September 17

September 17 in recent years

2023 (Sunday)

2022 (Saturday)

2021 (Friday)

2020 (Thursday)

2019 (Tuesday)

2018 (Monday)

2017 (Sunday)

2016 (Saturday)

2015 (Thursday)

2014 (Wednesday)

September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 105 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 456 – Remistus, Roman general (magister militum), is besieged with a Gothic force at Ravenna and later executed in the Palace in Classis, outside the city.
• 1111 – Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia".
• 1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.
• 1462 – The Battle of Świecino (also known as the Battle of Żarnowiec) is fought during Thirteen Years' War.
• 1577 – The Peace of Bergerac is signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.
• 1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
• 1631 – Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War.
• 1683 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules": the first known description of protozoa.
• 1716 – Jean Thurel enlists in the Touraine Regiment at the age of 17, the first day of a military career that would span for over 90 years.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Fort St. Jean.
• 1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
• 1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware Indians).
• 1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1809 – Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
• 1814 – Francis Scott Key finishes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", later to be the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
• 1849 – American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.
• 1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself "Emperor Norton I" of the United States.
• 1862 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
• 1894 – The Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.
• 1900 – Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
• 1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.
• 1914 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
• 1916 – World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
• 1920 – The American Professional Football Association (later renamed National Football League) is organized in Canton, Ohio, United States.
• 1924 – The Border Defence Corps is established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits.
• 1928 – The Okeechobee Hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing upwards of 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
• 1939 – World War II: The Soviet Union joins Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland during the Polish Defensive War of 1939.
• 1939 – World War II: A German U-boat U 29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.
• 1939 – Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
• 1940 – World War II: Following the German defeat in the Battle of Britain, Hitler postpones Operation Sea Lion indefinitely.
• 1941 – World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is issued.
• 1943 – World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated from Germans.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied Airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden.
• 1948 – The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arab nations and Israel.
• 1948 – The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his sovereignty over the Hyderabad State and joins the Indian Union.
• 1949 – The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives.
• 1957 – Malaysia joins the United Nations.
• 1961 – The world's first retractable-dome stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh.
• 1974 – Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations.
• 1976 – The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.
• 1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.
• 1980 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
• 1980 – Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
• 1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.
• 1991 – Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
• 1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
• 1992 – An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners are assassinated by political militants in Berlin, Germany.
• 1993 – Last Russian troops leave Poland.
• 2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 Attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.
• 2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years.
• 2006 – An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country.
• 2007 – AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New York.
• 2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zucotti Park, New York City.

Births

• 879 – Charles the Simple, French king (d. 929)
• 1192 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1219)
• 1550 – Pope Paul V (d. 1621)
• 1605 – Francesco Sacrati, Italian composer (d. 1650)
• 1630 – Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1694)
• 1639 – Hans Herr, Swiss bishop (d. 1725)
• 1674 – Ernest Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (d. 1728)
• 1677 – Stephen Hales, English physiologist and chemist, invented Forceps (d. 1761)
• 1687 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (d. 1772)
• 1688 – Maria Luisa of Savoy (d. 1714)
• 1730 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (d. 1794)
• 1739 – John Rutledge, American politician, 31st Governor of South Carolina (d. 1800)
• 1743 – Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician (d. 1794)
• 1771 – Johann August Apel, German jurist and writer (d. 1816)
• 1773 – Jonathan Alder, American farmer, first settler in Madison County, Ohio (d. 1849)
• 1819 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, South African politician, 1st President of the South African Republic (d. 1901)
• 1820 – Émile Augier, French playwright (d. 1889)
• 1826 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (d. 1866)
• 1839 – Ira Davenport, American magician (d. 1911)
• 1850 – Guerra Junqueiro, Portuguese lawyer, journalist, author, and poet (d. 1923)
• 1854 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick Motor Company (d. 1929)
• 1857 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist (d. 1935)
• 1859 – Frank Dawson Adams, Canadian geologist (d.1942)
• 1862 – Jean de Madre, French polo player (d. 1934)
• 1868 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian politician (d. 1956)
• 1869 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian historian, educator, and scientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
• 1874 – Walter Murdoch, Australian academic and writer (d. 1970)
• 1878 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950)
• 1878 – Antoine Védrenne, French rower (d. 1937)
• 1879 – Rube Foster, American baseball player, manager, and executive (d. 1930)
• 1879 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian businessman, politician, and activist (d. 1973)
• 1881 – Alfred Carpenter, English soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 1955)
• 1883 – William Carlos Williams, American pediatrician and poet (d. 1963)
• 1884 – Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)
• 1890 – Gabriel Heatter, American journalist (d. 1972)
• 1892 – Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer and organist (d. 1981)
• 1897 – Earl Webb, American baseball player (d. 1965)
• 1900 – Hughie Critz, American baseball player (d. 1980)
• 1900 – J. Willard Marriott, American businessman, founded the Marriott Corporation (d. 1985)
• 1901 – Francis Chichester, English aviator and sailor (d. 1972)
• 1902 – Bea Miles, Australian writer (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)
• 1903 – Frank O'Connor, Irish-American author (d. 1966)
• 1903 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
• 1904 – Frederick Ashton, Ecuadorian-English dancer and choreographer (d. 1988)
• 1904 – Jerry Colonna, American singer-songwriter and comedian (d. 1986)
• 1904 – Edgar G. Ulmer, Austrian-American director (d. 1972)
• 1906 – Junius Richard Jayewardene, Sri Lankan politician, 2nd President of Sri Lanka (d. 1996)
• 1906 – Edgar Wayburn, American environmentalist (d. 2010)
• 1907 – Warren E. Burger, American politician and judge, 15th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1995)
• 1908 – John Creasey, English novelist (d. 1973)
• 1908 – Rafael Israelyan, Armenian architect (d. 1973)
• 1912 – Irena Kwiatkowska, Polish actress and comedian (d. 2011)
• 1914 – Thomas J. Bata, Canadian businessman (d. 2008)
• 1914 – Shin Kanemaru, Japanese politician (d. 1996)
• 1915 – M. F. Husain, Indian painter and director (d. 2011)
• 1916 – Mary Stewart, English novelist
• 1917 – Isang Yun, Korean-German composer (d. 1995)
• 1918 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli politician, 6th President of Israel (d. 1997)
• 1920 – Dinah Sheridan, English actress
• 1922 – Agostinho Neto, Angolan politician, 1st President of Angola (d. 1979)
• 1923 – Ralph Sharon, American pianist
• 1923 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Drifting Cowboys) (d. 1953)
• 1925 – John List, American murderer (d. 2008)
• 1926 – Bill Black, American bass player (The Blue Moon Boys) (d. 1965)
• 1926 – Curtis Harrington, American director (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Hovie Lister, American pianist (The Statesmen Quartet and Masters V) (d. 2001)
• 1926 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French cardinal (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Jack McDuff, American organist (d. 2001)
• 1927 – George Blanda, American football player (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Roddy McDowall, English actor (d. 1998)
• 1929 – Sil Austin, American saxophonist (d. 2001)
• 1929 – Pat Crowley, American actress
• 1929 – Stirling Moss, English race car driver
• 1930 – David Huddleston, American actor
• 1930 – Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist and composer
• 1930 – Theo Loevendie, Dutch composer and clarinet player
• 1930 – Edgar Mitchell, American astronaut
• 1930 – Jim Rohn, American philosopher (d. 2009)
• 1930 – Thomas Patten Stafford, American general and astronaut
• 1931 – Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1931 – Jean-Claude Carrière, French actor and screenwriter
• 1932 – Robert B. Parker, American author (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Chuck Grassley, American politician
• 1933 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Claude Provost, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)
• 1934 – Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (d. 1969)
• 1935 – Ken Kesey, American author (d. 2001)
• 1936 – Michael Hennagin, American composer and educator (d. 1993)
• 1937 – Orlando Cepeda, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1938 – Perry Robinson, American clarinet player and composer
• 1938 – Bobby Wine, American baseball player and coach
• 1939 – Shelby Flint, American singer
• 1939 – David Souter, American jurist
• 1940 – Jan Eliasson, Swedish diplomat, 60th President of the United Nations General Assembly
• 1940 – Sotiris Moustakas, Greek actor (d. 2007)
• 1941 – Stavros Damianides, Greek bouzouki player (d. 2001)
• 1941 – Bob Matsui, American politician (d. 2005)
• 1942 – Robert Graysmith, American author
• 1942 – Des Lynam, Irish-English journalist
• 1942 – Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (d. 2012)
• 1944 – Les Emmerson, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Five Man Electrical Band)
• 1944 – Reinhold Messner, Italian mountaineer
• 1945 – David Emerson, Canadian politician
• 1945 – Phil Jackson, American basketball player and coach
• 1945 – Bruce Spence, New Zealand actor
• 1945 – Bhakti Charu Swami, Indian spiritual leader
• 1946 – Billy Bonds, English footballer
• 1947 – Tessa Jowell, English politician
• 1948 – Karl Alber, German footballer
• 1948 – Raphy Leavitt, Puerto Rican composer
• 1948 – Jeff MacNelly, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
• 1948 – John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1950 – Narendra Modi, Indian politician
• 1950 – Fee Waybill, American singer-songwriter (The Tubes)
• 1951 – Piet Kleine, Dutch speed skater
• 1951 – Cassandra Peterson, American actress
• 1953 – Altaf Hussain, Pakistani founder and leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
• 1953 – Steve Williams, Welsh drummer and songwriter (Budgie)
• 1954 – Joël-François Durand, French composer
• 1955 – Koralia Karanti, Greek actress
• 1955 – Charles Martinet, American actor
• 1955 – Scott Simpson, American golfer
• 1956 – Brian Andreas, American sculptor, painter and publisher
• 1956 – Thad Bosley. American baseball player
• 1956 – Rita Rudner, American comedian and actress
• 1956 – Mandawuy Yunupingu, Australian guitarist (Yothu Yindi)
• 1958 – Tom Waddell, Scottish baseball player
• 1959 – Charles Lawson, Irish actor
• 1960 – John Bottomley, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
• 1960 – Kevin Clash, American voice actor and puppeteer
• 1960 – John Franco, American baseball player
• 1960 – Damon Hill, English race car driver
• 1961 – Jim Cornette, American wrestling manager and promoter
• 1961 – Nives Meroi, Italian mountaineer
• 1961 – Ty Tabor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (King's X Platypus, and The Jelly Jam)
• 1962 – Baz Luhrmann, Australian director
• 1962 – Dustin Nguyen, Vietnamese-American actor
• 1962 – BeBe Winans, American singer-songwriter and producer (BeBe & CeCe Winans)
• 1963 – Masahiro Chono, Japanese wrestler
• 1963 – Wendy Northcutt, American author
• 1963 – Rami Saari, Israeli poet and translator
• 1963 – William Shockley, American actor
• 1963 – James Urbaniak, American actor
• 1965 – Kyle Chandler, American actor
• 1965 – Yuji Naka, Japanese video game programmer and designer
• 1965 – Guy Picciotto, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Happy Go Licky, and One Last Wish)
• 1965 – Bryan Singer, American director
• 1966 – Doug E. Fresh, American rapper and producer
• 1966 – Stéphane Rousseau, Canadian actor
• 1967 – Koen Wauters, Flemish singer-songwriter and actor (Clouseau)
• 1967 – Malik Yoba, American actor
• 1968 – Akhenaton French rapper and producer
• 1968 – Anastacia, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1968 – Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece
• 1968 – Lord Jamar American rapper and actor (Brand Nubian)
• 1968 – Jonn Penney English singer (Ned's Atomic Dustbin)
• 1969 – Steady B, American rapper
• 1969 – Adam Devlin, English guitarist and songwriter (The Bluetones)
• 1969 – Ken Doherty, Irish snooker player
• 1969 – Keith Flint, English singer-songwriter (The Prodigy and Flint)
• 1969 – Matthew Settle, American actor
• 1970 – Mark Brunell, American football player
• 1970 – Jim Conroy, American voice actor
• 1971 – Nate Berkus, American interior designer and television host
• 1971 – Mike Catt, English rugby player
• 1971 – Adriana Karembeu, Slovak model and actress
• 1971 – Mauro Milanese, Italian footballer
• 1971 – Ian Whyte, Welsh basketball player and actor
• 1972 – Brian Henry, American poet and critic
• 1972 – Bobby Lee, American comedian and actor
• 1973 – Diego Albanese, Argentinian rugby player
• 1973 – Ada Choi, Hong Kong actress
• 1973 – Demis Nikolaidis, Greek footballer
• 1974 – Mirah, American singer-songwriter and musician (The Microphones)
• 1974 – Tormod Granheim, Norwegian skier
• 1974 – Rasheed Wallace, American basketball player
• 1975 – Jade Esteban Estrada, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1975 – Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver
• 1975 – Constantine Maroulis, American singer-songwriter and actor (Pray for the Soul of Betty)
• 1975 – Austin St. John, American actor and martial artist
• 1975 – Wilko de Vogt, Dutch footballer
• 1976 – Peja, Polish rapper, songwriter, and producer
• 1976 – Daniella Rush, Czech porn actress
• 1977 – Simone Perrotta, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Shawn Horcoff, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Steffen Algreen, Danish footballer
• 1979 – Akin Ayodele, American football player
• 1979 – Chuck Comeau, Canadian drummer (Simple Plan and Reset)
• 1979 – Billy Miller, American actor
• 1980 – Danny Haren, American baseball player
• 1980 – Oliver Risser, Namibian footballer
• 1981 – Casey Janssen, American baseball player
• 1981 – Bakari Koné, Ivorian footballer
• 1981 – Francis Manioru, Solomon Islander sprinter
• 1982 – Hope Larson, American illustrator
• 1982 – Garth Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Wade Robson, Australian dancer and choreographer
• 1983 – Jennifer Peña, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1983 – Sanaya Irani, Indian actress
• 1984 – Domenico Citro, Italian footballer
• 1984 – Mary Descenza, American swimmer
• 1984 – De La Ghetto, Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter (Arcángel & De La Ghetto)
• 1984 – John Kucera, Canadian skier
• 1984 – Patrick van Luijk, Dutch sprinter
• 1984 – Eugenia Volodina, Russian model
• 1985 – Tomáš Berdych, Czech tennis player
• 1985 – Brendan Clarke, Irish footballer
• 1985 – José Gonçalves, Portuguese footballer
• 1985 – Alexander Ovechkin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Mason Raymond, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Jon Walker, American singer-songwriter and musician (Panic! at the Disco and The Young Veins)
• 1986 – Paolo De Ceglie, Italian footballer
• 1987 – Paul Huntington, English footballer
• 1988 – Adem Polat, Turkish musician
• 1989 – Kate Deines, American soccer player
• 1990 – Sean Scannell, Irish footballer
• 1991 – Ryo Ishikawa, Japanese golfer

Deaths

• 454 – Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria
• 456 – Remistus, Roman general
• 1179 – Hildegard of Bingen, German saint, philosopher, and composer (b. 1098)
• 1322 – Robert III, Count of Flanders (b. 1249)
• 1422 – Constantine II of Bulgaria (b. 1370)
• 1563 – Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, English soldier (b. 1526)
• 1574 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Spanish admiral and explorer, founded St. Augustine, Florida (b. 1519)
• 1575 – Heinrich Bullinger, Swiss religious reformer and theologian (b. 1504)
• 1621 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian cardinal and saint (b. 1542)
• 1630 – Thomas Lake, English politician (b. 1567)
• 1665 – Philip IV of Spain (b. 1605)
• 1676 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi (b. 1626)
• 1679 – John of Austria the Younger, Spanish general (b. 1629)
• 1727 – Glückel of Hameln, German businesswoman and writer (b. 1647)
• 1762 – Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1687)
• 1771 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (b. 1721)
• 1803 – Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Austrian composer (b. 1766)
• 1808 – Benjamin Bourne, American jurist and politician (b. 1755)
• 1836 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (b. 1748)
• 1858 – Dred Scott, American slave who sued for freedom in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case (b. 1795)
• 1863 – Alfred de Vigny, French author (b. 1797)
• 1864 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet (b. 1775)
• 1877 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer, developed the Calotype Process (b. 1800)
• 1878 – Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, French lawyer and adventurer (b. 1825)
• 1879 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect and theorist (b. 1814)
• 1894 – Deng Shichang, Chinese admiral (b. 1849)
• 1899 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American businessman, co-founded the Pillsbury Company (b. 1842)
• 1904 – Kartini, Indonesian activist (b. 1879)
• 1907 – Ignaz Brüll, Austrian pianist (b. 1846)
• 1908 – Henri Julien, Canadian cartoonist (b. 1852)
• 1908 – Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant (b. 1882)
• 1909 – Thomas Bent, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Victoria (b. 1838)
• 1923 – Stefanos Dragoumis, Greek politician, 92nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1842)
• 1925 – Carl Eytel, German-American painter (b. 1862)
• 1933 – Joseph De Piro, Maltese priest and missionary (b. 1877)
• 1936 – Ettie Annie Rout, New Zealand activist and author (b. 1877)
• 1938 – Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
• 1946 – Frank Burke, American baseball player (b. 1880)
• 1948 – Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (b. 1887)
• 1948 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (b. 1895)
• 1953 – David Munson, American runner (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Alejandro Casona, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1903)
• 1951 – Jimmy Yancey, American pianist (b. 1898)
• 1966 – Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (b. 1930)
• 1971 – Carlos Lamarca, Brazilian military leader (b. 1937)
• 1972 – Akim Tamiroff, Georgian actor (b. 1899)
• 1973 – Hugo Winterhalter, American bandleader and composer (b. 1909)
• 1980 – Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua (b. 1925)
• 1982 – Manos Loïzos, Greek composer (b. 1937)
• 1984 – Richard Basehart, American actor (b. 1914)
• 1985 – Laura Ashley, Welsh fashion designer, founded Laura Ashley plc (b. 1925)
• 1987 – Harry Locke, English actor (b. 1913)
• 1988 – Hilde Gueden, Austrian soprano (b. 1917)
• 1991 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (b. 1902)
• 1992 – Roger Wagner, American conductor and educator (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Christian Nyby, American director (b. 1913)
• 1994 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (b. 1954)
• 1994 – Karl Popper, Austrian-English philosopher (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
• 1996 – Spiro Agnew, American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States (b. 1918)
• 1997 – Red Skelton, American actor and comedian (b. 1913)
• 1998 – Ted Binion, American businessman (b. 1943)
• 1998 – Geoffrey Dutton, Australian author and historian (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (b. 1907)
• 1999 – Frankie Vaughan, English singer (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Paula Yates, Welsh television host and author (b. 1959)
• 2003 – Erich Hallhuber, German actor (b. 1951)
• 2005 – Jacques Lacarrière, French journalist and critic (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Alfred Reed, American composer (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American traveler and writer (b. 1924)
• 2009 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian terrorist (b. 1968)
• 2011 – Colin Madigan, Australian architect and author (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Bafo Biyela, South African footballer (b. 1981)
• 2012 – Melvin Charney, Canadian artist and architect (b. 1935)
• 2012 – Lou Kenton, English soldier and potter (b. 1908)
• 2012 – Nikodimos of Ierissos, Greek bishop (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Tedi Thurman, American model and actress (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Russell E. Train, American civil servant (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Ferenc Polikárp Zakar, Hungarian monk (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Albert Avogadro
  • Ariadne of Phrygia
  • Hildegard of Bingen
  • Lambert
  • Robert Bellarmine
  • Satyrus of Milan
  • Socrates and Stephen
  • September 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Constitution Day (observed on the previous Friday if it falls Saturday, the following Monday if on a Sunday), Citizenship Day, Von Steuben Day. (United States)
• Heroes' Day (Angola)
• Operation Market Garden is still remembered with parachuting and dedications on this day. (Netherlands)
• Pompéia founding day (1928, State of São Paulo, Brazil)

External links

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

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