April 17
is the 107th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (108th in
leap years). There are 258 days remaining.
*
69 - After the First
Battle of Bedriacum,
Vitellius becomes
Roman Emperor.
*
1397 -
Geoffrey Chaucer tells the
Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of
Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in
1387) as when the book's
pilgrimage to
Canterbury starts.
*
1492 -
Spain and
Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to
Asia to get
spices.
*
1521 -
Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the
Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his
teachings.
*
1524 -
Giovanni da Verrazano reaches
New York harbor.
*
1861 -
American Civil War:
Virginia secedes from the
Union.
*
1864 - American Civil War:
Battle of Plymouth begins –
Confederate forces attack
Plymouth, North Carolina.
*
1865 -
Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the
assassination of
Abraham Lincoln.
*
1895 - The
Treaty of Shimonoseki between
China and
Japan is signed. This marks the end of the
First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated
Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on
Korea and to concede the southern portion of the
Fengtien province,
Taiwan and the
Pescadores Islands to
Japan.
*
1924 -
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed from a merger of
Metro Pictures,
Goldwyn Pictures, and the
Louis B. Mayer Company.
*
1935 -
Sun Myung Moon claims to have a revelation from
Jesus telling him to complete his mission from almost 2000 years ago.
*
1937 -
Daffy Duck debuts in
Warner Bros' short
Porky's Duck Hunt.
*
1941 -
World War II: The
Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to
Germany.
*
1942 -
POW French General
Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in
Festung Königstein.
*
1945 - In
Strassfurt,
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.
*
1961 -
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of
CIA financed and trained
Cuban refugees lands at the
Bay of Pigs in
Cuba with the aim of ousting
Fidel Castro.
*
1964 - The
Ford Motor Company unveils the
Ford Mustang at the
New York World's Fair.
* 1964 -
Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
*
1969 -
Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating
Robert F. Kennedy.
* 1969 -
Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman
Alexander Dubček is deposed.
*
1970 -
Apollo program: The ill-fated
Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to
Earth safely.
*
1975 -
Cambodian Civil War ends: The
Khmer Rouge captures the capital
Phnom Penh and
Cambodian government forces surrender.
*
1976 - During his unsuccessful re-election bid,
U.S. President Gerald Ford appears as himself on
Saturday Night Live.
*
1982 - Patriation of the
Canadian constitution in
Ottawa by
Proclamation of
Queen Elizabeth II,
Queen of Canada.
*
1984 - Police
Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by automatic gunfire coming from the
Libyan People's Bureau in central
London. She had been policing a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten other people are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day
siege of the building.
*
1986 - Treaty signed, ending
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the
Netherlands and the
Isles of Scilly.
*
1991 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the
first time ever gaining 17.58 to 3,004.46.
*
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.
*
1278 -
Michael IX Palaeologus, co-ruling
Eastern Roman Emperor (d.
1320)
*
1573 -
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d.
1651)
*
1586 -
John Ford, English dramatist
*
1598 -
Giovanni Riccioli, Italian astronomer (d.
1671)
*
1710 -
Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, British Freemason (d.
1767)
*
1734 -
Taksin, King of Thailand (d.
1782)
*
1750 -
François de Neufchâteau, French statesman and intellectual figure (d.
1828)
*
1794 -
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (d.
1868)
*
1837 -
J.P. Morgan, American financier, art collector, and philanthropist (d.
1913)
*
1842 -
Maurice Rouvier, French statesman (d.
1911)
*
1863 -
Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d.
1940)
*
1866 -
Ernest Starling, British physiologist (d.
1927)
*
1882 -
Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (d.
1951)
*
1885 -
Isak Dinesen, Danish author (d.
1962)
*
1890 -
Art Acord, American actor and rodeo rider (d.
1931)
*
1894 -
Nikita Khrushchev,
Premier of the Soviet Union (d.
1971)
*
1897 -
Thornton Wilder, American dramatist (d.
1975)
*
1902 -
Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican writer, politician, and diplomat (d.
1974)
*
1903 -
Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (d.
1976)
* 1903 -
Morgan Taylor, American athlete (d.
1975)
*
1915 -
Joe Foss, American soldier and politician (d.
2003)
*
1916 -
Helenio Herrera, French footballer player and manager (d.
1997)
*
1917 -
Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
*
1918 -
William Holden, American actor (d.
1981)
*
1923 -
Lindsay Anderson, English film director (d.
1994)
* 1923 -
Harry Reasoner, American journalist (d.
1991)
* 1923 -
Solly Hemus, baseball player
*
1926 -
Gerry McNeil, Canadian hockey player (d.
2004)
*
1928 -
Cynthia Ozick, American writer
*
1929 -
James Last, German band leader
*
1934 -
Don Kirshner, American television producer and composer
*
1938 -
Ben Barnes, Lieutenant Governor of Texas
*
1940 -
Anja Silja, German soprano
*
1944 -
L. Scott Caldwell, American actress
*
1946 -
Georges J.F. Kohler, German biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1995)
*
1947 -
Linda Martin, Irish singer and
Eurovision Song Contest winner
*
1948 -
Jan Hammer, Czech composer
*
1950 -
Bruce McNall, American former
NHL team owner
*
1951 -
Olivia Hussey, Argentine-born actress
*
1952 -
Željko Ražnatović, Serbian Warlord (d.
2000)
*
1954 -
Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
* 1954 -
Rowdy Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler and actor
* 1954 -
Michael Sembello, American musician
*
1957 -
Nick Hornby, English author
*
1959 -
Sean Bean, English actor
*
1961 -
Boomer Esiason, American football player
*
1963 -
Joel Murray, American actor
*
1964 -
Maynard James Keenan, American singer (
Tool and
A Perfect Circle)
*
1967 -
Marquis Grissom, American baseball player
* 1967 -
Liz Phair, American musician/songwriter
*
1969 -
Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-born actor
*
1972 -
Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan
cricket player
* 1972 -
Tony Boselli, American football player
* 1972 -
Jennifer Garner, American actress
* 1972 -
Gary Bennett, baseball player
*
1973 -
Brett Maher, Australian basketballer
*
1974 -
Victoria Beckham, English singer
* 1974 -
Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer and guitarist (
Opeth)
*
1977 -
Sizzla, Jamaican dancehall artist
* 1977 -
Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
*
1978 -
Jordan Hill, American singer
*
1980 -
Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer
*
326 -
Alexander,
Patriarch of Alexandria*
487 -
Proclus, Greek philosopher (b.
412)
*
1080 - King
Harald III of Denmark (b.
1041)
*
1427 -
John IV, Duke of Brabant (b.
1403)
*
1539 -
George, Duke of Saxony (b.
1471)
*
1574 -
Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (b.
1500)
*
1695 -
Sor Juana, Mexican writer
*
1696 -
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French writer (b.
1626)
*
1711 -
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.
1678)
*
1742 -
Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (b.
1664)
*
1761 -
Thomas Bayes, English mathematician
*
1764 -
Johann Mattheson, German composer (b.
1681)
*
1790 -
Benjamin Franklin, American politician, inventor, diplomat, and printer (b.
1706)
*
1799 -
Richard Jupp, English architect (b.
1728)
*
1843 -
Samuel Morey, American inventor (b.
1762)
*
1873 -
Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter (b.
1783)
*
1891 -
Alexander Mackenzie, second
Prime Minister of Canada (b.
1822)
*
1930 -
Alexander Golovin, Russian painter (b.
1863)
*
1936 -
Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch prime minister (b.
1873)
*
1941 -
Al Bowlly, British dance band vocalist (b.
1899)
*
1942 -
Jean Perrin, French physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1870)
*
1944 -
J.T. Hearne English cricketer (b.
1867)
*
1960 -
Eddie Cochran, American musician (b.
1938)
*
1967 -
Red Allen, American jazz trumpeter (b.
1908)
*
1975 -
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher (b.
1888)
*
1976 -
Henrik Dam, Dutch biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1895)
*
1977 -
William Cardinal Conway, Northern Irish clergyman (b.
1913)
*
1988 -
Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (b.
1900)
*
1990 - Reverend
Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights activist (b.
1936)
*
1994 -
Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1913)
*
1997 -
Allan Francovich, American documentary-film makers (
The Maltese Double Cross " Lockerbie and
Gladio)
*
1998 -
Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b.
1941)
*
2003 - Dr.
Robert Atkins, American diet doctor (b.
1930)
* 2003 -
Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (b.
1932)
* 2003 -
Earl King, American musician and songwriter (b.
1934)
*
2004 -
Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (b.
1908)
* 2004 -
Soundarya, Indian actress (b.
1971)
Liturgical
Feast day of the following Catholic
saints:
*
Pope Anicetus (died
166)
*
Saint Gerwin of Oudenburg (d. 1117)
*
Saint Landricus*
Saint Stephen Harding (d.
1134)
*
Blessed Radboud of Louvain (d.1142)
*
BBC: On This DayApril 16 -
April 18 -
March 17 -
May 17 --
listing of all days
