On this day
16
December

Margaret Mead, W. Somerset Maugham, Sylvester

Born: Margaret Mead (1901)
Died: W. Somerset Maugham (1965), Sylvester (1988)

Born on this day

16DecBorn 1901125th birthday

Margaret Mead

America’s most famous anthropologist showed that gender roles are shaped by culture – and loved both men and women.

Died on this day

16DecDied 196561st anniversary of death

W. Somerset Maugham

Once the highest-paid author in the world, he lived on the Riviera for decades with his partner Gerald Haxton.

16DecDied 198838th anniversary of death

Sylvester

“You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”: the disco star with the falsetto voice never hid who he was – and left his royalties to fight AIDS.