Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Historical Events on June 16

Events 1 - 200 of 202

  • 632 Origin of Persian [Yezdegird] Era

Battle of Stoke Field

1487 Battle of Stoke Field, Nottinghamshire: English Tudor King Henry VII defeats the remaining Yorkists led by John de la Pole and Lord Lovell in the last battle of the Wars of the Roses

Mary, Queen of Scots Imprisoned

1567 Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, Scotland

  • 1624 Virginia becomes an English crown colony following the bankruptcy of the London Company
  • 1745 British fleet occupies Cape Breton on St Lawrence River
  • 1746 Battle at Piacenza: Austria & Sardinia beat Spanish and French army
  • 1755 British capture strategic Fort Beauséjour, eastern Canada, expelling the Acadians and renaming it Fort Cumberland
  • 1774 Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Great Siege of Gibraltar

1779 Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of France and the USA, starting the Great Siege of Gibraltar which goes on to last 3 years, 7 months and 2 weeks

Capture of Stony Point

1779 US General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, New York, inflicting heavy losses on the British

  • 1784 Holland forbids the wearing of orange clothes
  • 1794 1st stone laid at biggest Dutch grain windmill De Walvisch in Schiedam
  • 1815 Battle at Quatre-Bras: Duke of Wellington's English forces engage the French in a preliminary battle two days before the Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Ligny

1815 French army under Napoleon defeats Prussia in the Battle of Ligny, Napoleon's last military victory

  • 1822 Denmark Vesey (aka Telemaque) Black American carpenter accused of planning a slave rebellion in South Carolina; tried and convicted, later executed by hanging
  • 1823 Dutch King Willem I opens shipyard at Rotterdam-Antwerp
  • 1832 Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Illinois - Illinois militia fight small force of Native Americans
  • 1836 London Working Men's Association forms

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

1858 Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" accepting Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the Senate

  • 1861 Battle of Vienna, Virginia and Secessionville, South Carolina (James Island)
  • 1864 Battle of Lynchburg, Virginia; Confederate troops fend off forces of Union general David Hunter
  • 1864 Skirmish at Golgotha, Georgia
  • 1871 Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of Mystic Shrine founded, NYC
  • 1871 The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology

Grant Decree for Nez Perce

1873 US President Ulysses Grant decrees a portion of Wallowa Valley, Oregon for the Native American tribe Nez Perce. Order is rescinded two years later and the tribe is forcibly re-located to Oklahoma.

HMS Pinafore

1879 W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater NYC

  • 1881 Austria-Hungary and Serbia sign military treaty
  • 1882 17" hailstones weighing 1.75 lbs fall in Dubuque Iowa
  • 1883 1st baseball "Ladies' Day" - NY Gothams beat Cleveland Blues 5-2 at the Polo Grounds in NYC
  • 1883 The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children
  • 1884 America's 1st purpose-built roller coaster ride, the Switchback Railway, opens at Coney Island, New York, built by LaMarcus Thompson

PM John Abbott

1891 John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister

  • 1893 German-American F.W. Rueckheim introduces "Cracker Jack" brand snack food consisting of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts
  • 1896 Temperature hits 127°F at Fort Mojave, California
  • 1897 A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later
  • 1898 China's emperor De Zong (Guang Xu) receives Kang Youwei

Trumper's 1st Test Century

1899 Australian cricketer Victor Trumper's 1st Test Cricket century 135* v England at Lord's

  • 1900 In China, a fire is set by Boxers, virtually destroying the Western Quarter and spreading to engulf many Chinese landmarks
  • 1902 "The Wizard of Oz" musical first opens in Chicago, Illinois
  • 1903 1st Highlander (Yankee) shut-out victory 1-0 over White Sox

Ford Motors Founded

1903 Ford Motors under Henry Ford incorporates

  • 1903 Pepsi Cola company forms
  • 1903 Reichstag elections with gains for the Social Democratic Party of Germany

Northwest Passage

1903 Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway

Bloomsday

1904 Bloomsday (date of events in James Joyce's novel "Ulysses")

  • 1904 Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland

Nicolas II Dissolves Second Duma

1907 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia dissolves the Second Duma (parliament) and issues an edict that will increase representation of propertied classes while reducing that of peasants, workers and national minorities

Roosevelt Picks Taft

1908 The Republican Party convenes in Chicago where President Theodore Roosevelt picks William Howard Taft as his successor

  • 1909 1st US airplane sold commercially, by Glenn Curtiss for $5,000

Jim Thorpe Forfeits Olympic Gold

1909 Jim Thorpe makes his pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with 4-2 win, this will cause him to forfeit his Olympic gold medals

  • 1911 A 772 gram stony meteorite strikes the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn
  • 1913 South African Government pass the segregationist Native Land Act, which restricts purchase or lease of land by native Africans
  • 1915 The foundation of the British Women's Institute
  • 1916 MLB Boston Brave's pitcher Tom Hughes no-hitter beats Pittsburgh, 2-0; at the time it is his 2nd career no-hitter, but a 1991 rule change wiped his 1910 effort [1]
  • 1916 Passing of the Military Services Bill introduces conscription in New Zealand
  • 1917 1st All Russian Congress of the Soviets convenes in Petrograd, Russia [OS Jun 3]
  • 1922 Henry Berliner demonstrates his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics
  • 1922 Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth
  • 1924 South Africa all out 30 v England in 48 minutes, Gilligan 6-7
  • 1925 The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek, is established
  • 1925 The Union Government rejects a round-table conference with India on the grounds that it will constitute interference in South African affairs
  • 1929 Otto E. Funk, 62, ends marathon walk (NY to SF, 4165 miles in 183 days)
  • 1930 Sovnarkom establishes decree time in the USSR
  • 1931 Austrian government of Ender falls
  • 1932 Germany forbids SA/SS-gang fights
  • 1932 Sutcliffe and Holmes make 555 opening cricket stand for Yorkshire v Essex

Herbert Hoover Renominated

1932 US President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis renominated by Republican Convention

  • 1933 US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created
  • 1933 US National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law (later struck down)

Waal Bridge Opens

1936 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina opens the Waal bridge with the longest arch in Europe at the time

Pius XI Receives Collaborator

1936 Pope Pius XI receives Anton Mussert (Dutch Nazi collaborator)

Foxx's Record Six Walks

1938 Boston first baseman Jimmie Foxx is walked a record 6 consecutive times by St Louis Browns; Red Sox still win, 12-8

  • 1940 Communist government installed in Lithuania
  • 1940 General De Gaulle arrives in Bordeaux
  • 1941 1st US federally owned airport opened Washington, D.C.

George Stinney is Executed

1944 George Stinney, a 14-year-old African-American boy, is wrongfully executed for the murder of two white girls, becoming the youngest person ever executed in 20th-century America

  • 1944 Iceland adopts constitution

George VI Visits Normandy

1944 King George VI visits General Montgomery's HQ in Normandy

  • 1944 US bombs Kyushu, Japan
  • 1945 Boo Ferriss loses to Yanks 3-2 after starting his career with 8 wins
  • 1947 1st network news-Dumont's "News from Washington"
  • 1947 Pravda denounces Marshall Plan
  • 1949 Gas turbine-electric locomotive demonstrated at Erie, Pennsylvania
  • 1952 Soviet Fighters shoots down Swedish Air Force Catalina as it participates in search for missing Dakota DC-3, crew survives
  • 1953 Despite Johnny Mize 2,000th hit, NY Yankees lose ending an 18 game winning streak and also ending St Louis Brown 14 game losing streak
  • 1954 Dutch military conscription shortened from 20 to 18 months

Ngô Đình Diệm Prime Minister

1954 Ngô Đình Diệm elected Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam)

  • 1957 French offensive in Algeria
  • 1957 White Sox reliever Dixie Howell hits 2 HRs to beat Washington Senators 8-6
  • 1958 "Flip Top Box" by Dicky Doo & The Don'ts hits #46
  • 1958 Government troops land on North-Celebes, Indonesia
  • 1959 South African Apartheid government efforts to remove Black people from Cato Manor close to the Durban city center to newly established black township Kwa Mashu, on outskirts met with violent resistance

Psycho

1960 "Psycho", psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, and Vera Miles, opens in New York City

Event of Interest

1960 President Eisenhower cancels trip to Japan

  • 1961 Dave Garroway is fired as host of NBC's "Today Show"
  • 1961 Reconnaissance satellite Discoverer 25 launched from the US
  • 1961 Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France
  • 1962 2 US army officers killed in Saigon

Event of Interest

1963 Levi Eshkol replaces David Ben-Gurion as Israeli Prime Minister

Vostok 6 Launched

1963 Soviet space mission Vostok 6 is launched with Valentina Tereshkova onboard, who becomes the first woman in space

  • 1964 Quake strikes Niigata, Japan
  • 1966 20th Tony Awards: "Marat/Sade" (play) & "Man of La Mancha" (musical) win

Music History

1966 Rowan & Martin host "The Dean Martin Show" Summer Series, on NBC-TV

  • 1967 50,000 attend first day of the Monterey International Pop Festival - beginning of the Summer of Love
  • 1967 The first Montreux Jazz Festival is held in Switzerland, created by Claude Nobs [1]
  • 1969 US Supreme Court rules suspension of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr from House of Representatives violated Article I of the Constitution by citing reasons beyond the exclusive list of qualifications in the article [1]
  • 1970 Kenneth A. Gibson elected 1st black mayor of Newark, New Jersey
  • 1970 Race riots in Miami, Florida
  • 1971 Groningen soccer team forms in Groningen, Netherlands
  • 1971 Racial disturbance in Jacksonville, Florida

Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

1972 RCA releases David Bowie's fifth studio album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"; it is considered his artistic breakthrough

  • 1972 The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada starts at Churchill Falls, Labrador
  • 1975 Italy's Communist party PCI, wins

NBA Trade

1975 NBA Milwaukee Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley to L.A. Lakers for 4 players

  • 1975 Randy Farland finds a 14-leaf clover near Sioux Falls, South Dakota
  • 1975 US Supreme Court rules uniform minimum legal fees are a violation
  • 1976 Soweto Uprising: Over 10,000 students in Soweto, South Africa, march against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in Black secondary schools; clashes with police kills dozens
  • 1977 "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway
  • 1977 Fianna Fail party wins Irish elections

Event of Interest

1977 Leonid Brezhnev named Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

Event of Interest

1977 Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates

Sports History

1977 Ron Guidry's 1st complete game, 7-0 over KC Royals

Sports History

1978 Cincinnati Red Tom Seaver no-hits St Louis Cards, 4-0

Grease

1978 Film "Grease" opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical

Sports History

1979 Boston Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski hits his 1,000th extra base hit

  • 1979 Muslim Brotherhood kills 62 sheiks in Aleppo, Syria
  • 1979 Single "Logical Song" by Supertramp peaks at #6

The Blues Brothers

1980 Musical comedy film "The Blues Brothers", starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and directed by John Landis, premieres in Chicago, Illinois

  • 1980 US Supreme Court rules that live, human-made micro-organisms created in labs could be patentable, in Diamond v. Chakrabarty
  • 1982 Britain makes request to Argentina to arrange for return of prisoners

Somewhere in the Stars

1982 Columbia Records releases "Somewhere in the Stars", the fourth studio album by Rosanne Cash; produced by husband Rodney Crowell, and featuring her father Johnny Cash on one track

  • 1982 Political party "Official Monster Raving Loony Party" is founded by English rocker Screaming Lord Sutch
  • 1983 Charlos Vieira completes 191 hr "nonstop" cycling in Leiria, Portugal
  • 1983 European Space Agency launches European Comm Satellite 1, Oscar 10

Appointment of Interest

1983 General Secretary Yuri Andropov appointed President of the Soviet Union

Papal Visit

1983 Pope John Paul II visits Poland

  • 1983 Ringo Starr releases album "Old Wave" album in West Germany; soon after releases follow in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Brazil
  • 1984 Edwin Moses wins his 100th consecutive 400-meter hurdles race
  • 1984 Matt de Waal finishes 14,290-mi round trip from Salt Lake City (106d)
  • 1985 Willie Banks of USA sets triple jump record (58 feet 11 inches) in Indianapolis
  • 1986 1 day general strike in South Africa
  • 1987 Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, opens
  • 1987 New York City subway gunman Bernhard Getz acquitted on all but gun possession charges after shooting 4 black youths who tried to rob him
  • 1988 Boston Red Sox Barrett steals home
  • 1988 In Santa Barbara, CA, a team of 32 divers begin cycling underwater on a standard tricycle, to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins
  • 1989 "Ghostbusters II", American supernatural comedy film sequel, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd premieres

Event of Interest

1989 Funeral for Imre Nagy, leader of Hungarian uprising in 1956

  • 1990 "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer peaks at #8

Event of Interest

1990 Nelson & Winnie Mandela visit Leidseplein, Amsterdam

  • 1990 NHL Draft: Cornwall Royals (OHL) right wing Owen Nolan first pick by Quebec Nordiques
  • 1991 -23] NYC Mayor Dinkins declares "Joseph Doherty Week"
  • 1991 Minnesota Twins win a team record 15 games in a row
  • 1991 Otis Nixon steals NL record 6 bases in 1 day
  • 1991 With 3 runs in 9th, Baltimore Orioles end Minnesota Twins 15 game winning streak, with 6-5 win
  • 1992 British postage stamp celebrates 350th anniversary of the Battle of Edgehill
  • 1992 Caspar Weinberger, former US Secretary of Defense (1981-87), indicted on Iran-contra charge
  • 1992 Colorado Rockies 1st minor league team's (Bend Oregon in Class A) game
  • 1992 Longest salami is 68ft-9in long & 25ft in circumference, weighs 1,492lbs/5oz in Flekkefjord, Norway
  • 1992 MLB Boston Red Sox Jeff Reardon sets record of 342 saves (vs Yanks 1-0) [1]

Baseball Record

1993 Ken Griffey Jr. slugs his 100th career home run in Seattle

Sports History

1994 Canadian goaltender Martin Brodeur becomes 1st New Jersey Devil to win Calder Trophy, for Rookie of the Year

Batman Forever

1995 "Batman Forever" opens with a record $528 million weekend starring Val Kilmer, Chris O'Donnell, Tommy Lee Jones and Nicole Kidman

Sports History

1995 Marlins outfielder Andre Dawson hits his 400th NL career HR (429)

  • 1995 Salt Lake City awarded the XIX Winter Olympics in 2002
  • 1997 The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed
  • 1998 Stanley Cup Final, MCI Center, Washington, D.C.: Detroit Red Wings go back-to-back, defeating debutant finalists Washington Capitals, 4-1 for a 4-0 series sweep

Election of Interest

1999 Thabo Mbeki is elected 2nd President of a democratic South Africa

  • 2000 Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

Hot In Cleveland

2010 "Hot In Cleveland", cable channel TV Land's first original sitcom premieres; starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White

Appointment of Interest

2010 Hockey HOF right wing Cam Neely is named President of his former team, the Boston Bruins

  • 2012 30 people are killed and 15 injured after a bus falls into a gorge in Osmanabad, India
  • 2012 32 people are killed by a car bomb in Baghdad
  • 2012 Coca-Cola begins business in Myanmar after 60 years

Music History

2012 Collapse of a stage at a Radiohead concert kills one person in Toronto, Ontario

  • 2013 20 people are killed by a series of car bombings across Iraq

Trump's Campaign Launch

2015 TV personality and real estate mogul Donald Trump launches his campaign for the Republican nomination for US President at Trump Towers

  • 2016 British MP (L) Jo Cox is shot and killed outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire
  • 2016 Philadelphia is the first US city to pass a tax on sweetened drinks
  • 2017 Amazon announces it is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion
  • 2017 US President Donald Trump reinstates Cuban travel and business restrictions after they were loosened by President Obama

Everything is Love

2018 Beyoncé and Jay-Z release their joint album "Everything is Love"

  • 2018 Two suicide bombers attack Damboa in Borno state, Nigeria, killing at least 31 people
  • 2018 World Cup: Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology is used for the first time, awarding France a penalty in 2-1 win over Australia in Kazan
  • 2019 India imposes retaliatory tariffs on 28 US goods
  • 2019 Massive unprecedented power cut affects all of Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay

Event of Interest

2019 Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits to misuse of state funds in court

  • 2019 Three suicide bomb attacks kill 30 people in Konduga, north east Nigeria

US Golf Open

2019 US Open Men's Golf, Pebble Beach GL: American Gary Woodland claims his first major title with a 3 stroke victory over defending champion Brooks Koepka

  • 2020 At least 20 Indian soldiers killed in 1st deadly clash on the Chinese Indian border in 45 years in the Galwan Valley, Himalayas

Sports History

2020 Support from Manchester United player Marcus Rashford and others forces UK Government to make U-turn on summer school meal vouchers

Summit of Interest

2021 Summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, over issues including cyberattacks and human rights

Music History

2022 American rocker Bruce Springsteen joins British legend Paul McCartney for two songs (Glory Days; I Wanna Be Your Man) at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

  • 2022 Ninety-year-old US cosmetics company Revlon files for bankruptcy, blaming supply issues and rising costs [1]
  • 2023 Attack on Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, Uganda by Islamic State-linked militants leaves about 40 pupils dead
  • 2023 Scientific teams in the UK and Israel claim to have grown synthetic human embryos equivalent to that of 14-day-old natural embryos sparking controversy [1]
  • 2023 The Recording Academy announces new rules for Grammy Awards aimed at AI use - stating “only human creators” can win but a work containing AI eligible as long as human input is meaningful [1]
  • 2023 US truck driver Robert Bowers found guilty of the deadliest attack on Jews in the US, of shooting 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh, in 2018 [1]
  • 2024 105 year-old Virginia Hislop graduates with a masters diploma in education from Stanford University, 83 years after she had to leave early [1]