Holidays Calendar for October 16, 2015

People around the world celebrate World Anaesthesia Day on October 16 every year. Although many would think that this is a holiday for medical professionals only, it is actually relevant to everyone, because every patient benefits from painless surgical treatment.

World Bread Day is an international observance celebrated on October 16 every year. It was initiated by the International Union of Bakers and Confectioners (UIBC). The observance is dedicated to a staple food that has been of important around the world since the dawn of agriculture.

World Restart a Heart Day is an international awareness campaign held in numerous countries on October 16. Its main goal is to highlight the importance of bystander CPR and to encourage people to learn CPR. The observance was initiated by the European Resuscitation Council with the support of the European Parliament.

World Spine Day is celebrated every October 16. It was created to raise awareness of the importance of spinal health, as well as to encourage people to seek professional help for back pain and other spine-related health issues.

Armenian Press Day is an official professional day of all employees of printed matters in Armenia. This holiday annually falls on October 16, that is a publishing anniversary of the first Armenian magazine Azdarar in 1794.

Air Force Day is one of the professional days in Bulgaria, it's annually celebrated on October 16 since 1963. This holiday has a long history, that can be traced to the beginning of the 20th century.

Boss's Day is an annual secular holiday that focuses on strengthening the bond between employers and their employees. It is celebrated on October 16 in the United States, Canada and some other countries.

Teachers' Day is annually celebrated in Chile on October 16. This holiday has a long history and the date of celebration is often confused due to several changes.

Allergists and immunologists in Russia and some other former Soviet republics celebrate their professional holiday on October 16. Although Allergist Day hasn’t been officially recognized yet, it is sometimes referred to as World Allergist Day.

Tajik Cinema Day is celebrated annually on October 16. On this day in 1929, the footage of the arrival of the first train in Dushanbe (then Stalinabad) was screened for the first time; it is considered the birthday of Tajik cinema.

Dictionary Day, celebrated annually on October 16, is the perfect day to open a dictionary and learn a couple of new words. Although the holiday isn’t nationally recognized, it is sometimes referred to as National Dictionary Day.

Day of Pope John Paul II is a national holiday in Poland, that was created to celebrate the beginning of papacy of Pope John Paul II, a Polish priest, bishop and Cardinal.

Death Anniversary of Liaquat Ali Khan is one of the national holidays in Pakistan. It's annually falls on October 16.

Bu-Ma Democratic Protests Commemoration Day is observed in South Korea every year on October 16. It commemorates the 1979 Busan-Masan Uprising, abbreviated as Bu-Ma Uprising, that was suppressed by Park Chung Hee’s dictatorial regime.

October 16 is National Liqueur Day. Liqueurs are alcoholic beverages made from a distilled spirit bottled with added sugar and flavored with herbs, spices, fruit, nuts, cream, or even flowers. Liqueurs should not be confused with flavored liquors, which contain to added sugar or other sweetener.

World Food Day is observed in over 150 counties around the world every year on October 16. This observance was created in November 1979 and the first events were organized in 1980.


This Day in History

  • 2012 A team of European observers announced the discovery of Alpha Centauri Bb, a possible extrasolar planet orbiting the K-type main-sequence star Alpha Centauri B. If it's verified, then Alpha Centauri Bb is the closest extrasolar planet to Earth.
  • 2007 Died: Barbara West, English survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. She was the last living surviver that traveled second-class on the ship.
  • 2002 Bibliotheca Alexandrina was officially inaugurated in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. This library was built to commemorate the lost in antiquity Library of Alexandria, one of the largest and most significant libraries in the ancient world.
  • 1997 Born: Naomi Osaka, Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles.
  • 1997 Born: Charles Leclerc, Monégasque racing driver racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari (as of 2023). He made his Formula One debut in 2018 for Sauber, a team affiliated with Ferrari.
  • 1996 At least 83 football fans were killed and more than 180 injured minutes before a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match between Guatemala and Costa Rica held in Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City. An excessive number of football fans tried to enter the stadium, creating a human avalanche and pressing people to the stands. The disaster was caused by sale of counterfeit tickets, that let 47,000 fans squeeze into the 36,000-seat stadium.
  • 1991 Died: Ole Beich, Danish musician, best known as the bassist for the original lineups of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses. Beich played only one show with Guns N' Roses before quitting the group.
  • 1983 Born: Loreen (born Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui), Swedish singer and songwriter who won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 2012 with "Euphoria" and in 2023 with "Tattoo".
  • 1978 A Polish mountain climber Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
  • 1975 The last naturally occurring infection of smallpox was registered in the village of Kuralia in Bangladesh. It was a two-year-old girl Rahima Banu, who later fully recovered.
  • 1968 United States athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a gesture interpreted as Black Power salute during the medal ceremony at the Summer Olympics in Mexico. They both raised a black-gloved fist and kept them till the anthem of the United States had finished. Their act was later condemned by the press and the athletes and their families received death threats.
  • 1964 China detonated its first nuclear weapon, known as 596 or Chic-1, at the Lop Nur test site. With this test China became the 5th nuclear power.
  • 1962 Born: Michael Peter Balzary, better known by his stage name Flea, American musician, the bassist and one of the co-founding members of rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.
  • 1959 Died: George Marshall, American soldier and politician, famous for his leadership roles during World War II and Cold War. He served as the 3rd Secretary of Defense from 1950 to 1951. In 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the plan aimed at the economic recovery of Western Europe after World War II.
  • 1958 Born: Tim Robbins, American actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Bull Durham, Jacob's Ladder, The Player, The Shawshank Redemption and Mystic River.
  • 1951 Died: Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistani politician, one of the leading founding father of modern Pakistan and its 1st Prime Minister.
  • 1948 Born: Hema Malinif, Indian actress, well known for her roles in Hindi cinema. She is best remembered for her dual role in Seeta aur Geeta, a Hindu story about identical twins.
  • 1946 Died: Joachim von Ribbentrop, German lieutenant and politician, Minster for Foreign Affairs of Germany. He was one of the sides to sign the Molotov-Ribentrop Pact and played a key role in breaking it. He played a major role in starting World War II and enabling the Holocaust. He was executed for the crimes against humanity.
  • 1946 Died: Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian architect and politician, an influential figure in development of the ideologue of the Nazi Party. He is considered to be a key figure in development of racial theory, persecution of the Jews and abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • 1946 Died: Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer, serving as Chief of Reich Main Security Office and President of the International Criminal Police Commission (later became Interpol). He was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face the trial at the first Nuremberg Trials.
  • 1946 Died: Julius Streicher, German journalist and politician, a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and the publisher of German newspaper Der Stürmer, a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine. He also published three anti-Semitic books for children. After the war he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed.
  • 1927 Born: Günter Grass, German author, best known for his novel The Tin Drum. In 1999 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • 1925 Born: Angela Lansbury, Irish-British and American actress and singer. Her career spanned eighty years and included roles in film, television, and on stage.
  • 1923 Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney founded the Walt Disney Company.
  • 1888 Born: Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, who was among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism. His drama Long Day's Journey Into Night is often mentioned as one of the finest American plays in the 20th century. O'Neill was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature and four Pulitzer Prizes.
  • 1886 Born: David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli politician, known as the primary founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel. As a prime minister, he helped build the state institutions aimed at the development of the country and improved relations with West Germans.
  • 1869 The Cardiff Giant, a 10-foot tall purported petrified man was uncovered by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. Newell in Cardiff, New York. This story became one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history.
  • 1863 Born: Austen Chamberlain, British politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was awarded the prize for his efforts towards preparation and signing a mutual agreement together with representatives from France, Belgium and Italy to settle all differences between the nations by arbitration and never resort to war.
  • 1854 Born: Oscar Wilde, Irish author, one of the most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his novel The Picture of Dorian Grey.
  • 1841 Born: Itō Hirobumi, Japanese politician, the 1st Prime Minister of Japan. As a prime minister he established in Japan a cabinet system of government.
  • 1834 Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed by fire. The disaster was caused by the burning of small wooden tally sticks that had been used as a part of the accounting procedure. The sticks were disposed in the two furnaces under the House of Lords and caused a chimney fire in two flues.
  • 1793 Died: Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre, wife of Louis XVI of France. Marie Antoinette is still a major cultural icon associated with high glamor, wealth and a style of life based on luxury and fame. She is also attributed the start of the French Revolution.
  • 1758 Born: Noah Webster, American lexicographer, spelling reformer and author. He is remembered for his English-spelling reforms and the new spelling rules gathered in blue-backed books, that taught five generations of American children.
  • 1555 Died: Hugh Latimer, English bishop and saint, a prominent figure in the English Reformation. He was burned at the stake for his "heresy", becoming one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism.