What Happened On This Day – June 16
2010 The world's first country-wide total tobacco ban goes into effect
Bhutan banned the cultivation, harvesting, production, and sale of tobacco and tobacco products. It is still legal in the South Asian country to smoke in a private setting, but obtaining tobacco products legally is close to impossible.
1976 South African police kill hundreds of protesting schoolchildren
An estimated 20,000 youth were protesting against the introduction of Afrikaans as the languages of instruction in their schools when police officers started firing into the crowd. The “Soweto uprising” is today commemorated on Youth Day each year.
1967 The Monterey Pop Festival opens
The three-day concert event featured historic performances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Ravi Shankar, and Janis Joplin.
1963 Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space
The Soviet cosmonaut completed 48 orbits on board the spaceship “Vostok 6” before returning safely to Earth. The former textile worker was declared “Hero of the Soviet Union” and received the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace.
1960 Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho is premiered
The horror-thriller starring Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles has become one of the classics of the genre. The shower scene is one of the best-known murder scenes in the history of film.
Births On This Day – June 16
1971 Tupac Shakur
American rapper, producer, actor
1912 Enoch Powell
British politician
1890 Stan Laurel
English actor, comedian
1882 Mohammad Mosaddegh
Iranian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran
1723 Adam Smith
Scottish philosopher, economist
Deaths On This Day – June 16
2014 Tony Gwynn
American baseball player, coach
1993 Lindsay Hassett
Australian cricketer
1977 Wernher von Braun
German physicist, engineer
1969 Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis
English field marshal, 17th Governor General of Canada
1722 John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
English general, politician