Today in History, 1/16

550: The Ostrogoths conquer Rome after bribing the Isaurian garrison.
1362: A storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
1412: The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
1547: Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia. Originally, the "terrible" sobriquet meant that he was terrible to his enemies, but as his family and the rest of Russia was to learn, he was pretty much terrible to everybody.1581: The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism. The was after (I think) the Pope put out a hit on Elizabeth I saying, "Whosoever sends her out of this world does not only not sin in God's eyes but earns His favor" (or something like that). Basically, kill the queen and get a free pass to Heaven.
1605: Book One of Don Quixote is published.
1707: The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
1777: Vermont declares its independence from New York.
1886: John Hamilton is born. He played Perry White on The Adventures of Superman.1901: Frank Zamboni is born. He invented that ice resurfacer that every kid would give his eye teeth to drive.1908: Ethel Merman is born
1910: Dizzy Dean is born.
1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
1919: The US ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment authorizing Prohibition.
1936: Albert Fish, serial killer, is executed. Of the sorry roster of 20th century serial killers, he was one of the nastiest.1945: Adolph Hitler moves into the underground bunker where he would spend his final days.
1948: John Carpenter is born. While he's been off his game lately, (for example, Vampires: Los Muertos and Escape from LA) his remake of The Thing is still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.
1979: Ted Cassidy dies. He is best know for playing Lurch on The Addams Family TV show, but he also played the android Ruk in the Star Trek episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"1988: Jimmy The Greek is fired from CBS sports for making racist comments.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up