It happened today – this day in history – May 16
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1527: Florence becomes a republic.
1532: Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor.
1568: Mary, Queen of Scots flees to England.
1605: Camillo Borghese is elected to succeed Pope Leo XI, becomes Paul V.
1770: 14 year-old Marie Antoinette marries the future Louis XVI of France, aged 15.
1792: Denmark abolishes the country’s slave trade.
1831: Birth of David Edward Hughes, inventor of the microphone and the teleprinter.
1836: Author Edgar Allen Poe, 26, marries his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm.
1860: The Republican convention in Chicago selects Abraham Lincoln as the party’s candidate for president of the US.
1868: The US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote.
1875: An earthquake in Venezuela & Colombia kills 16,000.people.
1907: In the Pact of Cartagena, Great Britain, France, and Spain agree to maintain the status quo in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa.
1920: Joan of Arc is canonised as a saint.
1927: The US Supreme Court rules that bootleggers must pay income tax.
1929: Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor are winners at the first Academy Awards ceremony. The statuettes are not yet called Oscars.
1943: The Dambusters, 617 Squadron, attacks the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley with bouncing bombs On the same day, Jewish resistance in the Polish capital ghetto is crushed after a month of fighting with SS General Jurgen Stroop ordering the burning of the Warsaw Ghetto.
1947: Blues singer Billie Holiday is arrested in her New York apartment for possession of narcotics.
1948: Chaim Weizmann is elected first President of Israel. On the same day, Egypt .enters Gaza.
1953: Death of legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt aged 43.
1955: Rocky Marciano beats Don Cockell by a TKO in the ninth round in San Francisco to retain his world heavyweight boxing title.
1956: England spin bowler Jim Laker takes 10-88 for Surrey v Australia in a tour match at The Oval.
1957: Death of Eliot Ness, the federal agent who ended Al Capone’s reign, aged 54.
1963: Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits of the Earth in Faith 7, the last flight of the Mercury project. Singles Chart:
- From Me To You – The Beatles
- Can’t Get Used To Losing You – Andy Williams
- Scarlerr O’Hara – Jet Harris and Tony Meehan
- How Do You Do It – Gerry and the Pacemakers
- Two Kinds Of Teardrops – Del Shannon
- In Dreams – Roy Orbison
- From A Jack To A King – Ned Miller
- Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine – Frank Ifield
- Lucky Lips – Cliff Richard
- Do You Want To Know A Secret? – Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas
1965: “The Knack…and How to Get It” directed by Richard Lester and starring Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks and Michael Crawford, wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival.
1968: Two women and a man are killed after an entire corner of a new block of flats, Ronan Point in Newham, collapses.
1969: Pete Townshend spends the night in a New York jail for assaulting a man during a Who gig at The Fillmore East. Townshend didn’t know the man who jumped onto the stage was a plain clothes policeman trying to warn the audience that a fire had broken out.
1970: “M*A*S*H” directed by Robert Altman, starring Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould, wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival.
1973: AC Milan defeat Leeds United 1-0 to win the European Cup Winner’s Cup in Saloniki.
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1974: Israeli planes bomb seven Palestinian refugee camps and villages in southern Lebanon. On the same day, Helmut Schmidt becomes Chancellor of West Germany.
1975: Muhammad Ali TKO’s Ron Lyle in Round 11 for the heavyweight boxing title.
1977: Muhammad Ali beats Alfredo Evangelist in 15 rounds for the heavyweight boxing title.
1980: Former Buggles members Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman in Yes.
1983: The Lebanese parliament accepts a peace accord with Israel.
1984: Comedian Andy Kaufman dies from cancer aged 35.
1985: Two South Wales miners are jailed for life for the murder of a taxi driver during the miners’ strike.
1987: Underdogs Coventry City beat Spurs 3-2 to win the FA Cup final at Wembley.
1989: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping meet in Beijing, formally ending a 30-year rift between the countries.
1990: Muppets creator Jim Henson dies from toxic shock syndrome caused by pneumonia, aged 53. On the same day, Sammy Davis Jr dies from throat cancer aged 64.
1991: The Queen becomes the first British monarch to address US congress.
1993: Soul singer Marv Johnson dies of a stroke.
1994: Tennis star Jennifer Capriati is arrested for possession of marijuana.
1995: Japanese police arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara and charge him with the Nerve-gas attack on Tokyo’s subways two months earlier.
1998: Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards falls while reaching for a book of nude art in his Connecticut home. The fall breaks his ribs, causing the Stones to postpone many dates on their Bridges To Babylon tour.
2001: Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punches a man who throws an egg at him during a visit to north Wales.
2003: 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in terrorist attacks in Casablanca.
2005: Kuwait allows women the vote.
2007: Alex Salmond of the SNP is elected First Minister of Scotland. On the same day, Nicolas Sarkozy becomes President of France.
2010: Singer Ronnie James Dio dies aged 67 after a six-month battle with stomach cancer.
2010: Foals – Total Life Forever
Album chart:
- Night Train – Keane
- The Defamation Of Strickland Banks – Plan B
- The Remix – Lady Gaga
- The Fame – Lady Gaga
- High Violet – The National
- Iron Man 2 OST – AC/DC
- Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree – Diana Vickers
- Total Life Forever – Foals
- Lungs – Florence and the Machine
- The End – The Black Eyed Peas
2013: George Michael is injured when he falls out of a Range Rover travelling on the M1 Motorway. On the same day, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates regains his position as the world’s richest man with a fortune of £72.7 billion. Also, Hi-de-Hi star Paul Shane dies aged 72.
2015: Sadio Mane scores the Premier League’s fastest ever hat trick in just two minutes 56 seconds for Southampton in the 6-1 demolition of Aston Villa at St Mary’s.
2019: The Jeremy Kyle Show is axed by ITV when a guest commits suicide after appearing.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump declares a national emergency over IT threats, banning US companies from using foreign technology without a licence.
2021: 42 people are killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
2022: In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden formally announces it will seek to join NATO after 200 years of neutrality.
2023: ChatGPT developer OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, supports the oversight of AI, in an appearance before a US Senate Committee.
Danny Trejo (Photo: Gage Skidmore)
BIRTHDAYS: Billy Cobham, drummer (Mahavishnu Orchestra) 80; Danny Trejo, actor, 80; Robert Fripp, guitarist/composer (King Crimson) 78; Judy Finnigan, TV presenter, 76; Jonathan Richman, singer-songwriter, 73; Christian Lacriox, fashion designer, 73; Pierce Brosnan actor, 71; Hazel O’Connor, singer-songwriter/actress, 69; Debra Winger, actress, 69; Glenn Gregory, singer (Heaven 17) 66; Anne Parillaud, actress, 64; Andrew Innes, guitarist (Primal Scream) 62; Mary Ann Hobbs, broadcaster, 60; Krist Novoselic, bassist (Nirvana), 59; Janet Jackson, singer/actress, 58; David Boreanaz, actor, 55; Tucker Carlson US TV journalist, 55; Tori (Victoria) Spelling, actress, 51; Charlotte Hawkins, TV presenter, 49; (Viola) Lynn Collins, actress, 47; Emiliana Torrini, singer-songwriter, 47; Megan Fox, actress, 38; Thomas Brodie-Sangster, actor, 34; Charlotte Crosby, reality TV personality, 34.
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