17th February, on this day

763 Shi Chaoyi's head is delivered to Chang'an, ending the An Shi Rebellion.
1370 Battle at Rudau Germany beats Lithuania
1461 Second Battle of St Albans -- a battle of the English Wars of the Roses fought on near St Albans, north of London
1500 Battle of Hemmingstedt.
1568 Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace
1598 Boris Godunov chosen tsar of Russia
1600 Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, charged of heresy.
1621 Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony
1634 William Prynne tried in Star Chamber for publishing "Histriomastix"
1670 France and Bavaria sign military assistance treaty
1676 Kings Charles II and Louis XIV sign secret treaty
1691 Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service
1714 Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's "Unigenitus" degree
1772 1st partition of Poland-Russia and Prussia, joined later by Austria
1776 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" published
1782 Battle of Sadras was the first of five indecisive naval battles fought between a British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the coast of India during the American War of Independence
1791 Messier catalogs M83 (spiral galaxy in Hydra)
1795 Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England
1801 House breaks electoral college tie, chooses Jefferson President over Burr
1817 1st US city lit by gas (Baltimore)
1818 Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents "draisine" (early bicycle)
1836 HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leaves Tasmania
1843 Battle of Miani ; a battle between British forces under Sir Charles Napier and the Talpur amirs of Sindh (now a province of Pakistan)
1848 Toscane gets liberal Constitution
1854 British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
1855 Battle of Eupatoria was the most important military engagement of the Crimean War during the winter of 1855
1859 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres at the Apollo Theatre in Rome
1863 Battle of Staszów was part of the Polish January Uprising of 1863
1863 Founding of International Red Cross in Switzerland
1864 The first successful submarine torpedo attack - USS Housatonic is sunk by the Confederate submarine Hunley in Charleston Harbour. But the force of the explosion also blows up the submarine - killing all those on board
1865 Columbia SC burns down during the Civil War
1867 1st ship passes through Suez Canal
1867 Gyula Andressy becomes premier of Hungary
1870 Mississippi becomes 9th state re-admitted to US after Civil War
1870 Esther Morris appointed 1st female US judge
1876 Sardines 1st canned (Julius Wolff-Eastport ME)
1880 Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
1883 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London
1885 Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa
1896 London Country Council's Muzzling Order becomes effective
1904 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" premieres in Milan
1906 Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House
1911 1st amphibian flight to and from a ship, by Glenn Curtiss, San Diego
1913 New York Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public
1913 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon)
1915 Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded
1916 World War I: British and French forces capture Germany's African colony of Cameroon
1924 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard freestyle record (52.4 seconds)
1925 1st issue of "New Yorker" magazine published
1926 Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham UT, 40 die
1929 In America, the Universal Airline introduces the world's first 'in flight' movie
1930 French government of Tardieu, falls
1931 1st telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball)
1932 Irving Berlin's musical "Face the Music" premieres in New York NY
1933 Blondie Boopadoop marries Dagwood Bumstead; Dagwood's father promptly disinherits him
1933 1st issue of "Newsweek" magazine published
1933 Marinus van der Lubbe arrives in Glindow, at Potsdam
1933 US Senate accept Blaine Act ending prohibition
1934 King Albert I of Belgium is killed while mountain climbing
1936 "The Phantom" cartoon strip by Lee Falk debuts
1938 1st public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London)
1940 Manstein presents to Hitler his plans for invading France via the Ardennes forest
1942 Orders are given for Rangoon to be evacuated as Japanese forces approach. .
1943 Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews
1943 General-Major Bradley flies to Washington DC
1943 Hitler visits field marshal von Mansteins headquarters in Zaporozje
1944 World War II: US forces attack Japanese at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific; US victory on Feb 22
1944 US begins night bombing of Truk
1947 Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR
1949 Chaim Weizman elected 1st President of Israel
1950 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York
1957 Suez Canal reopens
1957 Fire in Warreton MO, kills 72
1958 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is formed in London
1958 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears
1959 1st weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg
1959 Queen Elizabeth II gives Marlborough House to the nation for use as a Commonwealth Centre
1962 Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin"
1962 Storm in Hamburg, kills 265
1964 US House of Reps accept Law on the civil rights
1964 US Supreme court rules - 1 man 1 vote (Westberry vs Sanders)
1965 US Ranger 8 launched, will transmit 7,137 lunar pictures
1965 US-Japan baseball relations suspended over Masanori Murakami dispute
1966 French satellite Diapason D-1A launch into Earth orbit
1967 Beatles release "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields"
1967 Kosmos 140 (Soyuz test) launches into Earth orbit
1969 Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash record an album (never released)
1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister
1970 Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife and daughter
1970 Joni Mitchell's final concert (Royal Albert Hall)
1972 President Nixon leaves Washington DC for China
1972 British Parliament votes to join European Common Market
1972 Volkswagen break the production record held by the Model 'T' Ford by selling the 15,007,034th Volkswagen 'Beetle'
1974 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt
1976 Organic statute makes Macao autonomous
1976 Macau adopts constitution (Organic Law of Macau)
1979 China invades Vietnam
1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history
1983 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 1st Francophone Summit convenes at Versailles
1986 Johnson and Johnson announces it no longer sells capsule drugs
1986 Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad
1988 US Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins kidnapped by Lebanese terrorists and later killed
1989 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole"
1989 Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya form common market
1989 Whitesnake's rocker David Coverdale weds actress Tawny Kitaen
1989 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1990 East Germany announces it is to tear down a 600 foot section of the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate
1992 UN Secretary General Boutros Ghali recommends the deployment of 13,000 peace keepers in Yugoslavia
1993 Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die
1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Railroad in New York
1995 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive and manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked
1997 Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter
1998 Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder
1998 Larry Wayne Harris and Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax
2000 Microsoft releases Windows 2000
2003 The London Congestion Charge scheme begins.
2006 Over 1,000 people perished and buried alive in the town of St. Bernard in Southern Leyte, Philippines mudslide.

17th February 2006

'Many die' in Philippine mudslide

Iraq confirms new bird flu death

Wrongly jailed pilot wins review

17th February 2007

Pakistani suicide bomb kills 15

Clashes reported in Iranian city

Envoys hold Guinea crisis talks

17th February 2008

'Deadliest' attack in Afghanistan

Kosovo MPs proclaim independence

India police battle Maoist rebels

17th February 2009

Obama signs $787bn stimulus

US tycoon charged over $8bn fraud

Explosives haul missing in Gaza

17th February 2010

Israel says no proof it carried out Hamas killing

Taliban 'using human shields'

Argentina steps up Falklands row

Birthdates which occurred on 17th February :

1444 Rudolf Agricola [Roelof Huysman], Dutch humanist/organist
1490 Charles de Bourbon officer/governor (Lombardy)
1519 François de Guise [Balafré], French general strategist (Calais)
1583 J Henry Alting Dutch theologist
1653 Arcangelo Corelli Fusignano Italy, violinist/composer (Concerto Grosso)
1667 Georg Bronner composer
1675 Johann Melchior Conradi composer
1696 Baron Ernst Gottlieb composer
1697 Louis-Maurice de La Pierre composer
1699 Hans Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff German architect (Sanssouci)
1723 Tobias Mayer "method of lunars" for longitude determination
1740 Horace B de Saussure Swiss physicist/geologist
1747 Narciso Casanovas composer
1752 Friedrich M Klinger German playwright (Wirrwarr)
1754 Jan Jachym Kopriva composer
1758 John Pinkerton Scottish historian
1774 Raphaelle Peale US, painter (After the Rain-1823)
1781 René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec France, inventor (stethoscope)
1796 Giovanni Pacini composer
1804 Samuel Read Anderson Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1883
1816 Friedrich Wilhelm Markull composer
1817 Frederick Douglass famous African-American
1820 Henri Vieuxtemps Verviers Belgium, composer/teacher (Brussels Cons)
1824 William Farrar "Baldy" Smith Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
1831 Francisco Salvador Daniel composer
1837 Francis Jay Herron Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1902
1837 Sam[uel] van Houten Dutch (Liberal) minister (child labor laws)
1844 A Montgomery Ward founded mail-order business (Montgomery Ward)
1849 Selwyn Image Bodiam Sussex, painter
1850 Anton Urspruch composer
1850 Ludwig Bonvin composer
1853 Jaroslav Vrchlicky [Emil Frída], Czechoslovakian poet (1 night on Karlstein)
1854 Friedrich A Krupp German arms manufacturer
1855 Otto Liman von Sanders German general in Turkey (WWI)
1857 Samuel Sidney McClure Irish-American newspaper editor/publisher
1858 Ernest Ford composer
1862 Edward German (Jones) Whitchurch Shropshire, British composer
1862 Mori Ogai [Mori Rintarô) Japanese author (Maihime/Gan)
1864 Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson New South Wales Australia, poet (Waltzing Matilda)
1867 William Cadbury England, chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury)
1870 Louis de Raet Belgian economist/founder (Flemish People's Party)
1874 Thomas J Watson Sr US, representative/founder (IBM)
1877 Henri Vandeputte Belgian author/poet (L'homme Jeune)
1879 Dorothy Canfield Fisher US, novelist (Book-of-the Month-Club)
1880 Alvaro Obregon General/President of Mexico (1920-24)
1882 Kurt Schindler composer
1882 Noah Beery Smithville AR, actor (Story of Esther, Mark of Zorro)
1884 Arthur Vanderpoorten Flemish minister of Internal affairs (1940)
1887 Leevi Antti Madetoja composer
1888 Henrietta P "Hetty" Beck actress (Bouwmeester Award)
1888 Otto Stern German/US physicist (Stern-Gerlach-experiment, Nobel 1943)
1888 Ronald Aburthnott Knox English priest/writer (Viaduct Murder)
1889 H[aroldson] L Hunt Texas oil multi-millionaire
1891 Georg Britting writer
1892 Theodor Plievier German writer (Des Kaisers Kulis, Stalingrad)
1895 Anita Stewart New York, actress (South of Hell Mountain)
1895 Edna Park Edwards PA
1897 Johan[nes A] Kaart Dutch actor/stage manager (My Fair Lady)
1898 Tom Lowry cricketer (New Zealand batsman in seven Tests & their 1st Test captain)
19-- Christine Pickles Yorkshire England, actress (Helen-St Elsewhere)
1902 Marian Anderson Philadelphia PA, operatic contralto (banned by D A R)
1903 Johannes Linthorst Homan director of the queen in Groningen
1904 Albert Kuyle [Louis Kuitenbrouwer], Dutch writer (Jesus' Robe)
1906 Galo Plaza Lasso President of Ecuador (1948-52), head of OAS (1968-75)
1906 Ramon Tapales composer
1907 Alec Wilder Rochester NY, composer (1973 ASCAP award)
1907 Charles B Timmer Dutch translator/writer (Russia Black on White)
1908 Walter L "Red" Barber Mississippi, sports announcer (Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees)
1908 Staats Cotsworth Oak Park IL, actor (Peyton Place)
1909 Marjorie Lawrence Australia, soprano (Venus-Tannhäuser)
1909 Joseph "Poeske" Scherens Belgian cyclist (champion sprinter 1932-37)
1910 Ai Qing poet
1910 Marc Lawrence New York NY, actor (Man With Golden Gun)
1911 Arthur Hunnicutt Gravelly AR, actor (Big Sky, Apache Uprising)
1912 Andre [Alice Mary] Norton Cleveland OH, science fiction writer (Beast Master, Stand & Deliver)
1913 Joséphine F "Fietje" van Anrooy Dutch actress/director
1913 Oskar Danon composer
1913 Rene Leibowitz composer
1914 Arthur Kennedy Worcester MA, actor (Fantastic Voyage, Peyton Place)
1914 [Bert de] Wayne Morris Los Angeles CA, WWII-pilot/actor (Paths of Glory)
1914 Albert Westerlinck [José J M Aerts], Flemish literary
1914 Per-Jakez Helias writer/teacher
1915 Homer Keller composer
1916 Don Tallon cricketer (perhaps Australia's greatest wicket-keeper)
1916 Raf Vallone Tropea Italy, actor (El Cid, 2 Women, Greek Tycoon)
1918 Charles A Hayes (Representative-D-IL, 1983- )
1918 Olive Gibbs peace campaigner
1919 Kathleen Freeman Chicago IL, actress (Beverly Hillbillies)
1919 Jock Mahoney Chicago IL, actor (Dallas, Yancy Derringer, Day of Fury)
1919 Joseph R Hunt tennis champion (US Open-1943)
1920 Colin Franklin doctor
1920 Paul Fetler composer
1920 Trevor Oswald Ling religious studies professor
1922 Tommy Edwards rock vocalist (It's All in the Game)
1923 Alden Winship Clausen Hamilton IL, banker (President of World Bank)
1924 Margaret Truman Missouri, president's daughter/writer (Murder at FBI)/pianist
1925 Hal Holbrook Cleveland OH, actor (All the President's Men, Mark Twain)
1925 Fritz Behrendt German/Dutch cartoon character (The Slogan)
1926 Lee Hoiby Madison Wisconsin, composer (1957 Arts & Letters)
1926 Friedrich Cerha composer
1929 Chaim Potok New York NY, novelist (The Promise)
1929 Yasser Arafat PLO-leader (Achille Lauro, Nobel 1994)
1930 Usko Merilainen composer
1932 Buck Trent Spartanburg SC, banjoist/singer (Hee Haw)
1933 Bobby Lewis rocker (Tossin' & Turnin')
1933 Craig Thomas (Representative-R-WY)
1934 Alan Bates Allestree England, actor (Zorba the Greek, Unmarried Woman)
1934 Barry Humphries Australia TV host (Dame Edna Everage)
1934 Buddy Ryan NFL coach (Philadelphia Eagles, Phoenix Cardinals)
1935 Johnny Bush country singer
1936 Barry Jarman cricketer (Australian wicket-keeper in 60's)
1936 Jim Brown Georgia, NFL full back (Cleveland Browns)/actor (Dirty Dozen)
1936 Peter Walker cricket all-rounder (Glamorgan did little for England 1960)
1937 Mickey McGill US vocalist (Dells-Love is Blue)
1938 Mary Frances Berry educator/head (US Commission on Civil Rights)
1939 Mary Ann Mobley Biloxi MS, Miss America-1959/actress (Diff'rent Strokes)
1940 Dennis Gamsy cricketer (South African bat in 2 Tests vs Australia 1970)
1941 Heidi Biebi German Federal Republic, downhill skier (Olympics-gold-1960)
1941 Gene Pitney Hartford CT, singer/songwriter (Town Without Pity)
1942 Huey Newton Black Panther leader
1944 Bernie Grant British politician (Labour)
1945 Patricia Morrow actress (Rita-Peyton Place)
1945 Brenda Fricker Dublin Ireland, actress (My Left Foot)
1945 Willie J L Swildens-Rozendal Dutch MP (PvdA)
1946 André Dussollier Annecy France, actor (3 Men & a Cradle)
1946 Valdemar Bandolowski Denmark, yachting (Olympics-gold-1976, 80)
1946 Zina Bethune New York NY, actress (Nurses, Who's That Knocking at My Door)
1947 Ben Cramer Dutch vocalist (Clown)
1947 Dallas Adams British actor/painter/writer (Terror From Within)
1947 Dodie Stevens [Geraldine Ann Pasquale] Chicago IL, actress (Mary Hartman!)
1949 Fred Frith English guitarist/violinist/bassist (Skeleton Crew)
1950 Rick Medlocke rock guitarist/vocalist (Blackfoot)
1952 Guillermo Vilas tennis player (1977 US Open)
1952 Insook Bhushan Seoul Korea, US US table tennis player (Olympics-92)
1953 Janice Dickinson Brooklyn NY, model (Vogue)
1954 Rene Russo actress (Ransom)
1958 Heidi Hagman actress (Linda-Archie Bunker's Place)
1958 Karen Lende O'Connor Concord MA, equestrian 3-day (Olympics-silver-96)
1959 Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines US, 100 meter swimmer (Olympics-gold-1984)
1959 Daniel Ray "Danny" Ainge basketball & football star
1959 Richard Karn Seattle WA, actor (Al-Home Improvement)
1961 Deb[ra] Richardson Minneapolis MN, beach volleyballer (Olympics-96)
1961 Guy McIntyre NFL guard (Philadelphia Eagles)
1962 David McComb Australia, vocalist/songwriter (Triffids)
1962 Hennie Meijer soccer player (Cambuur L, FC Heerenveen)
1962 Lou Diamond Phillips Philippines, actor (La Bamba, Stand & Deliver)
1962 Tony Blain cricketer (New Zealand Test wicket-keeper)
1963 Michael "Air" Jordan Brooklyn NY, NBA guard/forward (Chicago Bulls)
1963 Dan Reed rocker/actor (HOTS, Lake Consequence)
1964 Mike Campbell Seattle WA, pitcher (Chicago Cubs)
1965 Clayton Prince Philadelphia PA, actor (Dark Justice, Reuben-Another World)
1965 Jim Bowie Japanese/US baseball infielder (Oakland Athletics)
1966 Melissa Brooke-Belland rocker (Voice of the Beehive-Let it Bee)
1966 Luc Robitaille Montréal, NHL left wing (New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins)
1967 Gary Shuchuk Edmonton, NHL center (Los Angeles Kings)
1967 Michelle Forbes Austin TX, actress (Ensign Ro-Star Trek Next Generation)
1968 Bryan Cox NFL linebacker (Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears)
1968 Celita Schutz Riverdale NJ, half-middleweight judoka (Olympics-96)
1968 Patrick Uterwijk pop guitarist (Pestilence, Consuming Impulse)
1969 David Klingler NFL quarterback (Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals)
1969 Joel Steed NFL nose tackle (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1969 Levon Kirkland NFL linebacker (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1969 Traci Adell New Orleans LA, playmate (July, 1994)
1970 Tommy Moe Anchorage AK, nordic skier (Olympics-gold/silver-1994)
1972 Billie Joe Armstrong singer/musician (Green Day)
1972 Lloy Ball Ft Wayne IN, volleyball setter (Olympics-96)
1972 Richard MacQuire Melbourne VIC Australia, canoeist (Olympics-96)
1972 Stephen Robinson Arlington VA, rower (Olympics-1996)
1972 Tony Lawson NSA Australia, diver (Olympics-96)
1972 Vladimir Vujtek NHL forward (Team Czechoslovakia Olympics-gold-1998, Tampa Bay)
1972 William Floyd full back (San Francisco 49ers)
1973 Chris Robinson NBA guard (Vancouver Grizzlies)
1973 Drew Barry NBA guard (Atlanta Hawks)
1973 Frank Sanders NFL wide receiver (Arizona Cardinals)
1973 Raymond Jackson NFL defensive back (Buffalo Bills)
1974 Jerry O'Connell New York NY, actor (Scream 2, Sliders, Andrew Clements-My Secret Identity)
1974 Valeria Mazza Rosario Argentina, model (Cosmopolitan-July 1995)
1975 Sung-Hee Park Pusan Korea, tennis star (1993 Futures-Seoul)
1975 Todd Harvey Hamilton, NHL center (Dallas Stars)
1975 Vaclav Prospal NHL forward (Team Czechoslovakia Olympics-gold-1998, Philadelphia)
1980 Shanyn MacEachern Brampton Ontario, gymnast (Olympics-96)
1981 Donielle Thompson Wheatridge CO, gymnast (World-bronze-95, Olympics-96)
1981 Lisa Skinner Queensland Australia, gymnast (Olympics-96)
1982 Joseph Gordon-Levitt actor (Tommy Solomon-Third Rock From the Sun)

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Deaths which occurred on February 17th:
0364 Flavius Jovianus Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), dies at about 32
0956 Hugo the Great earl of Paris/duke of Francia, dies at about 55
1600 Giordano Bruno advocate of Copernican theory & plurality of worlds, burned at stake by the Inquisition in Rome
1612 Ernst of Bayern prince/bishop of Luik/archbishop of Cologne, dies at 57
1612 Jodocus Hondius Flemish cartoonist/mathematician, dies at 48
1652 Gregorio Allegri Italian singer/composer (Miserere), dies at about 67
1654 Michael Lohr composer, dies at 62
1673 Jean Baptiste Poquelin French author & dramatist, dies
1673 Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] French playwright (Learned Lady), dies in Paris at 51
1688 Reverend James Renwick hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian
1715 Antoine Galland French interpreter, dies at 68
1732 Louis Marchand composer, dies at 63
1796 James Macpherson poet, dies
1803 Louis R E prince de Rohan-Guémené archbishop of Straatsburg, dies at 68
1804 Christian Ernst Graf composer, dies at 80
1815 Franz Gotz composer, dies at 59
1827 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Swiss educator, dies at 81
1841 Ferdinando Carulli composer, dies at 70
1847 William Collins landscape painter, dies
1852 Micha Joseph Levenson Hebrew poet, dies
1854 Hugues F R de Lamennais French priest/writer, dies at 71
1856 Heinrich Heine German poet, dies at 58 in Paris
1856 John Braham singer/composer, dies at 81
1874 [Lambert] Adolphe J Quetelet Belgian astronomer/sociologist, dies at 77
1875 Luís Varela Brazilian romantic poet, dies at 33
1878 José Amador de los Ríos Spanish historian/poet, dies at 59
1883 Napoleon Coste composer, dies at 76
1901 Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin composer, dies at 38
1903 Joseph Parry composer, dies at 61
1905 Serge Alexandrovich Governor-General Moscow, murdered
1907 Henry Steel Olcott US co-founder (Theosophist Society-Madras), dies at 74
1908 Geronimo Apache chief, dies at about 79
1912 Aloys von Aerenthal foreign minister (Austria-Hungary), dies at 57
1912 L Oates British explorer (Antarctica), dies
1917 Edmund Bishop English Secretary of Thomas Carlyle, dies at 70
1918 Wilfrid Laurier Canadian PM (1896-1911), dies
1924 Oskar Merikanto composer, dies at 55
1929 John Read cricketer (batted in 17 Tests for England for 463 runs), dies
1932 Frans Gailliard Belgian painter/graphic artist (Egina), dies at 70
1933 Henri[cus A] Viotta Dutch composer (Handbook of Music), dies at 84
1934 Albert I LCMM von Saksen-Coburg king of Belgium (1909-34), dies at 58
1936 Erich Schaeder German theologist (Theozentrische), dies at 74
1944 Fausto Agnelli Swiss painter, dies at 64
1951 Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan composer, dies at 94
1954 Evert Gorter children's artist (Kindergeneeskunde), dies at 72
1955 Otto J Gombosi Hungarian/US musicologist, dies at 52
1959 Tim Mara co-founder of NFL's New York Giants, dies
1959 Kathryn Adams actress (Meet the Chump, 5th Avenue Girl), dies
1961 Nita Naldi actress (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde), dies of heart attack at 63
1962 Joseph Kearns actor (George-Dennis the Menace), dies at 55
1962 Bruno Walter symphony conductor (New York Philharmonic), dies at 85
1966 Frank Pettingell actor (Becket, Up the Creek), dies at 75
1966 Gail Kane actress (White Sister, Arizona), dies at 81
1966 Hans Hofmann German/US painter (Search for the Real), dies at 85
1968 Donald Wolfit actor (Lawrence of Arabia), dies of heart ailment at 65
1970 Agnon [SJ Czaczkes], Hebrew writer (Nobel 1966), dies at 81
1970 Alfred Newman US composer, dies at 69
1970 Schmuel J Agnon novelist (Nobel 1966), dies
1971 Teddy Hart actor (3 Men on a Horse), dies at 73
1972 Gavril Nikolayevich Popov composer, dies at 67
1972 Shunryu Suzuki Roshi founder (San Francisco Zen Center), ½ ashes buried
1976 Jean Servais Belgian actor (Every Man is My Enemy), dies at 65
1976 Johan[nes A] Card actor/stage manager (My Fair Lady), dies at 78
1977 Quincy Howe newscaster (CBS Weekend News), dies at 76
1979 William Gargan actor (Rain, Bells of St Mary), dies at 73
1980 Jerry Fielding orchestra leader (Bewitched, Hogan's Heroes, Lively Ones), dies at 57
1980 Graham Sutherland painter, dies
1982 Lee [Israel] Strasberg father of method acting/actor (And Justice for All), dies of a heart attack at 80
1982 Theolonious S Monk US, jazz pianist/composer (Blue Monk), dies at 64
1984 Lucille Benson actress (Lilly-Bosom Buddies), dies at 69
1985 Wanda Perry actress (Roberta, Death of a Salesman), dies at 67
1986 Jiddu Krishnamurti Indian philosopher (Kingdom Happiness), dies at 90
1986 Paul Stewart actor (Opening Night, In Cold Blood, Window), dies
1987 Hal K Dawson actor (Another Language, Wells Fargo), dies
1987 Verree Teasdale actress (Skyscraper Souls), dies
1989 Lefty Gomez New York Yankee pitching great, dies at 80
1990 Erik Rhodes actor (Top Hat), dies of pneumonia at 84
1990 Frans Kellendonk Dutch writer (Good for Nothing), dies at 39
1990 Keith Haring US graffiti-artist, dies at 31
1990 Marc Clement actor (Career Opportunities, Sluggers Wife), dies
1991 Enrique Bermudez commandant (Contra), dies
1993 Alfredo de Leon leader (Philippines Red Scorpio Gang), killed
1993 George E Wilburn film editor, dies of emphysema at 77
1993 Leslie Townsend cricket all-rounder (England in 4 Tests 1930-34), dies
1994 Randy Shilts US journalist (And the band played on), dies of AIDs at 41
1995 Jan Bart Klaster music editor (The Slogan), dies at 50
1995 Thelma Hulbert painter, dies at 81
1995 Timothy Hugh Brown theatre critic, dies at 52
1995 Uta Graf singer/teacher, dies at 80
1996 [Elsie] Evelyn Laye actress/singer (Sun Child), dies at 95
1996 Bentley Bridgewater British Museum secretary, dies at 84
1996 Henry Guinness missionary, dies at 87
1996 Jean Writer-Pierre Herve Bazin dies at 84
1996 Michael Raptis writer/revolutionary, dies at 84
1998 Ernst Juenger German writer, dies at 102

Golden Link 1/ On this day 17th February

Golden Link 2/ On this day 17th February

Golden Link 3/ On this day 17th February