17th
April, on this day
69 After the First
Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius
becomes Roman Emperor.
858 Benedict III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1421 An estimated 100,000 people drown in Holland when the North Sea
breaks through the protective dykes at Dort
1492 Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies
1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
1524 Giovanni
Verrazano, a florentine navigator, discovers New York Bay
1534 Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower
1555 Siena surrenders for Spanish troops
1596 Arch duke Albrecht of Austria occupies Calais
1629 1st commercial fishery established
1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell
1711 Charles VI Habsburg becomes king of Austria
1758 Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems
1794 Warsaw
Uprising
1797 Sir
Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be
one of the largest invasions to Spanish territories in America.
1808 Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships
1817 1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
and Laurent Clerc (American School for the Deaf-Hartford CT)
1824 Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54º 40'
N
1839 Guatemala forms republic
1853 US Marine Hospital at Presidio (San Francisco) established
1853 Thorbecke government resigns
1860 In boxing, the first world title fight takes place near Farnborough,
Hampshire, in England when Briton Tom Sayers takes on American John
Heenan. After 42 rounds the contest is declared a draw
1861 Virginia become 8th state to secede
1861 Indianola,
TX -"Star of West" taken by Confederacy
1863 Grierson's Raid La Grange TN to Baton Rouge LA
1864 Battle
of Plymouth, NC
1864 Bread revolt in Savannah, GA
1864 Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges
1865 Mary
Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination
1875 "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville
Chamberlain
1888 Formation of the English Football League
1895 Treaty
of Shimonoseki signed, ends 1st Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
1900 7 high chiefs of American Samoa sign Instrument of Cession
1905 US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional
1907 11,745 immigrants arrive at Ellis Island, NY
1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby
To Sleep")
1920 American Professional Football Association forms (NFL)
1924 Fascist leader Benito Mussolini wins the Italian Election
1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B Mayer Company merged
to form MGM
1925 Paul
Painlevé follows Edouard
Herriot on as French premier
1927 Japan's Wakarsoeki government falls/Baron Tanaka becomes premier
1930 Abkhazian ASSR established in Georgian SSR
1932 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery
1937 A British attendance record at a football match is set at Hampden
Park, Glasgow when 149,547 pay to watch Scotland play England
1937 Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd and Petunia Pig,
debut
1939 Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1939 Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-nazi pact
1941 Office of Price Administration established (to handle rationing)
1941 British troop land in Iraq
1941 Yugoslavia; surrender to Nazi's
1942 POW French General
Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
1942 12 Lancasters bombs MAN-factory in Augsburg
1942 Operations begin to destroy Sobibor
Concentration Camp
1943 Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul
1943 SS-Lieutenant-General Jürgen Stoop arrives in Warsaw
1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1945 German occupiers flood Wieringermeer Netherlands
1945 Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan
1945 US troops lands in Mindanao
1945 In Stassfurt, Germany, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash
seizes half a ton of uranium, in an attempt to foil Soviet Union plans
to build an atomic bomb.
1946 Last French troops leave Syria
1946 Syria
declares independence from French administration
1949 At midnight 26 counties officially leave the British Commonwealth.
A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic
of Ireland
1956 USSR's Cominform (Parliament) dissolves
1956 Premium Bonds are introduced into Britain by Conservative Chancellor
of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan
1956 Bulgaria premier Tchervenkov resigns
1956 Kominform disbands
1958 Brussel's (Belgium) World Fair opens
1960 American Samoa sets up a constitutional government
1961 1,400
Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Castro
1963 In Moscow, British businessman Greville
Wynne is accused of spying. He's later found guilty of spying
for Britain and sentenced to three years in prison and five years
in a Soviet labour camp
1963 Opening of the Hilton Hotel in London
1963 British Government commissions the building of the country's
first nuclear- powered submarine, HMS Dreadnaught
1964 British pop group The Rolling Stones release their first album
1964 Ford
Mustang formally introduced ($2368 base)
1964 Jerrie
Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
1967 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20
1969 Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chairman Alexander
Dubcek deposed
1969 In America, Sirhan
Sirhan is found guilty of the assassination of US senator Bobby
Kennedy and sentenced to life imprisonment
1969 The
Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert
1969 Bernadette
Devlin elected to British House of Commons
1970 Apollo
13 returns to Earth safely
1971 Egypt, Libya and Syria form federation (FAR)
1971 People's Republic Bangladesh forms, under sheik Mujib
ur-Rahman
1973 Federal Express delivers its first package.
1974 Ted Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from Central Washington
State College, Ellensburg, WA
1974 Moslem fundamentalists assault military academy in Heliopolis,
Egypt
1975 Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, Cambodi
1975 Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's
5-year war
1977 Christian-Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
1979 British tennis star John
Lloyd marries American tennis star Chris
Evert
1980 In Africa, Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe
1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation
of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
1982 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1983 1st National Coin Week begins
1983 In Warsaw, police route 1,000 Solidarity supporters
1983 India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket
1984 A British police officer, Yvonne
Fletcher, is shot dead outside the Libyan People's Bureau in London
1986 Treaty signed, ending Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War
between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
1987 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk
USSR
1989 Soviet-US agreement allows Soviets to fight US pros
1989 Polish labor union granted legal status
1990 Gas explodes on passenger train in Kumrahar India, 80 die
1991 Railroad workers go on strike in the US
1993 Police officers found guilty of violating Rodney
King's civil rights
1994 Aruba government of Oduber
falls
1997 John Bell, 115, recieves new pacemaker
2002 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly
fire from two U.S. Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone
for Canada since the Korean War.
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Birthdates which
occurred on 17th April :
1539 Tobias Stimmer
Swiss painter/cartoonist (Comedia)
1573 Maximilian I duke/ruler of Bayern (Catholic League)
1586 John Ford English dramatist ('Tis Pity She's a Whore)
1587 Marco Ivan Lukacic composer
1622 Henry Vaughan English poet (Silex Scintillans)
1644 Abraham Jansz Storck painter, baptized
1666 François Valentijn Dutch vicar/writer
1676 Frederik I [van Hessen Kassel] King of Sweden (1720-51)
1683 Johann David Heinichen composer
1699 Robert Blair Scottish poet (Grave)
1715 Johann Wolfgang Kleinknecht composer
1719 Christian Gottfried Krause composer
1738 Philip Hayes composer
1741 Johann Gottlieb Naumann composer
1741 Samuel Chase judge (signed Declaration of Independence)
1774 Vaclav Jan Krtitel Tomasek organist/pianist/composer
1788 Joseph Gilbert Totten Brevet Major General (Union Army), died
in 1864
1797 Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Tolbecque Belgian composer/conductor
1809 Philip St George Cocke Brigadier General (Confederate Army),
died in 1861
1811 Ann Sheppard Mounsey composer
1813 Henry Washington Benham Brevet Major General (Union Army), died
in 1884
1820 Gottfried Conradi composer
1827 French C Baeckelmans Flemish architect (St Amanduskerk, Antwerp)
1837 John Pierpont Morgan US banker/CEO (US Steel)
1845 Isabel Barrows US, editor/penologist (Conference on Negro Question)
1863 Johannes P Boskaljon Curaçao composer/conductor
1868 Charles R Gallas Dutch lexicographer (French dictionary)
1869 Johannes M Meulenhoff Dutch publisher
1870 Ray Stannard Baker US, journalist (Puliter Prize 1940)
1876 Ian Hay Scotland, novelist/playwright (PIp, Carrying On)
1881 Anton Wildgans writer
1882 Artur Schnabel Lipnik Austria, pianist (Beethoven Piano Sonatas)
1883 Hermann Darewsky composer
1885 Isak Dinesen Danish writer (Out of Africa, 7 Gothic Tales)
1885 Cecil Burleigh composer
1885 Karen Blixen-Finecke [Dinesen], Danish writer (Out of Africa)
1886 Otto Lederer Czechoslovakia, actor (Jazz Singer)
1890 Art Acord Glenwood Sevier UT, western actor (Arizona Kid, Hard
Fists)
1892 Jean Haesaert Flemish lawyer/sociologist
1894 Nikita S Khrushchev 1st Secretary USSR (1953-64)
1895 Bert Wheeler actor (Nitwits, Hold 'em Jail, High Flyers, Rainmakers)
1896 Senor Wences ventriloquist (his hand acts as a puppet)
1897 Harald Saeverud Bergen Norway, composer (Saline)
1897 Antonius F "Anton" Coolen Dutch author (Village by
the River)
1897 Thornton N Wilder US, novelist/playwright (Our Town)
1899 Vincent Wigglesworth entomologist
19-- Dennis Dun actor (Midnight Caller, Big Trouble in Little China)
19-- Ralphy Rodriquez rocker (Menudo-Cannonball)
1901 George Keyt artist
1902 Anton Beuving lyricist (Ketelbinkie)
1903 Gregor Piatigorsky Ekaterinoslav Russia, cellist
1903 Nicolas Nabokov Near Lubcha Minsk Russia, composer (The Holy
Devil)
1904 Edward Chodorov playwright/director (Story of Louis Pasteur)
1904 Naoomal Jeoomal cricketer (pioneer Indian Test opening batsman)
1905 Arthur Lake Corbin KY, actor (Dagwood-Blondie)
1905 Louis Jean Heydt Montclair NJ, actor (Joe-Waterfront)
1906 M Rooi editor-in-chief (New Rotterdam Daily)
1909 Alain Emile Louis Marie Poher politician
1909 Humphrey Sims Moore pacifist/journalist
1909 Patrick Reilly diplomat
1911 Mikhail Botvinnik of USSR, world chess champion (1948-63)
1911 Earl of Lauderdale
1911 Jean-Pierre Herve Bazin writer
1912 Isador Caplan lawyer/Aldeburgh Festival Pioneer
1913 Paul Langton Salt Lake City UT, actor (Leslie-Peyton Place)
1913 Richard Travis Carlsbad NM, actor (Missile to the Moon)
1916 Azijn Banana [Oscar Enau], Antillean publicist
1916 David Stafford-Clark psychiatrist
1916 Donald Gibson British Vice-Admiral
1916 Ryoei Saito businessman
1916 Sirimavo Bandaranaike world's 1st woman PM (Sri Lanka, 1960..77)
1918 William Holden [Franklin Beedle Jr] O'Fallon IL, actor (Stalag
17, Bridge Over the River Kwai, SOB)
1918 Anne Shirley UK, actress (Devil & Daniel Webster, Stella
Dallas)
1920 Bengt N Anderberg Swedish poet/writer (Kain)
1920 Joan "Maudie" Warburton painter
1921 Donald Barron CEO (Midland Bank)
1923 Harry Reasoner Dakota City IA, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS)
1923 Lindsay Anderson Bangalore India, director (Thursday's Children)
1923 Lloyd Biggle Jr US, sci-fi author (Silence is Deadly)
1923 Norman Potter cabinetmaker designer/writer
1924 Patrick Sergeant founder (Euromoney Publications)
1925 Anne Harris CEO (National Federation of Women's Institutes)
1925 John Yates bishop (Lambeth England)
1925 Joyce Buck actress/interior designer
1926 Arthur Hockaday director-General (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
1926 G M Hughes professor/zoologist
1926 Michael Vernon CEO (RNLI)
1927 Christopher Whelen composer
1927 Tadeusz Mazowiecki premier of Poland (1989-90)
1928 Cynthia Ozick US, author (Pagan Rabbi & Other Stories)
1929 Eileen Stamers-Smith headmistress (Malvern Girls' College)
1929 James Last orchestra leader/composer/arranger
1929 Lady (James) Mellon CEO (Volunteer Development Scotland)
1930 Chris Barber jazz trombonist
1930 Genevieve Paris France, singer (Jack Paar Show, Scruples)
1931 Joan Clague director of nursing services (Marie Curie Foundation)
1931 John Bartlett tennis player (Davis Cup captain-Britain)
1931 John Chalstrey alderman/Lord Mayor (London)
1931 Joyce Molyneux chef
1931 Ruth Etchells principal (St John's College-Durham)
1932 Graziella Sciutti Italian opera singer
1932 Han J A Hansen [Jansen] Dutch journalist (King Comes!)
1932 Ramsay Melhuish diplomat
1933 Monique Van Vooren Brussels Belgium, actress (Warhol's Frankenstein)
1933 Penelope Lively writer
1933 Tim Rathbone MP
1934 Don Kirshner rock & roll producer (invented bubblegum music)
1936 Lord Justice Aldous
1936 Pete Graves rocker (Moonglows)
1937 Brian Sedgemore British MP
1937 Daffy Duck animated character
1937 Eduard N Stepanov Russian cosmonaut
1937 Galina Samsova ballerina
1937 Terry Dicks British MP
1938 David Dilks vice-chancellor (Hull U)
1938 K M P O'Brien archbishop (St Andrews & Edinburgh)
1939 Robin Knox-Johnston yachtsman
1941 Bill Fury Liverpool England, vocalist/guitarist (When Will You
Say I Love You)
1941 Adolphus Hailstork composer
1941 Max Stafford-Clark artistic director (Royal Court Theatre)
1942 Mario Brenta writer/director (Maicol, Barnabo of the Mountains)
1943 Roy Estrada rocker (Morthers Of Invention)
1944 John Lill professor/pianist
1945 Vincent A M van der Burg Dutch MP (CDA)
1946 Clare Francis yachtswoman/novelist (Come Hell or High Water)
1946 Henry Kelly British broadcaster
1946 J R Baines professor (Egyptologist)
1947 Charles Frank Olympia WA, actor (Chisholms, Emerald Point NAS)
1948 Jan Hammer composer (Escape from TV, Miami Vice)
1948 Viscount Bridport
1949 Heini Hemmi Switzerland, giant slalom (Olympics-gold-1976)
1949 John Oates New York NY, rock guitarist/vocalist (Hall & Oates-Rich
Girl)
1951 Olivia Hussey Buenos Aires, actress (Romeo & Juliet, Death
on Nile)
1954 Kim Tyler Hollywood CA, actress (Kyle-Please Don't Eat Daisies)
1954 Riccardo Patrese driver (Grand Prix)
1955 Pete Shelley vocal/guitar (Buzzcocks-Going Steady, Love Bites)
1955 Peter Michalke journalist
1955 Rob Bolland Dutch singer/guitarist (Bolland & Bolland)
1956 Kaye Young Cowher WBL forward (New York Stars, New Jersey Gems)
1956 Pillow [Therese Joan Bell] California, bodybuilder (Gold Classic
1983)
1958 Byron Cherry Atlanta GA, actor (Coy-Dukes of Hazzard)
1958 Sergei Yuriyevich Vozovikov Russian Major/cosmonaut
1959 Teri Austin Toronto Ontario Canada, actress (Terminal Choice,
Knots Landing)
1959 David Hearn Washington DC, slalom single canoe (Olympics-9th-96)
1959 Elizabeth Lindsey actress (China Beach)
1959 Stephen Singleton Sheffield, rocker (ABC)
1960 Michael Whitaker showjumper
1961 [Norman] Boomer Esiason West Islip NY, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati
Bengals, New York Jets)
1961 Norman Cowans cricketer (England fast bowler in 19 Tests 1982-85)
1962 Nancy Hogshead Iowa City IA, swimmer (Olympics-gold-1984)/model
(jockey)
1964 Ken Daneyko Windsor, NHL defenseman (New Jersey Devils)
1964 Raye Hollit American Gladiator (Zap)
1966 Lela Rochon actress (Waiting to Exhale)
1966 Susie Redman Salem OH, LPGA golfer (1995 Nabisco Dinah Shore-2nd)
1967 Leslie Bega Los Angeles CA, actress (Maria Tomlinson-Head of
the Class)
1967 Timothy Gibbs Burbank CA, actor (Father Murphy, Santa Barbara)
1967 Aaron Wallace NFL defensive end/linebacker (Oakland Raiders)
1967 Marquis Grisom Atlanta GA, outfielder (Atlanta Braves, Cleveland
Indians)
1968 Maurits Prince of Netherlands
1968 Ritchie Woodhall boxer
1968 Roger Twose cricketer (Warwickshire batsman, New Zealand 1995)
1969 Alexander McQueen fashion designer
1970 Tony Sacca WLAF quarterback (Barcelona Dragons)
1971 David Oliver Sechelt, NHL right wing (Edmonton Oilers)
1972 Benjamin Dodwell Australian rower (Olympics-96)
1972 Gordon Laro NFL tight end (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1972 Keith Lyle safety (St Louis Rams)
1972 Muttiah Muralitharan cricketer (leading Sri Lankan Test off-spinner)
1972 Tony Boselli NFL offensive tackle (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1973 Brett Maher Adelaide SA Australia, basketball guard (Olympics-96)
1973 Gene Makowsky CFL offensive linebacker (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1973 Jeff Lewis NFL quarterback (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1973 Kenneth Carlsen Denmark, tennis star
1973 Ross Aloisi Australian soccer midfielder (Olyroos, Olympics-96)
1973 Theo Ratliff NBA forward/center (Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia
76ers)
1974 James Hamilton linebacker (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1974 Marcel Nijenhuis soccer player (NEC)
1975 Trifun Zivanovic Santa Monica, figure skater (1995 Pac Coast
Jr champion)
1976 Nadine Thomas Miss Jamaica-Universe (1997)
1977 Pascal de Vries soccer player (FC Twente)
1978 Bilal Abdul-samad rocker (Boys)
1979 Tram-Anh Tran actress (Ghostwriters')
1980 Crystal Carlson Miss Maine Teen-USA (1997)
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Deaths which occurred
on April 17th:
0485 Proclus Greek mathematician, dies in Athens
0818 Bernhard I King of Italy, dies
0858 Benedict III Italian Pope (855-58), dies
1272 Zita/Cita Italian maid/saint, dies at about 59
1297 Willem van Afflighem Flemish poet/abbot St Truiden, dies at about
86
1427 Jan IV duke of Brabant/Limburg/wife of Jacoba van Bayern, dies
1574 Joachim Camerarius [Liebhard Kammerer] German philologist, dies
1630 Christian I ruler of Anhalt-Bernburg (battle of White Mountain),
dies
1679 John van Kessel Flemish painter, dies at 53
1711 Jozef I [Habsburg] emperor of Germany (1705-11), dies at about
32
1714 Philipp Heinrich Erlebach composer, dies at 56
1726 Henriëtte Amalia ruler of Nassau-Dietz, dies at 49
1764 Johann Mattheson German composer/musicologist, dies at 82
1790 Benjamin Franklin US, (Poor Richard's Almanac), dies at 84
1835 William Henry Ireland forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
1837 Edouard viscount de Walckiers very wealthy slave trader, dies
1838 J Schopenhauer writer, dies at 71
1854 Gottlob Wiedebein composer, dies at 74
1863 Daniel Smith Donelson Confederate General/cousin of Andrew Jackson,
dies at 61
1873 Semyon Stepanovich Gulak-Artemovsky composer, dies at 60
1890 John Barnett composer, dies at 87
1891 Jules Eugene Abraham Alary composer, dies at 77
1899 Hans Balatka composer, dies at 74
1915 Johannes P Kelly [Kellij] Dutch actor/operetta writer, dies at
60
1936 Charles J M Ruys de Beerenbrouck Dutch PM (1918-23, 29-33), dies
1944 J T Hearne cricketer (took 49 wickets in 12 Tests for England),
dies
1945 Hannie Schaft "Girl with red hair", executed
1945 Ion Pillat Romaniams poet/Senator (Umbra timpului), dies
1945 Walter Model German fieldmarshal, commits suicide at 54
1946 John Iddon cricketer (car accident 5 Tests for England 1934-35),
dies
1948 Johan P Earl of Limburg Stirum diplomat, dies at 75
1948 Percy Sherwell cricketer (South Africa captain in 13 Tests 1905-11),
dies
1960 Eddie Cochran rocker, dies in an auto accident at 21
1962 Louise Fazenda dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 66
1968 Margaret Seddon dies at 95
1970 Sergei Aleksi patriarch of Russian-Orthodox church, dies at 92
1971 Roberto Lupi composer, dies at 62
1974 Frank McGee Today show host, dies of cancer at 52
1974 Herbert Elwell US composer (Happy Hypocrite), dies at 75
1974 Vinnie Taylor rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a drug overdose
1976 Jean-Jacques Gailliard Belgian painter, dies at 85
1977 Marjorie Gateson actress (One Man's Family), dies at 86
1983 Felix Pappalardi rocker (Cream, Mountain), dies
1983 Peter Potter DJ (Peter Potter Show, Juke Box Jury), dies at 78
1983 Mark W Clark US General (WWII), dies at 87
1985 Ilona Bodden writer, dies
1986 Bessie Head writer, dies
1987 Dick Shawn comedian (Producers), dies on stage from a heart attack
at 63
1987 Carlton Barrett Jamaican reggae drummer (No woman no cry), dies
at 36
1988 Eva Novak actress (Medicine Man), dies of pneumonia at 90
1988 Louise Nevelson sculptor, dies of brain tumor at 88
1989 Charles Lampkin dies
1990 Reverend Ralph David Abernathy civil rights activist, dies at
64
1991 Jack Yellen US poet (Sons o' Fun), dies at 97
1992 Hank Penny country music singer, dies at 73 of heart failure
1993 Turgut Özal President of Turkey (1989-93), dies at 65
1994 Peter Hacker US journalist/actor (NBC, Broadcast News), dies
at 69
1995 A R A (Anton) Murray cricketer (289 runs & 11 wickets in
10 Tests), dies
1995 Nancy Mayhew Youngman artist/educator, dies at 88
1996 Eva Jones poet/novelist, dies at 82
1996 Jose Luis Lopez Aranguren philosopher, dies at 86
1996 Michele Carew daughter of baseball great Rod, dies of Leukemia
at 18
1997 Chaim Herzog President of Israel (1983-93), dies at 78
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