16th January anniversaries

• Birth
  • 1933
  • United States
  • "Birth of Susan Sontag, American writer ."
  • 1908
  • United States
  • "Birth of Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (She claimed to have been born in 1909)."
• event
  • 1919
  • United States
  • "Prohibition: 36 US states ratified the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing the manufacture, transport and sale of alcoholic beverages from 16th January 1920"
  • 1979
  • "Iran, Islamic Republic of"
  • The Shah of Iran fled to Egypt with his family and went into exile
  • 1992
  • Great Britain
  • Britain drops out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism
  • 1581
  • Great Britain
  • English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
  • 1707
  • Great Britain
  • Union with Scotland – Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges – Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March
  • 1761
  • "British capture Pondicherry, India from the French"
  • 1809
  • "Peninsular War: the Battle of Corunna, northern Spain. The British, commanded by Sir John Moore, defeated Nicolas Soults French troops"
  • 1883
  • United States
  • "The Pendleton Civil Service Act was passed, establishing the United States Civil Service."
  • 1909
  • Great Britain
  • Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
• Death
  • 1957
  • Italy
  • "Death of Arturo Toscanini, conductor."