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January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 349 days remain until the end of the year (350 in leap years).

Events

• 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate.
• 550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
• 1120 - The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
• 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
• 1412 - The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
• 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in the Spanish language, is presented to Queen Isabella.
• 1547 - Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
• 1572 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
• 1581 - The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
• 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.
• 1707 - The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
• 1761 - The British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
• 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
• 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
• 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
• 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• 1864 - Second Schleswig War: King Christian IX of Denmark declares war on the German Confederation in order to occupy Schleswig.
• 1878 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
• 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.
• 1896 - Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
• 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
• 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
• 1919 - Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.
• 1920 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. is founded on the campus of Howard University.
• 1938 - The famous jazz concert by the Benny Goodman Orchestra and special guests takes place at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the first jazz performance in that venue. 4200 miles away, the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Bruno Walter performs the Ninth Symphony by Gustav Mahler at the Musikverein in Vienna, a work the orchestra and conductor had premiered in the same location twenty-six years earlier. The subsequent annexation of Austria by the Nazis two months later would leave Mahler's work banned and many members of the Philharmonic either homeless or in concentration camps. Both concerts were recorded, the latter the premiere recording of the Mahler Ninth.
• 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
• 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
• 1968 - The Youth International Party is founded.
• 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
• 1969 - The Metroliner train enters into service.
• 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
• 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
• 1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
• 1991 - The United States goes to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War (U.S. Time).
• 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
• 1996 - Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou resigns from office for health reasons.
• 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
• 2001 - US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.
• 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
• 2003 - The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
• 2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

Births

• 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
• 1409 - René I of Naples (d. 1480)
• 1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
• 1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
• 1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
• 1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
• 1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
• 1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
• 1728 - Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
• 1807 - Charles Henry Davis, American Civil War Admiral (d 1877)
• 1815 - Henry W. Halleck, American Civil War general (d. 1872)
• 1821 - John C. Breckinridge, U.S. Vice-President and Confederate general (d. 1875)
• 1834 - Robert R. Hitt, American politician (d. 1906)
• 1836 - King Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
• 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
• 1844 - Ismail Qemali, Albanian nationalist (d. 1919)
• 1853 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)
• 1853 - Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and theatre manager (d. 1937)
• 1853 - Gen Sir Ian Hamilton, British military commander (d. 1947)
• 1872 - Edward Gordon Craig, English actor, producer, director and scenic designer (d. 1966)
• 1872 - Henri Busser, French composer (d. 1973)
• 1874 - Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)
• 1875 - Leonor Michaelis, German enzyme kinetic theorist (d. 1947)
• 1878 - Harry Carey, American silent film actor (d. 1947)
• 1885 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)
• 1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
• 1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
• 1893 - Daisy Kennedy, Australian violinist (d. 1981)
• 1894 - Irving Mills, American jazz music publisher (d. 1985)
• 1895 - Nat Schachner, American author (d. 1955)
• 1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
• 1898 - Irving Rapper, UK-US film director (d. 1999)
• 1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
• 1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
• 1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
• 1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
• 1903 - William Grover-Williams, English-French racing driver and WWII resistance fighter (d. 1945, by execution)
• 1905 - Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
• 1906 - Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964)
• 1907 - Alexander Knox, Canadian actor (d. 1995)
• 1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
• 1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
• 1908 - Günther Prien, German World War II submarine captain (d. 1941)
• 1910 - Dizzy Dean, American baseball player (d. 1974)
• 1911 - Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
• 1911 - Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean politician (d.1982)
• 1914 - Roger Wagner, American choral musician (d. 1992)
• 1916 - Philip Lucock, Australian politician and Presbyterian minister (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)
• 1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poet (d. 2005)
• 1918 - Clem Jones, Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Australia (d. 2007)
• 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer (d. 1996)
• 1920 - Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (d. 1991)
• 1921 - Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
• 1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
• 1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
• 1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
• 1928 - Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano (d. 1996)
• 1928 - William Kennedy, American author
• 1930 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d. 2006)
• 1930 - Norman Podhoretz, US writer, foreign policy adviser
• 1931 - Johannes Rau, German politician (d. 2006)
• 1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
• 1933 - Susan Sontag, American writer (d. 2004)
• 1934 - Marilyn Horne, American opera singer
• 1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver and team owner
• 1937 - Lorraine Bayly, Australian actress
• 1937 - Luiz Bueno, Brazilian racing driver
• 1938 - Jô Soares, Brazilian author, musician and TV personality
• 1942 - René Angélil, Canadian music executive
• 1942 - Barbara Lynn, American singer
• 1943 - Gavin Bryars, English composer and double bassist
• 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
• 1944 - Jim Stafford, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
• 1946 - Ronnie Milsap, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
• 1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host
• 1947 - Magdalen Nabb, British author (d. 2007)
• 1947 - Harvey Proctor, British politician
• 1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
• 1948 - Dalvanius Prime, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
• 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
• 1948 - Ruth Reichl, American magazine editor
• 1949 - Andrew Refshauge, Australian politician, Deputy Premier of New South Wales
• 1950 - Debbie Allen, American dancer and choreographer
• 1950 - Damo Suzuki, Japanese singer (Can)
• 1951 - Glenn Ordway, American radio talk show host
• 1952 - King Fuad II of Egypt
• 1953 - Robert Jay Mathews, American neo-Nazi (d. 1984)
• 1956 - Jennifer Dale, Canadian actress
• 1956 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
• 1956 - Ivan Safronov, Russian journalist (d. 2007)
• 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
• 1958 - Lena Ek, Swedish politician
• 1959 - Juanita Bynum, American televangelist
• 1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
• 1961 - Paul Raven, English musician (Killing Joke) (d. 2007)
• 1961 - Jill Sobule, American singer-songwriter
• 1962 - Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk, .O.rang)
• 1962 - Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian Labor Party politician
• 1963 - James May, English television presenter
• 1965 - Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)
• 1968 - David Chokachi, American actor
• 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
• 1969 - Dead, Swedish black metal vocalist (Mayhem) (d. 1991)
• 1970 - Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author
• 1970 - Brendan O'Hare, Scottish drummer (Teenage Fanclub, Telstar Ponies)
• 1970 - Ron Villone, American baseball player
• 1971 - Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player
• 1972 - Richard T. Jones, American actor
• 1972 - Greg Page, Australian actor
• 1973 - Josie Davis, American actress
• 1974 - Marlon Anderson, American baseball player
• 1974 - Kate Moss, English model
• 1975 - Greg Strause, American visual effects creator
• 1975 - Gillian Iliana Waters, American actress
• 1976 - Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver
• 1976 - Martina Moravcová, Slovak female swimmer
• 1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
• 1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
• 1979 - Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 - Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Albert Pujols, Dominican-born baseball player
• 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
• 1980 - Seydou Keita, Malian footballer
• 1981 - Bobby Zamora, English footballer
• 1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)
• 1982 - Samuel Preston, British singer (The Ordinary Boys)
• 1982 - Tuncay Şanlı, Turkish footballer
• 1983 - Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
• 1984 - Jared Slingerland, Canadian musician
• 1985 - Jonathan Richter, Danish professional football midfielder
• 1987 - Lauren McAvoy, British fashion model
• 1988 - Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer.

Deaths

• 960 - Polyeuctus, Patriarch of Constantinople
• 1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed) (b. 1352)
• 1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
• 1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
• 1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist (b. 1480)
• 1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
• 1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
• 1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
• 1711 - Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)
• 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
• 1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
• 1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
• 1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
• 1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
• 1809 - John Moore, British general (b. 1761)
• 1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman (b. 1759)
• 1834 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (b. 1769)
• 1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
• 1864 - Anton Schindler, Austrian biographer of Beethoven (b. 1795)
• 1865 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b. 1828)
• 1879 - Octave Crémazie, French Canadian poet (b. 1827)
• 1886 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian opera composer (b. 1834)
• 1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
• 1898 - Charles Pelham Villiers, longest-serving MP in the British House of Commons (b. 1802)
• 1901 - Hiram Revels, U.S. Senator, first African-American to serve in the United States Congress (b. 1822)
• 1901 - Jules Barbier, French opera librettist (b. 1825)
• 1901 - Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter (b. 1827)
• 1906 - Marshall Field, founder of Marshall Field and Company (b. 1834)
• 1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• 1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
• 1920 - Reginald De Koven, American music critic and composer of operettas (b. 1859)
• 1924 - Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald, philanthropist (b. 1859)
• 1935 - Ma Barker, American criminal (b. 1871)
• 1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (b. 1870)
• 1942 - Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, Governor General of Canada (b. 1850)
• 1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
• 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
• 1957 - 1st Earl of Athlone, British royal, Governor-General of South Africa and Canada (b. 1874)
• 1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
• 1962 - Frank Hurley, Australian photographer (b. 1885)
• 1963 - Ike Quebec, American tenor-saxophone player (b. 1918)
• 1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)
• 1969 - Vernon Duke, American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
• 1969 - Jan Palach, Czech protester against the Soviet led invasion.(b. 1948)
• 1971 - Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
• 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and creator of The Chipmunks (b. 1919)
• 1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
• 1979 - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b. 1897)
• 1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
• 1985 - Robert Fitzgerald, U.S. poet and translator (b. 1910)
• 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
• 1987 - Bertram Wainer, Australian pro-abortion campaigner (b. 1928)
• 1988 - Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b. 1899)
• 1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
• 1993 - Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (b. 1960)
• 1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
• 1996 - Marcia Davenport, American author and music critic (b. 1903)
• 1997 - Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby (murdered) (b. 1969)
• 1998 - Dimitris Horn, Greek actor (b. 1921)
• 1999 - Jim McClelland, Australian solicitor, politician, Minister, Royal Commissioner, judge (b. 1915)
• 2000 - Will "Dub" Jones, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1928)
• 2000 - John Morris Rankin, musical entertainer (b. 1959)
• 2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
• 2001 - Auberon Waugh, British author and journalist (b. 1939)
• 2002 - Robert Hanbury Brown, British-Australian astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
• 2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
• 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
• 2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
• 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
• 2003 - Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
• 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
• 2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)
• 2006 - Stanley Biber, American physician, pioneer of transgender surgery, (b. 1923)
• 2007 - Ron Carey, American actor (b. 1935)
• 2007 - Benny Parsons, American racecar driver and commentator (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances

• Teacher's Day in Thailand
• Thai Pongal in Tamil nadu, India
• National Religious Freedom Day in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786
• Berard of Carbio
• Saint Fursey
• Honoratus of Arles
• January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada

• January