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Today October 16th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
456 – Magister militum Ricimer defeats Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
1775 – Portland, Maine is burned by the British.
1780 – Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont are the last major raids of the American Revolutionary War.
1781 – George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia after the Siege of Yorktown.
1793 – Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.
1793 – The Battle of Wattignies ends in a French victory.
1813 – The Sixth Coalition attacks Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig.
1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London is burnt to the ground.
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 a raid on Harper s Ferry, West Virginia.
1869 – The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is discovered.
1869 – Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England s first residential college for women.
1875 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
1882 – The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.
1905 – The Partition of Bengal in India takes place.
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 the German Luftwaffe.
1940 – Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
1940 – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.
1945 – The Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in Quebec City, Canada.
1946 – Nuremberg Trials: Execution of the convicted Nazi leaders of the Main Trial.
1949 – Nikolaos Zachariadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, announces a temporary cease-fire, effectively ending the Greek Civil War.
1949 – The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic are established.
1951 – The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis between the United States and Cuba begins.
1964 – The People s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon; Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksey Kosygin are inaugurated as General Secretary of the CPSU and Premier, respectively.
1968 – United States athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked off the USA s team for participating in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.
1968 – Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
1970 – In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act.
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 – Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave.
1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1987 – Great Storm of 1987: Hurricane force winds 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.
1993 – Anti-Nazi riot breaks out in Welling in Kent, after police stop protesters approaching the British National Party headquarters.
1995 – The Million Man March occurs in Washington, D.C.
1995 – The Skye Bridge was opened.
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.
1998 – Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.
2002 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
2004 – The first Apple mini retail store in the world opened in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California.
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)
1751 – Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen of Prussia (d. 1805)
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)
1795 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author (d. 1876)
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)
1883 – Vasiliki Maliaros, Greek actress (d. 1973)
1884 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (d. 1916)
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 – Maria Goretti, Italian saint (d. 1902)
1890 – Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1975)
1897 – Louis de Cazenave, French supercentenarian (d. 2008)
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)
1900 – Goose Goslin, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1903 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (d. 2003)
1906 – León Klimovsky, Argentine film director (d. 1996)
1908 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d. 1985)
1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Shah of Afghanistan (d. 2007)
1916 – George Turner, Australian author (d. 1997)
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, 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 – Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress
1929 – Fernanda Montenegro, Brazilian actress
1930 – Carmen Sevilla, Spanish actress
1931 – Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator
1931 – Rosa Rosal, Filipino actress and humanitarian
1932 – John Grant, British politician (d. 2000)
1932 – Henry Lewis, American musician and conductor (d. 1996)
1934 – Peter Ashdown, British racing driver
1936 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
1936 – Akira Machida, Japanese judge
1936 – Peter Bowles, English actor
1937 – Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino s Pizza
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
1948 – Hema Malini, Indian Actress
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)
1953 – Al Sobotka, Zamboni driver
1954 – Stephen Mellor, American actor
1956 – John 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
1960 – Bob Mould, American musician
1961 – Randy Vasquez, American actor
1961 – Marc Levy, French novelist
1962 – Flea, Australian-born American 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
1968 – Randall Batinkoff, American actor
1968 – Elsa Zylberstein, French actress
1969 – Roy Hargrove, American jazz trumpeter
1969 – Terri J. Vaughn, American actress
1969 – Wendy Wilson, American pop singer (Wilson Phillips)
1969 – Takao Omori, Japanese professional wrestler
1970 – Mehmet Scholl, German footballer
1970 – Kazuyuki Fujita, Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter
1971 – Chad Gray, American singer
1972 – Tomas Lindberg, Swedish musician (At the Gates)
1972 – Darius Kasparaitis, Russian Super League player
1972 – Kordell Stewart, American football player
1973 – Peter Polaco, American professional wrestler
1973 – David Unsworth, English professional footballer
1974 – Paul Kariya, Canadian hockey player
1974 – Deo Grech, Maltese television presenter and 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
1978 – Ethan Luck, American musician (The O.C. Supertones, Demon Hunter, Relient K)
1979 – Erin Brown, American actress, model, filmmaker, and musician
1980 – Sue Bird, American basketball player
1980 – Jeremy Jackson, American actor
1980 – Timana Tahu, Australian Rugby League player
1981 – Caterina Scorsone, Canadian actress
1981 – Anthony Reyes, American baseball player
1981 – Martin Halle, Danish footballer
1982 – Vincy Chan, Hong Kong singer
1982 – Frédéric Michalak, French rugby player
1983 – Jennifer Hurt, model
1984 – Trevor Blumas, Canadian actor
1984 – Melissa Lauren, French pornographic actress
1984 – Shayne Ward, UK singer
1985 – Casey Stoner, Australian motorcycle racer
1986 – Craig Pickering, British sprinter
1988 – Zoltán Stieber, Hungarian footballer
Deaths
1355 – Louis, King of Sicily, felled by the Black Death (b. 1337)
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
1750 – Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German composer and lutenist (b. 1687)
1755 – Saint Gerard Majella, Catholic saint (b. 1725)
1774 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (b. 1750)
1781 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b. 1705)
1791 – Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, Russian general and statesman (b. 1739)
1793 – Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (executed) (b. 1755)
1793 – John Hunter, eminent doctor and philosopher (b. 1728)
1796 – Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b. 1726)
1810 – Nachman of Breslov, founder of Breslov Hasidut (b. 1772)
1822 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian ballet dancer (b. 1724)
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)
1908 – Father Ignatius, a restorer of religious life in the Church of England (b. 1837)
1909 – Jakub Bart-Cišinski, Sorbian writer (b. 1856)
1937 – Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b. 1899)
1946 – Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial:
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)
1956 – Jules Rimet, president of FIFA (b. 1873)
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. 1886)
1973 – Gene Krupa, American jazz drummer (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 – Jorge Bolet, Cuban-American classical pianist (b. 1914)
1990 – Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (b. 1919)
1992 – Shirley Booth, American actress (b. 1898)
1994 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1940)
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 – Dawson family, American murder victims
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 – Eugene Porky Lee, American child actor (b. 1933)
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)
2007 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)
2007 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian music star (b. 1981)
2007 – Barbara West, Second to last living Titanic survivor (b. 1911)
Holidays and observances
Boss s Day in the United States
Pope John Paul II Day in Poland
World Food Day
R.C. Saints – Gerard Majella, Hedwig, Fortunatus of Casei
International Credit Union Day
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