January 16

Today in History
• 1219 - Floods in Northern Netherlands after storm, 1,000s killed
• 1776 - Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks
• 1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia
• 1759 - The British Museum opened
• 1896 - The first five-player college basketball game was played at Iowa City, IA
• 1920 - Prohibition went into effect in the U.S.
• 1944 - General Dwight Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force
• 1970 - Colonel Muammar el-Quaddafi became virtual president of Libya

Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Book Publishers Day
• Civil Rights Day
• Elementary School Teacher Day
• Idaho Human Rights Day
• National Boston Day
• National Religious Freedom Day
• Signing of the Peace Accords
• Tu BiShvat

Birthdays
• 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, English prince and son of Henry III of England
• 1409 - René of Anjou, King of Naples
• 1757 - Samuel McIntire, woodcarver/architect, architect of Salem
• 1836 - King Francis II of the Two Sicilies
• 1853 - Andre Michelin, France, industrialist/tire manufacturer, Michelin
• 1870 - Wilhelm Normann, German chemist, hardening of oils
• 1873 - Boyd Alexander, English explorer
• 1885 - Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, president of Poland, 1939-40