history at the railway station of Karaagac near Edirne against Turkey.
• 1934 - Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong begin their Long March
• 1940 - Benjamin O. Davis Sr. named first African American general in the United States Army
• 1940 - Warsaw ghetto was established
• 1946 - Ten war criminals of the Second World War, condemned in the Nuremberg trials were hanged.
• 1949 - Nikos Zakhiariadis , leader of the Communist Party of Greece, announced a "temporary cease-fire to prevent the complete annihilation of Greece", effectively marking the end of the Greek Civil War.
• 1951 - The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi
• 1964 - People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon
• 1968 - US-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked out of the USA's team for performing a raised-fist Black Power salute during the 200m dash medal ceremony.
• 1968 - Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
• 1970 - Anwar Sadat elected President of Egypt
• 1970 - Canada - In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act imposing martial law.
• 1972 - Rainbow, a British television programme for children, debuts.
• 1973 - Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho 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), were killed by Indonesian troops.
• 1978 - Karol Józef Wojtyła becomes Pope John Paul II
• 1984 - Desmond Tutu awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1991 - George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 19 in Luby's Cafeteria.
• 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, including some of Texas millionaire John Bryan suckling on her toes.
• 1995 - The Million Man March occurs in Washington, DC.
• 1996 - 84 are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 soccer fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Mateo Flores Stadium in Guatemala City.

2000-2099

• 2001 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: U.S. warplanes mistakenly bomb International Red Cross warehouse in Kabul, Afghanistan .
• 2002 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, was officially inaugurated.
• 2003 - iTunes released for Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Births

1400-1899

• 1430 - James II of Scotland (d. 1460)
• 1483 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (d. 1542)
• 1535 - Niwa Nagahide, Japanese retainer, samurai, and daimyo (d. 1585)
• 1663 - Eugene of Savoy, general of the Austrian army.
• 1714 - Giovanni Arduino, geologist (d. 1795)
• 1758 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer
• 1815 - Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
• 1840 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese politician and prime minister (d. 1900)
• 1854 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900)
• 1861 - J. B. Bury, historian (d. 1927)
• 1878 - Maxey Long, American athlete
• 1886 - David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1973)
• 1888 - Eugene O'Neill, American playwright (d. 1953)
• 1890 - Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
• 1890 - Paul Strand, photographer
• 1898 - William O. Douglas, justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1980)

1900-1999

• 1900 - Primo Conti, Futurist painter
• 1908 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d.1985)
• 1914 - Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan
• 1925 - Angela Lansbury, actress
• 1927 - Günter Grass, German novelist
• 1928 - Mary Daly, radical feminist philosopher
• 1931 - Charles Colson, Watergate scandal conspirator
• 1936 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer
• 1940 - Barry Corbin, actor
• 1940 - Dave DeBusschere, NBA basketball player (d. 2003)
• 1941 - Tim McCarver, baseball star, commentator
• 1946 - Suzanne Somers, actress
• 1947 - Bob Weir, musician (The Grateful Dead)
• 1947 - Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player
• 1952 - Boogie Mosson, musician (P Funk)
• 1952 - Ron Taylor, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1953 - Paulo Roberto Falcão, Brazillian footballer.
• 1958 - Tim Robbins, American actor, director, writer
• 1959 - Gary Kemp, musician, actor
• 1962 - Flea, bassist (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• 1965 - Steve Lamacq, journalist and BBC radio DJ
• 1974 - Paul Kariya, hockey star
• 1977 - John Mayer, musician
• 1980 - Sue Bird, WNBA basketball star
• 1991 - Rose Margaret Mary Jane Ziemba

Deaths

1500-1899

• 1591 - Pope Gregory XIV
• 1793 - Marie Antoinette, queen of France
• 1796 - Victor Amadeus III of Savoy
• 1877 - Theodore Barrière, French dramatist
• 1888 - John Wentworth, mayor of Chicago, United States

1900-1999

• 1946 - Hans Frank, German war criminal
• 1946 - Wilhelm Frick, German war criminal
• 1946 - Alfred Jodl, German military officer
• 1946 - Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer
• 1946 - Wilhelm Keitel, German military officer
• 1946 - Joachim von Ribbentrop, German politician
• 1946 - Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi ideologist
• 1946 - Fritz Sauckel, German war criminal
• 1946 - Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi leader, governor of The Netherlands during the German occupation (1940-1945).
• 1946 - Julius Streicher, German propagandist
• 1951 - Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1959 - George C. Marshall, general, United States Secretary of State
• 1972 - Hale Boggs, Congressman from Louisiana
• 1972 - Leo G. Carroll, actor
• 1973 - Gene Krupa, musician
• 1978 - Dan Dailey, actor
• 1981 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general
• 1983 - Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer
• 1986 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
• 1989 - Cornel Wilde, actor
• 1990 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer
• 1992 - Shirley Booth, actress
• 1997 - James Michener, American writer
• 1998 - Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer
• 1999 - Jean Shepherd, writer, actor

2000-2099

• 2003 - Stu Hart, patriarch of wrestling family
• 2003 - László Papp, Hungarian boxer
• 2003 - Avni Arbas, Turkish artist

Holidays

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Ilm (Knowledge) - First day of the 12th month of the Bahá'í Calendar
• United States - Boss's Day
• United States - National Feral Cat Day

Links to dates and months

October 15 - October 17 - September 16 - November 16 - more historical anniversaries

• 16 October of various years (choose a link in your current format, which is like October 16, 2004):
  • 16 October 2004 - 16 October 2003 - 16 October 2002
  • October 16, 2004 - October 16, 2003 - October 16, 2002
  • 2004 October 16 - 2003 October 16 - 2002 October 16
  • 2004-10-16 - 2003-10-16 - 2002-10-16
• October of: 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996 - 1995 - 1994 - 1993 - 1992 - 1991 - 1990 - 1989 - 1988 - 1987 - 1986 - 1985 - 1984 - 1983 - 1982 - 1981 - 1980

External links

• BBC: On This Day