April 17

April 17 in recent years

2024 (Wednesday)

2023 (Monday)

2022 (Sunday)

2021 (Saturday)

2020 (Friday)

2019 (Wednesday)

2018 (Tuesday)

2017 (Monday)

2016 (Sunday)

2015 (Friday)

April 17 is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 258 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 69 – After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
• 1080 – King of Denmark Harald III dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
• 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 the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
• 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
• 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
• 1555 – After 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena is incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
• 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.
• 1797 – Citizens of Verona, Italy, begin an eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces, which will end unsuccessfully.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
• 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.
• 1897 – The Aurora, Texas UFO incident
• 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
• 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
• 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
• 1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
• 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
• 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
• 1945 – Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.
• 1946 – Syria obtains its Independence from the French occupation.
• 1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
• 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
• 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
• 1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
• 1964 – Ford Mustang is introduced to the North American market.
• 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
• 1969 – Czechoslovakian Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
• 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
• 1971 – The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor.
• 1973 – George Lucas begins writing the treatment for The Star Wars.
• 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
• 1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.
• 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 gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
• 1986 – The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends.
• 1986 – Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv is thwarted.
• 2006 – Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
• 2012 – Ilias Ali, organizing secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a former MP, disappears from Dhaka along with his chauffeur, allegedly abducted by government forces.
• 2013 – Funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Births

• 1278 – Michael IX Palaeologus, co-ruling Eastern Roman Emperor (d. 1320)
• 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
• 1586 – John Ford, English dramatist (d. 1639)
• 1598 – Giovanni Riccioli, Italian astronomer (d. 1671)
• 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
• 1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet (d. 1695)
• 1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
• 1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan (d. 1767)
• 1734 – Taksin, King of Thailand (d. 1782)
• 1741 – Samuel Chase, American justice of the Supreme Court (d. 1811)
• 1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French statesman (d. 1828)
• 1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian Freedom Fighter, Tamil Revolutionist (d. 1805)
• 1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, politician, and preacher, helped draft the Texas Declaration of Independence (d. 1861)
• 1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (d. 1868)
• 1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (d. 1840)
• 1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist (d. 1888)
• 1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English chapel builder (d. 1876)
• 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American inventor of Baseball (d. 1892)
• 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian composer (d. 1900)
• 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American financier (d. 1913)
• 1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French statesman (d. 1911)
• 1849 – William R. Day, American diplomat and Justice of the Supreme Court (d. 1923)
• 1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player (d. 1922)
• 1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d. 1940)
• 1865 – Ursula Julia Ledochowska, Polish-Austrian religious leader (d. 1939)
• 1866 – Ernest Starling, British physiologist (d. 1927)
• 1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
• 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American attorney and baseball owner (d. 1961)
• 1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (d. 1951)
• 1884 – Leo Frank, American factory superintendent, victim of lynching (d. 1915)
• 1885 – Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), Danish author (d. 1962)
• 1885 – Carl Goßler, German rower (d. 1914)
• 1890 – Art Acord, American actor and rodeo rider (d. 1931)
• 1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American author and ufologist (d. 1965)
• 1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American author (d. 1948)
• 1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist (d. 1999)
• 1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian Advaita Vedanta spiritual teacher (d. 1981)
• 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American dramatist (d. 1975)
• 1902 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican politician (d. 1974)
• 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (d. 1976)
• 1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian composer and writer (d. 1978)
• 1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler(d. 1975)
• 1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American actor (d. 1960)
• 1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1906 – Sidney R. Garfield, American physician (d. 1984)
• 1909 – Alain Poher, French politician (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek politician (d. 1990)
• 1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer player and manager (d. 1997)
• 1911 – Hervé Bazin, French writer (d. 1996)
• 1911 – Lester Rodney, American journalist (d. 2009)
• 1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer
• 1914 – George W. Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
• 1914 – Mac Raboy, American cartoonist (d. 1967)
• 1915 – Joe Foss, American marine and politician (d. 2003)
• 1915 – Martin Clemens, English colonial administrator and soldier (d. 2009)
• 1915 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government (d. 2000)
• 1917 – Bill Clements, American politician (d. 2011)
• 1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian politician
• 1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and writer
• 1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English director (d. 1994)
• 1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player
• 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian tenor (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist (d. 1991)
• 1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Erich Göstl, German soldier (d. 1990)
• 1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese politician (d. 1989)
• 1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
• 1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian politician
• 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American writer
• 1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian Olympic fencer
• 1929 – James Last, German bandleader
• 1929 – Peggy McKercher, Canadian educator
• 1929 – Michael Forest, American actor
• 1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist
• 1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
• 1934 – Don Kirshner, American composer (d. 2011)
• 1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian (d. 2012)
• 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German automotive engineer and executive
• 1938 – Ben Barnes, American politician
• 1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian politician
• 1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist, co-founder of Discordianism
• 1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
• 1940 – Billy Fury, British singer (d. 1983)
• 1940 – John McCririck, English horse racing pundit
• 1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano
• 1942 – David Bradley, British actor
• 1942 – Kenas Aroi, Nauruan politician
• 1943 – Bobby Curtola, Canadian singer and businessman
• 1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer
• 1947 – Linda Martin, Irish singer-songwriter
• 1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player
• 1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech composer
• 1948 – Alice Harden, American politician (d. 2012)
• 1949 – Joe Alaskey, American voice actor
• 1950 – L. Scott Caldwell, American actress
• 1950 – Bruce McNall, American ice hockey team owner
• 1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentine actress
• 1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1952 – Pierre Guite, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian warlord (d. 2000)
• 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
• 1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler
• 1954 – Michael Sembello, American musician and songwriter
• 1954 – Lester Square, Canadian musician (The Monochrome Set and Adam and the Ants)
• 1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball coach
• 1955 – Pete Shelley, British musician (Buzzcocks)
• 1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
• 1957 – Nick Hornby, English author
• 1957 – Susan Roman, Canadian voice actress
• 1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
• 1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and commentator
• 1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader
• 1963 – Joel Murray, American actor
• 1963 – Penny Vilagos, Canadian Synchronized Swimmer
• 1963 – Vicky Vilagos, Canadian Synchronized Swimmer

• 1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Green Jellÿ)
• 1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
• 1964 – Bart Van den Bossche, Flemish singer and actor (d. 2013)
• 1965 – William Mapother, American actor
• 1965 – Yoshiki Kuroda, Japanese urban planner
• 1966 – Vikram, Indian actor
• 1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player
• 1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor
• 1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
• 1967 – Timothy Gibbs, American actor
• 1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1967 – Leslie Bega, American actress
• 1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player (d. 2013)
• 1968 – Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven
• 1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor (Def Squad and Method Man & Redman)
• 1972 – Ruffian, American race horse (d. 1975)
• 1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
• 1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player
• 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
• 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1972 – Jarkko Wiss, Finnish Footballer
• 1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
• 1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japan referee football player
• 1973 – Jeff Lewis, American football player (d. 2013)
• 1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player
• 1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
• 1973 – Kaihō Ryōji, Japanese sumo wrestler
• 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer (Spice Girls)
• 1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish guitarist and singer (Opeth, Bloodbath, and Katatonia)
• 1975 – Gabriel Soto, Mexican actor
• 1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player
• 1976 – Monet Mazur, American actress, model, and musician
• 1976 – Alex Nesic, American actor
• 1976 – Aňa Geislerová, Czech actress
• 1976 – Kim Young-oh, South Korean illustrator
• 1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
• 1977 – Phil Jamieson, Australian singer (Grinspoon)
• 1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist and pianist
• 1977 – Sizzla, Jamaican singer and rapper
• 1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress
• 1978 – Loukas Louka, Greek-Cypriot footballer
• 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
• 1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Siddharth Narayan, Indian actor
• 1979 – Sung Si Kyung, Korean singer
• 1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer and boxer
• 1980 – Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player
• 1980 – Nicholas D'Agosto, American actor
• 1980 – Fabián Andrés Vargas, Colombian football player
• 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer
• 1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
• 1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
• 1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Martin Kampmann, Danish mixed martial artist
• 1982 – Lee Joon-gi, South Korean actor and model
• 1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian hockey player
• 1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1983 – Roberto Jimenez, Peruvian football player
• 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
• 1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentine footballer
• 1984 – Rosanna Davison, model and actress, Miss World 2003
• 1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
• 1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
• 1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
• 1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model
• 1985 – William Snape, English actor
• 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
• 1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
• 1987 – Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, Canadian actress, DJ and singer
• 1989 – Sunaina, Indian actress
• 1989 – Tony Bellissimo, American dancer
• 1989 – Paraskevi Papahristou, Greek triple jumper
• 1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
• 1990 – Gia Mantegna, American actress
• 1991 – Tessa James, Australian actress
• 1992 – Noni Răzvan Ene, Romanian singer
• 1993 – Race Imboden, American fencer
• 1995 – Paul Litowsky, American actor
• 1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress

Deaths

• 326 – Pope Alexander of Alexandria
• 485 – Proclus, Greek philosopher (b. 412)
• 617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest, patron saint of Eigg
• 1080 – 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 scholar (b. 1500)
• 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, Americann-Indian religious figure, first native American to receive beatification (b. 1656)
• 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican writer
• 1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French writer (b. 1626)
• 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
• 1713 – David Hollatz, Pomeranian dogmatician (b. 1648)
• 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)
• 1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American novelist (b. 1578)
• 1843 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (b. 1762)
• 1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (b. 1777)
• 1873 – Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter (b. 1783)
• 1882 – George Jennings Sanitary engineer (b. 1810)
• 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Canadian politician, contractor, and editor, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
• 1902 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (b. 1822)
• 1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (b. 1860)
• 1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish politician and lawyer (b. 1852)
• 1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter (b. 1863)
• 1933 – Konstantine Marjanishvili, Georgian director (b. 1872)
• 1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch politician (b. 1873)
• 1937 – Yi Sang, Korean poet (b. 1910)
• 1941 – Al Bowlly, English singer-songwriter, composer, and band leader (b. 1899)
• 1942 – Jean Perrin, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
• 1944 – J.T. Hearne, English cricketer (b. 1867)
• 1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek army officer and resistance fighter (b. 1893)
• 1948 – Suzuki Kantarō, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
• 1954 – Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian communist activist (b. 1900)
• 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1938)
• 1962 – Henricus Tromp, Dutch rower (b. 1878)
• 1967 – Red Allen, American jazz trumpet player and vocalist (b. 1908)
• 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher (b. 1888)
• 1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
• 1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
• 1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (b. 1939) (Mountain)
• 1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
• 1985 – Takis Miliadis, Greek actor (b. 1922)
• 1985 – Evadne Price, British writer (b. 1896)
• 1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher, owner of Mirror Group Newspapers (b. 1901)
• 1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor and Comedian (b. 1923)
• 1988 – Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (b. 1900)
• 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights activist (b. 1936)
• 1993 – Turgut Ozal, Turkish politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
• 1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1913)
• 1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American businessman (b. 1928)
• 1996 – Piet Hein, Danish scientist and poet (b. 1905)
• 1997 – Allan Francovich, American director and producer (b. 1941)
• 1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli politician, President of Israel (b. 1918)
• 1998 – Linda McCartney, American designer and photographer (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist, physician, and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
• 2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
• 2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1932)
• 2003 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1934)
• 2003 – Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, Russian conjoined twins (b. 1950)
• 2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek shipping tycoon (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (b. 1908)
• 2004 – Soundarya, Indian actress (b. 1971)
• 2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
• 2006 – Scott Brazil, American producer and director. (b. 1955)
• 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
• 2007 – Gil Dobrică, Romanian singer (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Aimé Césaire, French Martinican poet and politician (b. 1913)
• 2008 – Danny Federici, American musician (E-Street Band) (b. 1950)
• 2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian composer (b. 1926)
• 2011 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (b. 1948)
• 2011 – AJ Perez, Filipino actor (b. 1993)
• 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
• 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
• 2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian politician, poet, and journalist (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • St. Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
  • Pope Anicetus
  • April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Evacuation Day, celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
• FAO Day (Iraq)
• Flag Day (American Samoa)
• World Hemophilia Day (International)

External links

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

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