December 16th, 1908

Born on December 16th, 1908

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 42,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 865 days, exactly on September 8th, 2026, people who were born on December 16th, 1908 will be 43,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on December 16th?

December 16th, 2014

A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney, Australia, ended with police storming the building, killing the perpetrator and one of the hostages.

December 16th, 2012

A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.

December 16th, 1997

Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.

December 16th, 1971

The surrender of Pakistani forces in Dacca, East Pakistan, concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War.

December 16th, 1942

World War II: Americans engaged Imperial Japanese forces at the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse in the hills near the Matanikau River area on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign.

December 16th, 1938

Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother as an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.

December 16th, 1930

German-American gangster Herman Lamm killed himself during a botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, to avoid being captured by police.

December 16th, 1922

Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland, was assassinated only five days after having taken office.

December 16th, 1918

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.

December 16th, 1914

First World War: The Imperial German Navy attacked ports in northern England, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.

December 16th, 1901

English writer Beatrix Potter privately published 250 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (illustration shown) after several publishers' rejections.

December 16th, 1893

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

December 16th, 1850

Settlers of the Canterbury Association (poster pictured) aboard Randolph and Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New Zealand.

December 16th, 1811

The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes struck the Midwestern United States and made the Mississippi River appear to run backward.

December 16th, 1773

American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor (pictured) to protest British taxation without representation.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on December 16th

Born on December 16th, 1908

95

Hans Schaffner

Member of the Swiss Federal Council (1908-2004)

*December 16th, 1908, Interlaken †November 26th, 2004, Bern

54

Remedios Varo

Spanish painter (1908–1963)

*December 16th, 1908, Anglès †October 8th, 1963, Mexico City

Same Day
Who's birthday is on December 16th?

87

Egill Jacobsen

Danish painter (1910-1998)

*December 16th, 1910, Copenhagen †April 21st, 1998, Copenhagen

26

Zara Larsson

Swedish singer and songwriter

*December 16th, 1997, Solna Municipality

76

Margaret Mead

American anthropologist (1901—1978)

*December 16th, 1901, Philadelphia †November 15th, 1978, New York City

56

Ludwig van Beethoven

German composer (1770–1827)

*December 16th, 1770, Bonn †March 26th, 1827, Vienna

91

Karl Heinz Oppel

German actor and voice actor

*December 16th, 1924, Dresden †October 27th, 2016, Berlin

73

Noël Coward

English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer

*December 16th, 1899, Teddington †March 26th, 1973, Firefly Estate

35

Mats Hummels

German association football player

*December 16th, 1988, Bergisch Gladbach

103

Barbara Kent

Canadian actress

*December 16th, 1907, Gadsby †October 13th, 2011, Palm Desert

90

Piet Hein

20th-century Danish mathematician, inventor, designer, writer and poet

*December 16th, 1905, Copenhagen †April 17th, 1996, Middelfart

90

Arthur C. Clarke

British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917-2008)

*December 16th, 1917, Minehead †March 19th, 2008, Colombo

77

Benny Andersson

Swedish musician and composer

*December 16th, 1946, Stockholm

68

Nancy Andrews

American actress and singer (1924-1989)

*December 16th, 1920, Minneapolis †July 29th, 1989, Queens

83

Norbert Kunisch

German classical archaeologist

*December 16th, 1934, Dortmund †May 2nd, 2018, Oxford

40

Ted Wilde

American film director, screenwriter (1889-1929)

*December 16th, 1889, New York City †December 17th, 1929, Hollywood

41

Jane Austen

English novelist (1775–1817)

*December 16th, 1775, Steventon †July 18th, 1817, Winchester

62

LaChanze

American actress, singer, and dancer

*December 16th, 1961, St. Augustine

54

Simon Grayson

English footballer and manager (born 1969)

*December 16th, 1969, Ripon

70

Rebecca Forstadt

American voice actress

*December 16th, 1953, Denver

77

Barbara Smith

American activist and academic (born 1946)

*December 16th, 1946, Cleveland

85

Liv Ullmann

Norwegian actress and director

*December 16th, 1938, Tokyo

Same year
Born in 1908

78

Simone de Beauvoir

French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)

*January 9th, 1908, Paris †April 14th, 1986, 14th arrondissement of Paris

64

Lyndon B. Johnson

President of the United States from 1963 to 1969

*August 27th, 1908, Stonewall †January 22nd, 1973, Stonewall

78

Arnaldo Momigliano

Italian historian of classical antiquity (1908–1987)

*September 5th, 1908, Caraglio †September 1st, 1987, London

88

Wolfram von Soden

German Assyriologist

*June 19th, 1908, Berlin †October 6th, 1996, Münster

97

Myron Waldman

American animator (1908-2006)

*April 23rd, 1908, Brooklyn †February 4th, 2006, Bethpage

100

Claude Lévi-Strauss

French anthropologist and ethnologist (1908–2009)

*November 28th, 1908, City of Brussels †October 30th, 2009, 16th arrondissement of Paris

66

Louis Jordan

American jazz, blues and rhythm and blues musician, songwriter and bandleader (1908–1975)

*July 8th, 1908, Arkansas †February 4th, 1975, Los Angeles

65

Salvador Allende

28th president of Chile (1908–1973)

*June 26th, 1908, Valparaíso †September 11th, 1973, Santiago

96

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter

*December 31st, 1908, Buchach †September 20th, 2005, Vienna

52

Richard Wright

American writer (1908-1960)

*September 4th, 1908, Natchez †November 28th, 1960, Paris

83

Olivier Messiaen

French composer, organist and ornithologist (1908–1992)

*December 10th, 1908, Avignon †April 27th, 1992, Clichy

89

James Stewart

American actor (1908–1997)

*May 20th, 1908, Indiana †July 2nd, 1997, Beverly Hills

81

Bette Davis

American actress (1908–1989)

*April 5th, 1908, Lowell †October 6th, 1989, Neuilly-sur-Seine

76

Ethel Merman

American actress and singer (1908-1984)

*January 16th, 1908, Astoria †February 15th, 1984, Manhattan

97

John Mills

English actor (1908-2005)

*February 22nd, 1908, Felixstowe †April 23rd, 2005, Denham

91

Amintore Fanfani

Italian politician statesman (1908–1999)

*February 6th, 1908, Pieve Santo Stefano †November 20th, 1999, Rome

84

Robert Morley

British actor (1908–1992)

*May 26th, 1908, Semley †June 3rd, 1992, Reading

82

Robert Cummings

American actor (1910–1990)

*June 9th, 1908, Joplin †December 2nd, 1990, Woodland Hills

85

Raymond Scott

American composer, bandleader, pianist, record producer and inventor (1908-1994)

*September 10th, 1908, Brooklyn †February 8th, 1994, North Hills

82

Jill Esmond

British actress (1908–1990)

*January 26th, 1908, London †July 28th, 1990, Wimbledon

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on December 16th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day, The beginning of the nine-day celebration beginning December 16 and ending December 24, celebrating the trials which Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born) which are celebrated on December 16th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

Yes: 1908 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
December 1908