16th December: Today In History

Today is 16th December,  the 350 day of 2015. There are 15th days left in the year. Today's Highlight In History; Birthdays:   1485 Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife   1775 Jane Austen, English novelist; 'Pride And Prejudice' & 'Sense & Sensibility'   1857 Edward Emerson Barnard, US astronomer, discoverer of Barnard's star   1882 Zoltan Kodaly, Hungarian composer   1882 Sir Jack Hobbs, Renowned cricketer; the first of his sport to be Knighted   1899 Sir Noel Coward, Renowned playwright, actor, producer and director   1920 Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, constitutional lawyer. The first minister of justice and attorney-general, Western Nigeria in 1958.   1932 Grace Alele-Williams, former vice-chancellor, University of Benin. Born in Warri, Delta State , Professor of mathematics, and first Nigerian female university vice-chancellor.   1946 Benny Andersson, Singer/songwriter with the Pop group 'Abba'   1953 Stephanie Lawrence, Actress and singer, made famous by 'Evita' Events:   1653 Oliver Cromwell became 'Lord protector of England'   1773 'The Boston Tea Party' took place when the 'Sons of Liberty' dumped 18,000 worth of tea in the sea   1809 The marriage between Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine was disolved after thirteen years   1925 Construction of the Mersey road tunnel began, eventually opening almost ten years later in 1934   1929 Britains first airship, the R101, flew on its first trials   1952 Lord Mountbatten was appointed as chief of Allied forces in the Mediterranean, by NATO   1965 Somerset Maugham the English novelist died in Nice, France, at the age of 91