January 17

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).

Events

• 38 BC – Octavian marries Livia Drusilla.
• 1287 – King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
• 1524 – Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find a passage to China.
• 1562 – France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• 1595 – Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
• 1605 – First publication of Don Quixote.
• 1608 – Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 men.
• 1648 – England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
• 1773 – Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens – Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
• 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
• 1852 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
• 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeat the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War.
• 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
• 1893 – The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston, overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1904 – Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
• 1912 – Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
• 1913 – Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
• 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
• 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
• 1941 – Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-Shek open fire at communist forces, resuming the Chinese Civil War after World War II.
• 1945 – Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
• 1945 – The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
• 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
• 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
• 1949 – The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.
• 1950 – The Great Brinks Robbery – 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1961 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".
• 1966 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident.
• 1973 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.
• 1977 – Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.
• 1982 – "Cold Sunday" in the United States would see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.
• 1985 – British Telecom announces the retirement of the United Kingdom's red telephone boxes.
• 1989 – Stockton massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
• 1991 – Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
• 1994 – 1994 Northridge Earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
• 1995 – The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
• 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
• 1997 – A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
• 1998 – Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
• 2001 – President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.
• 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.

Births

• 1463 – Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
• 1484 – George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)
• 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
• 1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
• 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)
• 1600 – Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)
• 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (d. 1671)
• 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist (d. 1723)
• 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
• 1706 – Benjamin Franklin American statesman and inventor (d. 1790)
• 1712 – John Stanley, English composer (d. 1786)
• 1719 – William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806)
• 1732 – King Stanislaw II August Poniatowski of Poland (d. 1798)
• 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, Belgian composer (d. 1829)
• 1761 – James Hall, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
• 1789 – August Neander, German theologian (d. 1850)
• 1798 – Auguste Comte, French sociologist (d. 1857)
• 1814 – Mrs. Henry Wood, English novelist (d. 1887)
• 1820 – Anne Brontë, British author (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Eduard Remenyi, Hungarian violinist (d. 1898)
• 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War general (d. 1918)
• 1831 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (d. 1903)
• 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American educationalist (d. 1906)
• 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist (d. 1914)
• 1850 – Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)
• 1851 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
• 1853 – Alva Belmont, American socialite (d. 1933)
• 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French inventor (d. 1935)
• 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
• 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian writer (d. 1940)
• 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish President of Ireland (d. 1949)
• 1863 – David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister (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 film executive (d. 1939)
• 1871 – David Earl Beatty British admiral (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer (d. 1940)
• 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan dramatist (d. 1910)
• 1876 – Frank Hague, American politician (d. 1956)
• 1877 – May Gibbs, Australian children's author (d. 1969)
• 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian film director (d. 1960)
• 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
• 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
• 1883 – Sir Compton Mackenzie, Scottish novelist (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Ronald Firbank, British novelist (d. 1926)
• 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American aviation pioneer (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
• 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French mass murderer (d. 1946)
• 1899 – Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)
• 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-born philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Assamese poet, playwright, film maker (d. 1953)
• 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (d. 1966)
• 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
• 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1907 – Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)
• 1911 – George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and essayist (d. 1993)
• 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Irving Brecher, American Screenwriter (d. 2008)
• 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian politician, actor (d. 1987)
• 1917 – Ramón Cardemil, Chilean huaso (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Keith Joseph, British politician (d. 1994)
• 1921 – Antonio Prohias, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Luis Echeverría Álvarez, Mexican President of Mexico
• 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American politician
• 1922 – Betty White, American actress
• 1923 – Carol Raye, Australian actress
• 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Abdul Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1996)
• 1925 – Edgar Ray Killen, American convict, former preacher and K.K.K. member
• 1925 – Patricia Owens, Canadian actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and statesman
• 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Tom Dooley, American humanitarian (d. 1961)
• 1927 – Norman Kaye, Australian actor and musician (d. 2007)
• 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
• 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
• 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist
• 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
• 1930 – Eddie LeBaron, American football player
• 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
• 1931 – L. Douglas Wilder, American 66th Governor of Virginia
• 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball coach
• 1932 – Sheree North, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Dalida, French singer (d. 1987)
• 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-born Pakistani diplomat (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (d. 1998)
• 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, Governor of Delaware
• 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher
• 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host
• 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
• 1940 – Tabare Vazquez, President of Uruguay
• 1941 – Dame Gillian Weir, New Zealand organist
• 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer
• 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and businesswoman
• 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
• 1942 – Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1943 – René Préval, President of Haiti
• 1943 – Geoffrey Deuel, American actor
• 1943 – Chris Montez, American singer
• 1944 – Françoise Hardy, French singer
• 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter
• 1946 – Michèle Deslauriers, Quebec actress
• 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland
• 1948 – Jim Ladd, American freeform (radio format) Disc Jockey
• 1948 – Anne Queffélec, French pianist
• 1949 – Mick Taylor, British musician (The Rolling Stones)
• 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
• 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Latin American writer
• 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player (d. 2002)
• 1952 – Larry Fortensky, American former husband of Elizabeth Taylor
• 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician
• 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American blues musician
• 1954 – Susan Kiefel, Australian lawyer and judge
• 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and environmental activist, son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy
• 1955 – Steve Earle, American musician
• 1956 – Paul Young, English musician
• 1957 – Keith Chegwin, English television presenter
• 1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian and radio personality
• 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American comic book writer
• 1957 – Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist
• 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American musician
• 1959 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
• 1960 – John Crawford, American musician
• 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-born American baseball player
• 1960 – Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai actor
• 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American writer and film director
• 1961 – Maia Chiburdanidze, Russian women's Chess grandmaster
• 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
• 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
• 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer and guitarist (Gamma Ray)
• 1964 – Andy Rourke, English bass guitarist (The Smiths)
• 1964 – Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States
• 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer
• 1966 – Stephin Merritt, American singer and songwriter (The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies)
• 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
• 1966 – Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer
• 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer, guitarist, and songwriter (Pulp, The Longpigs)
• 1967 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (d. 2007)
• 1967 – Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor
• 1968 – Craig Strong, American actor & voice actor
• 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch writer
• 1968 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete
• 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film writer and director
• 1969 – Naveen Andrews, British actor
• 1969 – Tijs Verwest, (DJ Tiësto) Dutch DJ
• 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player
• 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born animator
• 1970 – James Wattana, Thai snooker player
• 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer
• 1971 – Richard Burns, English rally driver (d. 2005)
• 1971 – Youki Kudoh, Japanese actress
• 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress
• 1971 – Ann Wolfe, female boxer
• 1972 – Ken Hirai, Japanese singer and songwriter
• 1972 – Benno Fürmann, German actor
• 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer
• 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball captain
• 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer
• 1974 – Marco Antonio Barrera, Mexican boxer
• 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
• 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian musician
• 1975 – Tom Jenkinson, English musician (Squarepusher)
• 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican-American actor
• 1975 – Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter/producer
• 1977 – Kevin Fertig, American professional wrestler
• 1977 – Leigh Whannell, Australian screenwriter/actor
• 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American actress
• 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian ballroom dancer
• 1980 – Kimberly Spicer, American model
• 1980 – Gareth McLearnon, Northern Irish flautist
• 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer
• 1981 – Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
• 1981 – Ray J, American R&B singer
• 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
• 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
• 1982 – Fany Hwang, Korean actor
• 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish Footballer
• 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
• 1983 – Andrea Lowell, American model
• 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian racing driver
• 1983 – Julie Budet, French Electronic-Pop Musician
• 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish music producer and vocalist
• 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer (Epica)
• 1985 – Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer BeForU
• 1985 – Kang-In, South Korean singer, dancer, actor, MC, and DJ (Super Junior)
• 1986 – Hale Appleman, American actor
• 1989 – Hollie-Jay Bowes, English actress
• 1995 – Connor Cruise, American actor; adopted son of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

Deaths

• 395 – Theodosius I, Roman Emperor
• 1229 – Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier
• 1369 – King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (b. 1328)
• 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)
• 1598 – Fyodor I Tsar of Russia (b. 1557)
• 1617 – Faust Vrančić, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)
• 1654 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)
• 1705 – John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)
• 1718 – Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler and military leader
• 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
• 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French composer (b. 1682)
• 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)
• 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
• 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)
• 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
• 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
• 1869 – Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
• 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins (b. 1811)
• 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
• 1887 – William Giblin, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
• 1891 – George Bancroft, U.S. historian (b. 1800)
• 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
• 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Ferdinand IV Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
• 1909 – Sir Francis Smith, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
• 1911 – Sir Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist (b. 1822)
• 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (b. 1864)
• 1932 – Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
• 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer (b. 1848)
• 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
• 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
• 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)
• 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, French Archbishop of Quebec (b. 1883)
• 1952 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American entrepreneur and sports team owner (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Blind Alfred Reed, American folk, country, and old-time musician (b. 1880)
• 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
• 1964 – T.H. White, English author (b. 1906)
• 1967 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)
• 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoonist (b. 1890)
• 1970 – Billy Stewart, American singer (b. 1937)
• 1972 – Betty Smith, American writer and singer (b. 1896)
• 1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
• 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
• 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer (b. 1899)
• 1983 – Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)
• 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)
• 1991 – King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Frank Pullen, English businessman and racehorse owner (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)
• 1994 – Yevgeny Ivanov, Soviet spy involved in the Profumo affair (b. 1926)
• 1996 – Amber Hagerman, American namesake of the Amber Alert system (b. 1986)
• 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
• 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Junior Kimbrough, American bluesman (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Robert Eads, American transsexual (b. 1945)
• 1999 – Samantha Reid, American girl killed by GHB - but not raped (b. 1984)
• 2000 – Philip Jones, British trumpeter (b. 1928)
• 2001 – Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Bishop Karas, Sudanese-born American religious leader (b. 1955)
• 2002 – Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Queenie Leonard, American actress (b. 1905)
• 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Balint Vazsonyi, Hungarian pianist (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Czeslaw Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
• 2004 – Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian fast food executive (b. 1960)
• 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)
• 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player (b. 1948)
• 2008 – Allan Melvin, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist, writer, and historian (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

• Ancient Latvia – Zirgu Diena observed
• Catholicism – Feast day of the following saints:
  • St. Anthony
  • Bl. Amelbert
  • Sulpitius the Pious
  • Mildgytha
• Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church: Venerable Anthony the Great
• January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: January 17

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada