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Historical Events

16 Feb 1249
Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols
16 Feb 1559
Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy
16 Feb 1646
Battle of Great Torrington Devon - the last major battle of the first English Civil War
16 Feb 1659
1st known cheque (400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)
16 Feb 1677
Earl of Shaftesbury arrested and confined in the Tower of London
16 Feb 1751
1st publication of Thomas Grays poem Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard
16 Feb 1760
Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George South Carolina
16 Feb 1771
Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy
16 Feb 1777
Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)
16 Feb 1804
US Navy Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate Philadelphia after pirates seized it
16 Feb 1838
Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
16 Feb 1838
Weenen Massacre Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River Natal are killed by Zulu warriors
16 Feb 1852
Studebaker Brothers wagon company precursor of the automobile manufacturer is established.
16 Feb 1857
Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington D.C.
16 Feb 1859
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz in an attempt to standardize the pitch
16 Feb 1864
Battle of Mobile AL - operations by Union Army
16 Feb 1486
Maximilian I is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt
16 Feb 1512
Battle at Valeggio French troops beat Venetianen
16 Feb 1866
Spencer Compton Cavendish Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War
16 Feb 1868
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks forms (NY)
16 Feb 1880
American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC)
16 Feb 1887
Eduard Douwes Dekker writes his last text (Lf8-c5)
16 Feb 1892
Opera Werther by Jules Massenet premieres in Vienna
16 Feb 1899
Pelham Warner scores 132 on Test Cricket debut (Eng v SA Johannesburg)
16 Feb 1899
President of France Flix Faure dies in office.
16 Feb 1899
Knattspyrnuflag Reykjavkur Icelands first football club is founded
16 Feb 1900
1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes (Chung Sai Yat Po San Francisco)
16 Feb 1900
Stanley Cup Montreal Shamrocks beat Winnipeg Victorias 3 games to 1
16 Feb 1903
-59F (-51C) Pokegama Dam Minnesota (state record)
16 Feb 1909
1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)
16 Feb 1915
Frank Home Run Baker 28 announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He sits out season
16 Feb 1916
Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI
16 Feb 1916
The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
16 Feb 1916
The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
16 Feb 1918
Lithuania declares independence from Russia & Germany (National Day)
16 Feb 1923
Allies accept Latvias occupation of Memel territory
16 Feb 1923
US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard
16 Feb 1923
US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
16 Feb 1926
Suzanne Lenglen defeats US champion Helen Wills in influential tennis match in Cannes France
16 Feb 1929
KID-AM in Idaho Falls ID begins radio transmissions
16 Feb 1931
Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland
16 Feb 1932
1st patent for a tree issued to James Markham for a peach tree
16 Feb 1933
Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis and communists
16 Feb 1933
England regains the Ashes thanks to bodyline tactics
16 Feb 1934
Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund
16 Feb 1934
Commission of Government is sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland
16 Feb 1936
IVWinter Olympic Games close at Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany
16 Feb 1936
Spanish Frente Popular (Peoples Front) wins elections
16 Feb 1936
IV Winter Olympic Games close in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany
16 Feb 1937
DuPont Corp patents nylon developed by employee Wallace H Carothers
16 Feb 1937
Jean Anouilhs Le Voyageur Sans Baggage premieres in Paris
16 Feb 1940
British search plane finds German supply ship Altmark used to accommodate aliied sailors from vessles sunk by the Graf Spee off Norway
16 Feb 1942
Bangka Island massacre Japanese soldiers machine-gun 22 Australian Army nurses and 60 Australian and British soldiers and crew members from two sunken ships. Only one nurse and two soldiers survive.
16 Feb 1943
-32F (-36C) Falls Village Connecticut (state record)
16 Feb 1943
Withdrawing Afrika Korps reaches Mareth-line in North Africa
16 Feb 1943
Sign on Munich facade Out with Hitler Long live freedom done by White Rose student group caught on 218 beheaded on 222
16 Feb 1945
US forces land on Corregidor complete conquest on March 3
16 Feb 1946
The Duchess Misbehaves closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 5 performances
16 Feb 1946
1st commercially designed helicopter tested Bridgeport Connecticut
16 Feb 1948
1st newsreel telecast 20th Century Fox-Movietone News shown on NBC
16 Feb 1948
Miranda famous moon of Uranus photographed for 1st time
16 Feb 1950
Longest-running prime-time game show Whats My Line begins on CBS
16 Feb 1950
Writers fail to elect anyone to Baseballs Hall of Fame
16 Feb 1951
NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
16 Feb 1952
Ian Craig makes NSW cricket debut aged 16 years 249 days (NSW record)
16 Feb 1952
United States goes 1-2 in the 500m speed skating at the Olso Winter Olympics with Ken Henry taking gold ahead of team mate Don McDermott Norwegian Hjalmar Anderson dominates remaining 3 speed skating events
16 Feb 1954
WNEM TV channel 5 in Bay City MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
16 Feb 1957
The Toddlers Truce a controversial television closedown between 6.00pm and 7.00pm abolished in the United Kingdom
16 Feb 1959
Leonard Spigelgass Majority of One premieres in NYC
16 Feb 1960
US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip
16 Feb 1961
1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit Wallops Island Virginia
16 Feb 1962
La Jete French film directed by Chris Marker starring Hlne Chatelain Davos Hanich and Jacques Ledoux is released
16 Feb 1963
1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina Italy (Mary Revell of US)
16 Feb 1963
Beatles top British rock charts with Please Please Me
16 Feb 1964
Foxy opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 72 performances
16 Feb 1965
Baker Street opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 313 performances
16 Feb 1966
Bob Cowper makes 307 v England at the MCG 727 mins 20 fours
16 Feb 1966
End of Wally Grouts Test Cricket career 187 dismissals as Australian wicketkeeper
16 Feb 1966
France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
16 Feb 1968
US 1st 911 phone system goes into service in Haleyville Alabama
16 Feb 1968
Italy completes the bobsleigh double at the Grenoble Winter Olympics with victory in the 4-man Eugenio Monti and Luciano de Paolis double up for gold winning 2-man earlier
16 Feb 1969
Detroit Red Wings captain Alex Delvecchio picks up an assist in a 6-2 defeat at Minnesota to become the 3rd player in NHL history to score 1000 career points
16 Feb 1969
Andrei Rublev Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky starring Anatoly Solonitsyn and Ivan Lapikov premieres in Moscow after a limited release in 1966
16 Feb 1972
Test Cricket debut of Lawrence Rowe WI v NZ Kingston 214 & 100
16 Feb 1973
West Indies v Australia at Kingston 1st time since 1955 without Gary Sobers
16 Feb 1975
Washington Capitals 1st NHL shutout beating KC Scouts 3-0
16 Feb 1975
17th Daytona 500 Benny Parsons wins (153.649 MPH)
16 Feb 1978
1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randys CBBS Chicago)
16 Feb 1979
Los Angeles premiere of Paul Schraders allegedly fact based film Hardcore
16 Feb 1980
Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons France
16 Feb 1980
American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 5000m in Olympic record 702.29 second of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
16 Feb 1982
Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female president of Malta
16 Feb 1982
Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vandenberg AFB to launch pad
16 Feb 1983
The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people in Australias worst ever fires
16 Feb 1984
Bill Johnson becomes 1st American to win Olympic downhill skiing gold
16 Feb 1984
NJ Devils 1st OT goal Jan Ludvig beats Hartford Whalers 6-5
16 Feb 1984
Swedish cross country skier Gunde Svan takes his 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in the 4 x 10k relay also wins 15k gold
16 Feb 1984
Swedish cross country skier Thomas Wassberg wins 2nd career gold medal in 4 x 10k relay at Sarajevo Winter Olympics 2nd of 4 career gold 15k Lake Placid (1980) 50k Sarajevo relay Calgary (1988)
16 Feb 1984
Canadian speed skater Gatan Boucher takes out the 1500m at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics his second gold medal of the Games also wins the 1000m
16 Feb 1984
3-time mens figure skating world champion Scott Hamilton of the US wins the gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics from Brian Orser of Canada and Jozef Sabovk of Czechoslovakia
16 Feb 1985
Largest NBA crowd to date 43816 sees Philadelphia at Detroit
16 Feb 1985
Livingston Bramble defeats Ray Boom Boom Mancini to win WBA champ
16 Feb 1985
NJ Devils score their fastest hat trick in 42 seconds
16 Feb 1986
Uptown... Its Hot closes at Lunt-Fontanne NYC after 24 performances
16 Feb 1986
French air force bombs Ouadi Doum airport in Chad
16 Feb 1986
Dutch speed skater Hein Vergeer becomes World Allround champion for the second time
16 Feb 1986
28th Daytona 500 Geoffrey Bodine wins (148.124 MPH)
16 Feb 1987
John Demjanjuk accused of being Ivan the Terrible trial begins
16 Feb 1988
1st documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador
16 Feb 1989
Egypt Iraq Jordan & North Yemen form common market
16 Feb 1989
Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser signs 7.9M-3 year contract
16 Feb 1989
William Hayden becomes Governor-General of Australia
16 Feb 1992
Former silver Goodyear blimps are now painted yellow & blue
16 Feb 1992
34th Daytona 500 Davey Allison wins (160.256 MPH)
16 Feb 1993
Sandra Vlker swims world record 50m backstroke (28.33 sec)
16 Feb 1993
Western Australias and Australias first woman Premier Carmen Lawrence is voted out of office.
16 Feb 1994
6.5 earthquake strikes South East Sumatra kills 200
16 Feb 1994
Johann Olav Koss skates world record 1500m (151.29)
16 Feb 1994
Premier Alfonso Bustamente ends government in Peru
16 Feb 1996
Gary Kirsten scores 188 for South Africa v UAE at Rawalpindi
16 Feb 1997
Terry-Jo Myers wins LPGA Los Angeles Womens Championship
16 Feb 1997
39th Daytona 500 Jeff Gordon wins (148.295 MPH)
16 Feb 1998
Tellabs Inc acquires Coherent Communications Systems for 670 million
16 Feb 1999
Across Europe Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders Abdullah calan.
16 Feb 2001
Mathieu Schneider of the Los Angeles Kings becomes the first defenseman in history to score a goal against all 30 NHL teams as LA beats Minnesota 4-0
16 Feb 2003
45th Daytona 500 Michael Waltrip wins (133.87 MPH)
16 Feb 2004
The Pittsburgh Penguins lose their 12th consecutive home game a NHL record
16 Feb 2005
2004-05 NHL season is canceled by league commissioner Gary Bettman. This was the first time that a North American professional sports league had to cancel a season due to a labor dispute
16 Feb 2005
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia.
16 Feb 2006
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army
16 Feb 2013
84 people are killed and 190 are injured after a market bombing in Hazara Town Pakistan
16 Feb 2013
Anthony Carmona is elected President of Trinidad and Tobago
16 Feb 2014
67th British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAS) 12 Years a Slave Best Film Alfonso Cuaron Best Director
16 Feb 2014
Netherlands sweeps the medals in the womens 1500m speed skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics Jorien ter Mors wins gold ahead of team mates Ireen Wst and Lotte van Beek
16 Feb 1899
Future England cricket captain Pelham Warner scores an unbeaten 132 on his Test debut in a 32 run win over South Africa in the 1st Test in Johannesburg
16 Feb 1900
Stanley Cup Montreal Arena Westmount Quebec Montreal Shamrocks beat Winnipeg Victorias 5-4 to take challenge series 3-1
16 Feb 1937
DuPont Corp patents nylon developed by employee Wallace Carothers
16 Feb 1975
17th Daytona 500 Benny Parsons wins after Cale Yarborough sends race leader David Pearson spinning on the backstretch Parsons avoids the accident and takes the victory
16 Feb 1983
The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people in one of Australias worst ever fires
16 Feb 1986
28th Daytona 500 Geoff Bodine wins on fuel mileage after Dale Earnhardt forced to pit for gas with 3 laps to go then blows engine leaving the pits
16 Feb 1997
39th Daytona 500 Hendrick Motorsports posts a 1-2-3 finish with Jeff Gordon winning the race ahead of Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven
16 Feb 2003
45th Daytona 500 Michael Waltrip wins for the second time in 3 years race ends after 109 laps when rain pours on the track
16 Feb 2005
2004-05 NHL season is cancelled by Commissioner Gary Bettman first time a North American professional sports league has called off a season due to labor dispute
16 Feb 2014
At age 36 American Bode Miller becomes the oldest medalist in Olympic alpine skiing history when he ties for bronze in the super-G in Sochi
16 Feb 1659
1st known cheque written (400) now on display at Westminster Abbey
16 Feb 1777
Charles Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)
16 Feb 1940
British search plane finds German supply ship Altmark used to accommodate allied sailors from vessels sunk by the Graf Spee off Norway
16 Feb 1952
United States goes 1-2 in the 500m speed skating at the Olso Winter Olympics with Ken Henry taking gold ahead of teammate Don McDermott Norwegian Hjalmar Anderson dominates remaining 3 speed skating events
16 Feb 1957
The Toddlers Truce a controversial television close down between 6 and 7 pm abolished in the United Kingdom
16 Feb 1984
Bill Johnson becomes first American to win an Olympic downhill skiing gold at the Sarajevo Games beats Swiss Peter Mller by 0.27s
16 Feb 2014
Netherlands sweeps the medals in the womens 1500m speed skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics Jorien ter Mors wins gold ahead of teammates Ireen Wst and Lotte van Beek
16 Feb 1804
US Navy Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate Philadelphia after it is seized by pirates
16 Feb 1852
Studebaker Brothers wagon company established - precursor of the automobile manufacturer
16 Feb 1864
Battle of Mobile Alabama - operations by Union Army
16 Feb 1883
Ladies Home Journal begins publishing in the US
16 Feb 1887
1st newspaper convention held in Rochester NY
16 Feb 1900
1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes Chung Sai Yat Po in San Francisco
16 Feb 1931
Extreme right wing politician Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland
16 Feb 1933
England cricket team regains the Ashes against Australia thanks to bodyline tactics
16 Feb 1966
Australian cricket batsman Bob Cowper makes a patient 307 (727 mins 20 x 4s) in drawn 5th Test v England in Melbourne
16 Feb 1967
NY Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
16 Feb 1982
Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) to launch pad
16 Feb 1985
Livingston Bramble defeats Ray Boom Boom Mancini to win WBA Lightweight championship in Buffalo New York
16 Feb 1992
34th Daytona 500 Davey Allison joins father Bobby as a race winner Richard Petty and A.J. Foyts final drives in the event
16 Feb 1777
French astronomer Charles Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)
16 Feb 1925
Rescuers finally reach the body of caver Floyd Collins too late 18 days after he became trapped in Sand Cave Kentucky bringing a tragic end to a story that had captured the nation [1]
16 Feb 1943
Sign on Munich facade Out with Hitler Long live freedom done by White Rose student anti-Nazi resistance group caught on 218 beheaded on 222
16 Feb 1946
Frank Blacks musical The Duchess Misbehaves closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 5 performances
16 Feb 1949
Revival of Sidney Howards Pulitzer Prize-winning 1924 stage drama They Knew What They Wanted opens at the Music Box Theatre NYC runs for 61 performances
16 Feb 1961
NASA Explorer 9 mission launches satellite for the 1st time from Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Island Virginia this was also the 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put into orbit
16 Feb 2005
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia committing industrialized nations to limit and reduce greenhouse gases
16 Feb 1985
Lebanese political and military organization Hezbollah founded
16 Feb 1999
Kurdish rebels take over Greek and Kenyan embassies across Europe and hold hostages after the two countries helped Turkey arrest one of their rebel leaders Abdullah calan [1]
16 Feb 1659
First known cheque written (400) now on display at Westminster Abbey
16 Feb 1751
First publication of Thomas Grays poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
16 Feb 1824
Athenaeum Club is founded in London as a private members club
16 Feb 1887
First newspaper convention held in Rochester NY
16 Feb 1945
WWII US Navy 5th Fleet aircraft carriers and planes begin two-day bombardment of airfields and aircraft plants near Tokyo Japan over 500 hundred Japanese aircraft are destroyed
16 Feb 1988
First documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador
16 Feb 2005
Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia committing industrialized nations to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
16 Feb 2014
American Bode Miller (36) becomes the oldest medalist in Olympic alpine skiing history when he ties for bronze in the super-G in Sochi
16 Feb 2016
China announces it will relocate 9000 people in Guizhou province before completion of worlds largest telescope (FAST) designed to look for extraterrestrial life
16 Feb 2016
Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy is placed under investigation for campaign funds
16 Feb 2017
Car bomb in Bayaa Baghdad kills at least 48 Islamic State claims responsibility. 3rd attack in 3 days
16 Feb 2017
Suicide attack on shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sehwan Pakistan kills 72 Islamic State claims responsibility
16 Feb 2018
More than 10000 orangutans killed in Borneo since 1999 according to study published in Current Biology
16 Feb 2018
National state of emergency declared in Ethiopia in wake of anti-government protests
16 Feb 2018
Sochi (2014) Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria wins the super-G gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
16 Feb 1915
MLB baseball slugger Frank Home Run Baker (28) announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He sits out season
16 Feb 1961
NASAs Explorer 9 is the first spacecraft placed in orbit by an all-solid rocket and the first spacecraft successfully launched into orbit from Wallops Island in Virginia
16 Feb 1963
The Beatles top British rock charts with Please Please Me
16 Feb 2018
Swiss cross country skier Dario Cologna wins 4th career Olympic gold medal in the 15k freestyle in Pyeongchang wins event in Vancouver (2010) and 15k classical & 30k skiathlon in Sochi (2014)
16 Feb 2019
Indias new high-speed train the Vande Bharat Express breaks down on its first return trip on Delhi to Varanasi route
16 Feb 2019
Needing 78 for an unlikely victory Sri Lankas Kusal Perera 153no and Vishwa Fernando 6no put on a record 10th wicket stand for a 1 wicket win vs South Africa in the 1st cricket Test in Durban
16 Feb 2020
Ghost ship cargo vessel MV Alta washed up on the Irish coast near Ballycotton by Storm Dennis after drifting across the Atlantic from Bermuda
16 Feb 2020
America evacuates 400 citizens from COVID-19-infected cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined in Yokohama port Japan
16 Feb 2021
Athens and parts of Greece covered in unusual heavy snowfall
16 Feb 2021
US Winter storm continues with Dallas recording its lowest temperature in 70 years minus-2 degrees Fahrenheit
16 Feb 2022
Johannes Hsflot Klbo teams with Erik Valnes to win the mens team sprint for Norway and clinch the cross country freestyle sprint double at the Beijing Winter Olympics
16 Feb 2023
WWII US Naval History and Heritage Command confirms identity of the wreck USS Albacore a submarine lost in 1944 discovered by University of Tokyo sonar team in 2022 off of Hokkaid Japan
16 Feb 2024
Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos can be considered children as part of a wrongful death case where frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed at a clinic [1]
16 Feb 2025
67th Daytona 500 William Byron becomes first back-to-back winner since Denny Hamlin in 2019-20 after escaping the chaos that knocked out the bulk of contenders in 2 late-race accidents
16 Feb 2025
Saturday Night Live celebrates 50 years with a special show SNL50 The Anniversary Special with celebrity guests and returning cast members [1]