Today in History - onthisday.com

 

Aug 16

1513 Battle of the Spurs at Guinegate (now Enguinegatte): King Henry VIII of England and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I defeat French forces, capturing the town and routing the French cavalry

1743 Champion of England titleholder Jack Broughton publishes "Rules of the Ring," the earliest boxing code

1858 Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan for the first time via transatlantic telegraph cable; he replies, "It is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle"

1896 Gold is first discovered in the Klondike at Bonanza Creek in Yukon, Canada, by George Carmack

1930 First British Empire Games open in Hamilton, Canada

1930 The first color sound cartoon "Fiddlesticks" is released by Ub Iwerks (formerly of Walt Disney Studios)

1945 The last Chinese Emperor and ruler of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo, Puyi, is captured by Soviet troops while preparing to board a plane to escape to Japan

1946 Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless

1974 American punk rock band "The Ramones" debut in concert at CBGB in New York City

1989 A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects microchips, leading to a halt in all trading on Toronto's stock exchange

2008 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt sets a new world record of 9.69 seconds to win the 100 m gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics