So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

July 16th


- Christian Feast Day:

July 16th


- 2007 - 2007 Ch?etsu offshore earthquake: an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing 8 people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.
- 2004 - Millennium Park, considered Chicago's first and most ambitious early 21st century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
- 1999 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. His wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are also killed.
- 1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22.
- 1993 - The Slackware operating system is first released.
- 1990 - Luzon Earthquake stroke in Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac, Philippines, with an intensity of 7.7.
- 1990 - The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
- 1983 - Sikorsky S-61 disaster: a helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
- 1981 - Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; his 22 years in office, ending with retirement on 31 October 2003, made him Asia's longest-serving political leader.
- 1979 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
- 1973 - Watergate Scandal: former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1965 - The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
- 1960 - USS George Washington a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first ballistic missile while submerged.
- 1957 - United States Marine major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
- 1951 - King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
- 1951 - The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is published for the first time by Little, Brown and Company.
- 1948 - Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
- 1948 - The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
- 1945 - World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill, President of the United States Harry S Truman and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
- 1945 - Manhattan Project: the Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
- 1942 - Holocaust: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv): the government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
- 1941 - Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as a MLB record.
- 1935 - The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- 1931 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
- 1915 - Henry James becomes a British citizen, to highlight his commitment to England during the first World War.
- 1880 - Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada.
- 1862 - American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
- 1861 - American Civil War: at the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25 mile march into Virginia for what will become The First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
- 1809 - The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
- 1790 - The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
- 1782 - First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
- 1779 - American Revolutionary War: light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
- 1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego.
- 1683 - Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
- 1661 - The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
- 1377 - Coronation of Richard II of England.
- 1212 - Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: after Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, forces of Kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Pedro II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain.
- 1054 - Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East-West Schism.
- 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar.

July 16th


- 1994 - Mark Indelicato, American singer and actor
- 1991 - Randall Bentley, American actor
- 1990 - James Maslow, American singer and actor (Big Time Rush)
- 1989 - Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
- 1988 - Sergio Busquets,Spanish footballer
- 1987 - AnnaLynne McCord, American actress
- 1987 - Andrew James Allen, American actor
- 1986 - Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor
- 1984 - Katrina Kaif, Indian actress
- 1984 - Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese racing driver
- 1983 - Duncan Keith, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 - Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer
- 1981 - Giuseppe Di Masi, Italian footballer
- 1981 - Zach Randolph, American basketball player
- 1980 - Jesse Jane, American pornographic actress and erotic model
- 1980 - Justine Joli, American pornographic actress, adult model and ballerina
- 1980 - Adam Scott, Australian golfer
- 1979 - Jayma Mays, American actress
- 1979 - Chris Mihm, American basketball player
- 1979 - Mai Nakamura, Japanese swimmer
- 1978 - Taj Anwar, American model and social activist
- 1977 - Bryan Budd, British soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2006)
- 1976 - Bobby Lashley, American professional wrestler
- 1976 - Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguyan footballer
- 1976 - Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player
- 1976 - Tomasz Kuchar, Polish rally driver
- 1975 - Ana Paula Arósio, Brazilian actress
- 1975 - Jamie Oliver, Welsh keyboardist (Lostprophets)
- 1975 - Bas Leinders, Belgian racing car driver
- 1974 - Jeremy Enigk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fire Theft)
- 1974 - Chris Pontius, American actor and Jackass cast member
- 1974 - Wendell Sailor, Australian rugby league and union player
- 1973 - Stefano Garzelli, Italian cyclist
- 1973 - Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
- 1973 - Tim Ryan, American politician
- 1973 - Graham Robertson, American filmmaker and author
- 1971 - Ed Kowalczyk, American singer (Live)
- 1971 - Corey Feldman, American actor
- 1970 - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai film director
- 1969 - Kathryn Harby-Williams, Australian netballer
- 1969 - Daryl Mitchell, American actor
- 1969 - Rain Pryor, American actress
- 1968 - Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
- 1968 - Barry Sanders, American football player
- 1968 - Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of Citizendium
- 1968 - Henry Hate, American-born English tattoo artist
- 1967 - Will Ferrell, American comedian
- 1967 - Christopher Rocancourt, French con artist
- 1966 - Johnny Vaughan, English writer and broadcaster
- 1965 - Claude Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965 - Tina Tyler, Canadian porn actress
- 1964 - Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
- 1964 - Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist
- 1963 - Phoebe Cates, American actress
- 1963 - Sre?ko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
- 1960 - Terry Pendleton, American baseball player
- 1959 - Gary Anderson, American football player
- 1959 - Doug Herzog, American television executive
- 1959 - Zoran Jolevski, Macedonian diplomat, Ambassador to the USA
- 1958 - Mike D. Rogers, American politician
- 1958 - Michael Flatley, American dancer
- 1958 - Pierre Roland Renoir, Monaco-born Canadian painter
- 1957 - Alexandra Marinina, Russian writer
- 1956 - Jerry Doyle, American actor
- 1956 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
- 1954 - Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
- 1953 - Douglas J. Feith, American Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
- 1952 - Stewart Copeland, American drummer (The Police)
- 1952 - Momir Karadži?, Serbian footballer
- 1952 - Ken McEwan, South African cricketer
- 1952 - Robert David Steele, American spy
- 1951 - Jean-Luc Mongrain, Canadian journalist
- 1950 - Pierre Paradis, Quebec politician
- 1950 - Dennis Priestley, English darts player
- 1950 - Tom Terrell, American journalist, musicologist and DJ (d. 2007)
- 1948 - Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer and actor
- 1948 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
- 1948 - Kevin McKenzie, South African cricketer
- 1947 - Alexis Herman, American politician, 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor
- 1947 - Assata Shakur, American BPP and BLA activist
- 1946 - Barbara Lee, American politician
- 1946 - Richard LeParmentier, American actor
- 1946 - Ron Yary, American football player
- 1946 - Toshio Furukawa, Japanese voice actor
- 1943 - Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet (d. 1990)
- 1943 - Jimmy Johnson, American football coach
- 1942 - Margaret Court, Australian tennis player
- 1941 - Desmond Dekker, Jamaican ska and reggae singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1941 - Mišo Kova?, Croatian singer
- 1941 - Dag Solstad, Norwegian novelist, short-story writer and dramatist
- 1939 - Corin Redgrave, English actor and political activist (d. 2010)
- 1939 - Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (d. 1995)
- 1938 - Tony Jackson, English bass player (The Searchers) (d. 2003)
- 1937 - Richard Bryan, American politician
- 1936 - Buddy Merrill, American musician (The Lawrence Welk Show)
- 1936 - Venkatraman Subramanya, Indian cricketer
- 1936 - Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese politician
- 1934 - Don Payne, American politician
- 1932 - Max McGee, American football player (d. 2007)
- 1932 - Dick Thornburgh, American politician
- 1930 - Michael Bilirakis, American politician
- 1930 - Guy Béart, Egyptian-born French singer and songwriter
- 1928 - Anita Brookner, English novelist
- 1928 - Robert Sheckley, American science fiction writer (d. 2005)
- 1928 - Dave Treen, American politician, 51st Governor of Louisiana (d. 2009)
- 1928 - Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993)
- 1928 - Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer (d. 2000)
- 1927 - John Warr, English cricketer
- 1926 - Irwin Rose, American biologist, Nobel laureate
- 1925 - Cal Tjader, American vibraphonist, percussionist and panist (d. 1982)
- 1924 - Bess Myerson, American beauty queen
- 1923 - Chris Argyris, American educator
- 1920 - Anwar Hussain, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2002)
- 1920 - Anatole Broyard, American literary critic and essayist (d. 1990)
- 1919 - Choi Kyu-hah, South Korean politician, 4th President of South Korea (d. 2006)
- 1919 - Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian concentration and extermination camp guard (d. 1999)
- 1918 - Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 1989)
- 1915 - Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1912 - Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1911 - Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)
- 1911 - Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1910 - Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
- 1907 - Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995)
- 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1907 - Frances Horwich, American educator and television personality (d. 2001)
- 1906 - Vincent Sherman, American film director (d. 2006)
- 1904 - Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (d. 2003)
- 1903 - Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer and composer (d. 1971)
- 1903 - Mary Philbin, American stage and film actress (d. 1993)
- 1903 - Fritz Bauer, German judge (d. 1968)
- 1902 - Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist (d. 1977)
- 1896 - Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (d. 1969)
- 1896 - Trygve Lie, Norwegian diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1968)
- 1896 - Evelyn Preer, American actress (d. 1932)
- 1889 - Larry Semon, American film comedy actor (d. 1928)
- 1888 - Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1888 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
- 1888 - Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
- 1884 - Anna Vyrubova, Russian memoirist (d. 1964)
- 1883 - Charles Sheeler, American photographer and artist (d. 1965)
- 1880 - Kathleen Thompson Norris, American novelist (d. 1966)
- 1872 - Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928)
- 1870 - Lambert McKenna, Irish Jesuit priest and scholar of the Irish language (d. 1956)
- 1862 - Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, American civil rights activist (d. 1931)
- 1858 - Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (d. 1931)
- 1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910)
- 1796 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
- 1749 - Cyrus Griffin, American statesman, 16th and last president of the Continental Congress (d. 1810)
- 1731 - Samuel Huntington, American statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd Governor of Connecticut and 7th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)
- 1723 - Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
- 1722 - Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
- 1714 - Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer (d. 1800)
- 1611 - Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria, Austrian-born Queen consort of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, wife of King W?adys?aw IV Vasa (d. 1644)
- 1486 - Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
- 1194 - Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (d. 1253)