January 16
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- Teacher's Day in Thailand
- Religious Freedom Day in the U.S.
- National Nothing Day in the U.S.
- Feast day of St Honoré, patron saint of bakers
On this day . . .
- Ivan the Terrible is crowned first Tsar of Russia (1547)
- Prohibition is introduced in the U.S. (1920)
- BBC broadcasts the first play specially written for radio (1924)
- Nylon is patented by Dupont (1937)
- The Cavern Club, the birthplace of The Beatles, opens (1957)
- The musical Hello, Dolly! opens on Broadway (1964)
- The start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait (1991)
- An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hits Kobe in Japan (1995)
Births
- André Michelin, French tyre manufacturer (1853)
- John Carpenter, American film director (1948)
- Debbie Allen, American dancer and choreographer (1950)
- Sade, Nigerian-born singer (1959)
- Kate Moss, English model (1974)
Deaths
- Bernard Lee, English actor who played 'M' in the Bond movies (1908)
- Carole Lombard, American film actress (1942)
- Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (1957)
- John Mortimer, British barrister, screenwriter and author (2009)