16 August

The **16t o August** is the 228t day o the year (229t in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 137 days bidin.

## Events

*1777 &ndash; American victory o'er Breetish troops in the Battle o Bennington in Vermont.
*1863 &ndash; The Dominican Republic's war o unthirldom wi Spain stairts.
*1893 &ndash; The Klondike Gowd Rush in the Yukon, Northwastren Canadae, stairts.
*1906 &ndash; A yirdquauk in Valparaiso, Chile, kills 3,886 fowk.
*1930 &ndash; The first Breetish Empire Gemmes stairt in Hamilton, Ontario, Canadae. They later become kent as the Commonweel Gemmes.
*1936 &ndash; End o the 1936 Simmer Olympics in Berlin.
*1942 &ndash; A German U-boat sinks three Brazilian civilian ships aff the Brazilian coast, killin 551 fowk in total.
*1945 &ndash; Puyi, the last Emperor o Cheenae, is captured bi Soviet troops.
*1945 &ndash; Poland cedes 46% o its previous territory tae the Soviet Union.
*1960 &ndash; Cyprus declares unthirldom.
*1960 &ndash; Joseph Kittinger parachutes frae a balloon, 31,100 metres (102,800 feet) ower New Mexico.
*1976 &ndash; A magnitude 7.9 yirdquauk hits the isle o Mindanao in the Philippines.
*1977 &ndash; American sangster, guitarist an actor Elvis Presley dees agit 42.
*1987 &ndash; Northwest Airlines Flicht 255 crashes naur Detroit, killin 156 fowk.
*1988 &ndash; The Gladbeck hostage creesis in Wast Germany stairts. 
*2004 &ndash; A flash flood causes a lot o damage in the village o Boscastle, Cornwall. Aw fowk caught up in it are rescued safely.
*2005 &ndash; West Caribbean Airlines Flicht 708 crashes in Venezuela, killin 152 fowk. 
*2013 &ndash; The ferry "St. Thomas Aquinas" sinks aff Cebu, Philippines.
*2018 &ndash; American soul sangster Aretha Franklin dees agit 76.
*2019 &ndash; Greenland rejects an offer bi US Preses Donald Trump tae buy it frae Denmark.

## Births

*1682 &ndash; Louis, Duke o Burgundy, Dauphin o Fraunce (d. 1712)
*1766 &ndash; Carolina Nairne, Scots sangwriter an sang collector (d. 1845)
*1832 &ndash; Wilhelm Wundt, German medicinar, pheesiologist, philosopher an professor (d. 1920)
*1845 &ndash; Gabriel Lippmann, Luxembourg-French pheesicist (d. 1921)
*1864 &ndash; Elsie Inglis, Scots medicinar an suffragist (d. 1917)
*1888 &ndash; T. E. Lawrence, Breetish airchaeologist, militar afficer an diplomat (d. 1935)
*1904 &ndash; Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist (d. 1971)
*1912 &ndash; Robert Forbes Combe, Scots lawer an chess player (d. 1952)
*1913 &ndash; Menachem Begin, 6t Prime meenister o Israel (d. 1992)
*1920 &ndash; Charles Bukowski, German-American poet, novelist an short-story writer (d. 1994)
*1924 &ndash; Bobby Mitchell, Scots fitbawer (d. 1993)
*1928 &ndash; Adam Robson, Scots rugby union player (d. 2007)
*1929 &ndash; Helmut Rahn, German fitbawer (d. 2003)
*1930 &ndash; Frank Gifford, American fitbaa player (d. 2015)
*1939 &ndash; Sir Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian-Breetish jurnalist an braidcaster
*1947 &ndash; Carol Moseley Braun, American politeecian an diplomat
*1951 &ndash; Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Preses o Nigerie (d. 2010)
*1954 &ndash; George Galloway, Scots politeecian
*1954 &ndash; James Cameron, Canadian film director, producer an screenwriter
*1958 &ndash; Madonna, American sangster-sangwriter, producer, actress, an director
*1960 &ndash; Stuart Beedie, Scots fitbawer
*1962 &ndash; Steve Carell, American actor
*1969 &ndash; Allan Preston, Scots fitbawer
*1972 &ndash; Frankie Boyle, Scots comedian
*1975 &ndash; Taika Waititi, New Zealand actor, director an screenwriter
*1980 &ndash; Vanessa Carlton, American sangster an sangwriter

## Daiths

*1888 &ndash; John Pemberton, American inventor o Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
*1893 &ndash; Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist and academic (b. 1825)
*1899 &ndash; Robert Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
*1948 &ndash; Babe Ruth, American basebaw player an coach (b. 1895)
*1949 &ndash; Margaret Mitchell, American writer (b. 1900)
*1953 &ndash; Irving Langmuir, American chemist (b. 1881)
*1956 &ndash; Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
*1977 &ndash; Elvis Presley, American sangster, guitarist, an actor (The Blue Moon Boys) (b. 1935)
*1979 &ndash; John Diefenbaker, Prime meenister o Canadae (b. 1895)
*2003 &ndash; Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. c. 1925)
*2006 &ndash; Alfredo Stroessner, Preses o Paraguay (b. 1912)
*2010 &ndash; Bobby Thompson, Scots-American basebaw player (b. 1923)
*2011 &ndash; Frank Munro, Scots fitbawer (b. 1947)
*2015 &ndash; George Merchant, Scots fitbawer (b. 1926)
*2018 &ndash; Aretha Franklin, American sangster (b. 1942)
*2018 &ndash; Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime meenister o Indie (b. 1924)
*2019 &ndash; Peter Fonda, American actor (b. 1940)

## Halidays

* Independence Day (Cyprus)
* Battle o Bennington Day (Vermont)