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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.
• 1521 - Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the rest of the estates of the empire.
• 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.
• 1780 - The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded
• 1799 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
• 1853 - The first passenger rail opens in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
• 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 - Harriet 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 - Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the British slaughter of Indian protestors in the Amritsar Massacre.
• 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).
• 1945 - German ship Goya sinks, killing more than 7,000 people.
• 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 from radio to television to host the musical-variety show Garroway at Large.
• 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
• 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.
• 1988 - In Forlì (Italy), Red Brigades kill Italian senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
• 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.
• 1998 - One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998).
• 2000 - Protests against the World Bank and IMF in Washington, DC.
• 2001 - First 3G voice call on Vodafone UK's 3G network.
• 2003 - Makobo Modjadji is crowned the new Rain Queen of Balobedu.
• 2003 - The Accession Treaty is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
• 2005 - The BBC announces David Tennant's casting as the Tenth Doctor in the long-running science-fiction television series, Doctor Who.

Births

• 778 - King Louis the Pious (d. 840)
• 1319 - King John II of France (d. 1364)
• 1495 - Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d. 1557)
• 1646 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (d. 1708)
• 1660 - Hans Sloane, British collector and physician (d. 1753)
• 1661 - Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (d. 1715)
• 1682 - John Hadley, inventor (d. 1744)
• 1728 - Joseph Black, Scottish chemist (d. 1799)
• 1730 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. 1795)
• 1755 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter (d. 1842)
• 1800 - George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, British soldier (d. 1888)
• 1823 - Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (d. 1852)
• 1844 - Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
• 1865 - Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
• 1867 - Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1912)
• 1871 - John Millington Synge, Irish writer (d. 1909)
• 1878 - Tip Foster, English cricketer (d. 1914)
• 1886 - Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944)
• 1889 - Charles Chaplin, English actor, writer, and film producer (d. 1977)
• 1904 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
• 1905 - Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
• 1912 - Garth Williams, American illustrator (d. 1996)
• 1918 - Spike Milligan, British comedian (d. 2002)
• 1919 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
• 1921 - Peter Ustinov, English writer, actor, and film director (d. 2004)
• 1922 - Kingsley Amis, English author (d. 1995)
• 1924 - Henry Mancini, American composer (d. 1994)
• 1927 - Edie Adams, American actress
• 1927 - Pope Benedict XVI
• 1927 - Peter Mark Richman, American actor
• 1928 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (d. 2002)
• 1930 - Herbie Mann, American jazz flute player (d. 2003)
• 1933 - Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
• 1935 - Sarah Kirsch, German poet
• 1935 - Bobby Vinton, American singer
• 1937 - Joseph Whipp, American actor
• 1939 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
• 1940 - Queen Margaret II of Denmark
• 1946 - Margot Adler, American journalist
• 1947 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
• 1947 - Gerry Rafferty, British musician and songwriter
• 1951 - Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer, painter, sculptor
• 1951 - Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer and photographer
• 1951 - Björgvin Halldórsson, Icelandic singer
• 1952 - Bill Belichick, American football coach
• 1952 - Billy West, American voice actor
• 1953 - J. Neil Schulman, American writer and activist
• 1954 - Ellen Barkin, American actress
• 1955 - Bruce Bochy, baseball player and manager
• 1956 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
• 1959 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• 1960 - Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
• 1961 - Doris Dragović, Croatian singer
• 1962 - Ian MacKaye, American musician (fugazi and Minor Threat)
• 1965 - Jon Cryer, American actor
• 1965 - Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
• 1971 - Selena, American singer (d. 1995)
• 1975 - Sean Maher, American actor
• 1976 - Lukas Haas, American actor
• 1977 - Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
• 1978 - Matthew Lloyd, Australian football player
• 1979 - Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, Swedish musician The Hives
• 1994 - Liliana Mumy, American actress
• 1994 - Justin Burns, School Kid and Sumo Wrestler

Deaths

• 69 - Otho, Roman Emperor (b. 32)
• 744 - al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph
• 924 - Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy
• 1113 - Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b. 1050)
• 1118 - Adelaide del Vasto, queen of Roger II of Sicily
• 1198 - Duke Frederick I of Austria
• 1645 - Tobias Hume, English composer
• 1687 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1628)
• 1689 - Aphra Behn, English dramatist
• 1783 - Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b. 1719)
• 1788 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
• 1828 - Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter (b. 1746)
• 1846 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer (b. 1763)
• 1859 - Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
• 1888 - Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (b. 1845)
• 1904 - Samuel Smiles, Scottish writer and reformer (b. 1812)
• 1914 - George William Hill, American astronomer (b. 1838)
• 1915 - Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841)
• 1938 - Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
• 1946 - Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b. 1884)
• 1958 - Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b. 1920)
• 1968 - Edna Ferber, American author (b. 1885)
• 1972 - Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
• 1978 - Lucius Clay, American general (b. 1897)
• 1985 - Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1991 - David Lean, British film director (b. 1908)
• 1992 - Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1994 - Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
• 1997 - Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. 1951)
• 1997 - Roland Topor, French illustrator (b. 1938)
• 1998 - Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
• 2001 - Michael Ritchie, American film director (b. 1920)
• 2002 - Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b. 1927)
• 2002 - Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
• 2003 - Graham Stuart Thomas, English author and garden designer (b. 1909)
• 2005 - Kay Walsh, British actress (b. 1911)

Holidays and observances

Easter Sunday

• Feast days:
  • Benedict Joseph Labre in the Roman Catholic Church
  • Saint Bernadette
  • Saint Paternus
  • Saint Cecilia
  • 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