Today in History.

On This Day: October 16, 2018

Birthdays:
  1803    Robert Stephenson, English civil engineer; built railway lines and bridges
  1854    Oscar Wilde, Irish born novelist and playwright
  1888    Eugene O'Neill, American playwright and Nobel prize winner for literature
  1922    Max Bygraves, Popular singer and entertainer
  1940    Simon Ward, Stage and screen actor
  1947    Bob Weir, Of the Pop group 'Grateful Dead'
  1947    Terry Griffiths, Welsh world champion snooker player
  1960    Gary Kemp, Member of the Pop group 'Spandau Ballet'

Events:
  1555    An English protestant, Nicholas Ridley, was burned at the stake for heresy
  1793    The Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was found guilty of treason & executed by guillotine in Paris
  1815    Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to St Helena, an island in the Atlantic
  1834    A fire destroyed the Palace of Westminster
  1964    Harold Wilson became Prime Minister (Labour)
  1978    John Paul II became the first non-Italian Pope
  1984    Bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel peace prize
  1986    Nigerian writer and dramatist, Wole Soyinka, wins the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature.
  1987    Hurricane force winds battered Britain, causing severe damage & destroying thousands of trees
  1992    The Federal Government cancels the presidential primaries. Other actions taken by government include: sacking of the executives of the two political Parties: appointment of caretaker committees to run