On This Day October 16

2002
Iraq War: The "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq" is signed into law by President Bush authorizing what was soon to become the Iraq War.

1997
Lost in Space: The fictional Jupiter II is launched from Alpha Control, as per the TV show.

1992
Topless woman found in a Where's Waldo puzzle: The popular children's puzzle was reported to show a topless female sunbather baring her breasts.

1992
John Haggin marries Roxanne Pulitzer: This caused his mother to cut him off from a $200,000,000 fortune. They filed for divorce December 2; that's about $4,250,000 a day.

1992
First USDA approval of a genetically altered plant for food production: The "Flavr Savr" tomato is approved.

1991
Luby's Cafeteria massacre: George Hennard drives his pick-up truck into the Killeen, Texas restaurant and opens fire with semi-automatic weapons killing 23 people.

1987
Jessica McClure: The 18-month-old baby is rescued from a 22-foot-deep shaft she had fallen into 58½ hours earlier.

1985
Penn & Teller: The magicians "magically" produce 500 live cockroaches and let them loose on The David Letterman Show.

1962
Gilligan's Island: The pilot for the show about seven castaways is aired. The pilot cast differed from the series with Kit Smythe as Ginger, John Gabriel as the Professor and Nancy McCarthy as Bunny. Trivia: What was Gilligan's first name? Answer...

1955
Ann Landers: The column gets a new writer - Esther Pauline Friedman. Her twin sister writes the Dear Abby column.

1941
World War II: Tojo Hideki becomes prime minister of Japan. He was executed in 1948 for war crimes committed during the war.

1928
Frosted light bulbs: A patent is awarded for the first practical electric light bulb frosted on the inside.

1925
Evolution: Textbooks containing evolution theory are banned by the Texas State Text Book Board.

1920
First license for a commercial radio station is applied for, KDKA in Pittsburgh.

1859
Civil War: John Brown captures the U.S. arsenal near Harper's Ferry. Two of his sons were killed in the battle and he was later captured by Col. Robert E. Lee and hanged.

1701
Yale University: A charter is granted for a collegiate school in New Haven, Connecticut. It later became Yale University.

1958
Tim Robbins, American actor. Film: Howard the Duck (1986) and Bull Durham (1988).

1946
Suzanne Somers (Suzanne Mahoney), American actress. TV: Three's Company (Chrissy).

1943
C.F. "Fred" Turner, Canadian singer, with Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Music: Takin' Care of Business (1974) and You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (1974, #1).

1940
Barry Corbin, American actor. TV: Northern Exposure (former astronaut Maurice).

1925
Angela Lansbury, English Tony-winning actress. TV: Murder She Wrote (Jessica Fletcher).

1888 d. 1953
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, American Nobel-Pulitzer-winning playwright, works include The Iceman Cometh (1946).

1854 d. 1900
Oscar Wilde, Irish-born British author. He was imprisoned (1895-97) for his homosexuality. Writings: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898, which described his prison experience).

1797 d. 1868
Seventh Earl of Cardigan (James Thomas Brudenell), English soldier. He led the charge of the Light Brigade (1854) and for whom cardigan sweaters are named.

1758 d. 1843
Noah Webster, American lexicographer, schoolmaster to America. Works: Blue-Backed Speller (1783) and An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).

1998 b. 1943
Jonathan Bruce Postel, American computer scientist, Internet pioneer, sometimes referred to as the "God of the Internet." He was responsible for assigning addresses to domain names and for editing RFCs (Request for Comments). Also known for Postel's Law: "Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others."

1992 b. 1907
Shirley Booth (Thelma Booth Ford), American Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning actress, Hazel Burke of Hazel.

1989 b. 1915
Cornel Wilde (Cornelius Wilde), American actor. Film: A Song to Remember (1945, Chopin). He quit the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team to pursue his acting career.

1793 b. 1755
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, disliked by her people for her extravagances and politics, she was guillotined for treason and attempting to incite a civil war.

October 16

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