16 October
Notable Births
Willian Pacho
b. 2001
Ecuadorian footballer (born 2001)
Aaron Nesmith
b. 1999
American basketball player (born 1999)
Nicolò Bulega
b. 1999
Italian motorcycle racer
Aliou Dieng
b. 1997
Malian footballer (born 1997)
Charles Leclerc
b. 1997
Monégasque racing driver (born 1997)
Naomi Osaka
b. 1997
Japanese tennis player (born 1997)
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
b. 1996
Turkish motorcycle racer (born 1996)
Andrea Locatelli (motorcyclist)
b. 1996
Italian motorcycle racer
Adam Elliott
b. 1994
Australian rugby league footballer
Halimah Nakaayi
b. 1994
Ugandan middle-distance runner (born 1994)
Jovit Baldivino
b. 1993
Filipino singer and actor (1993–2022)
Caroline Garcia
b. 1993
French tennis player (born 1993)
Kostas Fortounis
b. 1992
Greek footballer (born 1992)
Viktorija Golubic
b. 1992
Swiss tennis player (born 1992)
Bryce Harper
b. 1992
American baseball player (born 1992)
Jonathan Schoop
b. 1991
Curaçaoan baseball player (born 1991)
Dan Biggar
b. 1989
Welsh rugby union player (born 1989)
Zoltán Stieber
b. 1988
Hungarian footballer
Nicky Adams
b. 1986
English footballer (born 1986)
Franco Armani
b. 1986
Argentine footballer (born 1986)
Notable Deaths
Ollie Olsen
d. 2024
Australian musician, composer and sound designer (1958–2024)
Liam Payne
d. 2024
English singer and songwriter (1993–2024)
Yahya Sinwar
d. 2024
Palestinian militant and politician (1962–2024)
Martti Ahtisaari
d. 2023
Finnish politician and diplomat, President of Finland (1937–2023)
Daphne Caruana Galizia
d. 2017
Maltese journalist and blogger (1964–2017)
Roy Dotrice
d. 2017
British actor (1923–2017)
John Dunsworth
d. 2017
Canadian actor and comedian (1946–2017)
Sean Hughes (comedian)
d. 2017
Irish-British comedian, writer and actor (1965–2017)
William James (Australian general)
d. 2015
Soldier and military doctor (1930–2015)
Ioannis Charalambopoulos
d. 2014
Greek Army officer and politician
Allen Forte
d. 2014
American musicologist
Seppo Kuusela
d. 2014
Finnish basketball player/coach and handball player
John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough
d. 2014
British peer
Ed Lauter
d. 2013
American actor (1938–2013)
Laurel Martyn
d. 2013
Australian ballerina (1916–2013)
Robert Rheault
d. 2013
United States Army colonel (1925–2013)
Frank Moore Cross
d. 2012
American scholar and academic
John A. Durkin
d. 2012
American politician (1936–2012)
Mario Gallegos Jr.
d. 2012
American politician (1950–2012)
Eddie Yost
d. 2012
American baseball player and coach (1926–2012)
On This Day in History
All 63 ›
2017
Storm Ophelia strikes the U.K. and Ireland causing major damage and power loss.
Hurricane Ophelia (2017)
2013
Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashes on approach to Pakse International Airport in Laos, killing 49 people.
Lao Airlines Flight 301
2002
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens in Egypt, commemorating the ancient library of Alexandria.
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
1999
The magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake strikes Southern California
1999 Hector Mine earthquake
1998
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant.
Augusto Pinochet
1996
Eighty-four football fans die and 180 are injured in a massive crush at a match in Guatemala City.
Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores disaster
1995
The Million Man March takes place in Washington, D.C. About 837,000 attend.
Million Man March
1995
The Skye Bridge in Scotland is opened.
Skye Bridge
1991
George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20.
Luby's shooting
1984
Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Desmond Tutu
1978
Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.
October 1978 conclave
1975
Indonesian troops kill the Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists, in Portuguese Timor.
Balibo Five
1975
Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.
Rahima Banu
1975
The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.
1975 Australian constitutional crisis
1973
Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Henry Kissinger
1970
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
War Measures Act
1968
Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.
1968 Olympics Black Power salute
1968
Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
Rodney riots
1968
Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Yasunari Kawabata
1964
China detonates its first nuclear weapon.
Project 596