Friday 16 August 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days
Calendars: Career Holidays (Recognition Holidays), US Holidays, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Children’s Days, Chile, Chocolate holidays, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Environmental Dates, Food holidays, France, Germany, Health Calendar, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Pet and Animal Holidays, Professional Engineers Day, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Unusual Holidays (Weird and Funny Holidays), Wine holidays, Worldwide Holidays
Holidays and observancesEvents- In 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology announces a breakthrough which can double lithium-ion battery capacity.
- 1966 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
- 1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.
- 1946 – The All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress is founded in Secunderabad.
- 1944 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
- 1930 – The first British Empire Games were opened in Hamilton, Ontario by the Governor General of Canada, the Viscount Willingdon.
- 1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.
- 1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. Chapman was the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the first being Doc Powers in 1909.
- 1916 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States signed.
- 1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students.
- 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
- 1891 – The Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
- 1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
- 1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden: The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
- 1652 – Battle of Plymouth: Inconclusive naval action between the fleets of Michiel de Ruyter and George Ayscue in the First Anglo-Dutch War.
Births- 1999 – Karen Chen, American figure skater. Classic bronze medalist (2016, 2017), the 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb bronze medalist, and the 2017 U.S. national champion.
- 1997 – Greyson Chance, American singer-songwriter and pianist. Two of his original compositions, "Stars" and "Broken Hearts", gained over six and eight million views respectively on his YouTube channel.
- 1996 – Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer. Caeleb Remel Dressel (born August 16, 1996) is an American freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly swimmer who specializes in the sprint events.
- 1991 – Young Thug, American rapper. Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.
- 1985 – Cristin Milioti, American actress. She has also played Teresa Petrillo Belfort in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, and Betsy Solverson in the second season of Fargo (2015).
- 1984 – Candice Dupree, American basketball player. She also played professional basketball in Europe and Asia.
- 1980 – Vanessa Carlton, American singer-songwriter and pianist. Three months after recording a demo with producer Peter Zizzo, she signed with A&M Records.
- 1975 – George Stults, American model and actor. George Sheehy Stults (born August 16, 1975) is an American actor and former fashion model.
- 1973 – Damian Jackson, American baseball player. Damian Jacques Jackson (born August 16, 1973) is a former major league second baseman who played 11 seasons for nine Major League Baseball (MLB) teams.
- 1972 – Emily Robison, American singer-songwriter and banjo player. Emily Burns Strayer (née Erwin, before Robison; born August 16, 1972) is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the country band the Dixie Chicks.
- 1970 – Bonnie Bernstein, American journalist and sportscaster. Bernstein is Vice President, Content and Brand Development, of Campus Insiders, as well as the on-air "face" of the network.
- 1966 – Eddie Olczyk, American ice hockey player, coach, and commentator. Olczyk was also the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins from June 2003 to December 2005.
- 1964 – Jimmy Arias, American tennis player and sportscaster. James Arias (born August 16, 1964) is a retired tennis touring professional player from the United States.
- 1963 – Christine Cavanaugh, American voice artist (d. 2014), was an American actress, who had a distinctive speaking style and provided the voice for a large range of cartoon characters. She starred as the voice of Bunnie Rabbot from the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday-morning cartoon on ABC, Babe from the 1995 film of the same name, Gosalyn Mallard in Darkwing Duck, and served as the original voices of Chuckie Finster in Nickelodeon's Rugrats, Oblina in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and the titular character in Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory.
- 1962 – Steve Carell, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is well known for his portrayal of boss Michael Scott on the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), on which he also worked as an occasional producer, writer and director.
- 1961 – Christian Okoye, American football player. Okoye's six seasons in the NFL saw a league rushing title in 1989, two Pro Bowl appearances (1989, 1991), and three playoff appearances.
- 1960 – Franz Welser-Möst, Austrian-American conductor and director. Franz Leopold Maria Möst (born 16 August 1960), known professionally as Franz Welser-Möst, is an Austrian conductor.
- 1960 – Timothy Hutton, American actor, producer and director. Hutton has since appeared regularly in feature films and on television, with featured roles in the drama Taps (1981), the spy film The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), and the horror film The Dark Half (1993), among others.
- 1958 – Angela Bassett, American actress, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Bassett has additionally portrayed real life figures Betty Shabazz in both Malcolm X (1992) and Panther (1995), Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992), Voletta Wallace in Notorious (2009) and Coretta Scott King in Betty & Coretta (2013).
- 1958 – Madonna, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and director. Madonna (from medieval Italian ma donna, meaning "my lady") most commonly refers to:
- 1957 – Laura Innes, American actress and director. Kerry Weaver in the NBC medical drama ER from 1995 to 2007 and reprised her role from 2008 to 2009 in the final season.
- 1953 – James "J.T." Taylor, American R&B singer-songwriter. James "J.T." Taylor (born August 16, 1953, Laurens, South Carolina) is an American singer and actor best known as the former lead singer of the R&B/funk band, Kool & the Gang.
- 1953 – Kathie Lee Gifford, American talk show host, singer, and actress. Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author.
- 1949 – Bill Spooner, American guitarist and songwriter (The Tubes). He has released three solo albums: First Chud (1985), Mall to Mars (1997), and Demo-licious.
- 1949 – Paul Pasqualoni, American football player and coach. He is a former head coach for the Syracuse University football team.
- 1949 – Scott Asheton, American drummer (d. 2014), was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band the Stooges.
- 1948 – Earl Blumenauer, American politician, U.S. Representative from Oregon. Earl Francis Blumenauer (/ˈbluːmənaʊ.ər/; born August 16, 1948) is the U.S.
- 1948 – Joey Spampinato, American singer-songwriter and bass player (NRBQ), was a founding member and bass player of NRBQ. He was also one of the band's lead singers and chief songwriters.
- 1948 – Mike Jorgensen, American baseball player and manager. Michael Jorgensen (born August 16, 1948) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who currently works in the St.
- 1947 – Carol Moseley Braun, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to New Zealand. Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun, also sometimes Moseley-Braun (born August 16, 1947), is an American diplomat, politician, and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999.
- 1946 – Lesley Ann Warren, American actress. She is also an Emmy Award nominee and five-time Golden Globe Award nominee, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for the 1977 NBC miniseries Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue.
- 1945 – Bob Balaban, American actor, director, and producer. Balaban's other film roles include the drama Midnight Cowboy (1969); the science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), and 2010 (1984); the Christopher Guest comedies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006); the dark fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006); and the Wes Anderson films Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018).
- 1945 – Gary Loizzo, American guitarist, singer, recording engineer, and record producer (d. 2016). He is best known for being the lead singer with The American Breed.
- 1945 – Suzanne Farrell, American ballerina and educator. Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is an American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
- 1943 – Woody Peoples, American football player (d. 2010), was an American football offensive lineman. The undrafted Grambling State University standout was a two-time Pro Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers, and a member of the 1980 National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles during his 13-year National Football League (NFL) career.
- 1942 – Barbara George, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 2006). Born Barbara Ann Smith at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, she was raised in the 9th ward New Orleans, Louisiana and began singing in a church choir.
- 1942 – Robert Squirrel Lester, American soul singer (The Chi-Lites) (d. 2010), was the second tenor in the Chicago-based singing group The Chi-Lites.
- 1939 – Billy Joe Shaver, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Shaver's 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a classic in the outlaw country genre.
- 1939 – Eric Weissberg, American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist. Eric Weissberg (born August 16, 1939) is an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for playing solo in "Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the film Deliverance (1972) and released as a single that reached number 2 in the United States and Canada in 1973.
- 1937 – David Behrman, American composer and producer. In 1966 Behrman co-founded Sonic Arts Union with fellow composers Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma.
- 1936 – Anita Gillette, American actress and singer. She is notable for her extensive Broadway credits, her many appearances as a celebrity guest on television game shows, her guest-starring and recurring roles in American television series and for her roles in feature films.
- 1934 – Donnie Dunagan, American actor and soldier. Donald "Donnie" Roan Dunagan (born August 16, 1934) is an American former child actor and retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor.
- 1934 – Ketty Lester, American singer and actress. Ketty Lester (born Revoyda Frierson; August 16, 1934) is an American singer and actress known for her 1962 hit single "Love Letters", which reached the top 5 of the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.
- 1933 – Julie Newmar, American actress. Julie Newmar (born Julia Chalene Newmeyer, August 16, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles as well as a writer, lingerie inventor, and real estate mogul.
- 1933 – Stuart Roosa, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1994), was an American aeronautical engineer, United States Air Force pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission. The mission lasted from January 31 to February 9, 1971 and was the third mission to land astronauts (Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell) on the Moon.
- 1930 – Frank Gifford, American football player, sportscaster, and actor (d. 2015), was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL), he was a play-by-play announcer and commentator for 27 years on ABC's Monday Night Football.
- 1930 – Robert Culp, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010), was an American actor, screenwriter, voice actor, and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents.
- 1929 – Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (d. 1980), was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly played in trios. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today.
- 1929 – Fritz Von Erich, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1997), was an American professional wrestler, carnival attraction, wrestling promoter, and the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He was also the owner of the World Class Championship Wrestling territory.
- 1929 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American pastor, theologian, and activist, was an African-American pastor, national civil rights leader, theologian, and cultural historian. He was a chief of staff for Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1958 became an early board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
- 1928 – Ann Blyth, American actress and singer. Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles.
- 1928 – Eddie Kirkland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011), was an American electric blues guitarist, harmonicist, singer, and songwriter.
- 1928 – Eydie Gormé, American singer (d. 2013), was an American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts. She sang solo and with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on albums, television, Broadway, and in Las Vegas.
- 1927 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (d. 2008), was an American film, stage, radio, and television actress. She received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Daytime Emmy Awards.
- 1925 – Mal Waldron, American pianist and composer (d. 2002), was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from university.
- 1924 – Fess Parker, American actor (d. 2010). Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. (born F.E.
- 1924 – Inez Voyce, American baseball player. Inez Ferne Voyce (born August 16, 1924) is a former first basewoman who played from 1946 through 1953 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
- 1922 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist and bandleader (d. 2001), was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s.
- 1920 – Charles Bukowski, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer (d. 1994). His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambiance of his home city of Los Angeles.
- 1917 – Matt Christopher, American author (d. 1997), was an American writer of children's books. He wrote more than 100 novels and 300 short stories, mainly featuring sports.
- 1916 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (d. 2003), was an American stock car racer from Willis, Michigan. He is most famous for his performance in the ARCA series in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, where he won six championships and 79 races, the latter of which stood as a series record until Frank Kimmel surpassed it in 2013. Other ARCA records held by Katona include most starts (630), oldest race winner (57 years old, Daytona International Speedway, 1974) and most consecutive seasons with a win (19, from 1953–1971)
- 1915 – Al Hibbler, American baritone singer (d. 2001), was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of Hibbler's singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is best seen as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music.
- 1910 – Gloria Blondell, American actress (d. 1986), was an actress, known for her film work between 1938 and 1962, and was the younger sister of Joan Blondell.
- 1910 – Mae Clarke, American actress (d. 1992). She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit in The Public Enemy.
- 1909 – Paul Callaway, American organist and conductor (d. 1995), was a prominent American organist and choral conductor, particularly well known for his thirty-eight years at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., between 1939–1977. A friend of Leonard Bernstein and Ned Rorem, he was also active in opera and a frequent guest conductor of the Lake George Opera Company (now Saratoga Opera) and was the founding musical director of the Opera Society of Washington in 1956, now the renowned Washington National Opera.
- 1908 – Orlando Cole, American cellist and educator (d. 2010), was a cello teacher who taught two generations of soloists, chamber musicians, and first cellists in a dozen leading orchestras, including Lynn Harrell, Jonah Kim, Ronald Leonard, Lorne Munroe, Peter Stumpf and Marcy Rosen.
- 1908 – William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., American editor, novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2000), was an American editor, novelist, short story writer, essayist, children's author, and memoirist. He served as a fiction editor at The New Yorker from 1936 to 1975.
- 1904 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971), was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel laureate.
- 1902 – Wallace Thurman, American author and playwright (d. 1934), was an American novelist active during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote essays, worked as an editor, and was a publisher of short-lived newspapers and literary journals.
- 1894 – George Meany, American plumber and labor leader (d. 1980), was an American labor union leader for 57 years. He was the key figure in the creation of the AFL-CIO and served as the AFL-CIO's first president, from 1955 to 1979.
- 1892 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (d. 1982), was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip Prince Valiant. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail.
- 1892 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist and animator, co-created Felix the Cat (d. 1983), was an American animator, best known for his work on the Felix the Cat cartoons and comic strip produced by the Pat Sullivan studio.
- 1888 – Armand J. Piron, American violinist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1943), was an American jazz violinist who led a dance band during the 1920s.
- 1884 – Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-American author and publisher (d. 1967), was a Luxembourgish-American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher—although not as a writer—were so significant that, along with the novelists H.
- 1868 – Bernarr Macfadden, American bodybuilder and publisher, founded Macfadden Publications (d. 1955), was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine publishing company Macfadden Publications.
- 1862 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American baseball player and coach (d. 1965), was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College) (1890–1891), the University of Chicago (1892–1932), and the College of the Pacific (1933–1946), compiling a career college football record of 314–199–35.
Deaths- 2015 – Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican-American physicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1947)
- 2012 – William Windom, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2005 – Vassar Clements, American fiddler (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Robert Quiroga, American boxer (b. 1969)
- 2002 – Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2002 – John Roseboro, American baseball player and coach (b. 1933)
- 1998 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Phil Leeds, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1993 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (b. 1913)
- 1992 – Mark Heard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1951)
- 1989 – Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
- 1983 – Earl Averill, American baseball player (b. 1902)
- 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (b. 1935)
- 1973 – Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-American biochemist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1971 – Spyros Skouras, Greek-American businessman (b. 1893)
- 1959 – William Halsey, Jr., American admiral (b. 1882)
- 1957 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
- 1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
- 1952 – Lydia Field Emmet, American painter and academic (b. 1866)
- 1949 – Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (b. 1900)
- 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (b. 1895)
- 1938 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1911)
- 1904 – Prentiss Ingraham, American soldier and author (b. 1843)
- 1888 – John Pemberton, American pharmacist and chemist, invented Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
- 1878 – Richard Upjohn, English-American architect (b. 1802)
August 16, year 2024; August 16, year 2025 see also: August 16, year 2016; August 16, year 2017; August 16, year 2018; August 16, year 2019; August 16, year 2020; August 16, year 2021; August 16, year 2022; August 16, year 2023 calendar
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