From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
January 17
is the 17th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar
. There are 348 days remaining until the end of the year (349 in
leap years
).
- 1904
-
Anton Chekhov
's play
The Cherry Orchard
is performed for the first time, at
Moscow
Art
Theatre
.
- 1912
?
Robert Falcon Scott
reaches the
South Pole
, one month after
Roald Amundsen
. The return journey will lead to the deaths of all members of Scott's expedition, including Scott himself.
- 1913
-
Raymond Poincare
becomes
President of France
.
- 1916
? The
Professional Golfers Association of America
(PGA) starts.
- 1917
? The
United States
pays
Denmark
$25 million for the
Virgin Islands
.
- 1918
-
Finnish Civil War
: The first serious
battles
take place between the
Red Guards
and
White Guards
.
- 1929
-
Inayatullah Khan
,
King
of
Afghanistan
, abdicates (resigns) the throne after only three days.
- 1929
?
Popeye the Sailor Man
, a
cartoon
character
made by
Elzie Crisler Segar
, first seen in a
newspaper
comic strip
.
- 1944
-
World War II
:
Allied
forces launch the first of four assaults on
Monte Cassino
,
Italy
, in an effort to reach
Rome
. It would take four months and would cost 105,000 Allied lives.
- 1945
?
Soviet
forces get the almost completely destroyed
Polish
city of
Warsaw
.
- 1945
? The
Nazis
begin the process of people leaving the
Auschwitz concentration camp
as
Soviet
forces surround it.
- 1945
?
Swedish
diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg
disappears in
Hungary
while the
Soviets
were in charge of him.
- 1946
? The
United Nations Security Council
has its first meeting.
- 1949
?
The Goldbergs
, the first
sitcom
on American
television
, is seen.
- 1950
? The
Great Brinks Robbery
? 11 people steal more than $2 million from an secure car in
Boston, Massachusetts
.
- 1955
- Nuclear
submarine
Nautilus
starts its first mission.
- 1961
-
Congolese
Prime Minister
Patrice Lumumba
is
murdered
, with the
governments
of both
Belgium
and the
United States
suspected of being involved.
- 1966
?
Simon and Garfunkel
release their second album,
Sounds of Silence
, on Columbia Records.
- 1966
? A
B-52
bomber slams into a
KC-135
jet tanker over
Spain
, dropping three 70-kiloton
hydrogen bombs
near the town of
Palomares
and another one into the sea.
- 1966
?
Carl Brashear
, the first
African American
United States Navy
diver, gets hurt in a way so his leg has to be chopped off.
- 1972
-
Bangladesh
receives its current
Flag
.
- 1973
?
Ferdinand Marcos
is declared "President for Life" of the
Philippines
.
- 1975
?
Bob Dylan
puts out
Blood on the Tracks
,
often said to be one of his best albums.
- 1977
?
Gary Gilmore
is put to death by a
firing squad
in
Utah
, ending a ten-year
delay
on being put to death as punishment in the
United States
.
- 1982
?"
Cold Sunday
" in the
United States
sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in many cities.
- 1985
?
British Telecom
says that
Britain
's famous
red telephone boxes
will no longer exist.
- 1989
- Cleveland
school
massacre in
Stockton, California
:
Patrick Purdy
kills 5
elementary school
children
with an assault
rifle
, as well as one
teacher
, before killing himself.
- 1991
?
Gulf War
:
Operation Desert Storm
begins early in the morning.
Iraq
shoots 8
Scud
bombs into
Israel
in a failed attempt to provoke Israel to fight back.
- 1991
?
Harald V
becomes King of
Norway
because his father,
Olav V
, died.
- 1992
?
Punk rock
band
Green Day
sends out their second full-length album,
Kerplunk
.
- 1994
? A magnitude 6.7
earthquake
happens in
Northridge
,
California
.
- 1995
? A magnitude 7.3
earthquake
called the "
Great Hanshin earthquake
" happens near
Kobe
,
Japan
, causing property to be damaged and killing 6,433 people.
- 1996
? The
Czech Republic
asks the
European Union
if they can be a member.
- 1998
?
Paula Jones
says she was
sexually harassed
by
President
Bill Clinton
.
- 1463
?
Frederick III of Saxony
, Elector of
Saxony
(d.
1525
)
- 1501
-
Leonhart Fuchs
, German
scientist
(d.
1566
)
- 1504
?
Pope Pius V
(d.
1572
)
- 1574
-
Robert Fludd
, English
physician
,
astrologer
and
mathematician
(d.
1637
)
- 1600
?
Pedro Calderon de la Barca
, Spanish
playwright
(d.
1681
)
- 1640
-
Jonathan Singletary Dunham
, American settler and
ancestor
of
Barack Obama
(d.
1724
)
- 1659
-
Antonio Veracini
, Italian composer and
violinist
(d.
1745
)
- 1706
?
Benjamin Franklin
,
American
writer
,
inventor
and
statesman
(d.
1790
)
- 1712
-
John Stanley
, English composer (d.
1786
)
- 1732
?
Stanislaw II August Poniatowski
of
Poland
(d.
1798
)
- 1734
-
Francois-Joseph Gossec
, Belgian composer (d.
1829
)
- 1738
-
James Anderson
, Scottish
botanist
(d.
1809
)
- 1746
-
Paul Brigham
,
Governor
of
Vermont
(d.
1824
)
- 1749
?
Vittorio Alfieri
, Italian
poet
and
dramatist
(d.
1803
)
- 1761
-
Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet
, Scottish geologist and
geophysicist
(d.
1832
)
- 1789
?
August Neander
, German
theologian
(d.
1850
)
- 1798
?
Auguste Comte
, French
philosopher
(d.
1857
)
- 1800
-
Caleb Cushing
, American
diplomat
(d.
1879
)
- 1811
?
Emperor Norton
, self-declared
Emperor
of the
United States
(d.
1880
)
- 1820
?
Anne Bronte
,
English
writer (d.
1849
)
- 1828
-
Lewis A. Grant
,
American Civil War
general (d.
1918
)
- 1829
-
Catherine Booth
, English wife of
William Booth
(d.
1890
)
- 1831
?
Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria
(d.
1903
)
- 1845
-
Manuel Barillas
,
President
of
Guatemala
(d.
1907
)
- 1847
-
Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky
, Russian
mathematician
and
aviator
(d.
1921
)
- 1850
-
Aleksandr Yaneyev
, Russian composer (d.
1918
)
- 1856
-
Jens Bratlie
,
Prime Minister
of
Norway
(d.
1939
)
- 1860
?
Douglas Hyde
, 1st
President of Ireland
(d.
1949
)
- 1863
?
David Lloyd George
,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
(d.
1945
)
- 1863
-
Constantin Stanislavski
, Russian
theatre
practitioner (d.
1938
)
- 1865
-
Charles Fergusson
, Governor-General of
New Zealand
(d.
1951
)
- 1867
-
Carl Laemmle
, German-born American
movie
pioneer
(d.
1939
)
- 1870
-
Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma
(d.
1899
)
- 1871
-
Nicolae Iorga
, 34th
Prime Minister of Romania
(d.
1940
)
- 1878
-
Oscar Apfel
, American actor, director, screenwriter, producer (d.
1938
)
- 1879
-
Burt McKinnie
, American
golfer
(d.
1946
)
- 1881
-
Antoni Lamnicki
, Polish
mathematician
(d.
1941
)
- 1882
-
Noah Beery, Jr.
, American actor (d.
1946
)
- 1883
?
Compton Mackenzie
, Scottish
novelist
(d.
1972
)
- 1886
-
Glenn L. Martin
, American
aviation
pioneer (d.
1955
)
- 1887
?
Ola Raknes
, Norwegian
psychoanalyst
and
philologist
(d.
1975
)
- 1889
-
Ralph Howard Fowler
, British
astronomer
and
physicist
(d.
1944
)
- 1895
-
John Duff
, Canadian racing driver (d.
1958
)
- 1897
-
Marcel Petiot
, French
physician
and
serial killer
(d.
1946
)
- 1899
?
Al Capone
, American
gangster
(d.
1947
)
- 1899
?
Nevil Shute
, English writer (d.
1960
)
- 1901
-
Aron Gurwitsch
,
Lithuanian
-born American
philosopher
(d.
1973
)
- 1902
-
Nazim Hikmet
, Turkish poet (d.
1963
)
- 1905
?
Guillermo Stabile
, Argentine
footballer
(d.
1966
)
- 1908
-
Cus D'Amato
, American
boxing
coach
(d.
1985
)
- 1911
?
George Stigler
, American
economist
(d.
1991
)
- 1911
-
John S. McCain, Jr.
, father of
John McCain
(d.
1981
)
- 1914
-
Taizo Kawamoto
, Japanese
footballer
(d.
1985
)
- 1914
-
Fang Zhaoling
, Chinese artist (d.
2006
)
- 1917
?
M. G. Ramachandran
, Indian politician and actor (d.
1987
)
- 1918
?
George M. Leader
, former
Governor of Pennsylvania
(d.
2013
)
- 1918
-
Keith Joseph
, British politician (d.
1994
)
- 1921
?
Antonio Prohias
,
Cuban
-born
cartoonist
(d.
1998
)
- 1921
-
Asghar Khan
, Pakistani politician and military officer (d.
2018
)
- 1922
?
Luis Echeverria Alvarez
, former
President
of
Mexico
(d.
2022
)
- 1922
?
Betty White
, American actress (d.
2021
)
- 1922
-
Nicholas Katzenbach
, 55th
United States Attorney General
(d.
2012
)
- 1925
?
Robert Cormier
, American writer (d.
2000
)
- 1925
-
Edgar Ray Killen
, American criminal (d.
2018
)
- 1926
?
Moira Shearer
, Scottish actress (d.
2006
)
- 1926
-
Nelida Romero
, Argentine
actress
(d.
2015
)
- 1927
?
Eartha Kitt
, American singer (d.
2008
)
- 1927
-
Harlan Mathews
,
United States
Senator
from
Tennessee
(d.
2014
)
- 1928
?
Vidal Sassoon
, British hairdresser (d.
2012
)
- 1928
-
Chu Shijian
, Chinese businessman (d.
2019
)
- 1929
?
Jacques Plante
, Canadian
ice hockey
player (d.
1986
)
- 1931
?
James Earl Jones
, American
actor
- 1931
? L.
Douglas Wilder
, American politician, former
Governor
of
Virginia
- 1931
-
Don Zimmer
, American
baseball
coach (d.
2014
)
- 1933
?
Dalida
,
French
singer
(d.
1987
)
- 1934
-
Cedar Walton
, American
pianist
and
composer
(d.
2013
)
- 1935
?
Ruth Ann Minner
, American politician, former
Governor
of
Delaware
(d.
2021
)
- 1938
-
Toini Gustafsson
, Finnish-Swedish cross-country
skier
- 1939
?
Christodoulos
, Archbishop of
Athens
(d.
2008
)
- 1940
-
Mircea Snegur
, former
President
of
Moldova
- 1940
-
Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni
, Egyptian church leader (d.
2015
)
- 1940
?
Kipchoge Keino
,
Kenyan
runner
- 1940
?
Tabare Vazquez
,
President
of
Uruguay
- 1942
?
Muhammad Ali
, American
boxer
(d.
2016
)
- 1942
-
Forges
, Spanish cartoonist (d.
2018
)
- 1943
?
Rene Preval
, former
President
of
Haiti
(d.
2017
)
- 1944
-
Francoise Hardy
, French singer
- 1944
-
Jan Guillou
, Swedish
writer
and
journalist
- 1945
-
Javed Akhtar
, Indian
composer
,
poet
and scriptwriter
- 1948
-
Eddie Gray
, Scottish
footballer
- 1948
?
David Oddson
, former
Prime Minister
of
Iceland
- 1949
?
Andy Kaufman
, American
comedian
(d.
1984
)
- 1949
?
Mick Taylor
, British musician
- 1949
-
Gyude Bryant
,
Liberian
politician (d.
2014
)
- 1949
-
Dick Nanninga
, Dutch
footballer
(d.
2015
)
- 1949
-
Anita Borg
, American
computer
scientist
and
activist
(d.
2003
)
- 1949
-
Heini Hemmi
, Swiss
skier
- 1950
- Richard L. Anderson, American sound editor
- 1954
?
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
, American lawyer and activist
- 1956
?
Paul Young
, English musician
- 1956
-
Damian Green
, British politician
- 1957
-
Keith Chegwin
, British
television
presenter (d.
2017
)
- 1957
-
Steve Harvey
, American
comedian
and
actor
- 1959
-
Susanna Hoffs
, American musician
- 1959
-
Momoe Yamaguchi
, Japanese singer and actress
- 1960
-
John Crawford
, American musician
- 1960
-
Chili Davis
, Jamaican baseball player
- 1961
-
Maia Chiburdanidze
,
Georgian
chess
player
- 1961
-
Brian Helgeland
, American
screenwriter
,
director
and
movie producer
- 1962
?
Jim Carrey
,
Canadian
actor and
comedian
- 1963
-
Kai Hansen
, German singer and
guitarist
- 1963
-
Cyrus Chestnut
, American
jazz
musician
- 1964
?
Michelle Obama
, former
First Lady of the United States
- 1964
?
Andy Rourke
, English
guitarist
- 1965
-
Sylvain Turgeon
, Canadian
ice hockey
player
- 1966
-
Nobuyuki Kojima
, Japanese
footballer
- 1966
-
Joshua Malina
, American actor
- 1967
?
Filippo Raciti
, Italian
police officer
(d.
2007
)
- 1968
-
Svetlana Masterkova
, Russian
athlete
- 1969
-
Lukas Moodysson
, Swedish
writer
and
director
- 1971
-
Leslie Benzies
, Scottish video game producer
- 1971
-
Leonardo Ciampi
, Italian-American singer and musician
- 1971
-
Kid Rock
, American singer
- 1971
?
Richard Burns
, English rally driver (d.
2005
)
- 1971
-
Sylvie Testud
, French actress
- 1972
-
Ken Hirai
, Japanese
singer-songwriter
,
producer
and
actor
- 1973
-
Chris Bowen
, Australian politician
- 1973
?
Cuauhtemoc Blanco
, Mexican
footballer
- 1974
-
Danny Bhoy
, Scottish
comedian
- 1974
-
Ladan and Laleh Bijani
, Iranian
conjoined twins
(d.
2003
)
- 1975
-
Freddy Rodriguez
, American actor
- 1976
-
Tonique Williams-Darling
,
Bahamian
athlete
- 1978
?
Ricky Wilson
, English singer (
Kaiser Chiefs
)
- 1979
?
Ricardo Cabanas
, Swiss
footballer
- 1980
?
Zooey Deschanel
, American actress
- 1981
-
Daniel Diges
, Spanish singer
- 1981
-
Warren Feeney
, Northern Irish
footballer
- 1981
-
Ray J
, American singer and actor
- 1981
-
Stefan Petzner
, Austrian politician
- 1982
-
Hwanhee
, South Korean actor and singer
- 1982
-
Dwyane Wade
, American
basketball
player
- 1983
-
Alvaro Arbeloa
, Spanish
footballer
- 1983
?
Yelle
, French singer and
songwriter
- 1984
?
Calvin Harris
, Scottish singer and musician
- 1985
-
Riyu Kosaka
, Japanese singer
- 1985
?
Simone Simons
, Dutch singer
- 1985
?
Pablo Barrientos
, Argentine
footballer
- 1986
-
Viktor Stalberg
, Swedish
ice hockey
player
- 1986
-
Max Adler
, American actor
- 1988
-
Earl Clark
, American
basketball
player
- 1988
-
Hector Moreno
, Mexican
footballer
- 1989
-
Bjorn Dreyer
, German
footballer
- 1989
-
Taylor Jordan
, American
baseball
player
- 1991
-
Lee Kiseop
, South Korean
actor
and
singer
- 1992
-
Nate Hartley
, American actor
- 1992
-
Frankie Cocozza
, English singer
- 395
?
Theodosius I
,
Roman Emperor
(a kind of leader)
- 1229
?
Albert of Buxhoeveden
(b.
1165
)
- 1369
?
Peter I of Cyprus
(b.
1328
)
- 1468
?
Skanderbeg
,
Albanian
leader against the
Ottoman Empire
(b.
1405
)
- 1598
?
Fyodor I of Russia
(b.
1557
)
- 1617
?
Faust Vrancic
, Croatian inventor of the
Parachute
(b.
1551
)
- 1705
-
John Ray
, English
naturalist
(b.
1627
)
- 1738
-
Jean-Francois Dandrieu
, French
organist
and
composer
(b.
1682
)
- 1751
?
Tomaso Albinoni
, Italian song maker (b.
1671
)
- 1799
-
Dun Mikiel Xerri
,
Maltese
patriot (b.
1739
)
- 1834
-
Giovanni Aldini
, Italian
physicist
(b.
1762
)
- 1861
?
Lola Montez
, adventurer (b.
1821
)
- 1863
-
Horace Vernet
, French painter (b.
1789
)
- 1874
?
Chang and Eng Bunker
,
Siamese twins
(b.
1811
)
- 1884
-
Hermann Schlegel
, German
ornithologist
(b.
1804
)
- 1886
?
Amilcare Ponchielli
, Italian
composer
(b.
1834
)
- 1887
-
William Giblin
,
Premier of Tasmania
(b.
1840
)
- 1893
?
Rutherford B. Hayes
, 19th
President of the United States
(b.
1822
)
- 1908
?
Ferdinand IV of Tuscany
(b.
1835
)
- 1909
-
Francis Smith
,
Premier of Tasmania
(b.
1819
)
- 1911
?
Francis Galton
, English polymath,
anthropologist
(b.
1822
)
- 1927
-
Juliette Gordon Low
, founder of the
Girl Scouts of the USA
(b.
1860
)
- 1931
-
Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia
(b.
1864
)
- 1933
?
Louis Comfort Tiffany
, American
artist
and
designer
(b.
1848
)
- 1947
-
Pyotr Krasnov
, Russian
general
(b.
1869
)
- 1947
-
Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve
, Canadian
cardinal
(b.
1883
)
- 1951
-
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
,
Assamese
poet
,
playwright
and
movie
maker (b.
1903
)
- 1956
-
Blind Alfred Reed
, American musician (b.
1880
)
- 1961
?
Patrice Lumumba
,
Prime Minister
of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(b.
1925
)
- 1963
-
Henri Masson
, French fencer (b.
1872
)
- 1964
?
T.H. White
, writer (b.
1906
)
- 1967
?
Evelyn Nesbit
, actress, also known as "The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing" (b.
1884
)
- 1972
-
Betty Smith
, American writer and singer (b.
1896
)
- 1975
-
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
,
President
of
Colombia
(b.
1900
)
- 1977
-
Dougal Haston
, Scottish
mountaineer
(b.
1940
)
- 1977
?
Gary Gilmore
, American murderer (executed by
firing squad
) (b.
1940
)
- 1991
? King
Olav V
of
Norway
(b.
1903
)
- 1993
?
Albert Hourani
,
historian
(b.
1915
)
- 1994
-
Yevgeni Ivanov
,
Soviet
spy (b.
1926
)
- 1996
?
Amber Hagerman
, American murder victim (b.
1986
)
- 1996
?
Barbara Jordan
, American politician (b.
1936
)
- 1997
?
Clyde Tombaugh
, American
astronomer
(b.
1906
)
- 2001
?
Laurent-Desire Kabila
,
President
of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(b.
1939
)
- 2002
?
Camilo Jose Cela
,
Spanish
writer, winner of the
Nobel Prize in Literature
1989
(b.
1916
)
- 2003
?
Richard Crenna
, American actor (b.
1926
)
- 2004
?
Czeslaw Niemen
, Polish musician (b.
1939
)
- 2004
?
Rafael Churumba Cordero
, mayor of
Ponce, Puerto Rico
(b.
1942
)
- 2004
?
Ray Stark
, American movie producer, produced
Funny Girl
in 1968 (b.
1915
)
- 2005
?
Charlie Bell
, former
chief executive officer
of
McDonald's
(b.
1960
)
- 2005
?
Virginia Mayo
,
American
actress of the 1940s and 1950s (b.
1920
)
- 2005
?
Albert Schatz
,
microbiologist
, discoverer of
streptomycin
(b.
1920
)
- 2005
?
Zhao Ziyang
,
Premier
of the
People's Republic of China
and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b.
1917
)
- 2008
?
Bobby Fischer
, American-born Icelandic chess player (b.
1943
)
- 2009
-
Anders Isaksson
, Swedish
journalist
,
writer
and
historian
(b.
1943
)
- 2010
?
Jyoti Basu
, Indian politician (b.
1914
)
- 2010
?
Erich Segal
, American
writer
and
screenwriter
(b.
1937
)
- 2011
?
Don Kirshner
, American composer (b.
1934
)
- 2012
-
Johnny Otis
, American singer and musician (b.
1921
)
- 2013
-
Jakob Arjouni
, German writer (b.
1964
)
- 2013
-
Sophiya Haque
, British actress (b.
1971
)
- 2013
-
John Nkomo
,
Vice President
of
Zimbabwe
(b.
1934
)
- 2014
-
Suchitra Sen
, Indian actress (b.
1931
)
- 2014
-
Mohammed Burhanuddin
, Indian
Islamic
leader (b.
1915
)
- 2014
-
Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
, English politician (b.
1941
)
- 2015
-
Faten Hamama
, Egyptian
actress
(b.
1931
)
- 2015
-
Bill Sykes
, English
chaplain
and
writer
(b.
1939
)
- 2015
-
Don Harron
, Canadian
comedian
,
actor
and
writer
(b.
1924
)
- 2015
-
Origa
, Russian
singer
(b.
1970
)
- 2016
-
Blowfly
, American
musician
and
producer
(b.
1939
)
- 2016
-
Bob Harkey
, American racing driver (b.
1930
)
- 2016
-
Gottfried Honegger
, Swiss
artist
and graphic designer (b.
1917
)
- 2016
-
V. Rama Rao
, Indian
politician
, former
Governor
of
Sikkim
(b.
1935
)
- 2017
-
M. M. Ruhul Amin
, Bangladeshi judge (b.
1942
)
- 2017
-
Brenda C. Barnes
, American businesswoman (b.
1953
)
- 2017
-
Philip Bond
, British actor (b.
1934
)
- 2017
-
Colo
, American-bred
Western gorilla
(b.
1956
)
- 2017
-
Mario Fasino
, Italian politician,
President
of
Sicily
(b.
1920
)
- 2017
-
Heng Freylinger
, Luxembourgish wrestler (b.
1926
)
- 2017
-
Steven Plaut
, American-Israeli economist and academic (b.
1951
)
- 2017
-
Robert Timlin
, American judge (b.
1932
)
- 2017
-
Daniel Vischer
, Swiss politician (b.
1950
)
- 2018
-
Simon Shelton
, English actor (b.
1966
)
- 2018
-
Jessica Falkholt
, Australian actress (b.
1988
)
- 2018
-
Augusto Polo Campos
, Peruvian composer (b.
1932
)
- 2019
-
Babiker Awadalla
,
Prime minister
of
Sudan
(b.
1917
)
- 2019
-
Windsor Davies
, British actor (b.
1930
)
- 2019
-
Mary Oliver
, American poet (b.
1935
)
- 2019
-
Reggie Young
, American guitarist (b.
1936
)
- 2019
-
Horst Stern
, German science journalist, filmmaker and writer (b.
1922
)