Born on this day 16th February
1926 John Schlesinger
1935 Sonny Bono
1945 Bob Marley
1929 Peter Porter
1943 Sir Anthony Dowell
1946 Ian Lavender
1950 Peter Hain MP
1958 ICE T
1959 John McEnroe
1971 Amanda Holden
Died on this day
1957 Sir Leslie Hore-Belisha
2002 Sir Walter Winterbottom
Music
1965 The Rolling Stones performed 2 concerts in Singapore.
1972 Fifties teenage idol Ricky Nelson began his first UK tour.
1974 The Who appeared in Toulon.
1985 George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ reached No.1 in the US singles chart.
Sport
1991 Great Britain recorded their largest ever win in a Rugby League international with a 60-4 victory over France at Headingley.
1991 The English Rugby Union team beat Scotland 21-12 at Twickenham to win the Calcutta Cup.
People & Showbiz
1992 Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger was refused entry into Japan because of a drugs arrest made 23 years earlier.
1995 Brigitte Bardot, the actress, wrote to the Agriculture Secretary urging him to impose an 8 hour limit on animal journey times in transit. She hoped he may persuade the EU states to introduce such a limit
General Events
1937 Nylon, developed by Dr. Corothers and his American research team, was patented.
1956 At the age of 30, Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba, having overthrown the regime of Batista.
1972 9 hour electricity black-outs were imposed on virtually all of Britain as a result of the miners’ strike crisis.
1989 Figures published in the UK showed that unemployment had fallen below 2 million for the first time in 8 years.