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 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).
- 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 - Feast days:
- *Benedict Joseph Labre in the Roman Catholic Church
- *Saint Bernadette
- *Saint Paternus
- *Saint Fructuosus
- *Saint Turibius
- *Saints Martial, Urban, Eventius, Caecilian, Julia, and their companions martyrs of 304
- *Saint Drogo
- Birthday of the Queen celebrated in Greenland
External links - BBC: On This Day
April 15 - April 17 - March 16 - May 16 – listing of all days
16_Απριλίου
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