November 16
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1992
The accidental discovery of the Hoxne Hoard
On this day in 1992, Eric Lawes, a retired utility worker, went looking for a hammer only to accidentally discover what is now known as the Hoxne Hoard—the largest collection of late Roman gold and silver ever found in Britain. What sort of objects did Lawes find?
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Featured Event
Reuters/Alamy
Election of Bhutto as Pakistan’s prime minister
Benazir Bhutto, elected prime minister of Pakistan on this day in 1988, became the first woman in modern history to lead a Muslim country, serving as prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Carl Van Vechten/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-42531)
The weirdest music I had ever heard.
Born this day in 1873, American composer W.C. Handy, among whose best-known works is the classic St. Louis Blues, changed the course of popular music by integrating the blues idiom into then fashionable ragtime.
Famous Birthdays
More on November 16
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2006
American economist Milton Friedman, who was a leading proponent of monetarism and won the 1976 Nobel Prize for Economics, died at age 94. [Test your knowledge of macroeconomics.]
© Alaska Stock LLC/Alamy
1973
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act was signed by U.S. President Richard Nixon; the pipeline—which connects the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska with the harbour at Valdez—became operational four years later. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about oil and natural gas.]
© 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1960
Actor Clark Gable, who epitomized the American ideal of masculinity for three decades and was known as the “King of Hollywood,” died of a heart attack, days after finishing work on The Misfits (1961). [Take our quiz about movie stars.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1933
The U.S. and the Soviet Union established normal diplomatic relations during the second term of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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1922
Portuguese novelist José Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born. [How much do you know about Nobel laureates in literature?]
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1855
British explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya). [Take our quiz about world explorers.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1836
Kalakaua, the last king and second-to-last monarch of Hawaii (1874–91), was born. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Hawaii.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1776
Sint Eustatius became the first foreign government to recognize the fledgling United States. [How much do you know about the United States?]
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1632
Swedish King Gustav II Adolf died during the Battle of Lützen, though his forces were victorious; his cause was skillfully directed by his chief adviser, Axel Oxenstierna. [Test your knowledge of the history of war.]
Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum
1272
British monarch Henry III died at age 65. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about English royalty.]
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42 bce
Tiberius, the second Roman emperor and the adopted son of Augustus, was born. [How much do you know about the Roman Empire?]