History of Today 16 June: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 16 June. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 16 June. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 16 June 2026, 10:00 AM

Important Events on 16 June in History

16 Jun 2019: Upwards of 2,000,000 people participate in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the largest in Hong Kong's history. Read more
16 Jun 2016: Shanghai Disneyland Park, the first Disney Park in mainland China, opens to the public. Read more
16 Jun 2015: American businessman Donald Trump announces his campaign to run for President of the United States in the upcoming election. Read more
16 Jun 2013: A multi-day cloudburst, centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand, causes devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. Read more
16 Jun 2012: China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module. Read more
16 Jun 2012: The United States Air Force's robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission. Read more
16 Jun 2010: Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco. Read more
16 Jun 2002: Padre Pio is canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Read more
16 Jun 2000: The Secretary-General of the UN reports that Israel has complied with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 22 years after its issuance, and completely withdrawn from Lebanon. The Resolution does not encompass the Shebaa farms, which is claimed by Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Read more
16 Jun 1997: Fifty people are killed in the Daïat Labguer (M'sila) massacre in Algeria. Read more
16 Jun 1995: The Astronomy Picture of the Day website is launched. Read more
16 Jun 1989: Revolutions of 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian prime minister, is reburied in Budapest following the collapse of Communism in Hungary. Read more
16 Jun 1981: US President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor. Read more
16 Jun 1977: Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL), by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates. Read more
16 Jun 1976: Soweto uprising: A non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa, turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd. Read more
16 Jun 1972: The largest single-site hydroelectric power project in Canada is inaugurated at Churchill Falls Generating Station. Read more
16 Jun 1963: Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 mission: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. Read more
16 Jun 1963: In an attempt to resolve the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam, a Joint Communique is signed between President Ngo Dinh Diem and Buddhist leaders. Read more
16 Jun 1961: While on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Paris, Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union. Read more
16 Jun 1958: Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed. Read more
16 Jun 1955: In a futile effort to topple Argentine President Juan Perón, rogue aircraft pilots of the Argentine Navy drop several bombs upon an unarmed crowd demonstrating in favor of Perón in Buenos Aires, killing 364 and injuring at least 800. At the same time on the ground, some soldiers attempt to stage a coup but are suppressed by loyal forces. Read more
16 Jun 1948: Members of the Malayan Communist Party kill three British plantation managers in Sungai Siput; in response, British Malaya declares a state of emergency. Read more
16 Jun 1940: World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français). Read more
16 Jun 1940: The Soviet Union occupies Lithuania, which will eventually become the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Read more
16 Jun 1933: The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed in the United States, allowing businesses to avoid antitrust prosecution if they establish voluntary wage, price, and working condition regulations on an industry-wide basis. Read more
16 Jun 1930: Sovnarkom establishes decree time in the USSR. Read more
16 Jun 1925: Artek, the most famous Young Pioneer camp of the Soviet Union, is established. Read more
16 Jun 1922: General election in the Irish Free State: The pro-Treaty Sinn Féin party wins a large majority. Read more
16 Jun 1911: IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. Read more
16 Jun 1904: Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland. Read more
16 Jun 1904: Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called "Bloomsday". Read more
16 Jun 1903: The Ford Motor Company is incorporated. Read more
16 Jun 1903: Roald Amundsen leaves Oslo, Norway, to commence the first east–west navigation of the Northwest Passage. Read more
16 Jun 1897: A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later. Read more
16 Jun 1884: The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens in New York's Coney Island amusement park. Read more
16 Jun 1883: The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England, kills 183 children. Read more
16 Jun 1871: The Universities Tests Act 1871 allows students to enter the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests (except for those intending to study theology). Read more
16 Jun 1858: Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois. Read more
16 Jun 1846: The Papal conclave of 1846 elects Pope Pius IX, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy. Read more
16 Jun 1836: The formation of the London Working Men's Association gives rise to the Chartist Movement. Read more
16 Jun 1824: A meeting at Old Slaughter's coffee house in London leads to the formation of what is now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Read more
16 Jun 1819: A major earthquake strikes the Kutch district of western India, killing over 1,543 people and raising a 6-metre-high (20 ft), 6-kilometre-wide (3.7 mi), ridge, extending for at least 80 kilometres (50 mi), that was known as the Allah Bund ("Dam of God"). Read more
16 Jun 1815: Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo. Read more
16 Jun 1811: Survivors of an attack the previous day by Tla-o-qui-aht on board the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin intentionally detonate a powder magazine on the ship, destroying it and killing about 100 attackers. Read more

Famous Births on 16 June

16 Jun 2003: Anna Cathcart, Canadian actress Anna Cathcart is a Canadian actress who began her career as a child actress, starring as Agent Olympia in the PBS Kids/TVOKids series Odd Squad (2016–2019) for which she won a Canadian Screen Award. Cathcart also played Dizzy Tremaine in the Disney Channel films Descendants 2 (2017) and Descendants 3 (2019) and the titular role in the Brat web series Zoe Valentine (2019). She gained widespread recognition as a teenager for playing Kitty Song-Covey in Netflix's To All the Boys film series (2018–2021) and in the character’s own spin-off show XO, Kitty (2023−present). Read more
16 Jun 2002: Sam Walker, English-Australian rugby league player Samuel Walker is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
16 Jun 2000: Bianca Andreescu, Canadian tennis player Bianca Vanessa Andreescu is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the WTA. Andreescu has won three WTA Tour–level singles titles: the 2019 Indian Wells Open, the 2019 Canadian Open, and a major title at the 2019 US Open. She is the first Canadian, male or female, to win a major singles title, and the first to win the Canadian Open in 50 years. Read more
16 Jun 1999: Justin Jefferson, American football player Justin Jamal Jefferson is an American professional football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers, where he won the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship as a junior before being drafted by the Vikings in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Read more
16 Jun 1999: Ibrahima Koné, Malian footballer Ibrahima Koné is a Malian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Almería, and the Mali national team. Read more
16 Jun 1999: Snail Mail, American singer-songwriter Snail Mail is the indie rock solo project of Lindsey Erin Jordan, an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. Originally from Ellicott City, Maryland, Jordan first performed as Snail Mail live in 2015 at the age of 15 and attracted attention with the extended play (EP) Habit in 2016. After signing with Matador Records, Snail Mail released her debut studio album, Lush (2018), to critical acclaim. In 2021, Snail Mail followed up with her second studio album, Valentine. Her third studio album, Ricochet, released in 2026. Read more
16 Jun 1998: Karman Thandi, Indian tennis player Karman Kaur Thandi is an Indian professional tennis player. She is a former Indian number one in singles. Read more
16 Jun 1995: Euan Aitken, Australian rugby league player Euan Aitken is a Scotland international rugby league footballer who plays as a second-rower or centre for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
16 Jun 1995: Akira Ioane, New Zealand rugby Union player Akira Ioane is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a flanker or number 8 for Hanazono Kintetsu Liners in the Japan Rugby League One competition. He previously played for Auckland in New Zealand's National Provincial Championship and the Blues in Super Rugby. Internationally, he has played for the All Blacks, the New Zealand sevens team, the Māori All Blacks and All Blacks XV. Read more
16 Jun 1995: Joseph Schooling, Singaporean swimmer Joseph Isaac Schooling is a Singaporean former professional swimmer who specialised in butterfly, freestyle, and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medal. His winning time of 50.39s broke multiple records at the National, Southeast Asian, Asian, and Olympic levels. Read more
16 Jun 1995: Ki Hui-hyeon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress Ki Hui-hyeon, known mononymously as Huihyeon and formerly known as Cathy, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper and actress. She was best known as a member of the girl group DIA. In September 2022, Huihyeon transitioned into acting and joined Hicon Entertainment. Read more
16 Jun 1994: Rezar, Albanian wrestler Gzim Selmani is a Dutch bare-knuckle boxer, former professional wrestler, and former mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Rezar. Read more
16 Jun 1993: Park Bo-gum, South Korean actor Park Bo-gum is a South Korean actor and singer. He gained recognition for his work in film and television and is the youngest actor to be named Gallup Korea's Television Actor of the Year twice. He is also the first actor to top the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list. Park has received major industry honors. He is regarded as a prominent figure of the Korean Wave. Read more
16 Jun 1993: Gnash, American singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and record producer Garrett Charles Nash, known by his stage name Gnash, is an American musician, singer, rapper, DJ, and record producer. He released his debut extended play (EP), U, in March 2015 on SoundCloud and followed up with the Me EP in December 2015. His third EP, titled Us, was released in March 2017 and includes the single, "I Hate U, I Love U", which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in Australia. His debut studio album We was released in January 2019, and also features "I Hate U, I Love U". Read more
16 Jun 1992: Maik Brückner, German politician Maik Herbert Brückner is a German politician and member of the Bundestag. A member of The Left, he has represented Lower Saxony since 2025. Read more
16 Jun 1992: Vladimir Morozov, Russian swimmer Vladimir Viktorovich Morozov is a retired Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic medalist. He is the former world record holder in the short course 100-metre individual medley, the current, World Cup record and Russian national record holder in the 100-metre individual medley and 100-metre freestyle, and Russian record holder in the 50-metre freestyle. He also holds the European record for the 100-metre individual medley. Formerly he held the Russian national record in the 50-metre backstroke and the 50-metre butterfly, and held the European and Russian records in the 50-metre breaststroke. Read more
16 Jun 1991: Joe McElderry, English singer-songwriter Joseph McElderry is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009. His first single "The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Charts. He was also the winner of the second series of Popstar to Operastar in 2011 and the first series of The Jump in 2014. In 2015, McElderry played the lead role of Joseph in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 2022, McElderry performed his Freedom Tour, a tribute to George Michael. Read more
16 Jun 1991: Siya Kolisi, South African rugby player Siyamthanda "Siya" Kolisi, is a South African professional rugby union player who currently captains the South Africa national team. Having formerly played for the Stormers and Racing 92, he currently plays for Sharks in the URC. He generally plays as a flanker and a loose forward. In 2018, Kolisi was appointed captain of the Springboks, becoming the first black man to hold the position and eventually leading the South African Rugby team to victory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final against England, and again in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final against New Zealand. Read more
16 Jun 1991: Matt Moylan, Australian rugby league player Matthew Moylan is a retired Australia international rugby league footballer. Read more
16 Jun 1990: John Newman, English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer John William Peter Newman is an English singer, songwriter, musician, DJ, and record producer. He first gained prominence for his single "Love Me Again" (2013), which peaked at number one on the UK singles chart, and entered the top ten in over twenty countries. The song also made an appearance in FIFA 14 and returned in FIFA 23. His 2013 debut album Tribute, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and is certified platinum by the BPI. Read more
16 Jun 1989: Odion Ighalo, Nigerian footballer Odion Jude Ighalo is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Read more
16 Jun 1988: Keshia Chanté, Canadian singer Keshia Chanté Harper is a Canadian singer-songwriter, television host, actress and entrepreneur. Read more
16 Jun 1988: Jermaine Gresham, American football player Jermaine Gresham is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, earning first-team All-American honors in 2008. He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. Read more
16 Jun 1987: Diana DeGarmo, American singer-songwriter and actress Diana Nicole DeGarmo is an American singer. She rose to fame in 2004 as the runner-up of the third season of American Idol, releasing her debut studio album, Blue Skies, later that year. The following year, DeGarmo ventured into a career in musical theatre. She has starred in two Broadway, one off-Broadway and three national tours. She made her television acting debut in a six-month arc as Angelina Veneziano on The Young and the Restless. DeGarmo has since released two extended plays, Unplugged in Nashville (2009) and Live to Love (2012). She is married to fifth season American Idol finalist Ace Young. Read more
16 Jun 1987: Per Ciljan Skjelbred, Norwegian footballer Per Ciljan Skjelbred is a former Norwegian footballer who played as a midfielder. He has previously played for Hertha Berlin and Hamburger SV, and has been capped 43 times playing for Norway, but as of 2017, retired from international football. Read more
16 Jun 1987: Ali Stroker, American actress Alyson Mackenzie Stroker is an American actress, author and singer. She is the first actor who uses a wheelchair to appear on a Broadway stage, and also the first to be nominated for and win a Tony Award. Stroker was a finalist on the second season of The Glee Project in 2012 and later appeared as a guest star on Glee in 2013. She played Anna in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 revival of Spring Awakening and won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Oklahoma!. Read more
16 Jun 1987: Christian Tshimanga Kabeya, Belgian footballer Christian Tshimanga Kabeya is a Belgian amateur footballer. He began his career at Aston Villa, playing in the 2004 FA Youth Cup final. He later moved on to AGOVV Apeldoorn in the Eerste Divisie (second) division of Dutch football but left the club in 2009 after two seasons. Returning to England, he played for amateur side Heath Hayes. Read more
16 Jun 1986: Rodrigo Defendi, Brazilian footballer Rodrigo Defendi is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Read more
16 Jun 1986: Urby Emanuelson, Dutch footballer Urby Vitorrio Diego Emanuelson is a Dutch former professional footballer. He is the currently assistant trainer of Jong Ajax. Read more
16 Jun 1986: Fernando Muslera, Uruguayan footballer Néstor Fernando Muslera Micol is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Argentine Primera División club Estudiantes and the Uruguay national team. Read more
16 Jun 1984: Rick Nash, Canadian ice hockey player Richard Nash is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who serves as the director of player development for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). After being selected first overall in the 2002 NHL entry draft by Columbus, he played 15 seasons in the NHL for the Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Boston Bruins, and was selected to play in six National Hockey League All-Star Games. Read more
16 Jun 1984: Dan Ryckert, American writer and entertainer Daniel Joseph Ryckert is an American Twitch streamer, podcaster, and former video game journalist. In 2011, Complex magazine named Ryckert one of the twenty-five "raddest" game journalists to follow on Twitter. Ryckert has made three non-player character (NPC) appearances in video games; in 2011's L.A. Noire, 2014's Infamous Second Son and 2017's 2064: Read Only Memories. Read more
16 Jun 1984: Steven Whittaker, Scottish footballer Steven Gordon Whittaker is a Scottish football coach and former professional player, who is currently the manager of Stirling Albion. Whittaker played as a defender, primarily at right-back. Read more
16 Jun 1983: Armend Dallku, Albanian footballer Armend Sabit Dallku is a professional football coach and former player who is a current manager of Vushtrria. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented Albania at under-21 and full international level, collecting 64 international senior caps between years 2005–2013, thus becoming part of top ten of list of Albania international footballers, remaining until March 2017, when he was overwrited by national side captain at the time, Ansi Agolli. Read more
16 Jun 1983: Olivia Hack, American actress Olivia Catherine Hack is an American actress, best known for providing the voice of Ty Lee in Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender and Rhonda Wellington Lloyd in Hey Arnold!. She is also known for playing Cindy Brady in the 1990s theatrical Brady Bunch films. Olivia has also done voice work for Fillmore!, Bratz as Cloe, Family Guy and Blood+. She appeared in Star Trek Generations, Party of Five and Gilmore Girls. Read more
16 Jun 1982: May Andersen, Danish model and actress Lykke May Andersen is a Danish model. Her work includes appearences for Miu Miu, Victoria's Secret, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was also assistant director of The Hole, an art gallery in New York City, and appeared in the Danish film A Second Chance. Read more
16 Jun 1982: Missy Peregrym, Canadian model and actress Melissa "Missy" Peregrym is a Canadian actress, producer, and former fashion model. She is known for her roles as Haley Graham in the 2006 film Stick It; as Officer Andy McNally on the ABC and Global Television Network series Rookie Blue (2010–2015), for which she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in 2016; and as FBI special agent Maggie Bell in the CBS procedural FBI, a series in which she has had the leading role since the series began in 2018. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Benjamin Becker, German tennis player Benjamin Becker is a German former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP ranking of No. 35 in singles on 27 October 2014, and No. 58 in doubles on 5 July 2010. Becker won an ATP Tour singles title at the 2009 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, and had his career-best result at the majors by reaching the fourth round of the 2006 US Open, defeating former world No. 1 Andre Agassi in Agassi's last professional match to do so. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Kevin Bieksa, Canadian ice hockey player Kevin Francesco Bieksa is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and television personality. As a defenceman, Bieksa started and played most of his career with the Vancouver Canucks and later played for the Anaheim Ducks. After a three-year career in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) with the Burlington Cougars, Bieksa was awarded a scholarship to Bowling Green State University. He was a one-time All-CCHA honourable mention during his four-year tenure with the Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). He graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree (B.A.) in finance, and was a two-time CCHA All-Academic honourable mention in 2003 and 2004. Bieksa now co-hosts Hockey Night in Canada. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Alexandre Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player Alexandre Giroux is a Canadian ice hockey forward. He last played for the Thetford Assurancia of the Quebec-based Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey. He previously played in the National League (NL) with HC Ambrì-Piotta and EHC Kloten. He is the son of former World Hockey Association player Réjean Giroux. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Ola Kvernberg, Norwegian violinist Ola Kvernberg is a Norwegian jazz musician known for his virtuosic string swing violin playing and his international performances. He is the son of traditional musicians Liv Rypdal Kvernberg and Torbjørn Kvernberg, and the brother of traditional musicians Kari Kvernberg Dajani and fiddler Jorun Marie Kvernberg, and grandson of the fiddler and traditional music composer Peter L. Rypdal. Kvernberg studied classical violin from the age of nine, and won 3rd prize in a great classical violin competition in Italy when he was fourteen. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Miguel Villalta, Peruvian footballer Miguel Ángel Villalta Hurtado was a Peruvian footballer who played as a center back. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Brandon Armstrong, American basketball player Brandon Simone Armstrong is an American former professional basketball player. Born in San Francisco, California, he played college basketball for the Pepperdine Waves and was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft. He was traded to the New Jersey Nets, where he played three seasons in the NBA. He later played in Italy, Spain, Poland and Ukraine, and spent a season in the NBA D-League. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Phil Christophers, German-English rugby player Philip Derek Christophers is a former rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for Castres and, briefly, England. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Sibel Kekilli, German actress Sibel Kekilli is a German actress. She gained public attention after starring in the 2004 film Head-On. She won two Lolas, the most prestigious German film award, for her performances in Head-On and When We Leave (2010). Beginning in 2011, she became more widely known for her role as Shae in the HBO series Game of Thrones. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Henry Perenara, New Zealand rugby league player and referee Henry Edward Perenara is a New Zealand rugby league former referee and professional footballer who represented New Zealand. He played as a lock, though he could also play in the second-row. He is also the first NRL referee in history to send off a player for an alleged bite, he sent Kevin Proctor off in the Round 14 match of 2020, when Cronulla-Sutherland played against the Gold Coast. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Martin Stranzl, Austrian footballer Martin Stranzl is an Austrian professional football coach and a former player who played as a defender. He played for German clubs 1860 Munich, Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as Russian club Spartak Moscow during his career, and also represented the Austria national football team at UEFA Euro 2008. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Justin Tranter, American singer-songwriter and activist Justin Drew Tranter is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. They co-founded the New York City-based rock band Semi Precious Weapons, of which they were the lead singer, in 2004. The band released three studio albums before disbanding in 2014. Since the breakup of Semi Precious Weapons, Tranter has focused on songwriting, establishing a close writing partnership with Julia Michaels and working primarily with pop singers. Tranter's highest-certified songs include tracks for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, DNCE, Halsey, Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, Bebe Rexha, Gwen Stefani, and Hailee Steinfeld. As of October 2025, songs written by Tranter have garnered over 70 billion streams; their single sales were estimated at 50 million as of May 2021. Read more
16 Jun 1980: Joey Yung, Hong Kong singer Joey Yung Tso-Yi is a Hong Kong singer and actress signed to Emperor Entertainment Group. Since her debut in 1996, Yung has received multiple awards at Hong Kong's major annual music ceremonies. She was ranked 63rd on the 2014 Forbes China Celebrity 100. Read more
16 Jun 1978: Daniel Brühl, Spanish-German actor Daniel César Martín Brühl González is a German-Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including three European Film Awards and three German Film Awards, along with nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA Award. He received his first German Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in Das Weisse Rauschen (2001), Nichts Bereuen (2001), and Vaya con Dios (2002). His starring role in the German film Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) received widespread recognition and critical acclaim, and garnered him the European Film Award for Best Actor and another German Film Award for Best Actor. Read more
16 Jun 1978: Dainius Zubrus, Lithuanian ice hockey player Dainius Gintas Zubrus is a Lithuanian former professional ice hockey player. He played as forward in the National Hockey League (NHL), the first Lithuanian to have played 1,000 games in the NHL. Drafted 15th overall in the 1996 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, Zubrus played for the Flyers, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks. Read more
16 Jun 1978: Fish Leong, Malaysian singer Fish Leong Ching Yu is a Malaysian singer and actress. Having sold more than 20 million records to date, she has achieved popularity and success in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Read more
16 Jun 1977: Craig Fitzgibbon, Australian rugby league player and coach Craig Fitzgibbon is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. Read more
16 Jun 1977: Duncan Hames, English accountant and politician Duncan John Hames is a Director of Policy at Transparency International UK and a former Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Chippenham constituency in Wiltshire from 2010 to 2015. Between 2012 and 2015, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Clegg when he was Deputy Prime Minister. Read more
16 Jun 1977: Kerry Wood, American baseball player Kerry Lee Wood is an American former baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Wood first came to prominence as a 20-year-old rookie, when he recorded 20 strikeouts in a one-hit shutout against the Houston Astros, which some have argued may be the greatest single-game pitching performance in MLB history. The game also made Wood the co-holder of the MLB record for strikeouts in a single game (20) and earned Wood the nickname "Kid K". He was later named the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year. Read more
16 Jun 1975: Anthony Carter, American basketball player and coach Anthony Bernard Carter is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach. He played college basketball for Saddleback College and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Read more
16 Jun 1975: Heather Peace, English actress and singer Heather Mary Peace is an English actress, singer and LGBT rights activist. She is known for her roles as Eve Unwin in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and Nikki Boston in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road. Her other credits include Sally 'Gracie' Fields in ITV's long-running series London's Burning, Fiona Murray in Kay Mellor's drama series The Chase and Sam Murray in the BBC Scotland drama series Lip Service Read more
16 Jun 1974: Glenicia James, Saint Lucian cricketer Glenicia James is a Saint Lucian former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter. She appeared in five One Day Internationals for the West Indies in 2003, all against Sri Lanka. She played domestic cricket for Saint Lucia. Read more
16 Jun 1974: Joseph May, British-born Canadian-American actor Joseph May is a British-born Canadian actor, who has appeared in television and film. He is best known for his role as Adam Moseby in Bugs, Andy Button in the television series Episodes, Paul who was the boyfriend of Sam Colloby, in Casualty, Luke in I Live with Models and for voicing Thomas in the US dub of the children's television series Thomas & Friends from 2015 to 2021. Read more
16 Jun 1973: Eddie Cibrian, American actor Edward Carl Cibrian is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Cole Deschanel on the television series Sunset Beach and Jimmy Doherty on Third Watch. Read more
16 Jun 1972: John Cho, American actor John Yo-Han Cho is an American actor. As a performer, he is noted for his subtle and understated style of acting. He is known for his roles as John/MILF guy #2 in the American Pie film series (1999–2012), Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar film series (2004–2011), and Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016). Read more
16 Jun 1972: Kiko Loureiro, Brazilian musician Pedro Henrique "Kiko" Loureiro is a Brazilian guitarist. He has been a member of several heavy metal bands, including Angra and Megadeth. Read more
16 Jun 1972: Andy Weir, American novelist Andy Weir is an American novelist. His 2011 novel The Martian was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016. His 2021 novel Project Hail Mary was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was adapted into the 2026 film of the same name. Read more
16 Jun 1971: Tupac Shakur, American rapper and producer (died 1996) Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Some of Shakur's music addressed social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of African Americans, but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics. Read more
16 Jun 1970: Younus AlGohar, Pakistani poet and academic, co-founded Messiah Foundation International Younus AlGohar is a British co-founder of Messiah Foundation International, a spiritual organisation which advocates for Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi mystical teachings and claims he is the Messiah (Mahdi). He authored the books Mysterious Horizons – Beyond God (2007), and Nisāb-e-Mehdi نصا ب مہدی‎ (2010). Read more
16 Jun 1970: Clifton Collins Jr., American actor Clifton Craig Collins Jr. is an American film and television actor. He is a Primetime Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Satellite Award, and four-time ALMA Award nominee, and a Screen Actors Guild Award winner. Prior to 1999, he was credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez. Read more
16 Jun 1970: Cobi Jones, American soccer player and manager Cobi N'Gai Jones is an American former professional soccer player and commentator. He is an analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. He has also been seen on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, Fox Sports, BeIN Sports, the Pac-12 Network, and as the host of the Totally Football Show: American Edition. In addition, during the 1990s, he hosted the health show Mega-Dose on MTV. Read more
16 Jun 1970: Phil Mickelson, American golfer Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles, two PGA Championships, and one Open Championship (2013). With his win at the 2021 PGA Championship, Mickelson became the oldest major championship winner in history at the age of 50 years, 11 months, and 7 days. He is nicknamed "Lefty", as he plays left-handed. Read more
16 Jun 1969: Shami Chakrabarti, English lawyer and academic Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales. Read more
16 Jun 1969: Mark Crossley, English-Welsh footballer and manager Mark Geoffrey Crossley is a football coach and former Wales international footballer. Read more
16 Jun 1969: MC Ren, American rapper Lorenzo Jerald Patterson, known professionally by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the independent record label Villain Entertainment. Read more
16 Jun 1968: Adam Schmitt, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer Adam Schmitt is a singer/songwriter from Urbana, Illinois. He recorded two albums, World So Bright and Illiterature with Reprise Records in the early 1990s. He recorded albums in his Mixolydian Studios, working with artists such as Hum and Uncle Tupelo. He released his third album, Demolition, in 2001 after signing with Parasol Records, and continues to record and produce albums for other artists, including Velvet Crush, Three Hour Tour, Robynn Ragland, and Destroy The Heart. He has worked with Tommy Keene, Eric Voeks, Richard Lloyd, Common Loon, Megan Johns, Unbunny, The Dirty Feathers, Elsinore, The Hathaways, and Shipwreck. Read more
16 Jun 1968: James Patrick Stuart, American actor James Patrick Stuart is an American actor. He portrays Valentin Cassadine on the daytime soap opera General Hospital, for which he received three consecutive Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Read more
16 Jun 1967: Charalambos Andreou, Cypriot footballer Charalambos Andreou is a Cypriot former international football striker. Read more
16 Jun 1967: Jürgen Klopp, German footballer and manager Jürgen Norbert Klopp is a German football executive, former manager and player who is the Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull GmbH. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers of his generation. Read more
16 Jun 1966: Mark Occhilupo, Australian surfer Marco Jay Luciano "Mark" Occhilupo is an Australian professional surfer and winner of the 1999 ASP World title. Read more
16 Jun 1966: Olivier Roumat, French rugby player Olivier Roumat is a former French rugby union footballer. He played as a number-eight, openside flanker and lock. Read more
16 Jun 1966: Phil Vischer, American voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-created VeggieTales Phillip Roger Vischer is an American filmmaker, animator, author, puppeteer, and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated video series VeggieTales alongside Mike Nawrocki. He provided the voice of Bob the Tomato, Archibald Asparagus, Pa Grape, Jimmy Gourd, Mr. Lunt, Mr. Nezzer, Phillipe Pea and about half of the other characters in the series. Currently, he owns a small film business, Jellyfish Labs, based in Wheaton, Illinois. Read more
16 Jun 1966: Jan Železný, Czech javelin thrower and coach Jan Železný is a Czech former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World and Olympic champion and holds the world record with a throw of 98.48 metres. Widely considered the greatest javelin thrower of the modern era, he also has the fourth, fifth and sixth best performances of all time. He broke the world record a total of four times. Read more
16 Jun 1965: Michael Richard Lynch, Irish computer scientist and entrepreneur; co-founded HP Autonomy (died 2024) Michael Richard Lynch was a British technology entrepreneur who co-founded Autonomy Corporation, Invoke Capital and Darktrace. He had various other roles, including in an advisory capacity. Read more
16 Jun 1965: Richard Madaleno, American politician Richard Stuart Madaleno Jr., commonly known as Rich Madaleno, is an American politician from Maryland. A Democrat, he was a member of the Maryland State Senate, representing the state's 18th district in Montgomery County, which includes Wheaton and Kensington, as well as parts of Silver Spring, Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Madaleno served as chair of the Montgomery County Senate Delegation from 2008 to 2011. He previously served four years in the House of Delegates. Read more
16 Jun 1964: Danny Burstein, American actor and singer Danny Burstein is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on Broadway stage, he's received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a Drama League Award and two Drama Desk Awards, in addition to nominations for four Grammy Awards. Read more
16 Jun 1963: The Sandman, American wrestler James Fullington, better known by his ring name The Sandman, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his run with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he developed into a smoking and drinking "Hardcore Icon" and held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship a record five times. He also had stints in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Sandman retired on April 17, 2026, in a comedic match to the Invisible Man at Joey Janela's Spring Break X. Read more
16 Jun 1962: Wally Joyner, American baseball player and coach Wallace Keith Joyner is an American former professional baseball player. He played for four major league teams during a 16-year career, most notably for the California Angels, for whom he was an All-Star. He was a member of the pennant-winning 1998 San Diego Padres. Read more
16 Jun 1962: Femi Kuti, Nigerian musician Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti, popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's rights activist and traditional aristocrat Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Read more
16 Jun 1962: Arnold Vosloo, South African-American actor Arnold Vosloo is a South African and American actor. He began his career as a stage actor and starring in South African films like Boetie Gaan Border Toe (1984). After emigrating to the United States in the late 1980s, he became known for playing villainous roles, most notably as Imhotep in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). Read more
16 Jun 1962: Anthony Wong, Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He rose to prominence as the vocalist for the Cantopop duo Tat Ming Pair during the 1980s before embarking on a solo career. He also performed and collaborated with the theatre group Zuni Icosahedron. Wong is the director for music production company People Mountain People Sea. He co-founded the LGBT rights organization Big Love Alliance and the non-profit charitable organization Renaissance Foundation. Wong and bandmate Tats Lau received the Golden Needle Award in 2019. Read more
16 Jun 1961: Can Dündar, Turkish journalist and author Can Dündar is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. Editor-in-chief of center-left Cumhuriyet newspaper until August 2016, he was arrested in November 2015 after his newspaper published footage showing the State Intelligence MİT sending weapons to Syrian Islamist fighters. Read more
16 Jun 1961: Robbie Kerr, Australian cricketer Robert Byers Kerr is an Australian former cricketer who played in two Test matches and four One Day Internationals in 1985. He represented Queensland in four Sheffield Shield finals. Read more
16 Jun 1961: Steve Larmer, Canadian ice hockey player Steven Donald Larmer is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. After excelling in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League, Larmer was selected by the Chicago Black Hawks in 1980 in the sixth round of the NHL draft. Larmer became a regular right-wing player for Chicago in 1982, where he recorded 43 goals in the first of eleven straight seasons with at least 60 points while being awarded Calder Memorial Trophy for his rookie play. He would go on to have five 40-goal seasons. A two-time All-Star, he also won the Canada Cup in 1991 for the Canadian team. A contract dispute at the start of the 1993-94 season saw him traded to the New York Rangers, where he recorded 60 points in 68 games before playing in all 23 games of the run to the Stanley Cup Final that saw New York win in seven games. In his final season, he played in his 1,000th career game and recorded his 1,000th career point. In 13 full seasons as a player, Larmer made the Stanley Cup playoffs each time. Read more
16 Jun 1961: Margus Metstak, Estonian basketball player and coach Margus Metstak is a retired Estonian professional basketball player who played mostly at the center position. Read more
16 Jun 1960: Peter Sterling, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster Peter Maxwell John Sterling, nicknamed Sterlo, is an Australian former rugby league commentator, television personality and player. He was one of the all-time great halfbacks and a major contributor to Parramatta Eels' dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in the 1980s. Sterling played eighteen Tests for the Australian national team between 1982 and 1988. He also played in thirteen State of Origins for New South Wales, winning man of the match on four occasions. Sterling played in four premiership-winning sides with Parramatta in 1981–1983 and 1986 and has been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. His time spent playing for English club Hull F.C. also earned him membership in their hall of fame. Read more
16 Jun 1959: The Ultimate Warrior, American wrestler (died 2014) Warrior was an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder and motivational speaker. Best known by his ring name Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation from 1987 to 1992, as well as a short stint in 1996. He also notably spent a few months in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998, in which he was known as the Warrior. Read more
16 Jun 1958: Darrell Griffith, American basketball player Darrell Steven Griffith, also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is an American former professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1991. He played collegiately at the University of Louisville. Read more
16 Jun 1958: Ulrike Tauber, German swimmer Ulrike Tauber is a retired medley and butterfly swimmer from East Germany, who won the gold medal in the women's 400 m individual medley at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There she also captured the silver medal in the women's 200 m butterfly. In the 1970s Tauber set numerous world records in the 200 m and 200 m individual medley. In 1974 and 1977, Swimming World magazine awarded Tauber the titles of Swimmer of the Year and European Swimmer of the Year. In 1988 Tauber was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. It was later revealed that she had used doping during competitions, like many other athletes from the GDR. In 2013, Swimming World stripped her of all titles. Read more
16 Jun 1958: Warren Rodwell, Australian soldier, educator and musician Abu Sayyaf (ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, also known by its full name, Al Hamas Harakat Al Muqawamah Al Islamiyyah or simply Al Harakat Al Islamiyya, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to create a Moro nation state. The group was responsible for the Philippines' deadliest terrorist attack, the bombing of the MV Superferry 14 which killed 116 people in 2004. The name of the group is derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. Read more
16 Jun 1957: Ian Buchanan, Scottish-American actor Ian Buchanan is a Scottish television actor who has appeared on multiple American soap operas including General Hospital, Port Charles, The Bold and the Beautiful, All My Children, and Days of Our Lives. He is also known for his work in two David Lynch shows – playing Dick Tremayne in the second season of Twin Peaks (1990-1991) and Lester Guy in On the Air. Read more
16 Jun 1957: Leeona Dorrian, Lady Dorrian, Scottish lawyer and judge Leeona June Dorrian, Lady Dorrian PC, KC is a Scottish advocate and judge who served as the Lord Justice Clerk from 2016 until her retirement from judicial office on 3 February 2025. She was the first woman to hold the position of Lord Justice Clerk. She was a Senator of the College of Justice from 2005 until her retirement in 2025, having served as a temporary judge for three years prior. Read more
16 Jun 1955: Grete Faremo, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Defence Grete Faremo is a Norwegian politician, lawyer and business leader. From August 2014 to May 2022, she held the post of Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). During her political career, she held high-level positions in the Norwegian Government including Minister of Justice from 1992-1996 and 2011–2013, Minister of Petroleum and Energy in 1996, Minister of International Development from 1990-1992 and Minister of Defence from 2009–2011. Read more
16 Jun 1955: Laurie Metcalf, American actress Laura Elizabeth "Laurie" Metcalf is an American actress and comedian. Known for her complex and versatile roles across the stage and screen, she has received various accolades throughout a career spanning more than four decades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. Read more
16 Jun 1955: Artemy Troitsky, Russian journalist and critic Artemy Kivovich Troitsky is a Russian journalist, music critic, concert promoter, radio host, and academic who has lectured on music journalism at Moscow State University. In 1988, he was described in The New York Times as "the leading Soviet rock critic." Read more
16 Jun 1954: Matthew Saad Muhammad, American boxer and trainer (died 2014) Matthew Saad Muhammad was an American professional boxer who was the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion of the World for two-and-a-half years. Read more
16 Jun 1954: Garry Roberts, Irish guitarist (died 2022) Garrick Roberts was an Irish musician best known as the lead guitarist with The Boomtown Rats, a band which came into being in 1976. He and Johnnie Fingers (Moylett) had decided to put a band together and, between them, they recruited the other four members, Pete Briquette (bass), Gerry Cott (guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), and singer Bob Geldof. Read more
16 Jun 1953: Valerie Mahaffey, American actress (died 2025) Valerie Mahaffey was a Canadian-American actress. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Read more
16 Jun 1953: Ian Mosley, English drummer Ian F. Mosley is an English drummer. He is best known for his long-time membership of the neo-prog band Marillion, which he joined for their second album, Fugazi, released in 1984. He had previously been a session drummer. Mosley's abilities have been praised, including by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake and critic John Franck of AllMusic. Modern Drummer has characterised him as a "drumming great". Read more
16 Jun 1952: George Papandreou, Greek sociologist and politician, 182nd Prime Minister of Greece George Andreas Papandreou is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as an MP for PASOK-Kinima Allagis. Read more
16 Jun 1952: Gino Vannelli, Canadian singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli is a Canadian rock/jazz/fusion/pop vocalist, producer, performer and Hall of Fame songwriter. Amongst his extensive catalogue of diverse, sophisticated and often complex albums blending musical genres, Gino had several commercially successful songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move" (1974), "I Just Wanna Stop" (1978), "Living Inside Myself" (1981) and "Wild Horses" (1987). Gino is known for possessing a powerful, rich voice which is astonishingly well-preserved, his enthusiastic stage presence, and for the high caliber musicians with whom he chooses to employ/perform. Early on, he was known for his huge mane of dark curly hair and handsome features, yet he chose to spurn the sex symbol troupe and the commercial pull in order to create the life and music that felt more authentic to him. https://www.musiclifemagazine.net/gino-vannelli-to-take-his-rightful-place-in-canadian-songwriters-hall-of-fame/ Read more
16 Jun 1951: Charlie Dominici, American singer and guitarist (died 2023) Charlie Dominici was an American singer, best known as the second vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater, having replaced Chris Collins and later being replaced by James LaBrie. Dominici fronted his own self-named progressive metal band, that released three albums. Read more
16 Jun 1951: Roberto Durán, Panamanian boxer Roberto Carlos Durán Samaniego is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: Lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. Duran also reigned as the undisputed and lineal lightweight champion and the lineal welterweight champion. He is also the second boxer to have competed over a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson. Durán was known as a versatile, technical brawler and pressure fighter, which earned him the nickname "Manos de Piedra" for his formidable punching power and excellent defense. Durán is regarded by many as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Read more
16 Jun 1950: Mithun Chakraborty, Indian actor and politician Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian actor, film producer, entrepreneur and politician. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 350 films, mostly in Hindi and Bengali languages, and a few in Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Tamil, Kannada, and Punjabi. Referred to as "Mahaguru", he is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. He is the recipient of three National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. In January 2024, Chakraborty was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour by the Government of India. He was also awarded India's highest accolade in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2022, whose announcement came from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in September 2024. Read more
16 Jun 1950: Michel Clair, Canadian lawyer and politician Michel Clair is an administrator and former politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1976 to 1985 and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of René Lévesque and Pierre-Marc Johnson. Clair later became an executive administrator with Hydro-Québec. Read more
16 Jun 1950: Jerry Petrowski, American politician and farmer Jerry James Petrowski is a retired American Republican politician and a former ginseng, dairy, and beef farmer from Marathon County, Wisconsin. He represented Marathon County for 24 years in the Wisconsin Legislature, serving 11 years in the Wisconsin Senate (2012–2023) and 13 years in the state Assembly (1999–2012). Read more
16 Jun 1949: Caju, Brazilian footballer Paulo Cézar Lima, known as Caju, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. During his career, he played for clubs in Brazil, including Botafogo, and for Marseille in France. At international level, he earned 57 caps by the Brazil national team in the 1960s and 1970s, scoring 10 goals. Read more
16 Jun 1949: Ralph Mann, American hurdler and author Ralph Vernon Mann was an American sprinter and hurdler. He was an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, and later earned a Ph.D. in Biomechanics from Washington State University. Read more
16 Jun 1948: Ron LeFlore, American baseball player and manager Ronald LeFlore is an American former Major League Baseball center fielder. He played six seasons with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to the Montreal Expos. LeFlore retired with the Chicago White Sox in 1982. He stole 455 bases in his career and was an American League All-Star selection in 1976. Read more
16 Jun 1947: Al Cowlings, American football player and actor Allen Cedric Cowlings is an American former professional football player and actor. He played college football for the USC Trojans before being selected fifth overall in the first round by the Buffalo Bills in the 1970 NFL draft. He was a starter at various defensive positions for the Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers, until retiring after the 1979 season. Read more
16 Jun 1947: Tom Malone, American trombonist, composer, and producer Tom "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician, arranger, and producer. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone but he also plays saxophone, trumpet, tuba, flute, and bass guitar. He has been a member of the Blues Brothers, Saturday Night Live Band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and the CBS Orchestra, the house band for the Late Show with David Letterman. Read more
16 Jun 1947: Buddy Roberts, American wrestler (died 2012) Dale Hey was a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Buddy "Jack" Roberts. Primarily a tag team wrestler, Roberts is known for his appearances as one of The Hollywood Blonds in the 1970s and as one of The Fabulous Freebirds in the 1980s. He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2015 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016 as part of The Fabulous Freebirds. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Rick Adelman, American basketball player and coach (died 2026) Richard Leonard Adelman was an American professional basketball player and coach. He coached 23 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the class of 2021. As a coach he won 1,042 games, which at the time of his death was the tenth-highest in league history. Adelman never won a title, but led many of his teams to deep runs in the playoffs including two trips to the NBA Finals with Portland. Read more
16 Jun 1946: John Astor, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever, English businessman and politician John Jacob Astor VIII, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever, is an English businessman and politician from the Astor family. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative hereditary peer from 1986 to his retirement in 2022. Astor was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence from 2010 to 2015. Astor is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Karen Dunnell, English statistician and academic Dame Karen Hope Dunnell, DCB, FAcSS is an American-born British medical sociologist and civil servant. She was National Statistician and Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom and head of the Government Statistical Service from 1 September 2005 until retiring on 28 August 2009. Since its inception in 2008, she was also the Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority. She now has a range of non-executive roles including membership of Pricewaterhouse Coopers Public Interest Body, Trustee of National Heart Forum, and member of the Court of Governors, University of Westminster. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Tom Harrell, American trumpet player and composer Tom Harrell is an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and arranger. Voted Trumpeter of the Year of 2018 by Jazz Journalists Association, Harrell has won awards and grants throughout his career, including multiple Trumpeter of the Year awards from DownBeat magazine, SESAC Jazz Award, BMI Composers Award, and Prix Oscar du Jazz. He received a Grammy Award nomination for his big band album, Time's Mirror. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Neil MacGregor, Scottish historian and curator Robert Neil MacGregor is a British art historian and former museum director. He was editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, then Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, Director of the British Museum from 2003 to 2015, and founding director of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin until 2018. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Iain Matthews, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Iain Matthews is an English musician. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock". In 1979, his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Jodi Rell, American politician, 87th Governor of Connecticut (died 2024) Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell, known as M. Jodi Rell, was an American politician who served as the 87th governor of Connecticut from 2004 to 2011. Rell also had served as the state's 105th lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004 under Governor John G. Rowland, and became governor after Rowland resigned from office. To date, Rell is the last Republican and last woman to serve as Governor of Connecticut. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Mark Ritts, American actor, puppeteer, and producer (died 2009) Mark Ritts was an American actor, puppeteer, television producer and director, and author. Ritts also produced and directed many independent videos and television spots as president of Mark Ritts Productions, Inc., for clients around the world. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Derek Sanderson, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster Derek Michael Sanderson, nicknamed "Turk", is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and two-time Stanley Cup champion who helped transform the culture of the professional athlete in the 1970s era. He set up the epic overtime goal scored by Boston Bruins teammate Bobby Orr that clinched the 1970 Stanley Cup Final, widely considered to be the greatest goal in National Hockey League history. Over 13 NHL seasons he amassed 202 goals, 250 assists, 911 penalty minutes and a plus-141 rating in 598 games with five teams. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Simon Williams, English actor and playwright Simon Williams is a British actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper middle class or aristocratic upper class roles, he is also known for playing Charles Cartwright in the sitcom Don't Wait Up and Sir Charles Merrick in medical drama Holby City. Since 2014, he has played the character of Justin Elliott in the long-running BBC Radio 4 series The Archers. Read more
16 Jun 1945: Claire Alexander, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Claire Arthur Alexander or Arthur Claire Alexander is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) in the 1970s. Read more
16 Jun 1945: Lucienne Robillard, Canadian social worker and politician, 59th Secretary of State for Canada Lucienne Robillard is a Canadian politician and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She sat in the House of Commons of Canada as the member of Parliament for the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. Read more
16 Jun 1944: Henri Richelet, French painter and etcher (died 2020) Henri Richelet was a French painter. Read more
16 Jun 1943: Joan Van Ark, American actress Joan Martha Van Ark is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Valene Ewing on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing. A life member of The Actors Studio, she made her Broadway debut in 1966 in Barefoot in the Park. In 1971, she received a Theatre World Award and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the revival of The School for Wives. Read more
16 Jun 1942: Giacomo Agostini, Italian motorcycle racer and manager Giacomo Agostini is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Championships from 1963 to 1977, most prominently as a member of the MV Agusta factory racing team. Agostini was the preeminent motorcycle racer of the late 1960s and early 1970s, amassing 122 Grand Prix victories and 15 World Championships, the most by any competitor in the history of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He won seven consecutive 500cc World Championships with MV Agusta between 1966 and 1972, plus seven consecutive 350cc world championships between 1968 and 1974. Agostini was also a ten-time winner of the Isle of Man TT. Read more
16 Jun 1942: Eddie Levert, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, musician, and actor Edward Willis Levert is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist of the O'Jays. He is the father of sons Edward Jr (1964-), Gerald (1966–2006) and Sean Levert (1968–2008) and daughter Ryan Levert (2002–2024). Read more
16 Jun 1941: Lamont Dozier, American songwriter and producer (died 2022) Lamont Herbert Dozier was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit. He co-wrote and produced 14 Billboard #1 hits in the US and 4 #4 in the UK. Read more
16 Jun 1941: Tommy Horton, English golfer (died 2017) Thomas Alfred Horton, was an English professional golfer. He finished in the top ten of the Open Championship four times, won a number of important tournaments both before and after the founding of the European Tour in 1972 and played in the Ryder Cup in 1975 and 1977. He reached 50 just before the founding of the European Seniors Tour and won 23 times on the tour between 1992 and 2000. Read more
16 Jun 1941: Mumtaz Hamid Rao, Pakistani journalist (died 2011) Mumtaz Hamid Rao was a senior Pakistani electronic media journalist and analyst. Read more
16 Jun 1940: Māris Čaklais, Latvian poet, writer, and journalist (died 2003) Māris Čaklais was a Latvian poet, writer, and journalist. Read more
16 Jun 1940: Neil Goldschmidt, American lawyer and politician, 33rd Governor of Oregon (died 2024) Neil Edward Goldschmidt was an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state, and federal offices over three decades, including mayor of Portland, Oregon, the United States Secretary of Transportation under President Jimmy Carter and the 33rd governor of Oregon. At one time, Goldschmidt was considered the most powerful and influential figure in Oregon's politics; in 2004, Goldschmidt's career and legacy were irreparably damaged by revelations of the ongoing sexual abuse of a young teenage girl which began in 1973, during his first term as mayor of Portland. Read more
16 Jun 1940: Carole Ann Ford, British actress Carole Ann Lillian Ford is an English actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Read more
16 Jun 1939: Billy "Crash" Craddock, American singer-songwriter Billy Wayne "Crash" Craddock is an American country and rockabilly singer. He first gained popularity in Australia in the 1950s with a string of rockabilly hits, including the Australian number-one hits "Boom Boom Baby" and "One Last Kiss" in 1960 and 1961, respectively. Switching to country music, he gained popularity in the United States in the 1970s with a string of top-10 country hits, several of which were number ones, including "Rub It In", "Broken Down in Tiny Pieces", and "Ruby Baby". Craddock is known to his fans as "the King of Country Rock Music" and "Mr. Country Rock" for his up-tempo, rockabilly-influenced style of country music. Read more
16 Jun 1938: Thomas Boyd-Carpenter, English general Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Patrick John Boyd-Carpenter, is a former British Army officer who served as Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff. Read more
16 Jun 1938: Torgny Lindgren, Swedish author and poet (died 2017) Gustav Torgny Lindgren was a Swedish writer. Read more
16 Jun 1938: Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, short story writer, critic, and poet Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019). Read more
16 Jun 1937: Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Bulgarian politician, 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is a Bulgarian politician who reigned as the last Tsar of the Tsardom of Bulgaria as Simeon II from 1943 until 1946. As he was a minor, royal power was exercised on his behalf by a regency council led by his uncle Kiril, Prince of Preslav, General Nikola Mihov and prime minister, Bogdan Filov. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished by a referendum, forcing Simeon into exile. Read more
16 Jun 1937: Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (died 2010) Erich Wolf Segal was an American author, screenwriter, educator, and classicist who wrote the bestselling novel Love Story (1970) and its film adaptation. Read more
16 Jun 1935: Jim Dine, American painter and illustrator Jim Dine is an American visual artist. Dine's work includes painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and photography. Read more
16 Jun 1934: Bill Cobbs, American actor (died 2024) Wilbert Francisco Cobbs was an American actor, known for such film roles as Louisiana Slim in The Hitter (1979), Walter in The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Reginald in Night at the Museum (2006) and Master Tinker on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He also played Lewis Coleman on I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and had guest appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger and The Sopranos. In 2012, he had a reoccurring role as George in the sitcom, Go On. In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana. Read more
16 Jun 1934: Jane Henson, American puppeteer (died 2013) Jane Ann Henson was an American puppeteer and co-founder of Muppets, Inc. with her husband Jim Henson. Read more
16 Jun 1934: Roger Neilson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2003) Roger Paul Neilson was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, most notably in the NHL, where he served with eight teams. Known as "Captain Video" because of his technological contributions to the game, he is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder category. Alongside his decorated coaching abilities, Neilson is commonly remembered today for his many antics which resulted in the creation of several NHL rules. Read more
16 Jun 1930: Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (died 2016) Vilmos Zsigmond was a Hungarian-American cinematographer. His work helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wave movement. In 2003, he was voted as one of the ten most influential cinematographers in history by the members of the International Cinematographers Guild. Read more
16 Jun 1929: Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (died 2020) Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was the Emir of Kuwait from 24 January 2006 until his death in 2020. Read more
16 Jun 1927: Tom Graveney, English cricketer and sportscaster (died 2015) Thomas William Graveney was an English first-class cricketer, representing his country in 79 Test matches and scoring over 4,800 runs. In a career lasting from 1948 to 1972, he became the 15th player to score one hundred first-class centuries; he was the first batsman beginning his career after the Second World War to reach this milestone. He played for Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, and helped Worcestershire win the county championship for the first time in their history. His achievements for England after being recalled in 1966 have been described as "the stuff of legend." Graveney was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1953, captained England on one occasion and was awarded the OBE while still playing. Read more
16 Jun 1927: Ya'akov Hodorov, Israeli footballer (died 2006) Ya'akov "Yankele" Hodorov was an Israeli football goalkeeper in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is one Israel's best goalkeepers of all time and the leading goalkeeper of his generation. Read more
16 Jun 1927: Herbert Lichtenfeld, German author and screenwriter (died 2001) Herbert Lichtenfeld was one of the most successful television screenplay writers in Germany. He wrote over 300 film scripts. Many of his scripts were successful in Germany. Read more
16 Jun 1927: Ariano Suassuna, Brazilian author and playwright (died 2014) Ariano Vilar Suassuna was a Brazilian playwright and author. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Movimento Armorial. He founded the Student Theater at Federal University of Pernambuco.
Four of his plays have been filmed, and he was considered one of Brazil's greatest living playwrights of his time. He was also an important regional writer, doing various novels set in the Northeast of Brazil. He received an honorary doctorate at a ceremony performed at a circus. He was the author of, among other works, the Auto da Compadecida and A Pedra do Reino. He was a staunch defender of the culture of the Northeast, and his works dealt with the popular culture of the Northeast. Read more
16 Jun 1926: Efraín Ríos Montt, Guatemalan general and politician, 26th President of Guatemala (died 2018) José Efraín Ríos Montt was a Guatemalan military officer who served as de facto President of Guatemala from 1982 to 1983. His brief tenure as chief executive was one of the bloodiest periods in the long-running Guatemalan Civil War. Ríos Montt's counter-insurgency strategies significantly weakened the Marxist guerrillas organized under the umbrella of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), while also leading to accusations of war crimes and acts of genocide perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army under his leadership. Read more
16 Jun 1925: Jean d'Ormesson, French journalist and author (died 2017) Jean Bruno Wladimir François-de-Paule Lefèvre d'Ormesson was a French writer and novelist. He authored forty books, was the director of Le Figaro from 1974 to 1977, as well as the dean of the Académie Française, to which he was elected in 1973, until his death, in addition to his service as president of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences within UNESCO (1992–1997). A major public figure in France, known for his art de la conversation, Jean d'Ormesson was saluted as "the best of the French spirit" by President Emmanuel Macron upon his death. Read more
16 Jun 1925: Otto Muehl, Austrian-Portuguese painter and director (died 2013) Otto Muehl was an Austrian artist and convicted sex criminal, who was known as one of the co-founders as well as a main participant of Viennese Actionism and for founding the Friedrichshof Commune. Read more
16 Jun 1924: Faith Domergue, American actress (died 1999) Faith Marie Domergue was an American film and television actress. Discovered at age 16 by media and aircraft mogul Howard Hughes, she was signed to a contract with Hughes's RKO Radio Pictures and cast as the lead in the studio's thriller Vendetta, which had a troubled four-year production before finally being released in 1950. Read more
16 Jun 1923: Ron Flockhart, Scottish race car driver (died 1962) William Ronald Flockhart was a British racing driver. He participated in 14 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one podium finish and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race twice. Read more
16 Jun 1923: Wanda Janicka, Polish architect, participant in the Warsaw Uprising (died 2023) Wanda Janicka was a Polish architect, participant in the Warsaw uprising. Read more
16 Jun 1922: Ilmar Kullam, Estonian basketball player and coach (died 2011) Ilmar Kullam was an Estonian basketball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the Soviet team, which won the silver medal. He played all eight matches. He trained at VSS Kalev in Tartu. He is 191 cm power forward. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of Estonian basketball in 2010. Read more
16 Jun 1920: Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (died 2002) Isabelle Christian Holland was an American author of fiction for children and adults. She wrote gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers and many books for children and young adults. Read more
16 Jun 1920: Raymond Lemieux, Canadian chemist and academic (died 2002) Raymond Urgel Lemieux, CC, AOE, FRS was a Canadian organic chemist, who pioneered many discoveries in the field of chemistry, his first and most famous being the synthesis of sucrose. His contributions include the discovery of the anomeric effect and the development of general methodologies for the synthesis of saccharides still employed in the area of carbohydrate chemistry. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society (England), and a recipient of the prestigious Albert Einstein World Award of Science and Wolf Prize in Chemistry. Read more
16 Jun 1920: José López Portillo, Mexican lawyer and politician, 31st President of Mexico (died 2004) José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco was a Mexican writer, lawyer, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982. López Portillo was the only official candidate in the 1976 presidential election, being the only president in recent Mexican history to win an election unopposed. Read more
16 Jun 1920: Hemanta Mukherjee, Indian singer and music director (died 1989) Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, known professionally as Hemanta Mukherjee and Hemant Kumar, was an Indian music director and a playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, along with several other Indian languages, including Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Tamil, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Sanskrit and Urdu. He was an artist in Bengali and Hindi film music, Rabindra Sangeet, and various other genres. He was the recipient of two National Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and was popularly known as the "Voice of God". Read more
16 Jun 1917: Phaedon Gizikis, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (died 1999) Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek army general who was the last President of Greece under the junta from 1973 to 1974. Read more
16 Jun 1917: Katharine Graham, American publisher (died 2001) Katharine Meyer Graham was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. She was one of the first 20th-century female publishers of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press. Read more
16 Jun 1917: Aurelio Lampredi, Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer (died 1989) Aurelio Lampredi was an Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer. Read more
16 Jun 1917: Irving Penn, American photographer (died 2009) Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at Vogue magazine, and independent advertising work for clients including Issey Miyake and Clinique. His work has been exhibited internationally and continues to inform the art of photography. Read more
16 Jun 1915: John Tukey, American mathematician and academic (died 2000) John Wilder Tukey was an American mathematician and statistician, best known for the development of the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm, the box plot and for laying the foundations of the field of exploratory data analysis. The Tukey range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, the Tukey test of additivity, and the Teichmüller–Tukey lemma all bear his name. He is also credited with coining the term bit and the first published use of the word software. Read more
16 Jun 1915: Marga Faulstich, German glass chemist (died 1998) Marga Faulstich was a German glass chemist. She worked for Schott AG for 44 years. During this time, she worked on more than 300 types of optical glasses. Forty patents were registered in her name. She was the first woman executive at Schott AG. Read more
16 Jun 1914: Eleanor Sokoloff, American pianist and teacher (died 2020) Eleanor Sokoloff was an American pianist and academic who formed a piano duo with her husband, Vladimir Sokoloff. She taught piano on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 1936 until her death in 2020. Read more
16 Jun 1912: Albert Chartier, Canadian illustrator (died 2004) Albert Chartier was a French-Canadian cartoonist and illustrator, best known for having created the comic strip Onésime. Read more
16 Jun 1912: Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health (died 1998) John Enoch Powell was a British politician, soldier, scholar and writer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West for the Conservative Party from 1950 to February 1974 and the MP for South Down for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from October 1974 to 1987. He was Minister of Health from 1960 to 1963 in the second Macmillan ministry and was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1965 to 1968 in the Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath. Read more
16 Jun 1910: Juan Velasco Alvarado, Peruvian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (died 1977) Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado was a Peruvian general and politician who was the military leader of Peru from 1968 to 1975 after a successful coup d'état against Fernando Belaúnde's presidency. Under his government, nationalism, as well as left-leaning policies that addressed indigenous Peruvians, such as nationalization or agrarian reform were adopted. These policies were reversed after another coup d'état in 1975 led by his Prime Minister, Francisco Morales Bermúdez. Read more
16 Jun 1909: Archie Carr, American ecologist and zoologist (died 1987) Archibald Fairly Carr Jr. was an American herpetologist, ecologist, and conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida and a writer on science and nature. He brought attention to the world's declining sea turtle populations due to over-exploitation and habitat loss. Wildlife refuges in Florida and Costa Rica have been named in his honor. Read more
16 Jun 1907: Jack Albertson, American actor (died 1981) Harold "Jack" Albertson was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor, which ranks him among a rare stature of 24 actors who have been awarded the "Triple Crown of Acting". Read more
16 Jun 1906: Alan Fairfax, Australian cricketer (died 1955) Alan Geoffrey Fairfax was an Australian cricketer who played in ten Test matches from 1929 to 1931. He was an all rounder. Read more
16 Jun 1902: Barbara McClintock, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1992) Barbara McClintock was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There, she started her career as the leader of the development of maize cytogenetics, the focus of her research for the rest of her life. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. She developed the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas. One of those ideas was the notion of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized as among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944. Read more
16 Jun 1902: George Gaylord Simpson, American paleontologist and author (died 1984) George Gaylord Simpson was an American paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern synthesis, contributing Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944), The Meaning of Evolution (1949) and The Major Features of Evolution (1953). He was an expert on extinct mammals and their intercontinental migrations. Simpson was extraordinarily knowledgeable about Mesozoic fossil mammals and fossil mammals of North and South America. He anticipated such concepts as punctuated equilibrium and dispelled the myth that the evolution of the horse was a linear process culminating in the modern Equus caballus. He coined the word hypodigm in 1940, and published extensively on the taxonomy of fossil and extant mammals. Simpson was influentially, and incorrectly, opposed to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, but accepted the theory of plate tectonics when the evidence became conclusive. Read more
16 Jun 1899: Helen Traubel, American operatic soprano (died 1972) Helen Francesca Traubel was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde. Read more
16 Jun 1897: Georg Wittig, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) Georg Wittig was a German chemist who reported a method for synthesis of alkenes from aldehydes and ketones using compounds called phosphonium ylides in the Wittig reaction. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert C. Brown in 1979. Read more
16 Jun 1896: Murray Leinster, American author and screenwriter (died 1976) Murray Leinster was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles. Read more
16 Jun 1890: Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (died 1965) Stan Laurel was an English actor, comedian, director and writer who was in the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films and cameo roles. Read more
16 Jun 1888: Alexander Friedmann, Russian physicist and mathematician (died 1925) Alexander Alexandrovich Friedmann was a Russian and Soviet physicist and mathematician. He originated the pioneering theory that the universe is expanding, governed by a set of equations he developed known as the Friedmann equations. Read more
16 Jun 1888: Peter Stoner, American mathematician and astronomer (died 1980) Peter Stoner was a Christian writer and Chairman of the departments of mathematics and astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953; Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, 1953–57; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College. Read more
16 Jun 1885: Erich Jacoby, Estonian-Polish architect (died 1941) Erich Roman Ludvig Jacoby was an Estonian architect of Baltic German descent. From 1905 to 1907 he studied at the Leibniz University of Hannover, in 1913 he graduated from the Riga Technical University. In 1939 he went to Germany. Read more
16 Jun 1882: Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian educator and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (died 1967) Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis. He was elected to the Iranian parliament in 1923 and served through a contentious 1952 election into the 17th Iranian Majlis, until his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état aided by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom (MI6) and the United States (CIA), led by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. As prime minister, he implemented policies that came to be known as Mosaddeghism. Read more
16 Jun 1880: Otto Eisenschiml, Austrian-American chemist and author (died 1963) Otto Eisenschiml was an Austrian-born chemist and industrial executive in the American oil industry, and a controversial author. He may be best known for his provocative 1937 book on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in which he proposed that a senior member of Lincoln's Cabinet orchestrated the plot to kill the president. Read more
16 Jun 1874: Arthur Meighen, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1960) Arthur Meighen was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Canada from 1920 to 1921 and from June to September 1926. He led the Conservative Party from 1920 to 1926 and from 1941 to 1942. Read more
16 Jun 1867: René Seyssaud, French painter (died 1952) René Seyssaud was a Provençal painter and is known as a precursor of Fauvism. Read more
16 Jun 1866: Germanos Karavangelis, Greek-Austrian metropolitan (died 1935) Germanos Karavangelis was known for his service as Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria and later Amaseia, Pontus. He was a member of the Hellenic Macedonian Committee and functioned as one of the major coordinators of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia. Read more
16 Jun 1863: Francisco León de la Barra, Mexican politician and diplomat (died 1939) Francisco León de la Barra y Quijano was a Mexican political figure, diplomat, lawyer and politician who served as the 36th President of Mexico from May 25 to November 6, 1911 during the Mexican Revolution, following the resignations of President Porfirio Díaz and Vice President Ramón Corral. He previously served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for one month during the Díaz administration and again from 1913 to 1914 under President Victoriano Huerta. He was known to conservatives as "The White President" or the "Pure President". Read more
16 Jun 1858: Gustaf V, King of Sweden (died 1950) Gustaf V was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Reigning from the death of his father Oscar II in 1907 to his own death nearly 43 years later, he holds the record of being the oldest monarch of Sweden, dying at the age of 92. Gustaf also had the third-longest reign of a Swedish monarch after Magnus IV (1319–1364) and his own great-grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf (1973–present). He was also the last Swedish monarch to exercise his royal prerogatives, which largely died with him, although abolished only with the remaking of the Swedish constitution in 1974. He was the first Swedish king since the High Middle Ages not to have a coronation and so never wore the king's crown, a practice that has continued since. Read more
16 Jun 1857: Arthur Arz von Straußenburg, Austrian-Hungarian general (died 1935) Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian colonel general and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World War, he commanded the 15th Infantry Division. Soon, he was promoted to the head of the 6th Corps and the First Army. He participated on the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in 1915 and the countryside of Romania in 1916. In March 1917, he became Chief of the General Staff until his resignation on 3 November 1918. Read more
16 Jun 1850: Max Delbrück, German chemist and academic (died 1919) Max Emil Julius Delbrück was a German agricultural chemist. Read more
16 Jun 1850: William Arnon Henry American academic and agriculturist (died 1932) William Arnon Henry was an American academic and agriculturist from Ohio. Henry studied at the National Normal University and Ohio Wesleyan University before becoming a principal of two high schools. After continuing his education at Cornell University from 1876 to 1880, Henry was appointed a professor at the University of Wisconsin. There, he led the growth of the College of Agriculture, becoming its first dean in 1891. He remained at the university until 1907, when he was named a professor emeritus. Read more
16 Jun 1840: Ernst Otto Schlick, German engineer and author (died 1913) Ernst Otto Schlick was a German naval engineer. He tried to solve the problem of rolling of ships at sea by installing large gyroscopes. The gyroscopic "stabilizers" gave disappointing or dangerous results in practice. An Englishman before him in 1868, Henry Bessemer had tried to use hydraulics and a spirit level watched by the steersman to stabilize ship rolls, also with dangerous results. Read more
16 Jun 1838: Frederic Archer, English organist, composer, and conductor (died 1901) Frederic Archer was a British composer, conductor and organist, born in Oxford. He moved to the US in 1880, where he established the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Read more
16 Jun 1838: Cushman Kellogg Davis, American lieutenant and politician, 7th Governor of Minnesota (died 1900) Cushman Kellogg Davis was an American Republican politician who served as the seventh governor of Minnesota and as a U.S. senator from Minnesota. Read more
16 Jun 1837: Ernst Laas, German philosopher and academic (died 1885) Ernst Heinrich Gustav Laas was a German gymnasium teacher, philosopher of positivism and education, and chair of philosophy and pedagogy at the University of Strasbourg. The insights he found in the history of philosophy and philosophies based on sensualism are key aspects of his scholarly work. Read more
16 Jun 1836: Wesley Merritt, American general and politician, Military Governor of the Philippines (died 1910) Wesley Merritt was an American major general who served in the cavalry of the United States Army during the American Civil War, American Indian Wars, and Spanish–American War. Following the latter war, he became the first American Military Governor of the Philippines. Read more
16 Jun 1829: Geronimo, Apache military leader (died 1909) Gerónimo was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands – the Tchihende, the Tsokanende and the Nednhi – to carry out numerous raids, as well as fight against Mexican and U.S. military campaigns in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Read more
16 Jun 1826: Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (died 1897) Constantin Freiherr von Ettingshausen was an Austrian botanist known for his paleobotanical studies of flora from the Tertiary era. He was the son of physicist Andreas von Ettingshausen. Read more
16 Jun 1821: Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer and architect (died 1908) Thomas Mitchell Morris, otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died there as well. Young Tom Morris, also a golfer, was his son. Read more
16 Jun 1820: Athanase Josué Coquerel, Dutch-French preacher and theologian (died 1875) Athanase Josué Coquerel was a French Protestant theologian. Read more
16 Jun 1813: Otto Jahn, German archaeologist and philologist (died 1869) Otto Jahn was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music. Read more
16 Jun 1806: Edward Davy, English physician and chemist (died 1885) Edward Davy was an English physician, scientist, and inventor who played a prominent role in the development of telegraphy, and invented an electric relay. Read more
16 Jun 1801: Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (died 1868) Julius Plücker was a German mathematician and physicist. He made fundamental contributions to the field of analytical geometry and was a pioneer in the investigations of cathode rays that led eventually to the discovery of the electron. He also vastly extended the study of Lamé curves. Read more

Notable Deaths on 16 June

16 Jun 2025: Kim Woodburn, English television personality and expert cleaner (born 1942) Patricia Mary "Kim" Woodburn was an English television personality, writer, and expert cleaner. Known as the "Queen of Clean", she came to prominence by co-presenting the Channel 4 series How Clean Is Your House? (2003–2009) and its Canadian version Kim's Rude Awakenings (2007–2009). Woodburn maintained a media career that spanned over two decades and went on to appear on various reality television shows, most notably I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (2009) and Celebrity Big Brother (2017). Read more
16 Jun 2024: Ludwig Adamovich Jr., Austrian constitutional scholar (born 1932) Ludwig Karl Adamovich, commonly known as Ludwig Adamovich Jr., was an Austrian constitutional scholar, civil servant, and educator. From 1956 to 1984, Adamovich worked for the Constitutional Service of the Austrian Chancellery; he also taught law at the University of Graz. From 1984 to 2002, he served as the president of the Austrian Constitutional Court. From 2004, Adamovich acted, on an honorary basis, as an advisor on matters of constitutional law to Presidents Heinz Fischer and Alexander Van der Bellen. Read more
16 Jun 2024: Barbara Gladstone, American art dealer and film producer (born 1934) Barbara Gladstone was an American art dealer and film producer. She was owner of Gladstone Gallery, a contemporary art gallery with locations in New York and Brussels. Read more
16 Jun 2023: Gino Mäder, Swiss cyclist (born 1997) Gino Mäder was a Swiss road and track cyclist. He last rode for UCI WorldTeam Team Bahrain Victorious. Mäder died as a result of an accident during the 2023 Tour de Suisse. Read more
16 Jun 2022: Tyler Sanders, American actor (born 2004) Tyler Sanders was an American child actor. Read more
16 Jun 2021: Frank Bonner, American actor and television director (born 1942) Frank Woodrow Boers Jr. was an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as sales manager Herb Tarlek on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Read more
16 Jun 2020: Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., Filipino businessman and politician (born 1935) Eduardo "Danding" Murphy Cojuangco Jr. was a Filipino businessman and politician. He was the chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. He served as a Philippine ambassador and governor of Tarlac. In 2016, his personal wealth was estimated at US$1.16 billion, and it was estimated that at one time, his business empire accounted for 25% of the gross national product of the Philippines. Read more
16 Jun 2017: Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1930) Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the Federal Republic from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, German reunification, and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longest in German post-war history and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany. Read more
16 Jun 2016: Jo Cox, English political activist and MP (born 1974) Helen Joanne Cox was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016. She was a member of the Labour Party. Read more
16 Jun 2015: Charles Correa, Indian architect and urban planner (born 1930) Charles Mark Correa was an Indian architect and urban planner based in Mumbai, India. Credited with the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and for his use of traditional methods and materials. Read more
16 Jun 2015: Jean Vautrin, French director, screenwriter, and critic (born 1933) Jean Vautrin, real name Jean Herman, was a French writer, filmmaker and film critic. Read more
16 Jun 2014: Tony Gwynn, American baseball player and coach (born 1960) Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr., nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hitting Gwynn won eight batting titles in his career, which is tied for the most in National League (NL) history. He was a 15-time All-Star and won seven Silver Slugger Awards and five Gold Glove Awards. Gwynn stayed with the Padres his entire career and played in the only two World Series appearances in San Diego franchise history. Having hit over .300 for 19 straight seasons, Gwynn retired with a .338 career batting average, the highest mark since Ted Williams retired in 1960; Gwynn also holds the highest adjusted batting average of all time at .342. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 in his first year of eligibility, and is widely considered the best pure hitter of his generation. Read more
16 Jun 2014: Cándido Muatetema Rivas (born 1960), Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea Cándido Muatetema Rivas was a political figure in Equatorial Guinea who was Prime Minister from 2001 to 2004. Read more
16 Jun 2013: Sam Farber, American businessman, co-founded OXO (born 1924) Samuel Farber was an American industrial designer and businessman. Read more
16 Jun 2013: Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (born 1919) Hans Hass was an Austrian biologist and underwater diving pioneer. He was known mainly for being among the first scientists to popularise coral reefs, stingrays, octopuses and sharks. He pioneered the making of documentaries filmed underwater and led the development of a type of rebreather. He is also known for his energon theory and his commitment to protecting the environment. Read more
16 Jun 2013: Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, Bangladesh poet and academic (born 1950) Khondakar Ashraf Hossain was a leading postmodernist poet, essayist, translator, and editor from Bangladesh. He wrote more than eighteen titles. Read more
16 Jun 2013: Norman Ian MacKenzie, English journalist and author (born 1921) Norman Ian MacKenzie was a British journalist, academic and historian who helped in the founding of the Open University (OU) in the late 1960s. Read more
16 Jun 2013: Ottmar Walter, German footballer (born 1924) Ottmar Kurt Herrmann Walter was a German footballer who played as a forward. Read more
16 Jun 2012: Nils Karlsson, Swedish skier (born 1917) Nils Emanuel Karlsson, better known as Mora-Nisse, was a Swedish cross-country skier. Karlsson won gold in the 50 km event at the 1948 Winter Olympics and nine Vasaloppet victories. Read more
16 Jun 2012: Jorge Lankenau, Mexican banker and businessman (born 1944) Jorge Lankenau Rocha was a Mexican banker and businessman born in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He was founder and president of Grupo Financiero Abaco, one of the most important financial groups in Mexico in the 1990's. Read more
16 Jun 2012: Sławomir Petelicki, Polish general (born 1946) Brigadier General Sławomir Petelicki was the first commander of the Polish special forces unit GROM from July 13, 1990, until December 19, 1995. Later, he was the head of the Foundation of Former GROM Soldiers. Read more
16 Jun 2012: Susan Tyrrell, American actress (born 1945) Susan Tyrrell was an American character actress. Tyrrell's career began in theater in New York City in the 1960s in Broadway and off Broadway productions. Her first film was Shoot Out (1971). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's Fat City (1972). In 1978, Tyrrell received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977). Her New York Times obituary described her as "a whiskey-voiced character actress (with) talent for playing the downtrodden, outré, and grotesque." Read more
16 Jun 2011: Östen Mäkitalo, Swedish engineer and academic (born 1938) Östen Mäkitalo was a Swedish electrical engineer. He is considered to be one of the most important developers in modern times together with Laila Ohlgren, both engineers at Telia. Together they developed the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system and were the leading figures, representing Telia and Sweden, in the meetings with the other Nordic countries to find a common standard. Later they developed GSM and led the meetings to find a European and later world standard for mobile communication. They are many times considered the developer of the cellular phone and mobile telephony. Read more
16 Jun 2010: Marc Bazin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 49th President of Haiti (born 1932) Marc Louis Bazin was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary, and Haitian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. He was the prime minister of Haiti, appointed on June 4, 1992, by the military government that had seized power on September 30, 1991. Read more
16 Jun 2010: Maureen Forrester, Canadian singer and academic (born 1930) Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, was a Canadian operatic contralto. Read more
16 Jun 2010: Ronald Neame, English director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter (born 1911) Ronald Neame CBE, BSC was an English filmmaker and cinematographer. Beginning his career as a cinematographer, for his work on the British war film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1943) he received nomination for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. During a partnership with director David Lean, he produced Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), and Oliver Twist (1948), receiving two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Read more
16 Jun 2008: Mario Rigoni Stern, Italian soldier and author (born 1921) Mario Rigoni Stern was an Italian author and World War II veteran. Read more
16 Jun 2005: Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican-American author and critic (born 1906) Enrique Arturo Laguerre Vélez was a teacher, novelist, playwright, critic, and newspaper columnist from Moca, Puerto Rico. He is the author of the 1935 novel La Llamarada, which has been for many years obligatory reading in many literature courses in Puerto Rico. Read more
16 Jun 2004: Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1911) Thanom Kittikachorn was Prime Minister of Thailand from 1963 to 1973. Prior to taking office, he supported and initiated military coups and served as Thailand's defence minister. He was forced to step down after public protests which exploded into violence in 1973. His return from exile in 1976 sparked protests which led to a massacre of demonstrators, followed by a military coup. Read more
16 Jun 2004: Jacques Miquelon, Canadian lawyer and judge (born 1911) Jacques Miquelon was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Quebec. He represented Abitibi-Est in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1948 to 1960 as a member of the Union Nationale. Read more
16 Jun 2003: Pierre Bourgault, Canadian journalist and politician (born 1934) Pierre Bourgault was a politician and essayist, as well as an actor and journalist, from Quebec, Canada. He is most famous as a public speaker who advocated sovereignty for Quebec from Canada. Read more
16 Jun 2003: Georg Henrik von Wright, Finnish–Swedish philosopher and author (born 1916) Georg Henrik von Wright was a Finnish philosopher. He is particularly known for his work in philosophical logic, especially deontic logic, his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy, and his work on moral pessimism, especially regarding the Myth of Progress. Read more
16 Jun 1999: Screaming Lord Sutch, English singer and activist (born 1940) Screaming Lord Sutch was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. Read more
16 Jun 1998: Fred Wacker, American race car driver and engineer (born 1918) Frederick G. Wacker Jr. was an engineer and former president of two large Chicago companies. He was also a prominent Chicago socialite, a jazz musician, and a racing driver. He participated in five Formula One World Championship races, debuting on June 21, 1953. He scored no championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races. Read more
16 Jun 1996: Mel Allen, American sportscaster and game show host (born 1913) Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been "The Voice of the Yankees." Read more
16 Jun 1994: Kristen Pfaff, American bass player and songwriter (born 1967) Kristen Marie Pfaff was an American musician and songwriter known as a bassist for the alternative rock bands Hole and Janitor Joe. She died in June 1994 of a heroin overdose at the age of 27. Read more
16 Jun 1993: Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer and soldier (born 1913) Arthur Lindsay Hassett was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and the Australian national team. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "… a master of nearly every stroke … his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a simple matter". His sporting career at school singled him out as a precocious talent, but he took a number of seasons to secure a regular place in first-class cricket and initially struggled to make large scores. Selected for the 1938 tour of England with only one first-class century to his name, Hassett established himself with three consecutive first-class tons at the start of the campaign. Although he struggled in the Tests, he played a crucial role in Australia's win in the Fourth Test, with a composed display in the run-chase which sealed the retention of the Ashes. Upon returning to Australia, he distinguished himself in domestic cricket with a series of high scores, becoming the only player to score two centuries in a match against Bill O'Reilly—widely regarded as the best bowler in the world. Read more
16 Jun 1988: Miguel Piñero, Puerto Rican-American actor and playwright (born 1946) Miguel Piñero was a Puerto Rican playwright, actor and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was a leading member of the Nuyorican literary movement. Read more
16 Jun 1987: Marguerite de Angeli, American author and illustrator (born 1889) Marguerite de Angeli was an American writer and illustrator of children's books including the 1950 Newbery Award winning book The Door in the Wall. She wrote and illustrated twenty-eight of her own books, and illustrated more than three dozen books and numerous magazine stories and articles for other authors. Read more
16 Jun 1986: Maurice Duruflé, French organist and composer (born 1902) Maurice Gustave Duruflé was a French composer, organist, musicologist, and teacher. He is particularly well known for his Requiem (1947). Read more
16 Jun 1984: Lew Andreas, American football player and coach (born 1895) Lewis P. Andreas was an American football and basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He was the head coach for Syracuse University's men's basketball and football programs beginning in the 1920s. The Sterling, Illinois native played baseball, basketball and football at University of Illinois as a freshman before transferring to Syracuse. He then played football and baseball, but not basketball, for the Orangemen before embarking on his coaching career. Read more
16 Jun 1984: Erni Krusten, Estonian author and poet (born 1900) Erni Krusten was an Estonian writer. He was born Ernst Krustein in Muraste, Harku Parish, in a gardening family, and he worked as a gardener himself. He was the brother of the writer Pedro Krusten and caricaturist Otto Krusten, and the father of the literary scholar Reet Krusten. Read more
16 Jun 1982: James Honeyman-Scott, English guitarist and songwriter (born 1956) James Honeyman-Scott was an English guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the rock band the Pretenders. Read more
16 Jun 1981: Thomas Playford IV, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of South Australia (born 1896) Sir Thomas Playford was an Australian politician from the state of South Australia. He served as Premier of South Australia and leader of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965. Though controversial, it was the longest term of any elected government leader in Australian history. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and economic growth unmatched by any other Australian state. He was known for his parochial style in pushing South Australia's interests, and was known for his ability to secure a disproportionate share of federal funding for the state as well as his shameless haranguing of federal leaders. His string of election wins was supported by a system of malapportionment later dubbed the "Playmander". Read more
16 Jun 1979: Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, Ghanaian general and politician, 6th Head of state of Ghana (born 1931) Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who was the military head of state of Ghana from 13 January 1972 to 5 July 1978, when he was deposed in a palace coup. He was executed by firing squad on 16 June 1979. Read more
16 Jun 1979: Nicholas Ray, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1911) Nicholas Ray was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Described by the Harvard Film Archive as "Hollywood's last romantic" and "one of postwar American cinema's supremely gifted and ultimately tragic filmmakers," Ray was considered an iconoclastic auteur director who often clashed with the Hollywood studio system of the time, but would prove highly influential to future generations of filmmakers. Read more
16 Jun 1977: Wernher von Braun, German-American physicist and engineer (born 1912) Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German American aerospace engineer and space architect. He became a member of the Nazi Party and then the Allgemeine SS to support his rocket work. He led the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, and later of rocket and space technology in the US. Read more
16 Jun 1974: Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (born 1894) Amalie Sara Colquhoun was an Australian landscape and portrait painter who is represented in national and state galleries. In addition to painting landscapes, portraits and still lifes, Colquhoun designed and supervised the construction of stained glass windows for three of Ballarat's churches, St Andrew's Kirk, Lydiard Street Uniting Church and Mount Pleasant Methodist Church. She studied in both Melbourne and Sydney, exhibited in England and Australia and taught in the school she started with her husband in Melbourne. Read more
16 Jun 1971: John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (born 1889) John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In 1922, he was employed by the BBC, then the British Broadcasting Company Ltd., as its general manager; in 1923 he became its managing director, and in 1927 he was employed as the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation created under a royal charter. His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar organisations around the world. Read more
16 Jun 1970: Sydney Chapman, English mathematician and geophysicist (born 1888) Sydney Chapman was a British mathematician and geophysicist. His work on the kinetic theory of gases, solar-terrestrial physics, and the Earth's ozone layer has inspired a broad range of research over many decades. Read more
16 Jun 1970: Brian Piccolo, American football player (born 1943) Louis Brian Piccolo was an American professional football player who was a halfback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) for four years. He played college football for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He died at age 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of germ cell testicular cancer, first diagnosed after it had spread to his chest cavity. Read more
16 Jun 1969: Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, English field marshal and politician, 17th Governor General of Canada (born 1891) Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, was a British Army officer who served in both of the world wars. Alexander was born in London and was educated at Harrow school before moving on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, for training as an army officer of the Irish Guards. He rose to military prominence through his service in the First World War, and continued his career through various British campaigns across Europe and Asia during the interwar period. Read more
16 Jun 1967: Reginald Denny, English actor (born 1891) Reginald Leigh Dugmore, known professionally as Reginald Denny, was an English actor, aviator, and UAV pioneer. Read more
16 Jun 1961: Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (born 1904) Marcel Junod was a Swiss medical doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). After medical school and a short position as a surgeon in Mulhouse, France, he became an ICRC delegate and was deployed in Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and in Europe as well as in Japan during World War II. In 1947, he wrote a book with the title Warrior without Weapons about his experiences. After the war, he worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as chief representative in China, and settled back in Europe in 1950. He founded the anaesthesiology department of the Cantonal Hospital in Geneva and became the first professor in this discipline at the University of Geneva. In 1952, he was appointed a member of the ICRC and, after many more missions for this institution, was Vice-President from 1959 until his death in 1961. Read more
16 Jun 1959: George Reeves, American actor and director (born 1914) George Reeves was an American actor. He was best known for portraying Clark Kent/Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman (1952–1958). Read more
16 Jun 1958: Pál Maléter, Hungarian general and politician, Minister of Defence of Hungary (born 1917) Pál Maléter was a Hungarian military officer and notable figure in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution who served as minister of defence in the third government of Imre Nagy. Read more
16 Jun 1958: Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1895) Imre Nagy was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1953 to 1955. In 1956 Nagy became leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 against the Soviet-backed government, for which he was sentenced to death and executed two years later. He was not related to previous agrarianist Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy. Read more
16 Jun 1955: Ozias Leduc, Canadian painter (born 1864) Ozias Leduc was a Canadian painter who was an early painter in Quebec. He produced portraits and landscapes. According to Laurier Lacroix, he was the first Canadian artist who can be seen as a philosopher as well as a painter. Read more
16 Jun 1953: Margaret Bondfield, English politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (born 1873) Margaret Grace Bondfield was a British Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in the UK, when she was appointed Minister of Labour in the Labour government of 1929–31. She had earlier become the first woman to chair the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Read more
16 Jun 1952: Andrew Lawson, Scottish-American geologist and academic (born 1861) Andrew Cowper Lawson was a Scots-born Canadian geologist who became professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which became known as the "Lawson Report". He was also the first person to identify and name the San Andreas Fault in 1895, and after the 1906 quake, the first to delineate the entire length of the San Andreas Fault which previously had been noted only in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also named the Franciscan Complex. Read more
16 Jun 1946: Gordon Brewster, Irish cartoonist (b 1889) William Gordon Brewster was an Irish illustrator and editorial cartoonist. Read more
16 Jun 1945: Aris Velouchiotis, Greek general (born 1905) Athanasios Klaras, better known by the nom de guerre Aris Velouchiotis, was a Greek journalist and politician. He was a member of the Communist Party of Greece and the most prominent leader and chief instigator of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), the military branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM), which was the major resistance organization in occupied Greece from 1942 to 1945. Read more
16 Jun 1944: Marc Bloch, French historian and academic (born 1886) Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on medieval France over the course of his career. As an academic, he worked at the University of Strasbourg, the University of Paris, and the University of Montpellier. Read more
16 Jun 1944: George Stinney, wrongfully convicted African-American teenager (born 1929) George Junius Stinney Jr. was an African American boy who was wrongfully executed at the age of 14 after being convicted, during an unfair trial, for the murders of two white girls – 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames – in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death on a single day in April 1944 and then executed by electric chair on June 16, 1944, after Governor Olin D. Johnston refused to grant him clemency. Read more
16 Jun 1940: DuBose Heyward, American author (born 1885) Edwin DuBose Heyward was an American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worked with composer George Gershwin to adapt the work as the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. It was later adapted as a 1959 film of the same name. Read more
16 Jun 1939: Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (born 1905) William Henry "Chick" Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Read more
16 Jun 1931: Lucie Lagerbielke, Swedish writer and painter (born 1865). Lucie Lagerbielke was a Swedish author, painter and baroness who was known for her works on Western esotericism. Read more
16 Jun 1930: Ezra Fitch, American lawyer and businessman, co-founded Abercrombie & Fitch (born 1866) Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch was an American real estate developer and hobbyist outdoorsman.
He bought into and later fully owned the company that became Abercrombie & Fitch. Read more
16 Jun 1930: Elmer Ambrose Sperry, American inventor, co-invented the gyrocompass (born 1860) Elmer Ambrose Sperry Sr. was an American inventor and entrepreneur, most famous for construction, two years after Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, of the gyrocompass and as founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company. He was known as the "father of modern navigation technology". Read more
16 Jun 1929: Bramwell Booth, English 2nd General of The Salvation Army (born 1856) William Bramwell Booth, CH was a British church and charity leader who was the first Chief of Staff (1881–1912) and the second General of The Salvation Army (1912–1929), succeeding his father, William Booth. Read more
16 Jun 1929: Vernon Louis Parrington, American historian and scholar (born 1871) Vernon Louis Parrington was an American literary historian, scholar, and college football coach. The first two volume's of his is three-volume history of American letters, Main Currents in American Thought, won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928 and was one of the most influential books for American historians of its time. The third volume approximately half completed was completed by his associates and students after his sudden death in 1929. Parrington taught at the College of Emporia, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Washington. He was also the head football coach at the College of Emporia from 1893 to 1896 and Oklahoma from 1897 to 1900. Parrington founded the American studies movement in 1927. Read more
16 Jun 1925: Chittaranjan Das, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1870) Chittaranjan Das, popularly called Deshbandhu, was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian Independence Movement and mentor of Subhas Chandra Bose. He was the founder-leader of the Swaraj Party in undivided Bengal during the period of British Colonial rule in India. His name is abbreviated as C. R. Das.
He was closely associated with a number of literary societies and wrote poems, apart from numerous articles and essays. Read more
16 Jun 1918: Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (born 1860) Bazil George Assan was a Romanian engineer, explorer and economist. Belonging to a wealthy family in Bucharest, Assan was an important figure in the industrialization of the Kingdom of Romania. He studied engineering, commerce and economics, which impulsed him to discover the globe. In 1896, he became the first Romanian to travel to the Arctic, and between 1897 and 1898, he became the first Romanian to travel around the world. His travels were later presented to King Carol I of Romania. Assan died on 16 June 1918 in Montreux, Switzerland. Read more
16 Jun 1902: Ernst Schröder, German mathematician and academic (born 1841) Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Ernst Schröder was a German mathematician mainly known for his work on algebraic logic. He is a major figure in the history of mathematical logic, by virtue of summarizing and extending the work of George Boole, Augustus De Morgan, Hugh MacColl, and especially Charles Peirce. He is best known for his monumental Vorlesungen über die Algebra der Logik, in three volumes, which prepared the way for the emergence of mathematical logic as a separate discipline in the twentieth century by systematizing the various systems of formal logic of the day. Read more
16 Jun 1886: Alexander Stuart, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of New South Wales (born 1824) Sir Alexander Stuart was Premier of New South Wales from 5 January 1883 to 7 October 1885. Read more
16 Jun 1885: Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter and academic (born 1818) Wilhelm Camphausen was a German painter who specialised in history painting and military art. Read more
16 Jun 1881: Josiah Mason, English businessman and philanthropist (born 1795) Sir Josiah Mason was an English industrialist, engaged in dip pen manufacture and other trades, and a philanthropist. He founded Mason Science College in 1875, which later became the University of Birmingham. Read more
16 Jun 1878: Crawford Long, American surgeon and pharmacist (born 1815) Crawford Williamson Long was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled sulfuric ether as an anesthetic. Read more
16 Jun 1878: Kikuchi Yōsai, Japanese painter (born 1781) Kikuchi Yōsai , also known as Kikuchi Takeyasu and Kawahara Ryōhei, was a Japanese painter most famous for his monochrome portraits of historical figures. Read more
16 Jun 1872: Norman MacLeod, Scottish minister and author (born 1812) Norman Macleod was a Scottish clergyman and author who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1869/70. Read more
16 Jun 1869: Charles Sturt, Indian-English botanist and explorer (born 1795) Charles Napier Sturt was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers, establishing that they all merged into the Murray River, which flows into the Southern Ocean. He was searching to prove his own passionately held belief that an "inland sea" was located at the centre of the continent. He reached the rank of Captain, served in several appointed posts, and on the Legislative Council. Read more
16 Jun 1862: Hidenoyama Raigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 9th Yokozuna (born 1808) Hidenoyama Raigorō was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Kesennuma, Mutsu Province. He was the sport's 9th yokozuna. Read more
16 Jun 1858: John Snow, English epidemiologist and physician (born 1813) John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology and early germ theory, in part because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in London's Soho, which he identified as a particular public water pump. Snow's findings inspired fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public health around the world. Read more
16 Jun 1850: William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (born 1774) William Lawson, MLC was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician. In 1800, he migrated to Sydney, New South Wales, and from 1819, he served as the commandant of the Bathurst, New South Wales region, and from 1843, he served as a member of the New South Wales Parliament. Read more
16 Jun 1849: Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, German theologian and scholar (born 1780) Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette was a German Lutheran theologian and biblical scholar. Read more
16 Jun 1824: Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French lawyer and politician (born 1739) Charles-François Lebrun, 1st duc de Plaisance was a French statesman who served as Third Consul of the French Republic and was later created Arch-Treasurer by Napoleon I. Read more
16 Jun 1804: Johann Adam Hiller, German composer and conductor (born 1728) Johann Adam Hiller was a German composer, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet Christian Felix Weiße. Read more

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