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 divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
• 395 – Emperor Theodosius I dies in Milan, the Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under Honorius, his brother (aged 10).
• 1287 – King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
• 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
• 1562 – France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• 1595 – Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
• 1608 – Emperor Susenyos surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his 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.
• 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
• 1852 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
• 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, 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.
• 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
• 1904 – Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
• 1912 – Captain Robert Falcon Scott 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.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
• 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
• 1929 – Inayatullah Khan, king of the Emirate of Afghanistan abdicates the throne after only three days.
• 1941 – Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
• 1945 – World War II: 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 is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
• 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
• 1949 – The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs for the first time.
• 1950 – The Great Brinks Robbery – 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1961 – U.S. 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".
• 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
• 1966 – Palomares incident: 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.
• 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
• 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.
• 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
• 1982 – "Cold Sunday": in numerous cities in the United States temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years.
• 1983 – The tallest department store in the world, Hudson's flagship store in downtown Detroit, closes due to high cost of operating.
• 1989 – Cleveland School massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in Stockton, California, 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.
• 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
• 1994 – 1994 Northridge earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
• 1995 – The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs 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 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report.
• 2001 – U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously promotes Meriwether Lewis 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.
• 2008 – British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777.
• 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, resulting in at least 200 deaths.

Births

• 1463 – Frederick 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)
• 1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
• 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
• 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d. 1671)
• 1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
• 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1745)
• 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist (d. 1723)
• 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
• 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American politician, scientist, and publisher, 6th President of Pennsylvania, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)
• 1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
• 1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
• 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German composer and pianist (d. 1788)
• 1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
• 1733 – Thomas Linley the elder English singer and conductor (d. 1795)
• 1734 – François Joseph Gossec, French composer (d. 1829)
• 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
• 1789 – August Neander, German theologian and historian (d. 1850)
• 1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
• 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
• 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
• 1831 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (d. 1903)
• 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and educator (d. 1906)
• 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist (d. 1914)
• 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)
• 1851 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
• 1853 – Alva Belmont, American activist (d. 1933)
• 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
• 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American inventor (d. 1935)
• 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
• 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
• 1863 – David Lloyd George, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
• 1863 – Constantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
• 1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
• 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
• 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English pilot and polo player (d. 1934)
• 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty English admiral (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
• 1872 – Henri Masson, French fencer (d. 1963)
• 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan playwright (d. 1910)
• 1876 – Frank Hague, American politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
• 1877 – May Gibbs, Australian author (d. 1969)
• 1879 – Burt McKinnie, American golfer (d. 1946)
• 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian director (d. 1960)
• 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
• 1881 – Harry Price, English psychic researcher and author (d. 1948)
• 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
• 1882 – Arnold Rothstein, American businessman (d. 1928)
• 1883 – Compton Mackenzie, Scottish author (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Ronald Firbank, English author (d. 1926)
• 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
• 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian author (d. 1963)
• 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French doctor and serial killer (d. 1946)
• 1899 – Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)
• 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1902 – Nâzım Hikmet, Turkish poet (d. 1963)
• 1903 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator (d. 1969)
• 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
• 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (d. 1966)
• 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet (d. 1960)
• 1907 – Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
• 1911 – John S. McCain, Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
• 1911 – George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Irving Brecher, American screenwriter, producer, and director (d. 2008)
• 1914 – William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr., American politician (d. 2011)
• 1917 – Ramón Cardemil, Chilean horse rider (d. 2007)
• 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Keith Joseph, English politician (d. 1994)
• 1918 – George M. Leader, American politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania
• 1920 – Corsica Joe, French-American wrestler (d. 2010)
• 1920 – Georges Pichard, French illustrator (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani pilot and politician
• 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Robert De Niro, Sr., American painter (d. 1993)
• 1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican politician, 50th President of Mexico
• 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American lawyer, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Betty White, American actress and singer
• 1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author (d. 1962)
• 1923 – Carol Raye, English-Australian actress
• 1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Abdul Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1996)
• 1925 – Edgar Ray Killen, American Ku Klux Klan member
• 1925 – Patricia Owens, Canadian actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and businessman
• 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
• 1927 – Norman Kaye, Australian actor (d. 2007)
• 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
• 1927 – E.W. Swackhamer, American director (d. 1994)
• 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
• 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser (d. 2012)
• 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
• 1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Eddie LeBaron, American football player
• 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
• 1931 – Douglas Wilder, American politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
• 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, manager, and coach
• 1932 – Sheree North, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
• 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer, and television host (d. 1998)
• 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish director (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Stuart Nisbet, American actor
• 1934 – Zlatko Papec, Croatian footballer (d. 2013)
• 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
• 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and educator
• 1938 – John Bellairs, American author (d. 1991)
• 1938 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist (d. 1988)
• 1939 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (d. 2008)
• 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host
• 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
• 1940 – Umashanker Singh, Indian politician (d. 2013)
• 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan politician, President of Uruguay
• 1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
• 1941 – Gillian Weir, New Zealand organist
• 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer
• 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist
• 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
• 1942 – Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1943 – Geoffrey Deuel, American actor
• 1943 – Chris Montez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1943 – René Préval, Haitian politician, 52nd President of Haiti
• 1944 – Françoise Hardy, French singer and actress
• 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian composer, poet, and scriptwriter
• 1946 – Michèle Deslauriers, Canadian actress
• 1947 – Jane Elliot, American actress
• 1948 – Jim Ladd, American radio host and producer
• 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
• 1948 – Anne Queffélec, French pianist
• 1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian politician and businessman
• 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American comedian and actor (d. 1984)
• 1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones)
• 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican author
• 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player (d. 2002)
• 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, producer, and actor (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
• 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player
• 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
• 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, and activist
• 1954 – Susan Kiefel, Australian lawyer and judge
• 1955 – Steve Earle, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
• 1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball referee
• 1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Q-Tips)
• 1957 – Keith Chegwin, English television host and actor
• 1957 – Steve Harvey, American comedian, actor, and author
• 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American author
• 1957 – Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist
• 1958 – Valdas Kasparavičius, Lithuanian footballer
• 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (The Bangles and Ming Tea)
• 1959 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
• 1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Berlin)
• 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player
• 1960 – Tracey Moore, Canadian voice actress and singer
• 1960 – Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai actor
• 1961 – Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player
• 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American screenwriter, producer, and director
• 1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese politician
• 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
• 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
• 1962 – Taija Rae, American porn actress
• 1962 – Ari Up, German-English singer (The Slits and New Age Steppers) (d. 2010)
• 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Gamma Ray, Helloween, Unisonic, and Iron Savior)
• 1964 – Michelle Obama, American wife of Barack Obama, 46th First Lady of the United States
• 1964 – Andy Rourke, English bass player (The Smiths and Freebass)
• 1965 – Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer
• 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
• 1966 – Stephin Merritt, American singer-songwriter (The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and The Gothic Archies)
• 1966 – Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer
• 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Pulp and The Longpigs)
• 1967 – Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor
• 1967 – Wendy Mass, American author
• 1967 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (d. 2007)
• 1968 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian runner
• 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
• 1969 – Tiësto, Dutch DJ and producer (Gouryella and Kamaya Painters)
• 1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
• 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish screenwriter and director
• 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
• 1970 – Masaaki Mochizuki, Japanese wrestler
• 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player
• 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
• 1970 – James Wattana, Thai snooker player
• 1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
• 1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
• 1971 – Youki Kudoh, Japanese actress
• 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress
• 1971 – Paolo Vaccari, Italian rugby player
• 1971 – Ann Wolfe, American boxer
• 1972 – Benno Fürmann, German actor
• 1972 – Ken Hirai, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer
• 1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician
• 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player
• 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Danny Bhoy, Scottish comedian
• 1974 – Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian conjoined twins (d. 2003)
• 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer
• 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian violist (Amparanoia)
• 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
• 1975 – Squarepusher, English singer-songwriter
• 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
• 1975 – Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter and producer
• 1977 – Kevin Fertig, American wrestler
• 1977 – Leigh Whannell, Australian actor, screenwriter, and producer
• 1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter (Kaiser Chiefs)
• 1979 – Oleg Lisogor, Ukrainian swimmer
• 1979 – Chase Stevens, American wrestler
• 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
• 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress (She & Him)
• 1980 – Gareth McLearnon, Irish flute player
• 1981 – Warren Feeney, Irish footballer
• 1981 – Ray J, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1981 – Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
• 1982 – Hwanhee, South Korean singer and actor (Fly to the Sky)
• 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
• 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer (The Wilkinsons)
• 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
• 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
• 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
• 1984 – Sophie Dee, Welsh porn actress
• 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
• 1984 – Sam Shaw, American wrestler
• 1985 – Kangin, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (Super Junior)
• 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentine footballer
• 1985 – Mark Briscoe, American wrestler
• 1985 – Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer and actress (BeForU)
• 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter (Epica)
• 1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler
• 1986 – Max Adler, American actor
• 1986 – Hale Appleman, American actor
• 1986 – Viktor Stalberg, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
• 1989 – Hollie-Jay Bowes, English actress and singer
• 1989 – Björn Dreyer, German footballer
• 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
• 1991 – Lee Kiseop, South Korean singer and dancer (U-KISS)
• 1997 – Jack Vidgen, Australian singer-songwriter

Deaths

• 395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
• 1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
• 1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
• 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian lord (b. 1405)
• 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
• 1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop (b. 1551)
• 1654 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)
• 1705 – John Ray, English historian (b. 1627)
• 1718 – Benjamin Church, American captain (b. 1639)
• 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
• 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and 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-American dancer and actress (b. 1821)
• 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
• 1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
• 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai conjoined twin (b. 1811)
• 1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian (b. 1812)
• 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
• 1887 – William Giblin, Australian politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
• 1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
• 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American politician, 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 – Francis Smith, Australian politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
• 1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
• 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
• 1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
• 1933 – Ruurd Leegstra, Dutch rower (b. 1877)
• 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
• 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
• 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
• 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian general (b. 1869)
• 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
• 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
• 1952 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Blind Alfred Reed, American singer-songwriter (b. 1880)
• 1960 – Andrew Kennaway Henderson, New Zealand illustrator (b. 1879)
• 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
• 1963 – Henri Masson, French fencer (b. 1872)
• 1964 – T. H. White, English author (b. 1906)
• 1967 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)
• 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player (b. 1890)
• 1970 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (b. 1937)
• 1972 – Betty Smith, American author (b. 1896)
• 1973 – Takis Hristoforidis, Greek actor (b. 1914)
• 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)
• 1984 – George Rigaud, Argentinian actor (b. 1905)
• 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentine director (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938)
• 1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Frank Pullen, English businessman (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926)
• 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)
• 1996 – Amber Hagerman, American kidnapped victim, inspired the AMBER Alert system (b. 1986)
• 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
• 1998 – Junior Kimbrough, American singer and guitarist (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Robert Eads, American transsexual man (b. 1945)
• 1999 – Samantha Reid, American victim of GHB overdose (b. 1984)
• 2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian politician (b. 1917)
• 2001 – Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Bishop Karas, Sudanese-American bishop (b. 1955)
• 2002 – Queenie Leonard, American actress (b. 1905)
• 2002 – Eddie Meduza, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948)
• 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Balint Vazsonyi, Hungarian pianist (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Czesław Niemen, Polish singer-songwriter (Niebiesko-Czarni) (b. 1939)
• 2004 – Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960)
• 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Art Buchwald, American columnist (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)
• 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player (b. 1948)
• 2008 – Allan Melvin, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943)
• 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
• 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
• 2010 – Daisuke Gōri, Japanese voice actor (b. 1952)
• 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
• 2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
• 2011 – Don Kirshner, American composer (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Bill Albright, American football player (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist (b. 1941)
• 2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964)
• 2013 – Tissa Balasuriya, Sri Lankan priest and theologian (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Claude Black, American pianist (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Robert F. Chew, American actor (b. 1960)
• 2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954)
• 2013 – Fernando Guillén, Spanish actor (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Sophiya Haque, English actress and singer (b. 1971)
• 2013 – James Hood, American activist (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Homayoun Khorram, Iranian violinist and composer (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Fred J. Lincoln, American porn actor, director, and producer (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Jack McCarthy, American poet (b. 1939)
• 2013 – Paul McKeever, German-English police officer (b. 1956)
• 2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Guram Sagaradze, Georgian actor (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Michael Triplett, American journalist (b. 1964)
• 2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Anthony the Great (Roman Catholic and Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Amelbert
  • Mildgytha
  • Sulpitius the Pious
  • January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• National Day (Minorca)
• The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)

External links

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

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