Once Upon A Time – February 16 – 1659 – 1st Known Cheque Written (£400), Now On Display At Westminster Abbey

1659 1st known cheque written (£400), now on display at Westminster Abbey

1840 American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica

1923 Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb and finds the sarcophagus

1959 Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista

2005 The Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia committing industrialized nations to limit and reduce greenhouse gases

Historical Events Today Events In 2023

Today In Film & TV

1938 “Bringing Up Baby” film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is released

Today In Music

1963 Beatles top British rock charts with “Please, Please Me”

1968 Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wives fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Today In Sport

1926 Suzanne Lenglen defeats US champion Helen Wills in influential tennis match in Cannes, France

600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying “God bless You” is the correct response to a sneeze

1861 Abraham Lincoln stops his train at Westfield on his way to Washington to thank 11-year old Grace Bedell in person for her advice to grow a beard to gain more votes

Famous Weddings

1655 Grand Pensionary of Holland Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker

1734 Jurist William Allen (29) weds Margaret Hamilton

1784 American Revolutionary War patriot Ethan Allen (46) weds second wife Frances Montresor Brush Buchanan