Facts

1815 The Battle of Waterloo. The combined British and Prussian forces, under Generals Wellington and Bleacher respectively, crush the French forces, led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

1904: The Minister of Education, Spyridon Stais, kills Trikala MP Koko Hatzipetro in a duel. Hadjipetros had insulted Stai, because he had refused him a bribe, and the minister, in the low season of that time, asked for a duel to restore his damaged honor, which Hadjipetros accepted.

1932: FIBA, the world basketball federation, is founded in Geneva. Among the eight founding members is Greece, represented by Symeon Mavroskoufis and Georgios Ambatzioglou.

1953: The Battalion of the Hellenic Korean Expeditionary Force repulses a strong attack by a Chinese regiment against Hari Hill (elevation 440). (Korean War)

1961: During excavations in Caesarea, Israel, a plaque with the name of Pontius Pilate is discovered, which is the first evidence of the existence of this historical figure.

1976: The 22-year-old international striker Thomas Mavros is transferred from Panionios to AEK for 4 million drachmas, along with the receipts of six friendly matches. Mavros will become one of the top scorers of all time in Greece.

Births

1929: Jürgen Habermas, German sociologist and philosopher.

1934: Dimitris Mytaras, distinguished Greek painter and scenographer, one of the most important of the generation of the sixties.
(Thu. 16/2/2017)

1942: Paul McCartney, English songwriter. (Beatles, Wings)

Deaths

741: Leo III Isaurus, emperor of Byzantium. (Gen. 685)

1974: Georgy Zhukov, Russian field marshal, who played an important role in World War II. (Born 19/11/1896)

2010: José Saramago, Portuguese writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998. (Born 16/11/1922)