At A Glance

16 October 1986 at a glance

Day of the week
16 October 1986 was a Thursday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “When I Think of You” by Janet Jackson.
Top Film of 1986
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1986 was Top Gun.
Bestselling Novel of 1986
“It” by Stephen King was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1986.
Top-Rated TV Show
“The Cosby Show” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1986–87 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 16 October is Libra.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 16 October 1986 fell in the Year of the Tiger.
Birthstone
The birthstone for October is Opal.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 16 October 1986 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 16 October

  • 1975 Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.
  • 1978 Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.
  • 1984 Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • 1995 The Million Man March takes place in Washington, D.C. About 837,000 attend.
  • 1995 The Skye Bridge in Scotland is opened.

Famous people born on October 16

  • Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1958)
  • Naomi Osaka, Japanese tennis player (born 1997)
  • Angela Lansbury, English-American actress, singer, and producer (1925–2022)
  • Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet (1854–1900)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1986 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1986 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 12 – STS-61-C: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz.
  • January 20 – The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.
  • February 25 – People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her vice president.

Life in the US in 1986

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$0.86

Loaf of Bread

$0.66

Average House

$88,000

Weekly Wage

$346

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1980s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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