16 October It Happened Today

1793   Marie Antoinette is executed.

1854  Birth of Irish writer Oscar Wilde.

1886  Birth of Polish born first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.

1946   Ten leading Nazi’s, found guilty of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials, are executed.

1978  Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla is elected Pope, taking the name John Paul II.

1998  Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London, following extradition request by Spain on charges of human rights abuses.