October 17

October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 539 BC – Cyrus the Great marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile. Cyrus allows the Jews to return to Yehud Medinata and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
• 456 – Battle of Placentia: Ricimer, supported by Majorian (comes domesticorum), defeats near Piacenza (Northern Italy) the Roman usurper Avitus.
• 1091 – London Tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.
• 1346 – Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England near Durham, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
• 1448 – Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi is defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
• 1456 – The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
• 1604 – Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.
• 1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Rheims.
• 1660 – Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered.
• 1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.
• 1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown.
• 1800 – Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
• 1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti is assassinated after an oppressive rule.
• 1814 – London Beer Flood occurs in London, killing nine.
• 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
• 1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
• 1905 – The October Manifesto issued by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
• 1907 – Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
• 1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
• 1917 – First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
• 1931 – Al Capone convicted of income tax evasion.
• 1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
• 1941 – For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
• 1941 – German troops execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece.
• 1943 – Burma Railway (Burma-Thailand Railway) is completed.
• 1945 – A massive number of people, headed by CGT and Evita, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. It calls "el día de la lealtad peronista" (peronista loyalty day)
• 1945 – Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens becomes Prime Minister of Greece between the pull-out of the German occupation force in 1944 and the return of King Georgios II to Greece.
• 1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.
• 1961 – Scores of Algerian protesters (some claim up to 400) are massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
• 1964 – Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opens the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.
• 1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.
• 1966 – A fire at a building in New York, New York kills 12 firefighters, the New York City Fire Department's deadliest day until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• 1966 – Botswana and Lesotho join the United Nations.
• 1970 – Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
• 1973 – OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria.
• 1977 – German Autumn: Four days after it is hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
• 1979 – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
• 1980 – As part of the Holy See – United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican
• 1989 – 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
• 1994 – Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces.
• 1998 – At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging gasoline.
• 2000 – Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack.
• 2001 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi became the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
• 2003 – The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 56 metres (184 ft) and become the World's tallest highrise.

Births

• 1253 – Saint Ivo of Kermartin (d. 1303)
• 1563 – Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (d. 1611)
• 1577 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (d. 1621)
• 1582 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (d. 1637)
• 1623 – Francis Turretin, Swiss theologian (d. 1687)
• 1688 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (d. 1726)
• 1711 – Jupiter Hammon, American writer (d. 1806)
• 1719 – Jacques Cazotte, French writer (d. 1792)
• 1720 – Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, Italian composer (d. 1795)
• 1729 – Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (d. 1817)
• 1760 – Claude Henri de Rouvroy, French economist and philosopher (d. 1825)
• 1811 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch-born American religious figure (d. 1876)
• 1813 – Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
• 1814 – Yakiv Holovatsky, Ukrainian writer and professor (d. 1888)
• 1817 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Hindustani intellectual (d. 1898)
• 1853 – Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (d. 1920)
• 1864 – Elinor Glyn, British writer (d. 1943)
• 1865 – James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (d. 1950)
• 1886 – Spring Byington, American actress (d. 1971)
• 1890 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)
• 1892 – Theodor Eicke, German Nazi official (d. 1943)
• 1892 – Herbert Howells, English composer (d. 1983)
• 1898 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violin teacher (d. 1998)
• 1898 – Simon Vestdijk, Dutch writer (d. 1971)
• 1900 – Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)
• 1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Nathanael West, American writer (d. 1940)
• 1906 – Paul Derringer, American baseball player (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Red Rolfe, American baseball player (d. 1969)
• 1909 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (d. 1981)
• 1912 – Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)
• 1912 – Theodore Marier, KCSG, American composer, founder of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School (d. 2001)
• 1912 – Jack Owens, American singer/songwriter (d. 1982)
• 1914 – Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (d. 1996)
• 1915 – Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-born American novelist (d. 1991)
• 1917 – Marsha Hunt, American actress
• 1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Ralph Wilson, American pro football team owner
• 1919 – Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov, Russian physicist
• 1920 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (d. 1966)
• 1920 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish novelist (d. 2010)
• 1921 – Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (d. 2001)
• 1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
• 1921 – George Mackay Brown, Scottish Poet (d.1996)
• 1922 – Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian composer (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Pierre Juneau, Canadian film and broadcast executive
• 1923 – Barney Kessel, American musician (d. 2004)
• 1923 – Charles McClendon, American football coach (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Don Coryell, American football head coach (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Harry Carpenter, English sports commentator (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Julie Adams, American film actress
• 1926 – Beverly Garland, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1930 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (d. 2003)
• 1930 – Jimmy Breslin, American newspaper columnist and author
• 1931 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
• 1933 – Bill Anders, American astronaut
• 1933 – Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun (d. 1985)
• 1934 – Johnny Haynes, English footballer (d. 2005)
• 1934 – Rico Rodriguez, ska and reggae trombonist
• 1935 – Sydney Chapman, English politician and architect
• 1936 – Hiroo Kanamori, Japanese seismologist
• 1936 – Sathima Bea Benjamin, South African vocalist and composer
• 1937 – Paxton Whitehead, English actor
• 1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (d. 2007)
• 1938 – Les Murray, Australian poet
• 1940 – Jim Smith, English footballer and manager
• 1940 – Peter Stringfellow, British nightclub owner
• 1941 – Earl Thomas Conley, American singer
• 1942 – Steve Jones, American basketball player
• 1942 – Gary Puckett, American musician
• 1946 – Ronni Chasen, American film publicist (d. 2010)
• 1946 – Michael Hossack, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)
• 1946 – Sir Cameron Mackintosh, British stage producer
• 1946 – Adam Michnik, Polish activist
• 1946 – Drusilla Modjeska, Australian writer and editor
• 1946 – Bob Seagren, American athlete
• 1947 – Simi Garewal, Indian actress
• 1947 – Gene Green, American politician
• 1947 – Michael McKean, American actor
• 1948 – Margot Kidder, Canadian actress
• 1948 – Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
• 1948 – George Wendt, American actor
• 1950 – Philippe Barbarin, French cardinal
• 1950 – Howard Rollins, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1951 – Annie Borckink, Dutch ice-skater
• 1951 – Roger Pontare, Swedish singer
• 1951 – Shari Ulrich, Canadian musician-songwriter, member of Pied Pumkin and UHF
• 1953 – Joseph Bowie, American trombonist, founder of the jazz fusion band Defunkt
• 1954 – Carlos Buhler, American high altitude mountaineer
• 1955 – Georgios Alogoskoufis, Greek politician
• 1956 – Mae Jemison, American astronaut and physician
• 1956 – Patrick McCrory, American politician
• 1957 – Lawrence Bender, American film producer
• 1957 – Steve McMichael, American football player
• 1957 – Vincent Van Patten, American actor
• 1958 – Alan Jackson, American singer and songwriter
• 1959 – Ron Drummond, American writer
• 1959 – Russell Gilbert, Australian comedian
• 1959 – Mark Peel, Australian historian and academic
• 1959 – Richard Roeper, American film critic
• 1960 – Guy Henry, English actor
• 1960 – Rob Marshall, American director
• 1962 – Mike Judge, American cartoonist, filmmaker and voice actor
• 1963 – Sergio Goycochea, Argentine footballer
• 1963 – Norm Macdonald, Canadian comedian and actor
• 1964 – Dhondup Wangchen, Tibetan filmmaker
• 1965 – Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1966 – Danny Ferry, American basketball player
• 1966 – Mark Gatiss, English actor and writer
• 1966 – Tommy Kendall, American race car driver and television personality
• 1967 – René Dif, Danish musician (Aqua)
• 1968 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician
• 1969 – Ernie Els, South African golfer
• 1969 – Wyclef Jean, Haitian singer
• 1969 – Wood Harris, American actor
• 1969 – Rick Mercer, Canadian comedian
• 1970 – Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer
• 1970 – John Mabry, American baseball player
• 1970 – Shauna O'Brien, American model and actress
• 1970 – Blues Saraceno, American guitarist
• 1971 – Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer ('N Sync)
• 1972 – Eminem, American rapper
• 1972 – Sharon Leal, American actress
• 1972 – Joe McEwing, American baseball player
• 1972 – Tarkan, Turkish singer
• 1973 – Andrea Tarozzi, Italian footballer
• 1974 – Ariel Levy, American feminist writer
• 1974 – Matthew Macfadyen, British actor
• 1974 – Janne Puurtinen, Finnish keyboardist (HIM)
• 1974 – John Rocker, American baseball player
• 1975 – Francis Bouillon, American hockey player
• 1975 – Janne Aikala, Finnish murder victim (d. 1986)
• 1976 – Sebastián Abreu, Uruguayan footballer
• 1977 – Dudu Aouate, Israeli footballer
• 1977 – Alimi Ballard, American actor
• 1977 – Bryan Bertino, American film director and screenwriter
• 1977 – André Villas-Boas, Portuguese football manager
• 1978 – Erin Karpluk, Canadian television actress
• 1979 – Marcela Bovio, Mexican singer and violinist (Stream of Passion)
• 1979 – Alexandros Nikolaidis, Greek taekwondo athlete
• 1979 – Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish race car driver
• 1979 – Kostas Tsartsaris, Greek basketball player
• 1980 – Yekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
• 1980 – Alessandro Piccolo, Italian racing driver
• 1982 – Nick Riewoldt, Australian rules footballer
• 1983 – Daniel Booko, American actor
• 1983 – Ivan Saenko, Russian football player
• 1983 – Mitch Talbot, American baseball player
• 1984 – Jelle Klaasen, Dutch darts player
• 1984 – Chris Lowell, American actor
• 1984 – Randall Munroe, American cartoonist
• 1985 – Carlos González, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1985 – Collins John, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Baran Kosari, Iranian actress
• 1987 – Bea Alonzo, Filipina actress
• 1987 – Jarosław Fojut, Polish footballer
• 1988 – Christina Crawford, American dancer and professional wrestler
• 1988 – Yuko Oshima, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
• 1990 – Paolo Campinoti, Italian footballer
• 1992 – Sam Concepcion, Filipino performer and actor

Deaths

• 532 – Pope Boniface II
• 1174 – Queen Petronila of Aragon (b. 1135)
• 1586 – Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer (killed in battle) (b. 1554)
• 1616 – John Pitts, Catholic scholar and writer. (b. 1560)
• 1660 – Adrian Scrope, English regicide (b. 1601)
• 1673 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (b. 1630)
• 1757 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (b. 1683)
• 1776 – Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (b. 1681)
• 1780 – William Cookworthy, English chemist (b. 1705)
• 1786 – Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss artist (b. 1723)
• 1806 – Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haitian independence leader (b. 1758)
• 1836 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (b. 1782)
• 1837 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer (b. 1778)
• 1849 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish musician and composer (b. 1810)
• 1868 – Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the war of 1812 (b. 1775)
• 1887 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b. 1824)
• 1889 – Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1828)
• 1910 – Julia Ward Howe, American composer and abolitionist (b. 1819)
• 1931 – Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist (b. 1884)
• 1934 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist and neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1852)
• 1937 – Joseph Bruce Ismay, Titanic survivor and managing director of the White Star Line (b. 1862)
• 1938 – Karl Kautsky, Czech-German Marxist theoretician (b. 1854)
• 1943 – Stefan Starzyński, Polish politician (b. 1893)
• 1956 – Anne Crawford, British film actor (b. 1920)
• 1958 – Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (b. 1876)
• 1958 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer (b. 1896)
• 1962 – Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician (b. 1865)
• 1965 – John Barton King, Philadelphian cricketer (b. 1873)
• 1966 – Wieland Wagner, German stage director (b. 1917)
• 1967 – Henry Pu Yi, last Emperor of China (b. 1906)
• 1970 – Pierre Laporte, Vice-Premier of Quebec (assassinated) (b. 1921)
• 1970 – Vola Vale, American actress (b. 1897)
• 1972 – Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
• 1972 – George, Crown Prince of Serbia (b. 1887)
• 1972 – Billy Williams, American singer (b. 1910)
• 1973 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (b. 1926)
• 1978 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of the Italian Republic (b. 1887)
• 1979 – S. J. Perelman, American writer (b. 1904)
• 1979 – John Stuart, Scottish actor (b. 1898)
• 1981 – Albert Cohen, Swiss author (b. 1895)
• 1981 – Lina Tsaldari, Greek politician (b. 1887)
• 1983 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher (b. 1905)
• 1987 – Abdul Malek Ukil, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1925)
• 1991 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and television performer (b. 1919)
• 1992 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Orestis Laskos, Greek film director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Criss Oliva, American musician (Savatage) (b. 1963)
• 1996 – Chris Acland, English drummer (Lush) (b. 1966)
• 1998 – Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
• 1998 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (b. 1915)
• 2000 – Leo Nomellini, football player and wrestler (b. 1924)
• 2000 – Joachim Nielsen, Norwegian rock musician and poet (b. 1964)
• 2001 – Jay Livingston, American songwriter (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Rehavam Zeevi, Israeli politician (b. 1926)
• 2002 – Derek Bell, Irish harpist (The Chieftains) (b. 1935)
• 2002 – Aileen Riggin, American swimmer (b. 1906)
• 2004 – Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer (b. 1952)
• 2005 – Ba Jin, Chinese writer (b. 1904)
• 2006 – Daniel Emilfork, French actor (b. 1924)
• 2006 – Christopher Glenn, American newscaster (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (b. 1931)
• 2008 – Levi Stubbs, American baritone singer (Four Tops) (b. 1936)
• 2009 – Vic Mizzy, American composer (themes to Green Acres and The Addams Family) (b. 1916)
• 2011 – Carl Lindner, Jr., Cincinnati businessman and one of the world's richest people (b. 1919)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Catervus
  • Ignatius of Antioch
  • Marguerite Marie Alacoque (formerly)
  • Rule of Andrew
  • Richard Gwyn
  • October 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Dessalines Day (Haiti)
• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (International)
• Loyalty Day (Argentina)

External links

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

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