January 17
Events
 38 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla.
1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
1377 - Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
1524 - Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find a passage to China.
1562 - France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
1595 - Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
1605 - First publication of Don Quixote.
1648 - England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
1773 - Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
1799 - Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, was executed.
1852 - The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
1873 - A group of Modoc warriors defeat the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War.
1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
1893 - The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
1899 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1904 - Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
1912 - Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
1913 - Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
1929 - Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
1941 - Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-Shek open fire at communist forces, resuming the Chinese Civil War after World War II.
1945 - Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
1945 - The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session.
1949 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.
1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
1961 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".
1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident.
1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.
1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.
1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States would see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.
1985 - British Telecom announces the retirement of the United Kingdom's red telephone boxes.
1989 - Stockton massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
1991 - Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
1994 - 1994 Northridge Earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
1995 - The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
1997 - A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
1998 - Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
2001 - President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.
2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
2007 - The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.
Births
1463 - Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
1484 - George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)
1501 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
1504 - Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
1560 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)
1600 - Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)
1612 - Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (d. 1671)
1666 - Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist (d. 1723)
1686 - Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
1706 - Benjamin Franklin American statesman (d. 1790)
1712 - John Stanley, English composer (d. 1786)
1719 - William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806)
1732 - Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, King and Grand Duke of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (d. 1798)
1734 - François-Joseph Gossec, Belgian composer (d. 1829)
1761 - James Hall, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
1789 - August Neander, German theologian (d. 1850)
1814 - 'Mrs Henry Wood', English novelist (d. 1887)
1820 - Anne Brontë, British author (d. 1849)
1828 - Eduard Remenyi, Hungarian violinist (d. 1898)
1828 - Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War general (d. 1918)
1831 - Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (d. 1903)
1832 - Henry Martyn Baird, American educationalist (d. 1906)
1834 - August Weismann, German biologist (d. 1914)
1850 - Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)
1851 - A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
1853 - Alva Belmont, American socialite (d. 1933)
1857 - Eugene Augustin Lauste, French inventor (d. 1935)
1857 - Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
1858 - Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian writer (d. 1940)
1860 - Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland (d. 1949)
1863 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
1863 - Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner (d. 1938)
1865 - Gen Sir Charles Fergusson, Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
1867 - Carl Laemmle, German-born film executive (d. 1939)
1871 - David Earl Beatty British admiral (d. 1936)
1871 - Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer (d. 1940)
1875 - Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan dramatist (d. 1910)
1876 - Frank Hague, American politician (d. 1956)
1877 - May Gibbs, Australian children's author (d. 1969)
1880 - Mack Sennett, Canadian film director (d. 1960)
1881 - Antoni Lomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
1882 - Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
1883 - Sir Compton Mackenzie, Scottish novelist (d. 1972)
1886 - Ronald Firbank, British novelist (d. 1926)
1886 - Glenn L. Martin, American aviation pioneer (d. 1955)
1887 - Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
1897 - Marcel Petiot, French mass murderer (d. 1946)
1899 - Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
1899 - Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)
1901 - Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-born philosopher (d. 1973)
1903 - Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Assamese poet, playwright, film maker (d. 1953)
1905 - Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (d. 1966)
1905 - Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
1905 - Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1907 - Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987)
1908 - Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)
1911 - George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1914 - William Stafford, American poet and essayist (d. 1993)
1914 - Anacleto Angelini, Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
1914 - Irving Brecher, American Screenwriter
1917 - M. G. Ramachandran, Indian politician, actor (d. 1987)
1917 - Ramón Cardemil, Chilean huaso (d. 2007)
1918 - Keith Joseph, British politician (d. 1994)
1921 - Antonio Prohias, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
1922 - Luis Echeverría Álvarez, President of Mexico
1922 - Nicholas Katzenbach, American politician
1922 - Betty White, American actress
1923 - Carol Raye, Australian actress
1925 - Robert Cormier, American author (d. 2000)
1925 - Abdul Kardar, Pakistani cricketer
1925 - Edgar Ray Killen, American convict, former preacher and K.K.K. member
1925 - Patricia Owens, Canadian actress (d. 2000)
1926 - Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and statesman
1926 - Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (d. 2006)
1927 - Dr Tom Dooley, American humanitarian (d. 1961)
1927 - Norman Kaye, Australian actor and musician (d. 2007)
1927 - Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer
1928 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
1928 - Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist
1929 - Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
1930 - Eddie LeBaron, American football player
1931 - James Earl Jones, American actor
1931 - L. Douglas Wilder, 66th Governor of Virginia
1931 - Don Zimmer, American baseball coach
1932 - Sheree North, American actress (d. 2005)
1933 - Dalida, French singer (d. 1987)
1933 - Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
1933 - Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (d. 1998)
1935 - Ruth Ann Minner, Governor of Delaware
1939 - Maury Povich, American talk show host
1940 - Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
1941 - Dame Gillian Weir, New Zealand organist
1942 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer
1942 - Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and businesswoman
1942 - Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
1942 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
1943 - René Préval, President of Haiti
1943 - Geoffrey Deuel, American actor
1943 - Chris Montez, American singer
1944 - Françoise Hardy, French singer
1945 - Javed Akhtar, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter
1946 - Michèle Deslauriers, Quebec actress
1948 - Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland
1948 - Jim Ladd, American freeform (radio format) Disc Jockey
1948 - Anne Queffélec, French pianist
1949 - Mick Taylor, British musician (The Rolling Stones)
1949 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
1950 - Luis López Nieves, Latin American writer
1952 - Darrell Porter, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1952 - Larry Fortensky, seventh husband of Elizabeth Taylor
1952 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician
1954 - Susan Kiefel, Australian lawyer and judge
1954 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and environmental activist
1955 - Steve Earle, American musician
1956 - Paul Young, English musician
1957 - Keith Chegwin, English television presenter
1957 - Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian and radio personality
1957 - Ann Nocenti, American comic book writer
1957 - Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist
1959 - Susanna Hoffs, American musician
1959 - Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
1960 - John Crawford, American musician
1960 - Chili Davis, Jamaican-born American baseball player
1960 - Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai actor
1961 - Brian Helgeland, American writer and film director
1961 - Maia Chiburdanidze, Russian women's Chess grandmaster
1962 - Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
1962 - Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
1963 - Kai Hansen, German singer and guitarist (Gamma Ray)
1964 - Andy Rourke, English bass guitarist (The Smiths)
1964 - Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Obama
1965 - Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 - Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer
1966 - Stephin Merritt, American singer and songwriter (The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies)
1966 - Joshua Malina, American actor
1966 - Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer
1967 - Richard Hawley, English singer, guitarist and songwriter (Pulp, The Longpigs)
1967 - Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (d. 2007)
1967 - Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor
1968 - Craig Strong, American actor & voice actor
1968 - Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch writer
1968 - Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete
1969 - Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film writer and director
1969 - Naveen Andrews, British actor
1969 - Tijs Verwest, (DJ Tiësto) Dutch DJ
1970 - Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player
1970 - Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born animator
1970 - James Wattana, Thai snooker player
1971 - Kid Rock, American singer
1971 - Richard Burns, English rally driver (d. 2005)
1971 - Leonardo Ciampa, Italian-American musician
1971 - Youki Kudoh, Japanese actress
1971 - Sylvie Testud, French actress
1971 - Ann Wolfe, female boxer
1972 - Ken Hirai, Japanese singer and songwriter
1972 - Benno Fürmann, German actor
1973 - Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer
1973 - Liz Ellis, Australian netball captain
1973 - Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 - Yang Chen, Chinese footballer
1974 - Derrick Mason, American football player
1974 - Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian musician
1975 - Tom Jenkinson, English musician (Squarepusher)
1975 - Freddy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican-American actor
1975 - Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter/producer
1977 - Kevin Fertig, American professional wrestler
1977 - Leigh Whannell, Australian screenwriter/actor
1980 - Zooey Deschanel, American actress
1980 - Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian ballroom dancer
1980 - Kimberly Spicer, American model
1980 - Gareth McLearnon, Northern Irish flautist
1981 - Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer
1981 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
1981 - Ray J, American R&B singer
1982 - Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
1982 - Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
1982 - Alex Varkatzas, American Singer (Atreyu)
1983 - Alvaro Arbeloa, Spanish Footballer
1983 - Johannes Herber, German basketball player
1983 - Andrea Lowell, American Model
1983 - Rick Kelly, Australian racing driver
1983 - Julie Budet, French Electronic-Pop Musician
1985 - Simone Simons, Dutch singer (Epica)
1985 - Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer BeForU
1985 - Kang-In, South Korean singer/dancer/actor/MC/DJ(Super Junior)
Deaths
395 - Theodosius I, Roman Emperor
1229 - Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier
1369 - King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (b. 1328)
1468 - Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)
1598 - Fyodor I Tsar of Russia (b. 1557)
1617 - Faust Vrancic, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)
1654 - Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)
1705 - John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)
1718 - Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler and military leader
1737 - Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
1738 - Jean-François Dandrieu, French composer (b. 1682)
1751 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)
1826 - Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
1834 - Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)
1861 - Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
1863 - Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
1869 - Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
1874 - Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins (b. 1811)
1884 - Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
1887 - William Giblin, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
1891 - George Bancroft, U.S. historian (b. 1800)
1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
1903 - Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
1908 - Ferdinand IV Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
1909 - Sir Francis Smith, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819
1911 - Sir Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist (b. 1822)
1927 - Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
1931 - Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (b. 1864)
1932 - Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
1933 - Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer (b. 1848)
1936 - Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
1942 - Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
1947 - Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)
1947 - Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, French Archbishop of Quebec (b. 1883)
1952 - Walter Briggs, Sr., American entrepreneur and sports team owner (b. 1877)
1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
1964 - T.H. White, English author (b. 1906)
1967 - Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)
1970 - Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoonist (b. 1890)
1970 - Billy Stewart, American singer (b. 1937)
1972 - Betty Smith, American writer and singer (b. 1896)
1977 - Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
1981 - Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer (b. 1899)
1983 - Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)
1987 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)
1991 - King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
1992 - Frank Pullen, English businessman and racehorse owner (b. 1915)
1993 - Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)
1994 - Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)
1994 - Yevgeny Ivanov, Soviet spy involved in the Profumo affair (b. 1926)
1996 - Amber Hagerman, American namesake of the Amber Alert system (b. 1986)
1996 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)
1996 - Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)
1997 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
1997 - Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
1998 - Junior Kimbrough, American bluesman (b. 1930)
1999 - Robert Eads, American transsexual (b. 1945)
2000 - Philip Jones, British trumpeter (b. 1928)
2001 - Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)
2002 - Bishop Karas, Sudanese-born American religious leader (b. 1955)
2002 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
2002 - Queenie Leonard, American actress (b. 1905)
2003 - Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
2003 - Balint Vazsonyi, Hingarian pianist (b. 1936)
2004 - Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)
2004 - Czeslaw Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
2004 - Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)
2004 - Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
2005 - Charlie Bell, Australian fast food executive (b. 1960)
2005 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)
2005 - Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)
2005 - Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
2006 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
2006 - Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)
2007 - Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)
2007 - Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)
2008 - Bobby Fischer, American chess player (b. 1943)
2008 - Ernie Holmes, American football player (b. 1948)
2008 - Allan Melvin, American actor (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
Ancient Latvia - Zirgu Diena observed
Catholicism - Feast day of the following saints:
*St. Anthony
*Amelbert
*Sulpitius the Pious
*Mildgytha
Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church: Venerable Anthony the Great
January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
External links
BBC: On This Day
On this day in Canada
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