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Revision as of 12:09, 31 March 2006

August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 137 days remaining.

Events

• 1777 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bennington - British forces are defeated by American troops.
• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
• 1812 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
• 1819 - Eleven people die and 400 are injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
• 1841 - U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
• 1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
• 1868 - Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.
• 1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in the Klondike in Canada.
• 1913 - Tōhoku Imperial University (modern day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students.
• 1915 - World War I: Should victory be achieved over the Central Powers, the Triple Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia: the Austro-Hungarian territories of Baranja, Srem, Slavonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the eastern 2/3 of Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to the city of Bar).
• 1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
• 1928 - Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, DC after killing 20 people.
• 1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks
• 1942 - World War II: - The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappear without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crashlands in Daly City, California.
• 1946 - The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is established, and Ichirō Ishikawa is appointed its representative.
• 1954 - Sports Illustrated magazine is first published.
• 1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three records that still stand today: high-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
• 1962 - The Beatles fire drummer Pete Best and replace him with Ringo Starr.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
• 1972 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fires upon, but fails to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
• 1974 - The Ramones play their first ever show at the CBGB's.
• 1984 - Carmaker John De Lorean is acquitted of all eight counts of possessing and distributing cocaine.
• 1987 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines flight 255 crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing 155 people onboard, with the sole survivor four-year old Cecelia Cichan).
• 1993 - The Debian GNU/Linux distribution is founded by Ian Murdock.
• 1996 - Sigma Beta Rho is founded at the University of Pennsylvania.
• 2003 - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
• 2005 - West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.
• 2006 - Sam Crouch Hosts a party for his 18th birthday

Births

• 1355 - Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster
• 1378 - Hongxi Emperor of China (d. 1425)
• 1557 - Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (d. 1602)
• 1596 - Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)
• 1645 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (d. 1696)
• 1650 - Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist (d. 1718)
• 1682 - Louis, Duke of Burgundy, heir to the throne of France (d. 1712)
• 1832 - Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (d. 1920)
• 1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1921)
• 1860 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (d. 1887)
• 1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American coach (d. 1965)
• 1868 - Bernarr McFadden, American publisher (d. 1955)
• 1884 - Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born editor and publisher (d. 1967)
• 1888 - T. E. Lawrence, English writer and soldier (d. 1935)
• 1888 - Armand J. Piron, American musician (d. 1943)
• 1892 - Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (d. 1983)
• 1894 - George Meany, American labor union leader (d. 1980)
• 1895 - Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist (d. 1981)
• 1895 - Liane Haid, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
• 1902 - Georgette Heyer, English novelist (d. 1974)
• 1904 - Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• 1911 - E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)
• 1912 - Ted Drake English footballer (d. 1995)
• 1913 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
• 1920 - Charles Bukowski, American poet (d. 1994)
• 1923 - Millôr Fernandes, Brazilian cartoonist and playwright
• 1924 - Fess Parker, American actor
• 1925 - Willie Jones, baseball player (d. 1983)
• 1928 - Ann Blyth, American actress
• 1929 - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
• 1930 - Robert Culp, American actor
• 1930 - Frank Gifford, American football player and announcer
• 1931 - Eydie Gorme, American singer
• 1933 - Julie Newmar, American actress
• 1937 - David Anderson, Canadian politician
• 1939 - Trevor Mcdonald OBE, Television Newsreader
• 1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director
• 1946 - Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdish politician
• 1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, American actress
• 1950 - Hasely Crawford, Trinidad and Tobago athlete
• 1952 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
• 1953 - Kathie Lee Gifford, French-born singer and actress
• 1954 - James Cameron, Canadian film director
• 1958 - Angela Bassett, American actress
• 1958 - Madonna, American singer and actress
• 1960 - Timothy Hutton, American actor
• 1964 - Jimmy Arias, American tennis player
• 1967 - Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish-born television personality
• 1968 - Mateja Svet, Slovenian alpine skier
• 1972 - Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer
• 1974 - Robin Hull, Finnish snooker player
• 1974 - Krisztina Egerszegi, Hungarian swimmer
• 1976 - Jonatan Johansson, Finnish footballer
• 1977 - Dorth Raphaely, Sports Researcher
• 1978 - Eddie Gill, Professional basketballer
• 1980 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
• 1980 - Robert Hardy, English bassist (Franz Ferdinand)
• 1981 - Taylor Rain, American actress
• 1987 - Kyal Marsh, Australian actor
• 1991 - Árni Freyr Gunnarsson, Icelandic pianist
• 2004 - Oscar Mckenzie, American actor

Deaths

• 1027 - Giorgi I, King of Georgia (b. 998)
• 1327 - Roch, French saint
• 1358 - Duke Albert II of Austria (b. 1298)
• 1419 - Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia (b. 1361)
• 1443 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1434)
• 1445 - Margaret of Scotland (Dauphine of France), wife of Louis XI. (b. 1424.
• 1518 - Loyset Compère, French composer
• 1532 - John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)
• 1661 - Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (b. 1608)
• 1678 - Andrew Marvell, English poet (b. 1621)
• 1705 - Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and scientist (b. 1654)
• 1733 - Matthew Tindal, English deist (b. 1657)
• 1791 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1719)
• 1886 - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Indian guru (b. 1836)
• 1893 - Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (b. 1825)
• 1899 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
• 1907 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (b. 1834)
• 1921 - King Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)
• 1938 - Robert Johnson, American singer and guitarist (b. 1911)
• 1938 - Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and priest (b. 1864)
• 1948 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)
• 1949 - Margaret Mitchell, American novelist (b. 1900)
• 1956 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor (b. 1882)
• 1957 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• 1959 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
• 1973 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1888)
• 1975 - Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-born runner (b. 1927)
• 1977 - Elvis Presley, American singer and actor (b. 1935)
• 1979 - John Diefenbaker, thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
• 1983 - Earl Averill, baseball player (b. 1902)
• 1989 - Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
• 1997 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (b. 1915)
• 2002 - Abu Nidal, Palestinian political leader (b. 1937)
• 2002 - Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1928)
• 2004 - Ivan Hlinka, Czech hockey coach (b. 1950)
• 2004 - Robert Quiroga, American boxer (b. 1969)
• 2005 - Frère Roger of Taizé, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

• RC saints: feast day of Saint Stephen I of Hungary; Saint Roch (helps against plague and skin diseases)
• Eastern Orthodox: commemoration of the translation of the Acheiropoietos icon (a.k.a. the Mandelion; now lost) from Edessa to Constantinople on 16 August 944
• Palio dell'Assunta in Siena
• USA: legal holiday in Vermont for the Battle of Bennington in 1777 (which actually took place in the state of New York)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

August 15 - August 17 - July 16 - September 16 -- listing of all days