Once Upon A Time – January 16 – 2006 – Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Becomes Africa’s First Female Elected Head Of State

27 BC The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate

1412 The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy

1547 Ivan IV the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st tsar of Moscow

1605 The first edition of “El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha” (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid

1793 French King Louis XVI sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution

1913 British House of Commons accepts Home Rule for Ireland (but the Great War gets in the way of it happening)

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established prohibitionProhibition is Ratified

1919 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing the prohibition of alcohol, is ratified by a majority of US states

1920 1st assembly of the League of Nations is held in Paris

Historical Events Today Events in 2022

Today in Film & TV

1936 Screen Actors Guild incorporates with King Vidor as president

Today in Music

1938 1st jazz concert held at Carnegie Hall, performed by Benny Goodman and his band

1963 Los Angeles night club and music venue The Whiskey A-Go-Go opens (inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2006)

Today in Sport

1933 Cricket’s Bodyline Tour: Australian batsman Bert Oldfield’s skull fractured by delivery bowled by Englishman Harold Larwood during the third test in Adelaide

2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.

1749 Hoax article advertising fictitious theatrical performer “The Bottle Conjuror” drew huge crowds to the Haymarket Theatre, London, whose inevitable non-appearance caused a riot. It’s alleged the Duke of Montagu perpetrated the fiasco to win a bet

Famous Weddings

1325 Laure de Noves, beloved of Petrarch, marries Hugues de Sade

1864 White chapel murder victim and possible Jack the Ripper victim Mary Ann Nichols (18) weds printer’s machinist William Nichols

1865 Confederate Brigadier-General John Pegram marries Hetty Cary (US Civil War)