[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
NewsVintage
Author of the article:
Published Aug 16, 2024 • Last updated 13 minutes ago • 7 minute read
Article content
Elvis Presley isn’t the only famous person who died on August 16 in years past. Just take a look at the “today in history” feature prepared by the Canadian Press. It provides a summary of historical events of note that occurred on each day of the year, including deaths of famous people. When you look at the summary for August 16, you can’t help but be struck by the number of well known individuals who have passed away on August 16 over the years. The list includes:
Advertisement 2
Article content
1888: John Stith Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola1899: Robert Bunsen, the German chemist who invented the gas burner that bears his name1948: Baseball great Babe Ruth1949 Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind1956: Bela Lugosi, the original Dracula actor1977: The King of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley.1979: Former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker1993: Stewart Granger, a popular leading man in movies from the 1940s to 1960s2003: Idi Amin, a brutal Ugandan military dictator2016: Mauril Belanger, a Liberal MP and francohpone rights advocate2018: Singer/songwriter Aretha Franklin2019: Actor Peter Fonda
Here is the full list of CP’s day in history events for August 16:
In 1750, 300 German settlers arrived at Lunenburg, N.S.
In 1784, New Brunswick was established as a separate colony from Nova Scotia with a nominated council and elected assembly.
In 1809, Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet laureate, was born.
In 1812, British forces under General Isaac Brock captured Detroit during the War of 1812.
In 1815, St. John Bosco, an Italian educator, was born. Poverty among the children in Turin led him in 1859 to establish the Society of St. Francis of Sales (the Salesians). Bosco was canonized by Pius XI in 1934.
Advertisement 3
Article content
In 1819, the “Peterloo Massacre” occurred in Manchester, England, when a public meeting of English workmen was fired upon by troops called in by city magistrates fearing revolution. In the ensuing melee, 11 people were killed and countless others injured.
In 1888, John Stith Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, died in Atlanta, Georgia. The pharmacist had created the beverage as a potential medicine and sold the rights to the drink, that later became Coca-Cola, shortly before his death.
In 1825, the republic of Bolivia was proclaimed.
In 1827, the first stone of one of the Rideau Canal locks was laid by Capt. John Franklin, the Arctic explorer.
In 1846, the Provincial Agricultural Association and the Board of Agriculture for Canada West, precursor of the Canadian National Exhibition, was established in Toronto.
In 1858, the first message over the Atlantic cable was sent by Queen Victoria to U.S. President James Buchanan via Newfoundland.
In 1899, Robert Bunsen, the German chemist who invented the gas burner that bears his name, died at age 88.
In 1914, the British Expeditionary Force landed in France during the First World War.
Noon News Roundup
Article content
Advertisement 4
Article content
In 1948, baseball star Babe Ruth died in New York of throat cancer at age 53. Nicknamed The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, his record of 714 career homers stood until 1974 when Hank Aaron surpassed it. (Barry Bonds surpassed Aaron in 2007 and ended his career with 762.).
In 1949, Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, died in a car crash. It was her only novel.
In 1951, T.C. Davis became Canada’s ambassador to West Germany, marking the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries after the Second World War.
In 1954, Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc.
In 1956, actor Bela Lugosi died at age 73. He was buried in his Dracula cloak.
In 1960, Britain ceded control of the crown colony of Cyprus.
In 1963, a Canadian-United States agreement on nuclear warhead storage was announced.
In 1965, Canadian jockey Johnny Longden, 58, won his 6,000th race, riding Prince Scorpion at Vancouver’s Exhibition Park.
In 1969, the first Canada Summer Games opened in Halifax.
In 1972, the Canadian National Exhibition opened in Toronto with the first Western exhibit from the Peoples’ Republic of China.
Advertisement 5
Article content
In 1974, a ceasefire between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces took effect, leaving about one-third of Cyprus in Turkish hands.
In 1974, Cindy Nicholas, 16, of Toronto swam Lake Ontario in 15 hours, 18 minutes, breaking the record by almost three hours.
In 1977, the King of Rock N’ Roll, Elvis Presley, was found dead at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. He was 42. He began his singing career in 1954 and quickly became an international sensation. His hits included Blue Suede Shoes, Love Me Tender, Heartbreak Hotel and Return to Sender. He also starred in 33 films and is regarded as a 20th century pop culture icon.
In 1979, former prime minister John Diefenbaker died in Ottawa at age 83. Diefenbaker and the Tories won an upset victory over Louis St. Laurent’s Liberals in 1957 and held power until 1963.
In 1980, Rev. Lois Wilson became the first woman moderator of the United Church of Canada when she was elected at the church’s general council in Halifax. In 1983, she was elected one of seven presidents of the World Council of Churches.
In 1987, 156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit.
Advertisement 6
Article content
In 1993, Stewart Granger, the international box-office star known for playing swashbucklers and safari hunters, died at age 80.
In 1994, the Canadian Medical Association rejected euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
In 1996, Lunenburg, N.S., was designated a world heritage site.
In 2000, Japanese scientists announced the birth of a successfully cloned pig. It was heralded as a breakthrough that could some day provide a plentiful supply of laboratory organs for human transplants.
In 2003, Idi Amin, one of modern history’s bloodiest dictators, died in exile in Saudi Arabia. Some 300,000 people were killed during his eight-year rule in Uganda before he fled the country in 1979.
In 2005, a chartered airliner carrying vacationers home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique plummeted into farmland in western Venezuela after reporting engine trouble. All 160 people aboard were killed.
In 2009, Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in a world record 9.58 seconds at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, obliterating the previous world record of 9.69 he set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was the biggest change in the record since electronic time was introduced in 1968.
Advertisement 7
Article content
In 2011, Ottawa restored the historic names of the navy and air divisions of the Canadian Forces to Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Land Force Command was renamed the Canadian Army.
In 2012, Ecuador granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on humanitarian grounds two months after he took refuge in its London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning for alleged sexual misconduct.
In 2016, Mauril Belanger, a Liberal MP for more than two decades and a lifelong advocate for francophone rights in English Canada, died after a very public battle with the neurodegenerative disease ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
In 2018, Natan Obed, 42, was re-elected leader of Canada’s 60,000 Inuit. Obed said he planned to make housing a priority during his second term as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
In 2018, the RCMP arrested protesters as officers enforced a court injunction to dismantle a protest camp and snuff out a sacred fire at a site where the Trans Mountain pipeline ends in Burnaby, B.C. The city had obtained the order from a B.C. Supreme Court judge who said camp occupants could continue protests at the site without staying there overnight.
Advertisement 8
Article content
In 2018, Turkey’s finance chief tried to reassure thousands of international investors during a conference call, pledging to fix the economic troubles that had seen the country spiral into a currency crisis.
In 2018, U.S. health officials approved a new generic version of the EpiPen, the emergency allergy medication that triggered a public backlash due to its rising price tag.
In 2018, singer/songer Aretha Franklin passed away in Detroit. She was known as the Queen of Soul.
In 2019, actor Peter Fonda, the son of a Hollywood legend who became a movie star in his own right after both writing and starring in the counter-culture classic Easy Rider, died of complications from lung cancer. He was 79. Born into Hollywood royalty as Henry Fonda’s only son, Peter Fonda carved his own path with his non-conformist tendencies and earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing the psychedelic road trip movie Easy Rider. He would never win that golden statuette, but he would later be nominated for his leading performance as a Vietnam veteran and widowed beekeeper in Ulee’s Gold. Although Peter never achieved the status of his father or even his older sister Jane, the impact of Easy Rider, was enough to cement his place in popular culture.
Advertisement 9
Article content
In 2020, the Canada Revenue Agency temporarily suspended its online services after two cyberattacks. The CRA said hackers used thousands of stolen usernames and passwords to fraudulently obtain government services and compromise Canadians’ personal information.
In 2021, scenes of chaos and desperation played out in Afghanistan. The Taliban retook power as thousands — fearing a return of Taliban rule — were racing to leave the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada planned to send military aircraft back into Afghanistan to evacuate people, many interpreters and their families, who worked alongside Canadians during their 2001-14 mission.
***
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
