955 Pope John XII, known known as John the Bad, was the Pope and ruler of the Papal States from December 16, 955 to his death in 964. John's pontificate became infamous for the depravity and worldliness with which he conducted his office. Among his offences were turning the Papal Palace into a brothel, invoking the aid of Jupiter and Venus whilst playing dice and ordaining a deacon in a stable at an improper season.
1431 10-year-old Henry VI of England's coronation as King of France was held at Notre Dame de Paris on December 16, 1431. He was crowned King of France by his great-uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, who also insisted upon singing the Mass, much to the annoyance of the Bishop of Paris whose cathedral was being used for the occasion.
1497 When Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, he became the first European to do so. On December 16, 1497, Vasco da Gama passed the Great Fish River, a river running 400 miles (644 kilometres) through the South African province of the Eastern Cape, on his journey to India. It was here that Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
1689 The Bill of Rights, which was passed by Parliament on December 16, 1689, was one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, It asserted liberties and rights of the nation and declared William III (Prince of Orange) and Mary II, king and queen. The Act also made it illegal for royals to suspend laws without Parliament's consent or to raise money and gave freedom of speech to MPs in Parliament and freedom in elections.
1740 The War of Austrian Succession began on December 16, 1740, when the Prussian king Frederick the Great invaded and quickly occupied Silesia. This was in defiance of the succession of Maria Theresa, daughter of Emperor Charles VI who had just died. After defeating Austria at the Battle of Fontenoy, the Treaty of Dresden was signed in December 1745, finally establishing Prussian rule in Silesia.
1770 There is no actual record of Ludwig Van Beethoven's birth. He is traditionally assumed to have been born on December 16, 1770 because his baptism was recorded as taking place in a Roman Catholic service at the Parish of St. Regius on the following day, but the real natal date and hour are unknown.
1773 About fifty members of the Sons of Liberty, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded a British vessel in Boston on December 16, 1773. They then emptied 342 tea chests into the harbor as a protest against the Tea Act. Word about their protest against the English tax soon spread and it proved to be a key event in the U.S. War of Independence.
1775 Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon rectory. Jane's father, Rev George Austen was an educated gentlemanly parson of moderate means, who was the vicar at Steventon for over 40 years. Jane was modest about her education, saying: “I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.”
1811 An earthquake measuring around 8 on the richter scale on December 16, 1811, caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards. The backward flow of the Mississippi River was caused by the earthquake's impact on the riverbed. The intense shaking and ground displacement caused the riverbed to warp and crack, which allowed the river's water to flow back upstream for a short distance.
1830 A tour of Scotland in 1829 inspired Felix Mendelssohn to compose The Hebrides Overture, also known as "Fingal's Cave," which he completed on December 16, 1830. Mendelssohn was enchanted by the country and the scenery in Staffa, an island in the Hebrides archipelago located off the Scottish coast in particular. Fingal's Cave itself is a cavern on Staffa.
1849 Aiming to establish a Church of England colony in New Zealand, the Canterbury Association was founded in 1848 and was led by George William Lyttelton. Settlers of the Canterbury Association aboard Randolph and Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New Zealand on December 16, 1850. Two more ships carrying the what was to be known as the 'Canterbury pilgrims', Cressy, Sir George Seymour, arrived shortly afterwards.
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| Pope John XII |
1431 10-year-old Henry VI of England's coronation as King of France was held at Notre Dame de Paris on December 16, 1431. He was crowned King of France by his great-uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, who also insisted upon singing the Mass, much to the annoyance of the Bishop of Paris whose cathedral was being used for the occasion.
1497 When Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, he became the first European to do so. On December 16, 1497, Vasco da Gama passed the Great Fish River, a river running 400 miles (644 kilometres) through the South African province of the Eastern Cape, on his journey to India. It was here that Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
1689 The Bill of Rights, which was passed by Parliament on December 16, 1689, was one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, It asserted liberties and rights of the nation and declared William III (Prince of Orange) and Mary II, king and queen. The Act also made it illegal for royals to suspend laws without Parliament's consent or to raise money and gave freedom of speech to MPs in Parliament and freedom in elections.
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| 1689 English Bill of Rights |
1740 The War of Austrian Succession began on December 16, 1740, when the Prussian king Frederick the Great invaded and quickly occupied Silesia. This was in defiance of the succession of Maria Theresa, daughter of Emperor Charles VI who had just died. After defeating Austria at the Battle of Fontenoy, the Treaty of Dresden was signed in December 1745, finally establishing Prussian rule in Silesia.
1770 There is no actual record of Ludwig Van Beethoven's birth. He is traditionally assumed to have been born on December 16, 1770 because his baptism was recorded as taking place in a Roman Catholic service at the Parish of St. Regius on the following day, but the real natal date and hour are unknown.
1773 About fifty members of the Sons of Liberty, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded a British vessel in Boston on December 16, 1773. They then emptied 342 tea chests into the harbor as a protest against the Tea Act. Word about their protest against the English tax soon spread and it proved to be a key event in the U.S. War of Independence.
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| 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor" |
1775 Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon rectory. Jane's father, Rev George Austen was an educated gentlemanly parson of moderate means, who was the vicar at Steventon for over 40 years. Jane was modest about her education, saying: “I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.”
1811 An earthquake measuring around 8 on the richter scale on December 16, 1811, caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards. The backward flow of the Mississippi River was caused by the earthquake's impact on the riverbed. The intense shaking and ground displacement caused the riverbed to warp and crack, which allowed the river's water to flow back upstream for a short distance.
1830 A tour of Scotland in 1829 inspired Felix Mendelssohn to compose The Hebrides Overture, also known as "Fingal's Cave," which he completed on December 16, 1830. Mendelssohn was enchanted by the country and the scenery in Staffa, an island in the Hebrides archipelago located off the Scottish coast in particular. Fingal's Cave itself is a cavern on Staffa.
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| Fingal's Cave |
1849 Aiming to establish a Church of England colony in New Zealand, the Canterbury Association was founded in 1848 and was led by George William Lyttelton. Settlers of the Canterbury Association aboard Randolph and Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New Zealand on December 16, 1850. Two more ships carrying the what was to be known as the 'Canterbury pilgrims', Cressy, Sir George Seymour, arrived shortly afterwards.
1893 In 1891 Czech composer Antonín Dvorák was offered and accepted the directorship of the New York Conservatory. He wrote his ninth symphony, the hugely-popular "From the New World" in the USA. Dvořák's New World Symphony was premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City on December 16, 1893.
1912 On August 24th, 1912, the U.S. Congress approved a law providing parcel post service and authorized the preparation and production of postage stamps to pay the parcel fees, effective January 1, 1913. The first stamp in history to depict an airplane was issued December 16th, 1912. It was a 20-cent parcel-post stamp.
1915 Benito Mussolini first met Rachele Guidi in 1909 when she was a local peasant girl. Mussolini, a well known womanizer, spotted her working as a barmaid and waitress at his father's wine shop. He married Rachele on December 16, 1915 at a civil wedding ceremony, and had five children with her.
Rachele and Mussolini had a church wedding in 1925 and she was his consort throughout his 20 years in power.
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| Rachele Guidi |
1921 French composer Camille Saint-Saëns died in Algiers, Algeria on December 16, 1921. Saint-Saëns' funeral was in the cathedral there, and his body was then taken back to Paris where he was given a state funeral at the church of Madeleine.
1927 Donald Bradman made his debut in first-class cricket aged 19 for New South Wales against South Australia on December 16, 1927. Batting at No. 7, he secured the achievement of a century on debut with an innings of 188. The Don went on to become the greatest batsman in cricket history; his career Test batting average of 99.94 has been cited as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport.
1950 Shirley Temple met her second husband, Charles Black, a San Francisco businessman in Honolulu. They married a week after her divorce from her first husband on December 16, 1950.
Black had never seen any of Temple's movies before they got together. The pair remained a couple until his death from complications of a bone marrow disease in 2005.
1957 The small Audio Fidelity Records label released the first mass-produced stereophonic record in late 1957. They advertised it on December 16, 1957 in the trade magazine Billboard. Side 1 featured the Dukes of Dixieland, and Side 2 featured railroad and other sound effects designed to engage and envelop the listener.
1965 "Jingle Bells" was the first song to be sung in space, On December 16, 1965 the Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra crooned the tune accompanied by a harmonica to Mission Control during a pre-Christmas mission aboard Gemini 6.
1971 In 1820, Bahrain signed a general maritime treaty with the British Empire. Following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom in the late 1880s. The United Kingdom recognized Bahrain's independence on December 16, 1971. This is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
1978 Financial difficulties and a notorious 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River challenged Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s. On December 16, 1978, Cleveland became the first major American city to enter into a financial default on federal loans since the Great Depression.
1980 Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, died on December 16, 1980. Sanders finalized in July 1940 his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe with a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. Although he never publicly revealed the recipe, Sanders admitted to the use of salt and pepper,
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| Colonel Harland David Sanders Wikipedia Commons |
1982 During the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, a Christmas tree was set up for the first time on the pavement outside 10 Downing Street on December 16, 1982. It was a free fir tree donated by the British Christmas Tree Growers' Association
1991 The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century all of Kazakhstan was part of the Russian Empire. On December 16, 1991, Kazakhstan became the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1997 An episode of the Pokémon anime called Dennō Senshi Porygon (Electric Soldier Porygon in the US) was first shown in Japan on December 16, 1997. One part of the episode showed quickly flashing red and blue lights, which caused 685 Japanese children to have epileptic seizures. Because of this, the anime went on a four-month break, and several laws were put in place regarding the flashing lights.
1998 Navy Lt. Kendra Williams was the first US female combat pilot to fly a strike a mission. On December 16, 1998, she bombed enemy targets over Iraq during Operation Desert Fox. She flew her Boeing F/A-18 as part of the attack force that launched from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVN65 in the Arabian Gulf
2019 American football quarterback Drew Brees surpassed Peyton Manning for the most career touchdown passes in league history. The New Orleans star threw for four scores on on December 16, 2019 in the game against Indianapolis Colts to reach 541. Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady overtook Drew Brees with his record-breaking 559th touchdown pass against the Las Vegas Raiders ten months later.
2020 Helen Viola Jackson, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died at 101 on December 16, 2020. At 17 years old, she secretly, but legally married 93-year-old James Bolin, who served in the 14th Missouri Cavalry on September 4, 1936. He died in 1939.
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