On this day in history

April 16

30 births · 13 deaths · 5 events

Prev Aries Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Battle of Berlin

81 years ago

Born this day

1889

Charlie Chaplin

Would be 137

Photo (modified): Strauss-Peyton Studio · Public domain

Oldest record

1957th

Otho

death anniversary

View profile

Famous births30

AD 778 · 1248 yrs

Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious (Latin: Ludovicus Pius; French: Louis le Pieux; German: Ludwig der Fromme; 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1728 · 298 yrs

Joseph Black

Joseph Black (16 April 1728 – 6 December 1799) was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 71

View profile Photo (modified): James Heath (engraver) after Henry Raeburn · Public domain

1755 · 271 yrs

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French:; née Vigée; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 86

View profile Photo (modified): Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · Public domain

1844 · 182 yrs

Anatole France

Anatole France (French:; born François-Anatole Thibault; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. Several of his books were best-sellers.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Photographer : Wilhelm Benque. Tucker Collection · Public domain

1871 · 155 yrs

John Millington Synge

Edmund John Millington Synge (16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, and collector of folklores.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 37

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1886 · 140 yrs

Ernst Thälmann

Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (German:; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, revolutionary, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 140

View profile Photo (modified): Agence de presse Meurisse · Public domain

1889 · 137 yrs

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, singer, film editor and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 137

View profile Photo (modified): Strauss-Peyton Studio · Public domain

1921 · 105 yrs

Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov ( OO-stin-ov; 16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was a British actor, writer and humanitarian. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 105

View profile Photo (modified): Allan Warren · CC BY-SA 3.0

1922 · 104 yrs

Kingsley Amis

Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social and literary criticism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 104

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1924 · 102 yrs

Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini ( man-SEE-nee; born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist, best known as a composer of film and television scores.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 102

View profile Photo (modified): RCA Records · Public domain

1927 · 99 yrs

Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Following his resignation, he chose to be known as "pope emeritus", a title he held until his death on 31 December 2022.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 99

View profile Photo (modified): Kancelaria Prezydenta RP · GFDL 1.2

1940 · 86 yrs

Margrethe II of Denmark

Margrethe II (Danish:; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyAge 86

View profile Photo (modified): Johannes Jansson · CC BY 2.5

Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths13

AD 69 · 1957 yrs

Otho

Marcus Salvius Otho (28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for three months from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 36

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1689 · 337 yrs

Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Peter Lely · Public domain

1813 · 213 yrs

Mikhail Kutuzov

Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky (Russian: Михаил Илларионович Голенищев-Кутузов-Смоленский; 16 September 1745 – 28 April 1813) was a field marshal of the Russian Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): R.M. Volkov (1776-1831) · Public domain

1828 · 198 yrs

Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish:; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Vicente López Portaña · Public domain

1850 · 176 yrs

Marie Tussaud

Anna Maria "Marie" Tussaud (French pronunciation:; née Grosholtz; 1 December 1761 – 16 April 1850), commonly known as Madame Tussaud, was a French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum she founded in London.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 88

View profile Photo (modified): "A Portrait Study by John T. Tussaud" · Public domain

1859 · 167 yrs

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859), was a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes, 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 53

View profile Photo (modified): Théodore Chassériau · Public domain

1879 · 147 yrs

Bernadette Soubirous

Bernadette Soubirous, SCN (French:; Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes (religious name Marie-Bernarde), was a miller's daughter from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 35

View profile Photo (modified): abbé P. Bernadou · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 91

View profile Photo (modified): George Reid · Public domain

1947 · 79 yrs

Rudolf Höss

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; German:; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and a war criminal.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP); cropped by Beyond My Ken ( talk ) 09:46, 12 May 2020 (UTC) · Public domain

1958 · 68 yrs

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 106

View profile Photo (modified): MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · CC BY-SA 4.0

1972 · 54 yrs

Yasunari Kawabata

Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成, Kawabata Yasunari; Japanese pronunciation:, 11 June 1899 – 16 April 1972) was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 127

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1991 · 35 yrs

David Lean

Sir David Lean (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was an English filmmaker and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of British cinema.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 118

View profile Photo (modified): Kalervo Manninen · Public domain

Showing 12 of 13

Events5

1922 · 104 yrs

Treaty of Rapallo

The Treaty of Rapallo was an agreement signed on 16 April 1922 between Germany and Russia under which both renounced all territorial and financial claims against each other and opened friendly diplomatic relations.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1945 · 81 yrs

Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2007 · 19 yrs

Virginia Tech shooting

The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting and mass shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

2014 · 12 yrs

Sinking of the MV Sewol

On the morning of Wednesday, 16 April 2014, the ferry MV Sewol sank while en route from Incheon towards Jeju City in South Korea. The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi; 1.5 nmi) north of Byeongpungdo at 08:58 KST (23:58 UTC, 15 April 2014).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

2017 · 9 yrs

Turkish constitutional referendum, 2017

A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 16 April 2017 on whether to approve 18 proposed amendments to the Turkish constitution that were brought forward by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

Nearby dates

Born on April 16? Find your birthday matches →

Share April 16

Living room with framed Who Shares My Birthday poster

Close-up

FrameShown to scale · framed 34 × 46 cmThis is the frame we'll deliver, with a white mount

Printable keepsake

Your birthday matches poster

A personalised A3 framed print of everyone famous born on April 16, what happened on your birthday in history and your zodiac sign. We print and frame it for you and deliver it to your door (UK only).

Name on poster

Your photo

Kept private and only used to make your poster.