16th August, on this day

1513 Battle of Guinegate (Battle of the Spurs) - King Henry VIII of England defeats French Forces who were forced to retreat.
1620 The Pilgrim Fathers, on board their ship The Mayflower, set sail from England en route to the Americas
1743 Earliest boxing code of rules formulated in England (Jack Broughton)
1777 Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vt
1780 British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden, SC
1792 Maximilien Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.
1812 War of 1812 : Gen Hull surrenders Detroit and Michigan territory to England
1819 British militia are used to break up a mass meeting demanding reform of Parliament at St Peter's Field, Manchester. At least 11 protestors are killed - the incident becoming known as the Peterloo Massacre
1829 Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker arrive in Boston, US to be exhibited
1858 Queen Victoria exchanging greetings by telegraph with President James Buchanan
1861 Pres Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
1863 Emancipation Proclamation signed
1865 Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
1867 The world's first croquet tournament is staged at Eveshamin Worcestershire, England
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
1869 Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguay battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance.
1870 Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-La-Tour is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1870 Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion
1896 The discovery of gold at Bonanza Creek on the Klondyke River starts a gold rush in the Yukon Territory, Canada in 1898
1897 Opening of the Tate Gallery in London - endowed by sugar merchant Henry Tate
1898 Roller coaster patented
1914 Battle of Cer begins. .
1920 The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens. The congress would call for armed revolution.
1925 American film comedian Charlie Chaplin's latest film The Gold Rush premieres in the United States
1930 The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.
1934 US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915)
1934 US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028' (1922 m) in Bathysphere
1936 11th Olympic games close in Berlin
1940 The Communist Party is banned in German-occupied Norway.
1941 HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School opens at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.
1942 The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.
1945 An assassination attempt was made on Japan's prime minister, Kantaro Suzuki.
1945 Puyi, the last Chinese emperor and ruler of Manchukuo, was captured by Soviet troops.
1948 The Israeli pound becomes legal tender
1954 Sports Illustrated publishes it's 1st issue
1955 Fiat Motors orders 1st private atomic reactor
1959 USSR introduces installment buying
1960 Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus
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.
1960 Republic of the Congo (Zaire) forms
1962 The original drummer with British group The Beatles - Peter Best - is fired by Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and replaced by Ringo Starr
1963 Independence is restored to Dominican Republic
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 fires upon, in an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
1981 Highest score in World Cup soccer match (New Zealand-13, Fiji-0)
1984 LA federal jury acquits auto maker John Z DeLorean on cocaine charges
1984 NASA launches Ampte
1985 Singer Madonna weds actor Sean Penn
1986 Madonna's "True Blue," album goes number 1 for 5 weeks and her single "Papa Don't Preach," goes number 1 for 2 weeks
1987 A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
1988 IBM introduces software for artificial intelligence
1988 Jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis
1988 Mayor Koch says he plans to wipe out street-corner windshield washers
1989 A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.
1990 Iraq orders 4000 Britons and 2500 Americans in Kuwait to Iraq
1991 President Bush declares the recession is near an end
1992 In response to an appeal by President Fernando Collor de Mello to wear green and yellow as a way to show support for him, thousands of Brazilians take to the streets dressed in black.
1993 The Debian distribution was first announced by Ian Murdock, then a student at Purdue University. Murdock initially called his system the "Debian Linux Release"
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.

16th August 2006

UN drive to build Lebanon force

US-UK flight in emergency divert

Flood havoc spreads in Ethiopia

16th August 2007

Rescuers search Peru quake rubble

Fears over rising Iraq bomb toll

Heavy losses on world markets

16th August 2008

Russia signs up to Georgia truce

Shia pilgrims killed in Baghdad

Summit tackles Zimbabwe

16th August 2009

China 'smelter poisoned children'

Pilot dies as Russia jets collide

Row over Afghan wife-starving law

16th August 2010

Millions of children at risk of flood diseases

Taliban kill adulterous couple

Colombian plane crashes on island

Birthdates which occurred on 16th August :

1860 Jules Laforgue Uruguay, French poet (Les Complaintes)
1862 Amos Alonzo Stagg football pioneer, inventor (tackling dummy)
1863 Gabriel Piern‚ Metz France, composer (Edith)
1868 Bernard MacFadden publisher (Physical Culture, True Romances)
1874 Arthur Meighen Canada, PM of Canada (1920,1,6)
1884 Hugo Gernsback sci-fi writer (1960 Hugo)
1892 Harold Foster cartoonist (created "Prince Valiant")
1894 George Meany NYC, labor leader (headed AFL-CIO)
1895 Lucien Littlefield San Antonio Tx, actor (Mr Beasley-Blondie)
1897 Robert Ringling circus master
1899 Glenn Strange Weed NM, actor (Sam the Bartender-Gunsmoke)
1902 Georgette Heyer England, novelist (Friday's Child)
1904 Wendell Stanley biochemist, 1st to crystallize a virus (Nobel '46)
1906 Franz Josef II prince of Liechtenstein (1938- )
1910 Mae Clarke Phila, actress (Frankenstein, Nana, Parole Girl)
1913 Menachem Begin Israeli PM (1977-83, Nobel 1978)
1914 Tullio Pandolfini Italy water polo (Olympic-gold-1948)
1917 Roque Cordero Panama, composer (Sonata Breve)
1925 Fess Parker Fort Worth Texas, actor (Davy Crockett, Old Yeller)
1928 Ann Blyth Mt Kisko NY, actress (Kismet, Mildred Pierce)
1930 Frank Gifford Calif, NFL halfback (NY Giants)/ABC sportscaster
1930 Robert Culp Berkley Calif, actor (I Spy, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice)
1930 Ted Hughes England, poet laureate (1984- )
1930 Tony Trabert tennis pro (1955 Wimbledon)
1931 Betsy Von Frstenberg Germany, stage actress (Gingerbread Lady)
1932 Eydie Gorme Bronx NY, singer (Tonight Show, Bossa Nova)
1933 Stuart A "Smokey" Roosa Durango Colo, Col USAF/astronaut (Apollo 14)
1934 John Standing London England, actor (Edward-Lime Street)
1935 Julie Newmar Hollywood Calif, actress (Catwoman-Batman, Living Doll)
1936 Anita Gillette Balt Md, actress (Quincy ME, Marathon, Moonstruck)
1936 Gary Clarke LA Calif, actor (Hondo, Virginian, Michael Shayne)
1938 Andr s Balcz¢ Hungary, pentathlete (Olympic-gold-1972)
1938 Ketty Lester Hope Ark, actress (Hester-Little House on the Prairie)
1939 Carol Shelly London, actress (Gwendolyn Pidgeon-Odd Couple)
1939 Valeri V Ryumin cosmonaut (Soyuz 25, 32)
1945 Kevin Ayers England, progressive rocker (Joy of a Toy)
1945 Robert Balaban Chicago, actor (Absence of Malice, Altered States)
1945 Suzanne Farrell Cincinatti, dancer (Don Quioxote)
1946 Lesley Ann Warren NYC, actress (Cinderella, Mission Impossible)
1947 John Howard (US), speed record (152.284 mph at Bonneville Flats, UT)
1952 Gianna Rolandi NYC, soprano (Der Rosenkavalier)
1952 Reginald Veljohnson actor (Carl Winslow-Family Matters, Die Hard)
1953 Catlin O'Heaney Whitefish Bay Wisc, actress (Snow White-Charmings)
1953 James Taylor rocker (Kool & The Gang-Joanna)
1953 Kathie Lee Gifford Paris Fla, hostess (Live with Regis & Kathie Lee)
1953 Nick Leyva baseball manager (Phillies 1988-91)
1957 Tim Farriss rocker (Inxs-Kiss the Dirt)
1958 Jonathan Prince Beverly Hills Pa, actor (Danny-Alice)
1958 Madonna (Ciccone) Bay City Mich, singer/actress (Like a Virgin)
1960 Timothy Hutton actor (Turk 182, Ordinary People)
1964 Jimmy Arias Buffalo NY, tennis player (US Davis Cup team)
1988 Rumer Willis child of Bruce Willis & Demi Moore

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Deaths which occurred on August 16th:
1854 Duncan Phyfe furniture maker, dies
1920 Norman Lockyer editor of NATURE, discoverer of helium in Sun, dies
1948 Babe Ruth Baseball legend, dies in NY at 53
1977 Elvis Presley dies of heart ailment at Graceland at 42
1989 Amanda Blake actress (Gunsmoke), dies at 60
1991 Shamu the Whale dies at 16, from respiratory failure
1991 Stuart Karl CEO (Karl Home Video), dies at 38 of skin cancer